51±ŹÁÏ

TEH Section 4: Student Teaching Phase

Student Teaching Phase

Culminating internship for teacher licensure

Student Teaching Placements

Before a student teaching placement will be arranged for you, you must maintain eligibility to student teach according to catalog policy. The eligibility criteria include coursework requirements, GPA, disposition standards, and any other criteria as specified by your Program Area Faculty and/or College. The following are important points to guide the student teaching placement process:

  1. Prior to participating in your student teaching semester, you are required to enter the to complete the Student Teaching Application. Using the Clinical Experience link, you will complete the Student Teaching Application one year prior to student teaching. Importantly, Student Teaching Application deadlines are program specific. Information on program timelines is available each semester on the Clinical Experience website.
  2. Please keep in mind that you are not permitted to student teach in the same school district where you are employed, your relatives are employed, your children are attending, or from where you have graduated within the last 10 years.
  3. Generally, placements are made within a 50-mile radius of the Kent Campus and/or your residence. You are responsible for having reliable transportation to and from your placement site and for all other necessary travel that is a part of student teaching.
  4. The Vacca Office of Student Services makes all arrangements for student teaching on the Kent Campus; therefore, any other attempts to make one's own student teaching placement is not allowed. Under no circumstances are you to contact any school district personnel with the intention of securing your own placement. 
  5. The Clinical Experience Placement office reserves the right to change your student teaching placement site if it is deemed to be inappropriate, insufficient, or contrary to the expectations, policies, and practices of our teacher preparation programs.

Consortium of Overseas Student Teaching (COST) Program

There is an amazing opportunity where you may complete student teaching in a school abroad.  However, the same procedures for applying for student teaching apply, including applying for student teaching with the Vacca Office of Student Services (VOSS) one year in advance and completing all required trainings before the start of student teaching. You will need to submit an additional application to the Consortium of Overseas Student Teaching (COST) program to complete student teaching in another country. For more information on the COST program and deadline dates for application submissions, please visit the COST program website.

If you participate in the COST program, you will study abroad the last 8 weeks of the semester and will be placed in an Ohio school for the first 8 weeks so you can complete the planning, implementation, and recording of the K-STEP.

As expected, all professional conduct and expected behaviors for domestic placements for student teaching apply to all student teaching placements abroad.  In addition, you will be required to comply with all requirements of the school abroad. You should communicate with your supervisors and mentor teachers abroad before beginning your student teaching.

On-the-Job Student Teaching Placements

Student teaching is the culminating experience in the preparation of student teacher candidates. The expected student teaching experience includes coaching, mentoring, modeling, exploring, reflecting, and more. In very limited cases, when extraordinary circumstance(s) exist, if you are currently employed as a classroom teacher in the content area in which you are seeking licensure, you may submit a written application to complete the student teaching requirement ‘on-the-job’. We will examine each request on an individual basis based on the following criteria:

  1. All program standards for eligibility to student teach must be met and the Student Teaching Application must be submitted to 304 White Hall. Registration in the appropriate student teaching course and seminar (if required) for the semester is mandatory.
  2. Student teaching will consist of a full-time supervised experience, in accordance with the standard length of time as prescribed by your program area. You will complete all student teaching assessments and assignments, including the K-STEP, unless specified otherwise by the Program Coordinator or Assistant Director of Clinical Experiences.
  3. The school principal and superintendent of your school district must endorse their support of your student teaching experience via formal letters addressed to Renee Brown, Assistant Director of Clinical Experiences, rbrow156@kent.edu, 304 White Hall, 51±ŹÁÏ. These letters should be attached to the Student Teaching Application. The principal and superintendent must also identify a classroom teacher employed in the school/school district with the same license/certification and at least three years of experience, who will serve as your mentor during the student teaching experience.
  4. Your current teaching position must represent your intended area of license/certification. For example, if you are teaching Spanish at the high school level, then your license/certification request must be in that content area and with the appropriate age level.
  5. A university supervisor will be assigned to you during your student teaching experience and will observe and evaluate your performance. The university supervisor will observe you in your classroom. All student teaching evaluation forms will be completed by the university supervisor and the mentor teacher, and submitted into the Faculty Portal by the end of the student teaching semester.
  6. An ‘On-the-Job’ application (see Appendix F) must be submitted to the Assistant Director of Clinical Experience, along with the other forms and information listed above. The beginning and ending dates for your student teaching experience will be arranged by the Assistant Director of Clinical Experiences, 304 White Hall, in coordination with your respective program faculty.

Any further questions or concerns should be addressed to the Assistant Director of Clinical Experiences, 304 White Hall, email: rbrow156@kent.edu; phone (330) 672-0541, fax (330) 6726277.

Exceptions to Student Teaching

To participate in the student teaching experience, you must have met all of the program requirements in order to be fully eligible. This includes having an overall 2.75 GPA and having met the major GPA as required by individual programs. In addition, you must have completed all required courses and received a rating of “acceptable” on all program disposition assessments. In rare circumstances, exceptions may be made with the approval of the Director of Educator Preparation in the College of EHHS. Each program has identified these rare circumstances so please refer to your Program Coordinator for specific information on these exceptions. It is important to note that the Director of Educator Preparation will not approve any exception requests for taking more than one course during the student teaching semester or more than 2 courses after the student teaching semester. Students seeking approval for an exception must complete the appropriate Exceptions to Student Teaching Form (see Appendix G) and abide by the following:

  1. We ask that you meet with a professional advisor to review graduation and student teaching requirements. The professional advisor will provide you with the link needed to request an exception to student teach and review the directions of this process.
  2. We also require you to meet with a faculty advisor to review the situation. The faculty advisor will include comments and indicate whether they support the request for an exception to student teach on the Exceptions to Student Teaching Form.
  3. Fully submitted applications should be sent to etesta@kent.edu for approval.
  4. The Director of Educator Preparation will review the request, make the final decision to accept or reject the request, and notify you, the faculty advisor, the professional advisor, and the Assistant Director of Clinical Experiences of the final decision.
  5. The completed Exceptions to Student Teaching form will then be scanned into your KSU Advising file.

Appealing an Exceptions to Student Teaching Decision

There are times when a faculty advisor will deny your petition for exception to student teaching. If you want to appeal this decision, contact the Director of Educator Preparation, Dr. Lisa Testa at etesta@kent.edu with your application and an explanation as to why your exception should be approved. The Director will review this appeal, make a final decision, and inform you, the faculty advisor, and professional advisor.

Professional Conduct and Expected Behaviors

We would all agree that while working as a student teacher, it is important to always conduct yourself in a professional manner. In addition, there are several professional behaviors that are expected of you, as a student teacher. Please review the following guidelines that outline the professional expectations for all student teachers:

  1. You should meet with the mentor teacher and university supervisor to cooperatively address problems as they arise. If needed, the Program Coordinator will be contacted by the Assistant Director of Clinical Experiences for faculty advisement.
  2. To be successful in student teaching, it is a collaborative effort. We want you to realize your responsibilities as learners, study the teaching-learning process, and as co-teachers, increase instructional responsibilities from day-to-day.  
  3. In general, you will follow the same school policies and expectations that are followed by licensed teachers as written in the
  4. As a student teacher, we expect that you will be punctual when arriving at school, attend scheduled classes, and attend meetings in accordance with school regulations.
  5. We ask that you become familiar with and abide by school policies and maintain confidentiality about student or school personnel issues.
  6. We expect that you will responsibly communicate with your university supervisor to inform them about your progress, problems, or any other matters that may need the supervisor's attention.
  7. The teaching profession requires that its members possess high standards of personal conduct. You are asked to follow the common standards of professional conduct and the personal appearance standards as specified by the placement site’s teacher handbook or by the administrator in charge.
  8. You are required to obtain the Pre-Service Teacher Permit before you begin student teaching. The Pre-service Teacher permit is valid for either 3 years or 1 year and requires current background checks to be sent to the State Board of Education at the time of application. When completing background checks, request that both, the BCII and FBI results, are mailed to you. NOTE: Do not send background check results to 51±ŹÁÏ or the student teaching placement site.
  9. You will be removed from a placement site if there is any indication of drug and/or alcohol use on school property or at school functions.
  10. In case of illness or an emergency that will result in an absence from student teaching, you are to contact your mentor teacher immediately. The university supervisor must be notified as well, whether or not an observation is planned.
  11. You are not permitted to administer medications to students.
  12. The student teaching experience is considered a full-time job that requires your full commitment and professional dedication. Thus, you should not expect to be employed, nor compensated, by any other agency or institution during the regularly scheduled hours of your student teaching placement.
  13.  For serious problems or problems that continue after a warning has been issued to you, a Professional Development Plan (PDP) will be established with the mentor teacher, university supervisor, KSU faculty, and you. The PDP describes the problem area(s) and an action plan to resolve this problem. The PDP will include a timeframe by which this problem must be resolved to pass student teaching. Documentation of all actions pertaining to the implementation of the PDP must be objective, accurate, and thorough. This documentation should be included under the Disposition Assessment in the and .
  14. If for any reason the school placement site administration requests that you are to be removed from the classroom, the Vacca Office of Student Services will comply with this request.

Refer to the Student Teaching Handbook on the Clinical Experience webpage for additional information.

Student Teaching Performance Evaluations

Midterm and Summative Student Teaching Performance Evaluations

You will be evaluated on your performance during student teaching (see Appendix H for student teaching evaluation). The evaluation occurs at the midterm and summative phases of student teaching. The mentor teacher and university supervisor will complete these student teaching performance evaluations.

  1. Use: This evaluation serves as both the midterm and final student teaching evaluation. On the final evaluation, all items must be assessed. The scores on this evaluation are utilized to determine whether you have met the expectations of performance for student teaching. The data are used for candidate evaluation, program improvement, and monitoring.
  2. Content: The tool’s items are aligned with the Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession, InTASC, CAEP, and other relevant elements identified by program faculty and P-12 stakeholders consulted when developing the tool.
  3. Scoring: It is completed by both the mentor teacher and the university supervisor (based on in-class observations and conversations with you). It is important to note that you are only expected to achieve the “Meets Expectations” performance level for each standard. The “Exemplary” category is provided to inform you as to what behavior or achievement is above and beyond what is expected. Standards marked “Exemplary” will not be given any additional weight in point calculation—they are factored in at the same value as “Meets Expectations.” Furthermore, an “Exemplary” will not override an “Emerging” or “Below Expectations” of another standard. We advise mentor teachers and supervisors to use the “Exemplary” rating only when you meet all aspects of the performance standard. To achieve satisfactory performance on the assessment, you must have no fewer than 17 “Meets Expectations” standard ratings, with no items marked as “Below Expectations or Not Met” on the final student teaching evaluation.

Disposition Assessments Required for Student Teaching

A disposition assessment is completed numerous times throughout your teacher education program, which includes student teaching. In addition, a disposition assessment may be completed by a faculty member at any time a situation calls for it. By the completion of student teaching, all disposition standards must be rated as “Meets Expectations.” After a faculty member or university supervisor has completed the disposition assessment, an automated email will be sent to you indicating that the assessment form needs to be signed. We ask that you go into the to sign the form. If a Professional Development Plan (PDP) is needed, you will be directed through an email to create a PDP in the Student Portal. Without your signature (and completion of the terms of the PDP if one is required), successful completion of student teaching and graduation may be denied.

The Professional Development Plan (PDP) steps and procedures:
  1. A PDP will need to be completed if you
    1. Receive an “Emerging or Below Expectations” on one or more of the disposition assessment standards
    2. Do not have the "Does Not Need to Complete a PDP" box checked by the evaluator on the disposition assessment form
  2. You are to complete the PDP by entering what you will do to improve your performance on the assessment standards on which you received a “Below Expectations or Emerging."
  3. The PDP is expected to be completed by the due date specified on the Disposition Assessment form assigned by the evaluator. We ask for you to be responsible for completing the PDP and arranging a meeting with your evaluator to have it approved. 
  4. Along with your evaluator, you have access to modify the PDP until the evaluator electronically signs the document in the EHHS Faculty/Staff Portal.
  5. Once the evaluator has signed the document, you will also need to sign it for the document to be considered complete.

Kent Summative Teacher Education Project (K-STEP)

During your student teaching semester, you will complete the Kent Summative Teacher Education Project (i.e., K-STEP) by the deadline set by the Director of Educator Preparation or your program (whichever is earlier). The K-STEP is designed to develop and evaluate your ability to plan for instruction, use instructional strategies, and assess student learning during your final student teaching experience. The passing score for this assessment will be submission and receiving a completion score, but the “meets expectations” performance level on the rubric is the target for each criterion. 

For this assessment, you will develop lesson plans and assessments that demonstrate your ability to prepare for instruction. You will also deploy assessments and analyze the resulting data for formative and summative assessments. Based on the teaching and learning from one lesson to another and based on data gathered from formative assessment, you will be asked to reflect upon and adjust your planning and instruction for the next lessons.

As you complete the tasks, you will respond to several narrative prompts. These prompts will ask you to explain your thought processes and decisions as you plan and deliver instructions and discuss your findings from the assessment data. Video recordings are a required component of the project, and several narrative prompts will require you to refer to the video submissions.

Materials for the K-STEP will be available online for all student teachers via Canvas (see the KSTEP Student Teaching page). In the early weeks of the student teaching semester, you will distribute a letter to inform students and families of the K-STEP process, including the video clips necessary for the portfolio. You will collect a consent form to obtain parent/guardian/student permission to participate in the K-STEP process. For all teacher education programs, the final deadline for K-STEP submissions is the end of the 10th week, however, if a program has an earlier due date specified by the Inquiry Seminar instructor, the earlier date is the due date for that program. 

The cost of completing the K-STEP is $150. This is the teacher education fee located on your student teaching semester bill. 

Completion of the K-STEP is one of the requirements for passing student teaching. A cut score of 39 is considered passing for student teaching. If you score below a 39, you will work with your Inquiry course instructor for opportunities to revise and resubmit.

Modules

Students in a teacher licensure program must demonstrate mastery of several topics that are legally mandated by the state of Ohio for all teacher education programs. While most of these topics are integrated into our programs, introductory modules have been created that will introduce you to additional topics required by law.

The following modules must be completed successfully by you before you can apply for licensure:

  1. Computer Science
  2. Dyslexia
  3. Ohio Resident Educator
  4. Ohio School Operating Standards
  5. Ohio Standards for Professional Development
  6. Opioid Use Prevention
  7. Value Added

These modules are included in the requirements of various courses throughout each program and must be completed in the If all the modules are not completed successfully, you will not be able to complete the pre-licensure application as one of the steps to obtaining your licensure.

Student Surveys

Ohio Resident Educators’ Survey

To gather information on alumni satisfaction with the quality of preparation provided by their educator preparation programs, the Ohio Department of Higher Education administers a survey aligned with the Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession (OSTP), Ohio licensure requirements, and elements of national accreditation. All Ohio Resident Educators who complete their preparation in Ohio receive an invitation to complete the survey in the fall semester as they enter Year 2 of the Resident Educator program (Ohio Educator Preparation Provider Performance Report: 51±ŹÁÏ, 2020). Survey results are reported as part of the state’s educator performance reports. are accessible online.

EHHS Alumni Survey

To gather information on job placement and alumni satisfaction with the quality of their educator preparation programs, 51±ŹÁÏ distributes a survey to graduating students. This survey will be distributed to you via email.

Barriers and Roadblocks for the Student Teaching Phase

Professional Education Warning and Not Permitted to Continue 

While GPA is just one facet of understanding your preparedness of the classroom, it is one that provides some insight into your acquisition of both the content and pedagogical knowledge that is necessary to successfully conduct a classroom. As a student in a teacher licensure program, you are required to have a minimum 2.75 GPA to progress in your program and ultimately graduate. If your cumulative GPA drops below a 2.75, for the first time you will be placed on Professional Education Warning (PEW). You will have 2 semesters to bring your cumulative GPA up to a 2.75 and must receive a term GPA of a 2.75 for every semester after being placed on Professional Education Warning. Unfortunately, if you fail to meet this requirement, you will be Not Permitted to Continue (NPC) in your major and will be required to change major. You may opt to declare EHSG until you are able to raise your cumulative GPA up to a 2.75 or may choose to declare another major in EHHS or in another college.

If you are Not Permitted to Continue (NPC) in your major, you will be deregistered from any Advanced Study courses in which you are enrolled for the next term including Student Teaching and Inquiry Seminar. You will be unable to take any Advanced Study courses until your GPA is back up to a 2.75 and you declare your teacher education major.

GPA for Student Teaching

Before being approved for student teaching, you must have a 2.75 cumulative GPA and major/content GPA (where applicable) that is required for graduation as listed in the catalog. If you do not meet the minimum GPA for student teaching, you will be required to retake courses and reapply for students teaching for the next semester in which student teaching is offered for your program.

Challenges in Completing Requirements Before Student Teaching

You will be reviewed for eligibility for student teaching by the Vacca Office of Student Services (or equivalent for Regional campuses) immediately before student teaching. Due to extenuating circumstances, you may not have completed all required courses for your program expected prior to student teaching. Unfortunately, this would not allow you to student teach until you have completed all required courses for your program except for Student Teaching and Inquiry Seminar.

If you have missing requirements, your student teaching placement will be placed on hold and you will not be permitted to student teach until the missing requirement(s) has been resolved and addressed. This may mean that you will have to delay student teaching until the following semester. You can request to have an exception granted, which will allow you to possibly student teach with missing requirements. To make this request, students must meet with their faculty advisor and complete a petition for exception to this policy called an “Exception to Student Teaching.” Note that approval of these exceptions is extremely rare and only granted for extenuating circumstances.

Professional Studies and other Majors in Arts and Sciences

Sometimes students may struggle to maintain the required GPA or may face other challenges that keep them from successfully completing their teacher education program. Those students may be encouraged to explore the Professional Studies major. This degree completion program allows students in teacher education programs to maximize the use of the credits they have already earned while allowing a student to stay on track to graduate as planned. If you decide to change from your teacher education program to Professional Studies, you must inform the Assistant Director of Clinical Experiences, your program coordinator, and meet with a professional advisor in the Vacca Office of Student Services. Professional Studies is a nonlicensure program and will not qualify you to apply for a teaching license upon completion of this major. In this program you are able to create a self-guided major with your remaining coursework and are encouraged to add minors or certificates to help prepare you for your career or graduate school goals. A 2.00 is required to declare and graduate with a degree in Professional Studies.

You may also want to explore parallel majors in the College of Arts and Sciences (i.e., History for Integrated Social Studies, English for Integrated Language Arts majors). Note that additional requirements will need to be determined by an advisor for that program area.

Professional Dispositions for Teacher Candidates

You must have satisfactory disposition assessments on file to pass student teaching. If you are required to complete a Professional Development Plan (PDP), you must have this resolved and signed before you are able to pass student teaching, graduate, and apply for a license.

Incompletion of Student Teaching

On rare occasions, students who start a student teaching placement are unable to complete student teaching. There are a variety of reasons for this, which can range from medical or personal circumstances to performance in student teaching. Each situation is reviewed and evaluated on a case-by-case basis and there is the potential for a variety of outcomes.

In Progress (IP)

The University policy on IP Grades states: The mark ‘In Progress’ (IP) may be given to students to indicate that work is in progress toward a thesis, dissertation, research, individual investigation or a similar effort that requires additional time beyond a semester. A grade will be given when the work is completed. The IP mark can be utilized only in designated courses and remains a terminal mark if the student does not complete the requirements for the course. For courses required for a degree or certificate, a grade must be given before the credential may be granted. The IP mark is not counted in grade point averages.

An IP is granted when the student needs additional time to complete the requirements for a course but has otherwise been making progress toward completion and is in good standing in the course. Assignment of this grade is at the discretion of the instructor of the course and is not guaranteed. If an IP grade is submitted, the student will need to complete the remaining requirement in a subsequent term before a grade and credit can be earned.

Withdrawal 

The University policy on W grades states: The mark ‘Withdrawal’ (W) denotes that the student has withdrawn from the university or from any individual course without evaluation. For courses in the College of Podiatric Medicine, this mark is given to students who withdraw prior to midterm exams. The W mark is not counted in grade point averages.

A student may elect to withdraw from student teaching if they are within the withdraw period. In this case, you will not earn a grade or credit for student teaching. If approved, you will need to register and pay for student teaching a second time in a future semester. The decision to withdraw within the timeline allowed is up to you, but communication with the instructor is critical. We recommend that you talk with your faculty advisor about the potential for returning in the future to retake student teaching. Another option for you is to consider Professional Studies or another degree.

Failing Grade in Student Teaching

An instructor may assign a grade in student teaching of F (as well as SF or NF) indicating that student teaching was not completed successfully. The F grade counts into the major and cumulative GPA. If you fail student teaching, you cannot graduate with a degree program in teacher education. We suggest that you communicate with your instructor and faculty advisor to see whether the possibility of returning in a subsequent semester for student teaching is possible. If approved, you will need to register and pay for student teaching a second time in a future semester. Another option for you is to consider Professional Studies or another degree.

Last updated July 23, 2025

Teacher Education Handbook

Appendix

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