Department of Education

http://www.uvm.edu/~doe/

The Department of Education offers programs that provide initial preparation and advanced training in education related fields birth through higher education.  These include minors, majors, certificates and micro certificates at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral level. Students learn skills to work in public and private settings (e.g., schools, non-profits, for profits, government, and other government institutions.

Requirements for Teacher Preparation Programs

Candidacy

Educator licensure is considered a "professional" program. The professional programs begin with the student enrolling in the College of Education and Social Services as a candidate for licensure. Candidacy status is the stage prior to acceptance into the Professional portion of the Education sequence and, for some programs, may also be available to students enrolled in other colleges at UVM.

Intercollege Transfer

Students transferring to the College of Education and Social Services for any Teacher Education program are required to meet with the Director of Educator Licensure to review courses, GPA’s and other licensing requirements. All of which may differ by program and/or by the state in which licensure is sought

Academic Concentration

All students enrolled in a teacher preparation program are required to complete an academic concentration in the liberal arts and sciences. The academic concentration must consist of eighteen or more credits.

Portfolio Development and Professional Licensure

An electronic summative portfolio assessment is required for licensure recommendation in Vermont. Students begin the portfolio early in the program and use course work, service learning, practicums and internships to complete assignments and reflect on learning in order to demonstrate competency across 10 INTASC standards. Portfolios are assessed by two independent raters and in the case of disagreement are scored again by a third rater. 

Application to Teacher Education

In some programs, candidates must apply to the professional program sequence. Applications are available. Once the candidate’s application is complete, the program faculty will review the materials which include: a record of academic performance at UVM, evidence of superior course work, and passing scores on PRAXIS Core (or fulfillment of this requirement by one of the approved alternate options) as determined by the State Standards Board in Vermont. In some programs, students are required to complete this application and gain acceptance before being eligible to enroll in the professional education courses.

Practicum and Internships

All licensed educators in Vermont are required to participate in a minimum of 60 hours of practicum and 13 weeks of student teaching (internship), with 2 weeks in "full-responsibility" for the classroom. Placement in practicums and internships are dependent on successful progress through the program benchmarks (e.g., content area course work, GPA, Dispositions Rubric).

Teacher Assessment–Demonstration of core competencies and content knowledge

Students are required to demonstrate meeting core competencies through a qualifying score on a state-approved assessment (including SAT/ACT/GRE/Praxis Core) or receiving a grade of B or better in coursework aligned with the core competencies as part of their application to the professional portion of their Teacher Education program. Passing scores must be received by the CESS Director of Teacher Licensure Programs before the student is considered eligible for a teaching internship placement. If the student does not meet these conditions, the student may submit an appeal to the program faculty and Director of Teacher Licensure Programs. A student must achieve a qualifying score on a state-approved content assessment (typically Praxis II) or a commensurate assessment approved by another US state or territory in order to be eligible for an endorsement for teaching.