Placement Policies and Procedures

General Placement Process

Placement Decisions Policy

Placements are made by the Office of Educator Preparation and Partnerships (OEPP) in partnership with P-12 schools and collaboration with the program area, and are based on the following factors:

1. Eligibility of the Teacher Candidate (TC).
2. Quality and availability of approved field sites within a 70-mile radius of BGSU.
3. The TC’s previous field experiences to ensure a diverse placement.
4. Availability of qualified University Mentor (UM) and Classroom Mentor Teacher (CMT).
5. Location of TC’s prior school experience. TCs are not to complete their professional year in schools they attended or from which they graduated or are employed.
6. TCs are not placed in a school where a close family, friend, or relative is attending or professionally employed.

Eligibility

Students must be fully admitted to the College of Education and Human Development and accepted into their programs, have successfully completed all prerequisite courses, met any minimum grade requirements, have completed 90 hours of university coursework, and earned the minimum BGSU cumulative GPA and major GPA required for their program by the end of the semester prior to methods and/or student teaching/internship. Students who are declared ineligible for student teaching/internship have the right to appeal to the academic program coordinator.

Sign-up

Students apply for methods and/or student teaching/internship placements at sign-up meetings held the semester prior to the term they will be completing the experience. Separate meetings are held for each program and it is the student’s responsibility to attend this important and required meeting.

Placement

The Office of Educator Preparation and Partnerships obtains all student teaching/internship placements. Students may not arrange their own placements. Students will not be placed in a school where a family member or relative is professionally employed, where the student attended, or from which they graduated. Although student preferences are taken into consideration, they often cannot be guaranteed. Students are placed in approximately a 60-mile radius of Bowling Green and are responsible for their own transportation to and from the site. We strongly recommend that students obtain additional travel and liability insurance prior to beginning the experience, either from their insurance agent or through BGSU. BGSU also offers international and out-of-state student teaching/internship options for selected students.

Interview Policy

TCs are to interview with their CMTs prior to the start of their professional year and/or for each subsequent placement.

Interview Procedure

Upon notification of the placement site and CMT, the TC is to call the school and request a date and time for an interview with the CMT. If possible, the interview schedule should allow time for observation of the CMT working with a class in addition to the opportunity for discussion of teaching goals and philosophies. Interview forms, after being signed by the CMT or the principal, are to be returned to the Office of Educator Preparation and Partnerships (OEPP). No placement is finalized until a successful interview has been completed. Forms are to be sent/delivered to the Office of Educator Preparation and Partnerships, 101 Education Building, as soon as the interview has been completed.

Placement Changes Policy

Changes in placements are extremely rare due to the limited number of available sites and the importance of maintaining positive working relationships with school partners. It is the responsibility of the Assistant Dean for Educator Preparation and Partnerships to determine if a change in placement is to be made. Placement change requests should be made only after thorough investigation of all circumstances and an attempt has been made to resolve issues. Placement changes will only be considered after conferences with the relevant parties through a Student Support Team (SST) meeting.

NOTE: Dismissal from a school for methods and student teaching internship will result in a failure in methods or student teaching internship and will be referred to the SST.

Transient Student Teaching (Hardship)

All requests by Teacher Candidates (TCs) to complete student teaching internship outside Bowling Green State University’s geographical area (70-mile radius from BGSU) must be submitted in writing on the official Student Teaching Internship/Transient Status Request Application Form. TCs can find the Transient Status Request forms in the Office of Educator Preparation and Partnerships). The TC must be in good standing, with GPA requirements for program met, and prerequisites taken or in place to be finished before the student teaching internship semester.

• 1. TC needs to complete the form(s), including the necessary attachments:
     1. Transient Status Request Application Form
     2. Cover letter explaining hardship, along with documentation (i.e. letters from physician, marriage license, military orders, etc.)
     3. Official transcript
     4. Student teaching internship personal data sheet
     5. Three (3) recommendation forms (see #5 below)
     6. Current BCI&I/FBI background check
     7. Check/money order for non-refundable $200 processing fee
  2. Return the Transient Status Request Application with all materials to the OEPP, in 101 Education Building.  Deadlines for request submission:
     •  
       1. Spring Semester student teaching: August 31 of the preceding year
       2. Fall Semester student teaching: January 31 of the same year
  3. Applications will be submitted and reviewed by the Transient Review Committee. Within four weeks of the due date(s) listed above, the committee will approve or deny transient status. The Committee will consist of three (3) program coordinators from the School of Teaching and Learning, School of Intervention Specialist, Physical Education/Health Education, Art Education, and/or Music Education. If the program area coordinator for the student who is requesting is not one of the committee members, he/she will be present and a voting member.  The Assistant Dean for OEPP will be a voting member.  The Associate Dean of Student and Academic Affairs of the College of Education and Human Development (EDHD) will serve as an ex officio member. Appeals to a decision will be submitted to the EDHD Associate Dean of Student and Academic Affairs.
  4. If support fees exceed BGSU rates, TC will be notified of anticipated additional costs. Support fees include expense for Classroom Mentor Teacher (CMT), University Mentor (UM), and/or processing fee if an additional university will be assisting with the placement, etc. Some universities may require payment directly to them or the assigned UM appointed by their university.
  5. Students will be required to distribute three (3) recommendation forms to BGSU faculty specifically from EDHD or BGSU Methods or Content Area Instructors to complete in support of the student’s request for transient status. All three recommendation forms must be received in the OEPP by the application due date specified for the semester requested.
  6. If the student’s application is approved by the committee, communication will begin to request distant placement. The time for notification of a placement will depend on availability of a placement site and securing a UM within the designated area. The OEPP  will:
     1. Confirm student teaching/internship eligibility
     2. Contact host institution to see if placement is feasible in the area requested
     3. Contact the student with the total addition of costs, if any, and student will have one week to accept or reject continuance of this request.
  7. If a Request Application has been approved by the committee, but the Office of Educator Preparation and Partnerships (OEPP) is not able to secure a placement and a qualified UM in the requested area, the nonrefundable $200 processing fee will be applied to the student’s Bursar account. The OEPP will initiate the paperwork to secure a student teaching internship placement in BGSU’s geographical placement area.

Definition of Hardship

A student teaching internship applicant will be considered to be a hardship case when he/she has been compelled to change his/her place of residence to an area in which student teaching internship supervision is not provided by Bowling Green State University. The reason for such change of residence will involve such circumstances:

1. Serious terminal illness or death of an immediate TC (Teacher Candidate) family member* which includes spouse, son, daughter, or parent (not a parent by in-law), from which the care of the TC is deemed necessary and documentable;
2. Serious illness of a TC needing specific medical care to continue with schooling;
3. Care of TC’s small children for which family assistance is required due to separation, divorce or illness, or death of TC’s spouse;
4. Location of employment of the spouse of the TC. This will include circumstances such as military service or a change in residence due to the marriage of a TC before or during the TC’s teaching semester;
5. Extenuating circumstances on an individual case basis with supportive documentation. This will exclude financial hardship solely due to normal living expenses, gas and/or travel expenses, possibility of job opportunity, etc.

*Refer to Transient Status Request forms for definition per Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA)