Twenty-three teaching competencies identified as "essential" in a state-wide teacher survey by Florida's Council on Teacher Education (COTE) are reexamined as an aid in producing valid and assessable programs for teacher education. Three hundred and fifty central Florida teachers were questioned to rate the competencies on an essential-unessential scale and the data were assessed to determine the degree of consensus. Results of the survey indicate that (1) teachers view the COTE competencies as generally essential; (2) there are probably not as many general areas as the Council has proposed; (3) there is communality of the areas across teaching levels; (4) differences exist in the perceptions of the areas among various teaching level groups; and (5) currently, the Florida county districts are generally placing emphasis for teacher evaluation on behaviors such as diagnosis of knowledge levels, identification and structuring of objectives, adoption of instructional materials, classroom assessment, and counseling and interpersonal skills. Ten tables are included in the appendix, giving detailed results of the sample survey. (MB)