Student Teaching Policies | Education Department

As one of the requirements to be approved to student teach, students must have taken and passed at least 90% of required coursework in both the major and minor areas of study prior to the start of the student teaching experience.

Adopted August 25, 2015

The Education Department aims to provide students with a wealth of field experiences in order to expose them to diverse educational settings, culminating in the student teaching placement. At the same time, these placements provide the initial experiences for the student teacher to develop their emerging professional identity. For these reasons, student teaching placements will not be made in the student teacher’s home district. Additionally, placements will not be made in a district where an immediate family member is employed.

Students are welcome to make requests regarding district, school and cooperating teacher preferences. However, the request is just a request, not a guarantee of the placement, as numerous factors must be considered for an appropriate placement.

All final placement decisions are made at the discretion of the Director of Student Teaching.

Effective August 22, 2023

All students will student teach in their major areas. Requests to also student teach in their minor areas will be considered.

Effective November 13, 2002

During the placement process for student teaching, Hope College faculty/staff in the Education Department will make requests on behalf of upcoming student teachers according to State and Departmental rules and processes. In some very rare cases, despite earnest efforts, and through no fault of the student, it may not be possible to secure a student teaching placement in the planned semester due to exceptionally limited options in the field. In this case, the student teacher will be notified of the need to postpone the student teaching placement. The Director of Student Teaching and/or designee will continue to seek an appropriate placement for the following semester.

Effective January 19, 2011

When a student seeks an unofficial, off-campus student teaching placement, the Director of Student will attempt to secure said placement in a timely manner. Attempts will continue until three weeks prior to the end of the semester, at which point the off-campus placement process will be terminated. At that point, the student will be informed by the Director of Student Teaching that a placement close to campus will instead be sought as an alternative.

Effective October 11, 2012

During the placement process for student teaching, Hope College faculty/staff in the Education Department will make requests on behalf of upcoming student teachers according to State and Departmental rules and processes. In some rare cases, despite earnest efforts, it may not be possible to secure a student teaching placement in the planned semester due to poor performance of the student teacher during the placement process. Per normal process, once a placement has been conditionally secured, the student teacher will submit to an interview with the proposed cooperating teacher(s) and/or building administrator. If the student teacher fails to secure a placement after three such interviews (due to poor interview skills, lack of appropriate responses, poor demonstration of content knowledge, weak social skills, probationary status, etc.), the student teacher will be required to draw up a Plan of Improvement and withdraw his/her application for student teaching. The Plan of Improvement will need to be completed to the satisfaction of the Director of Student Teaching before any additional attempts will be made to secure another student teaching placement. This means that the student teaching placement will be delayed by at least one semester.

Effective January 19, 2011

On occasion, teacher candidates have struggled in the professional education sequence to be effective and successful. Often, concerns are raised prior to the student teaching experience for a variety of reasons by faculty members from the Education Department and/or major areas of study. In other cases, clinical experience mentor teachers have identified areas of concern and/or recommended a teacher candidate “with reservations.” In these cases, department policy mandates that students will be placed on probationary status at the start of the student teaching semester in order to carefully monitor their progress and provide additional, focused support. The purpose of this procedure is to provide a consistent and fair approach to the student teacher who is beginning his/her placement at some risk, while honoring the integrity of the department, College, school and profession.

While most student teachers move through the student teaching experience with general ease, there are times when an individual student teacher may struggle. When this occurs, the cooperating teacher, in consultation with the college supervisor and Director of Student Teaching, may determine that it is appropriate to create a Plan of Support for the student teacher. The purpose of this procedure is to carefully monitor the student teacher’s progress and provide additional, focused support at a midpoint in the student teaching experience. The process is intended to provide a consistent and fair approach to the student teacher while honoring the integrity of the department, College, school and profession.

A student teacher will be given another placement if, in meetings with the student teacher, the cooperating teacher, the college supervisor and the Director of Student Teaching, a change is deemed to be necessary. The reasons for such a change can be a significant personality conflict or an extenuating circumstance – such as an illness or family/school situation that has affected the cooperating teacher’s ability to work with the student. The final decision lies with the Director of Student Teaching.

Adopted April 23, 2003
Updated September 2012

Hope College receives a limited amount of MTTC test vouchers from the Michigan Department of Education each school year. When vouchers are available, they will be provided to students for the following reasons:

Students with significant financial need cannot afford the cost of all required tests. Students in this situation must send a letter requesting the vouchers to the Director of Student Teaching, including the rationale behind their financial need. The details in the letter will remain confidential. If necessary, the Director of Student Teaching may request additional documentation.
A small number of students must take three tests for three endorsements. Vouchers will be provided to cover the cost of the third test.
Occasionally, students do not pass a test on the first attempt. Vouchers will be provided to cover the cost to re-take one test.

A student may only receive vouchers to cover the cost of one test.
All voucher requests should be submitted to the Director of Student Teaching.

Effective August 22, 2023

Student teachers will be strongly discouraged from outside employment, coaching, sports involvement and extracurricular activities during the student teaching semester. In the case, however, that the student does have outside obligations, he/she will inform the Director of Student Teaching of such arrangements and will acknowledge in voice and action that the student teaching assignment takes priority over any other obligations.

Effective December 3, 2003

Students submitting a late application for student teaching will need to:

Meet with the Director of Student Teaching to explore the reasons for the late application. It will be at the discretion of the Director of Student Teaching to determine if the late application will be accepted
Submit a late application fee of $100.00 for processing of the application.

Adopted August 16, 2011

Students seeking an off-campus student teaching placement, whether in an officially approved campus program or an unofficial placement request, must hold a minimum GPA of 3.0 in the following four areas: cumulative, major, minor and Education.

Effective September 2012

In rare occasions, an incident of violence occurs in a K-12 building when an education student is present. When an incident occurs, the following persons are responsible for the actions described below:

Student Teacher:

During the incident, the student teacher is expected to (1) follow school protocol to protect both self and students, (2) immediately notify the cooperating teacher and building administrator of the threat, (3) if possible, de-escalate the conflict.

After the incident, the student teacher will meet with the Director of Student Teaching and building principal to debrief the incident. The student teacher will be given the option of remaining in the placement or moving to another student teaching placement.

Director of Student Teaching:

After receiving notification of the incident, the Director of Student Teaching will meet with the student teacher and building principal to debrief the incident. The Director of Student Teaching will also (1) secure CAPS support for the student teacher, (2) update the Education Department Chair, and (3) meet with the student teacher’s parents, if the meeting is requested and the student teacher has given consent.

If the student teacher has requested a new placement, the Director of Student Teaching will make immediate efforts to secure a new placement.

Effective September 5, 2023