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Policies/Forms Related to Field Experiences
Student Teacher/ Intern Placement
Each teacher education program at The College initiates the placement of student teachers/interns. The student teacher/intern coordinator for each program reviews, approves, signs and submits the student teaching/internship application to the STEP Office. It is the goal of the School of Education to place students in Professional Development School Network schools. The College has developed a formal partnership with PDSN school districts. The school districts are within thirty miles of the campus. In collaboration with the departments of the School of Education and the PDSN school districts, the STEP Office will arrange placements for all students within the PDSN. However, The College may place students outside the PDSN schools in order to meet the specific needs of the department and their students or when placement in the PDSN schools is not possible. Students are expected to honor the placement. Once the placement is made, a binding contract between The College and the school district is executed. Students are expected to honor the contract.
Students are not permitted to contact principals or teachers and arrange for their own student teaching/internship experiences.
Tuberculin Screening (Mantoux Test)
Before a prospective educator begins his/her culminating field experience, a record of a current negative tuberculin screening (Mantoux or another appropriate substitute) needs to be on file in the College Health Services Office and the STEP Office. Complete tuberculin testing information is available in the STEP Office.
Grade Point Average Requirement
Admission to the student teaching program requires a 2.75 GPA. There are no exceptions to this policy.
Field Experiences in Diverse Contexts and Communities
Field experiences remain as essential components of all teacher preparation programs. The School of Education has made a commitment to provide students with multiple opportunities to learn in classrooms by observing teachers, planning and implementing lessons, and assessing their professional practices with the guidance of college supervisors and cooperating teachers. Teaching experiences will link theory and research to practice and reflection.
Prospective educators will be placed in multiple contexts for field experiences. Schools selected as sites for field experiences are located in urban, suburban, and rural communities. Extraordinary diversity exists in these schools in terms of languages, ethnic groups, and economic circumstances. In preparing educators to meet the needs of all learners, students enrolled in teacher education programs will have at least one urban experience during their Junior Practicum Experience or Student Teaching. The chair/subject area coordinator will advise the students accordingly.
Field experiences in international settings are also encouraged. Through field experience placements in diverse contexts and community settings, prospective educators gain flexibility, creativity, begin to understand individual and social differences and commonalties, and are prepared to succeed in diverse environments.
Personal Hardship Placement Request Policy
The College has not and does not guarantee placement of student teachers/interns in school districts near their residences because of the students’ desire to commute to school from their parents’ homes or permanent residences.
Should students experience personal hardships such as a medical condition, financial hardship, or family crisis that necessitates the need for a specific geographic location for student teaching, students can request a placement waiver by completing the Student Teaching Personal Hardship Placement Waiver Request Form.
This hardship waiver request form requires the student to state the reasons for the request, along with appropriate supporting documentation, and to submit the request to the department chair and subject area coordinator for review. Upon review of the documentation the chair/subject area coordinator will decide on its merit and will forward the decision to the STEP Office. With the approval of the chair/subject area coordinator, the chair/subject area coordinator and the STEP Office will work collaboratively to locate an appropriate placement. The student teaching coordinator will arrange for supervision of the student.
In the case of personal hardship, students living a distance from campus should not expect to be placed in their home district. Placement will be sought within thirty miles of the student residence during student teaching, but in the direction of The College.
Home District Placement
Department advisors will counsel students to accept placements in districts other than their home districts in order to broaden the student teachers’/interns’ experience. Students can be placed in districts from where they have graduated with justification and departmental approval. When possible, students should not be placed in a school they attended or with former teachers.
Placement in Districts Where Family Members are Employed
It is not The College of New Jersey’s desire to place students in school districts where members of their family are employed. Given the student’s circumstances, the department/subject area coordinator may approve placement in a district where a student’s family member is employed. However, some district policies may preclude the acceptance of student teachers into the schools or school districts where their family members are working.
Calendar and Schedule
Student teachers/interns follow the school district’s academic calendar. However, there may be times when the spring culminating field experience may not coincide with the College’s spring break. It is the responsibility of each student to locate his/her own housing during that period.
Attendance
Student teachers/interns are expected to be at their school site daily. Absences due to illness or emergency situations should be reported by telephone to the cooperating teacher and college supervisor according to the agreed upon policy. Student absence beyond two days will be made up on a day-for-day basis in consultation with the cooperating teacher, college supervisor and if necessary, the department’s chair. Whenever students are absent from student teaching, they must provide their cooperating teacher with an appropriate written lesson plan for the day on which they will be absent.
Student teachers should work collaboratively with their cooperating teachers when arranging for job interviews. Oftentimes job interviews will necessitate absence for the whole day. Student teachers are reminded that they have a professional responsibility for the continuity of the classroom program once they have begun student teaching. Student teachers are encouraged to schedule interviews in the early morning or after school whenever possible.
Withdrawal Procedure and Change of Semester
If students wish to withdraw from the culminating field experience before it has begun, they must notify the department chair and/subject area coordinator and the STEP Office. If students wish to withdraw from their culminating field experience after it has begun, they must meet with the program chair/subject area coordinator. The program chair/subject area coordinator will inform the STEP Office in writing of this decision.
Students who plan to re-enroll in the culminating field experience at a later time, must obtain approval of the program chair/subject area coordinator and re-apply to student teach by completing placement application materials. These materials will be submitted to the STEP Office by the program chair/subject area coordinator.
Change of Semester for Student Teaching
If students wish to change the semester of student teaching from the fall to spring, they may do so without withdrawing and re-applying providing both semesters involved are within the same academic year. They must notify the program chair/subject area coordinator and STEP Office in writing. If the semesters involved cross academic years (spring to fall), the students must withdraw and re-apply. Please complete the Clinical Practice Discontinuance/ Reassignment Form.
Employment
Students participating in the culminating field experience are not permitted to work as employees in the capacity of substitute teacher, teacher aide or as a paid coach or advisor in the school district in which the student teaching experience occurs. However, in certain programs, upon approval of the chair, some students may complete their culminating field experience as "On the Job Training" while working at the assigned site.
Strike
When a strike is in effect in a public school system, students from The College of New Jersey who are participating in any field experience in the striking district are not permitted to be present at the school site. During a strike, student teachers/interns are held responsible for the following procedures:
- Inform the host teacher and principal that student teachers/interns are not permitted to be present while the strike is in effect.
- Promptly inform the College supervisor and the STEP Office that a strike is in effect in the school district.
- Request that the coop teacher inform the prospective educator when the strike has officially ended.
- Promptly inform the college supervisor and the STEP Office of the date student teachers/interns will return to the school site.
Security Check
Some districts require student teachers/interns to complete a background check form and/or be fingerprinted prior to final placement approval. The student will be notified if this is required and will be advised to complete the Student Teaching and Internship II Field Placement Criminal Background Certification Form.
Liability
N.J.S.A. 18A:16-6 requires public boards of education in this state to defray all the costs of defending a student teacher in an action brought against the student teacher arising out of his/her performance of the duties of the position. In addition, the board must save harmless and protect such persons from any financial loss resulting from the action. The board is authorized by the same statute to arrange for and maintain appropriate insurance to cover all damages, losses and expenses.
