Overview

All teacher preparation programs must have field experiences that provide candidates with a variety of progressive experiences in multiple and diverse settings. All candidates must complete a minimum of 100 hours of field experiences prior to student teaching (CCU internship) at the initial undergraduate level. At the initial graduate level, all candidates must complete a minimum of 75 hours of field experiences prior to student teaching (CCU internship). The internship experience must provide for intensive and continuous involvement in a public school setting.

Prior to all field experiences, appropriate backgrounds checks, including SLED clearance, must be completed. Prior to the internship, appropriate background checks, including fingerprint submissions to the South Carolina Department of Education, must be completed and cleared.

All candidates must be informed, in writing, of the standards of conduct (based on S.C. code Ann 59-25-160, 59-25-530, and 20-7-945) required of South Carolina educators for initial certification.

All candidates must meet admissions requirements for admission to the Professional Program in Teacher Education, admission to the internship, and pass required external exams (Praxis I and Praxis II - all required tests) prior to participating in the internship. For successful completion of the internship, candidates must pass the PLT (Principles of Learning and Teaching) Exam.

One or more cooperating teachers in the public school must supervise each candidate. A college faculty member who has preparation in Teacher Education and in the content area must supervise each candidate. All professional education faculty supervisors must be trained in clinical supervision and in the ADEPT system.

The public schools and the college share and integrate resources and expertise to support the candidate's learning during field experiences. College and school-based faculty will work together to design, implement, and evaluate both the program and the field experience assignments. This team will determine the candidate's placement for field experiences and will evaluate the candidate's performance.

Multiple assessments will be utilized to evaluate and reflect upon candidate performance and practice. Feedback on individual performance will be given to candidates, and any areas of needed improvement will be addressed.

PURPOSE OF FIELD EXPERIENCES

Field Experiences allow candidates to apply and reflect on content, both professional and pedagogical knowledge, as well as provide the opportunity to observe skills and dispositions in practice through a variety of settings that include students and adults. Field Experiences extend the college's conceptual framework into practice through modeling by cooperating teachers. It also provides well-designed opportunities to "learn through doing" in a variety of settings appropriate to the content and level for individual programs.

During Field Experiences candidates will:

• observe teachers, students, the school environment, and best practices in action;
• be observed by others and receive constructive feedback;
• interact with teachers, college/university supervisors, and other interns about their practice;
• be integrated into the routine school program;
• have the opportunity to reflect upon and justify their own practice;
• be members of instructional teams in the school and be active participants in professional decision making;
• have the opportunity to be involved in a variety of school-based activities directed at the improvement of teaching and learning; and
• collect data on student learning, analyze data, reflect upon their work, and develop strategies for improving learning.

Well-designed and sequenced field experiences help candidates to develop the competence necessary to meet our profession's expectations for successful beginning teachers.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The conceptual model of all teacher preparation programs in the Spadoni College of Education is The Teacher as Reflective Practitioner. Programs are directed, through this model, toward the development of knowledge, skills, and dispositions that will ensure that all candidates are highly qualified and meet all university, state, and national expectations for beginning teachers at the completion of their respective programs of study.