Completion of Student Teaching

• Grading: Student teaching is graded on a Satisfactory/Fail (S/F) basis. A Satisfactory (S) grade is based on the assessments completed during student teaching and on the recommendation of the university supervisor. In order for the candidate to pass the student teaching experience, the candidate cannot earn any scores of “1” and/or no more than one score of “2” in any category on the final evaluation.
• Interruption/Termination of Student Teaching: The final authority for the classroom students’ academic progress rests with the supervising teacher. If the student teaching experience is determined as detrimental to student learning (based on observations, written documentation, and discussions with the university supervisor), the student teaching experience may be terminated.
  
• Eligibility for Incompletes: If student teaching is interrupted and the candidate is doing satisfactory work at the time and/or deemed by supervisors as benefiting from a remediation plan, a grade of Incomplete (I) may be recorded. An arrangement with the Office of Clinical Experiences is required to remove an Incomplete (I) grade. If a student receives a Fail (F) for student teaching, the Director of Clinical Experiences will consult with program faculty and the university supervisor to determine if the candidate could repeat the student teaching experience in its entirety.
  
• Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct: During student teaching/practicum, teacher candidates are still held to the Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct and must behave in accordance with this Code.
  

Calendar and Absences

• It is the policy of Indiana University that teacher candidates will follow the calendar of the respective school corporation. Fall teacher candidates will report the first teacher day of the school corporation. Spring teacher candidates will report the first day back from holiday break. Fall and Spring candidates will honor the school corporation’s breaks (not IU breaks).
• There are no sick days in student teaching. All teacher candidates are expected to fulfill the required number of days of their student teaching assignment. Days missed must be made up. If a teacher candidate is going to be late or miss a day, he/she must notify the school office, the supervising teacher, and the university supervisor. If extenuating circumstances occur, the university supervisor and supervising teacher will meet to discuss extending the experience and make a recommendation accordingly to the teacher candidate. Excessive absences will result in an extension of the student teaching experience or termination.
  

Additional Activity Guidelines

The following activity guidelines must be followed during the student teaching placement:

• A teacher candidate may not act as a paid substitute if the supervising teacher is absent. Teacher candidates may maintain leadership of the class if the supervising teacher is absent for a brief time and if the principal designates a teacher-in-charge who is an employee.
• Candidates are not employees of the school or under contract. They may not receive any payment from the school during the student teaching experience (this includes coaching or other extracurricular activities).
• Candidates may not take courses while student teaching, and are strongly discouraged from holding a job.
• Candidates may not administer or witness corporal punishment.
• Candidates may not transport any student in their own vehicles.
• Candidates may not visit students in their homes or in private, except when accompanied by school personnel as part of an official school activity.
• Candidates should always confer with students in an open, visible, and easily accessible place, both physical and virtual places.
• Candidates may not interact with students on any social media website, or app before, or during their student teaching experience.
• Candidates may not take any unsupervised responsibility for extracurricular events or activities, including school-sponsored trips.
  

Suspected Child Abuse

Under Indiana law any individual who has a reason to believe a child is a victim of abuse or neglect has the duty to make a report; therefore, each citizen of Indiana is considered a “mandated reporter.”  While reporting child abuse is everyone’s responsibility, Indiana law requires a more stringent standard of reporting in some professions. These professional reporters are staff members in a medical or other public or private institution, school, facility, or agency. These reporters are legally obligated by their profession to report alleged child abuse or neglect. School professionals are required to make a report to the Department of Child Services (DCS) or to cause a report to be made immediately by their school or corporation designee. 

Students teachers must be aware of the warning signs of child abuse. If a student teacher observes these warning signs, he or she must talk with the supervising teacher and/or the school’s principal immediately and follow the school’s protocol for making a report or having a report made. In addition, he or she must notify the university supervisor of the situation.