Eligibility for Student Teaching
Office of Field Experiences
Office: W249 Thompson Hall
(716) 673-3443
Debra Karpinske-Keyser, Director
Email: karpinsk@fredonia.edu
The Office of Field Experiences
The Office of Field Experiences places over 500 student teachers each academic year. This includes Childhood, Early Childhood, Childhood Inclusive Education (childhood and special education), Music, Speech Pathology and Audiology, plus those students seeking Adolescence certification in English, Social Studies, Mathematics, Biology, Earth Science, Chemistry, Physics, French and Spanish. In addition candidates participate in at least 100 pre-service clock hours of supervised Early Field Experiences. All monitoring of placements and placement requests is done in the Office of Field Experiences. For more information on the Office of Field Experiences, please consult the web page at http://home.fredonia.edu/coe/field-experiences-office.
Eligibility for Student Teaching - Adolescence Education & Middle Childhood Mathematics
Students in the various adolescence education programs are responsible for contacting the Office of Field Experiences during the first week of classes in the spring semester of the year prior to the Student Teaching Year. To be considered, applications for student teaching must be submitted by the posted deadline. A candidate who receives a Satisfactory standing in the Student Teaching placement must also receive a passing grade in their co-requisite Seminar/Methods course to advance. Students should refer to the departmental Transition Points for specific criteria regarding entrance into student teaching.
Eligibility for Student Teaching - Adolescence Education, Childhood, Childhood Inclusive, Early Childhood, and Childhood/Early Childhood Education, Math Middle Childhood Education, and TESOL Option II
Student Teaching is a full time, semester long experience under the supervision of a mentor teacher and a Clinical Field Supervisor which can take place in the fall or spring semester. To be eligible to student teach, candidates must successfully meet the requirements designated by the student’s Professional Education program, maintain the required 3.0 minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA), successfully complete all required education courses, and submit the Student Teaching Application materials to the Office of Field Experiences (OFE) in a timely manner.
Teacher candidates are responsible for attending all mandatory pre-student teaching meetings, which are held the fall and spring semesters preceding the student teaching year. Applications for student teaching must be submitted by the February deadline in order for OFE to begin the placement process for the following academic year. Placements are made by the Office of Field Experiences, and candidates should not solicit their own placements. Once placements are assigned, they are not changed due to location and/or desire for a certain teacher/grade/age level/school district or building.
Student teachers are expected to observe the calendars, regulations, and philosophies of the schools in which they are placed. The Office of Field Experiences, in collaboration with the participating schools, determines the beginning and ending dates for student teaching placements. Student teaching placements involve full-day, Monday through Friday involvement for the entire semester, and prospective student teachers are advised to plan their extracurricular schedules accordingly.
Placements for all candidates in all certification areas is at the discretion of the Dean of the College of Education, based upon factors including candidate’s content area qualifications, availability of Clinical Field Supervisors, willingness of schools to host student teachers, and College of Education’s commitment to serve schools equally. The Dean of the College of Education reserves the right to remove any teacher candidate from any student teaching placement at any time for inadequate performance or inappropriate behavior. Prospective candidates are advised that student teaching placements are currently limited to Chautauqua County, Erie (N.Y.) County, Cattaraugus, County, New York City, and Houston, Texas.
Successful completion of the Student Teaching Seminar course is required to receive a Satisfactory standing in student teaching.