455.217 Examinations.—This section shall be read in conjunction with the appropriate practice act associated with each regulated profession under this chapter.
(1) The Division of Professions of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation shall provide, contract, or approve services for the development, preparation, administration, scoring, score reporting, and evaluation of all examinations. The division shall seek the advice of the appropriate board in providing such services.
(a) The department, acting in conjunction with the Division of Service Operations, the Division of Professions, and the Division of Real Estate, as appropriate, shall ensure that examinations adequately and reliably measure an applicant’s ability to practice the profession regulated by the department. After an examination developed or approved by the department has been administered, the board or department may reject any question which does not reliably measure the general areas of competency specified in the rules of the board or department, when there is no board. The department shall use qualified outside testing vendors for the development, preparation, and evaluation of examinations, when such services are economically and viably available and approved by the department.
(b) For each examination developed by the department or contracted vendor, to the extent not otherwise specified by statute, the board or the department when there is no board, shall by rule specify the general areas of competency to be covered by the examination, the relative weight to be assigned in grading each area tested, the score necessary to achieve a passing grade, and the fees, where applicable, to cover the actual cost for any purchase, development, and administration of the required examination. However, statutory fee caps in each practice act shall apply. This subsection does not apply to national examinations approved and administered pursuant to paragraph (d).
(c) If a practical examination is deemed to be necessary, rules shall specify the criteria by which examiners are to be selected, the grading criteria to be used by the examiner, the relative weight to be assigned in grading each criterion, and the score necessary to achieve a passing grade. When a mandatory standardization exercise for a practical examination is required by law, the board may conduct such exercise. Therefore, board members may serve as examiners at a practical examination with the consent of the board.
(d) A board, or the department when there is no board, may approve by rule the use of any national examination which the department has certified as meeting requirements of national examinations and generally accepted testing standards pursuant to department rules. Providers of examinations, which may be either profit or nonprofit entities, seeking certification by the department shall pay the actual costs incurred by the department in making a determination regarding the certification. The department shall use any national examination which is available, certified by the department, and approved by the board. The name and number of a candidate may be provided to a national contractor for the limited purpose of preparing the grade tape and information to be returned to the board or department or, to the extent otherwise specified by rule, the candidate may apply directly to the vendor of the national examination. The department may delegate to the board the duty to provide and administer the examination. Any national examination approved by a board, or the department when there is no board, prior to October 1, 1997, is deemed certified under this paragraph. Any licensing or certification examination that is not developed or administered by the department in-house or provided as a national examination shall be competitively bid.
(e) The department shall adopt rules regarding the security and monitoring of examinations. In order to maintain the security of examinations, the department may employ the procedures set forth in s. 455.228 to seek fines and injunctive relief against an examinee who violates the provisions of s. 455.2175 or the rules adopted pursuant to this paragraph. The department, or any agent thereof, may, for the purposes of investigation, confiscate any written, photographic, or recording material or device in the possession of the examinee at the examination site which the department deems necessary to enforce such provisions or rules.
(f) If the professional board with jurisdiction over an examination concurs, the department may, for a fee, share with any other state’s licensing authority an examination developed by or for the department unless prohibited by a contract entered into by the department for development or purchase of the examination. The department, with the concurrence of the appropriate board, shall establish guidelines that ensure security of a shared exam and shall require that any other state’s licensing authority comply with those guidelines. Those guidelines shall be approved by the appropriate professional board. All fees paid by the user shall be applied to the department’s examination and development program for professions regulated by this chapter. All fees paid by the user for professions not regulated by this chapter shall be applied to offset the fees for the development and administration of that profession’s examination. If both a written and a practical examination are given, an applicant shall be required to retake only the portion of the examination for which he or she failed to achieve a passing grade, if he or she successfully passes that portion within a reasonable time of his or her passing the other portion.
(2) For each examination developed by the department or a contracted vendor, the board or the department when there is no board, shall make rules providing for reexamination of any applicants who fail an examination developed by the department or a contracted vendor. If both a written and a practical examination are given, an applicant shall be required to retake only the portion of the examination for which he or she failed to achieve a passing grade, if the applicant successfully passes that portion within a reasonable time, as determined by rule of the board, or department when there is no board, of his or her passing the other portion.
(3) Except for national examinations approved and administered pursuant to paragraph (1)(d), the department shall provide procedures for applicants who have taken and failed an examination developed by the department or a contracted vendor to review their most recently administered examination questions, answers, papers, grades, and grading key for the questions the candidate answered incorrectly or, if not feasible, the parts of the examination failed. Applicants shall bear the actual cost for the department to provide examination review pursuant to this subsection. An applicant may waive in writing the confidentiality of his or her examination grades.
(4) For each examination developed or administered by the department or a contracted vendor, an accurate record of each applicant’s examination questions, answers, papers, grades, and grading key shall be kept for a period of not less than 2 years immediately following the examination, and such record shall thereafter be maintained or destroyed as provided in chapters 119 and 257. This subsection does not apply to national examinations approved and administered pursuant to paragraph (1)(d).
(5) Meetings and records of meetings of any member of the department or of any board or commission within the department held for the exclusive purpose of creating or reviewing licensure examination questions or proposed examination questions are confidential and exempt from ss. 119.07(1) and 286.011. However, this exemption shall not affect the right of any person to review an examination as provided in subsection (3).
(6) For examinations developed by the department or a contracted vendor, each board, or the department when there is no board, may provide licensure examinations in an applicant’s native language. Applicants for examination or reexamination pursuant to this subsection shall bear the full cost for the department’s development, preparation, administration, grading, and evaluation of any examination in a language other than English or Spanish. Requests for translated examinations, except for those in Spanish, must be on file in the board office, or with the department when there is no board, at least 6 months prior to the scheduled examination. When determining whether it is in the public interest to allow the examination to be translated into a language other than English or Spanish, the board, or the department when there is no board, shall consider the percentage of the population who speak the applicant’s native language.
(7) In addition to meeting other requirements for licensure by examination or by endorsement, an applicant may be required by a board, or by the department, if there is no board, to pass an examination pertaining to state laws and rules applicable to the practice of the profession regulated by that board or by the department. This subsection does not apply to persons regulated under chapter 473.
Cited 38 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal
...Sections 458.313(1) and 458.311, read in pari materia, reflect the legislative intent that candidates for licensure by endorsement and by examination satisfy the same examination requirement. Establishment of a minimum passing score is required by Section 455.217(1), Florida Statutes; Rule 21M-21.01(3) sets the score for examination candidates....
Cited 3 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal
...Byerly, M.D., and Frank A. Broome, O.D., about whom no evidence has been presented, have demonstrated the necessary standing to participate in this action. See Florida Medical Association v. Board of Optometry, 426 So.2d 1112 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983), and Section 455.217, Florida Statutes....
...Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, 417 So.2d 753, 754 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). *882 For these reasons, we hold that petitioners lack standing to maintain this proceeding and reverse the hearing officer's ruling to the contrary. [1] II. THE DEPARTMENT'S STANDING Section 455.217, Florida Statutes (1987), cited in the final order as authority for the Department's standing, provides: The secretary of the department shall have standing to challenge any rule or proposed rule of a board pursuant to §§ 120.54 and 120.56....
...ments of the Government in the Sunshine Law, s. 286.011 , F. S. Your inquiry notes that the Department of Professional Regulation administers licensing examinations for the various professions which are subject to regulation under ch. 455, F. S. See s. 455.217 ....
...You further note that, in order to properly test the areas of competency required in the performance of each profession, the Office of Examination Services needs to consult and meet with committees of board members and sometimes with an entire board. Section 455.217 (1)(a). Thus, you inquire whether it is legally permissible for such meetings to be held `out of the sunshine' when discussions of specific examination items will occur. Additionally, you urge, citing ss. 455.203 (6), 455.217 , and 455.229 , that the department's duties of preparation and administration of all examinations for all boards within the department would seem to indicate that the department has the additional, implied duties of assuring confidentiality of examination questions and maintaining examination security....
...e above-described board proceedings from the requirements of s. 286.011 , nor has my research revealed any such exemption. Section 455.203 (6) does not purport to make any such exemption from the requirements of s. 286.011 , nor do the provisions of s. 455.217 or s....
...al of the professional board involved. Whether or not additional points are awarded, the candidate is notified in writing of his/her final grade and if this grade is below passing, the candidate is given 30 days in which to request a formal hearing. Section 455.217 (2), F.S....
...ection only by an examinee and certain designated personnel within the department, who have a bona fide need to know such information. For the reasons set forth below and in light of the express language of s 119.07 (3)(c), F.S. (1982 Supp.), and ss 455.217 (2) and 455.229 , F.S., I am compelled to conclude that it was the intent of the Legislature that an examinee's completed examination and related papers be open only for his personal perusal and inspection (or to members of affected boards, t...
...ation questions, or the examination itself. It is my understanding that it is the practice for such s 120.57 hearings to be open to the public pursuant to s 286.011 , F.S., in light of the various regulatory boards' role in the review process, see , 455.217 (2), F.S., and the legislative delegation of the boards' putative role as hearing officer to an independent hearing officer appointed by the Division of Administrative Hearings. See also , AGO 80-99; ss 120.57 (1)(a)1. and 120.57 (1)(b)9. I cannot agree with your assertion that ss 455.217 (2) and 455.229 allow the department to hold closed examination review hearings....
...e Sunshine Law); 80-78. Additionally, my research has not revealed any exemption from s 286.011 for these hearings, such as, for example, that contained in s 455.225 (3). In summary, it is my opinion that (1) the examination review provided for by s 455.217 (2) is limited to the examined and cannot be extended to his attorney or his expert witness(es) prior to the initiation of discovery, such as that allowed by s 120.58(1)(b), F.S., and in connection with his examination review hearing provided for by Rule 21-11.12, F.A.C....
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