Council on Teacher Education

Successful Completion of an Educator Licensure Program (Programs)

Exceeding Minimum Requirements: If a program has requirements that exceed the minimum requirements established by the Council on Teacher Education, those requirements must be communicated in writing to educator licensure candidates within the program. It will be the responsibility of the program to monitor and enforce any standards that exceed the minimum requirements established below.  For any program decisions or actions that impact a student’s ability to continue in the licensure program, or other factors impacting their progression along the licensure path, the program must notify the Council on Teacher Education. 

Educator licensure candidates must meet all requirements of their respective educator preparation programs for licensure. They must also do the following:

• Submit time reports of field experiences and student teaching experiences for approval by cooperating teachers and university supervisors
• Satisfactorily meet the minimum requirements of their respective program’s evaluation of their field experience. Educational Practice (student teaching) courses are graded on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U)basis.
• Comply with all other program-defined responsibilities

Minimum requirements for content area and professional education coursework for all programs include the following:

• A grade of “C-” or better must be earned for all content and professional education courses
• A cumulative grade point average of “2.5” must be maintained by undergraduate students or notification of academic warning will be issued
• Undergraduate students with a grade point average lower than “2.5” will not be permitted to student teach without an approved petition
• A grade point average of “3.0” must be maintained by graduate and certificate of advanced study students or notification of academic warning will be issued
• Sustained academic performance below the grade point average threshold puts a student at risk of being dropped from the licensure program
• No grade of “Unsatisfactory” may be earned for applicable courses required for licensure

Focused Development Plan: Educator licensure program personnel must write a Focused Development Plan on behalf of an educator licensure candidate if a grade of “Unsatisfactory” is considered during the clinical experiences. Elements of successful remediation are considered on a student-by-student basis. (Please see policy labeled Focused Development Plan for further details related to writing Focused Development Plans.)

Required Documentation: The following program information must be on file with the Council on Teacher Education:

• Field experiences associated with licensure courses listed and described
• Criteria used for determining successful completion of field coursework including, but not limited to, a description of how field experiences inform the final course grade
• Minimum program requirements for passing student teaching, including, but not limited to, the following:

- Evaluation instrument used and the acceptable scores for the instrument

- Academic coursework

Required Assessment/Evaluation Process: Early field experiences  and student teaching/internship experiences must have an assessment and evaluation process that provides for ongoing feedback focused on educator licensure candidate growth. For initial teaching licensure programs, at least one performance-based assessment aligned with the CoTE EFE instrument must be administered to provide candidates with formal evaluation and feedback on their performance prior to student teaching.

During the student teaching experience, a program may elect to assign a grade of “Unsatisfactory.” The reasons for assigning a grade of “Unsatisfactory” may be related to, but are not limited to, the following:

• The educator licensure candidate fails to meet minimum requirements of the student teaching experience.
• The educator licensure candidate exercises poor personal and professional judgment which impairs their effectiveness in the placement.
• The educator licensure candidate’s instructional performance remains at the “Unsatisfactory” level throughout the experience.
• The educator licensure candidate is unable or unwilling to meet the time demands of student teaching.