The Professional Internship

Throughout its programs, the Department stresses the importance of supervised field experiences, which complement on-campus course work in education. The full-time professional internship, student teaching, is the capstone experience of the various teacher education programs. During this activity, there is a developmental process at work that is designed to lead to the professional and personal growth required to enter the profession. The program faculty believes the success of this experience is enhanced when students have the opportunity to work under the supervision and mentoring of experienced College faculty familiar with their previous and ongoing development.

Student teachers are placed in cooperating school districts in the local area and supervision is conducted by College faculty and experienced faculty in the field of education, such as retired education professionals, principals and superintendents with extensive supervisory experience. Requests for exceptions to this policy regarding local placement must be presented formally to the clinical faculty and staff of the Department as a group. To receive such an exception, students must convincingly demonstrate that an alternative placement would be decidedly more beneficial to their professional and personal development than completing the experience at a local site. Convenience or increased visibility for job searching is not considered important enough to earn an exception to Department’s policy regarding local placement.

Note: No courses may be taken concurrently with Education 470 (Professional Internship), Education 490 (Exit Defense of Professional Portfolio), and Education 495, 496, or 497 (Senior Seminars) without the written permission of the Education Department.