Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, March 15, 2024
(1) For the purpose of this rule, unless the
context clearly requires otherwise, the following terms shall mean:
(A) Accredited nonpublic school. A school
that has met the standards of a state recognized accrediting agency and has
received the approval of such agency;
(B) Board. Missouri State Board of
Education;
(C) Clinical
experiences. Supervised student teaching or internships that are conducted in
approved educational settings such as a public or accredited nonpublic school
or classroom. Students in professional education programs are immersed in the
learning community and are provided opportunities to develop and demonstrate
competence in the professional roles for which they are preparing;
(D) Clinical faculty. Faculty from schools,
preschool-grade twelve (12), and institutions of higher education responsible
for instructing, supervising, and assessing preservice education students
during student teaching assignments, internships, or other field
experiences;
(E) Cooperating
teacher. A teacher with at least three (3) years experience in a public or
accredited nonpublic school setting, having professional classification
certification in the content area and grade range being taught, with whom
preservice students are placed for student teaching or other field experiences
to fulfill the requirements of a professional education program;
(F) Field experiences. Venues in which
students in professional education programs may observe, assist, tutor,
instruct, and/or conduct research. Field experiences may occur in off-campus
settings such as public or accredited nonpublic schools or
classrooms;
(G) Internship. A
post-licensure or graduate clinical experience under the supervision of
clinical faculty; may also refer to a preservice clinical experience;
(H) Mentor. An experienced teacher,
administrator, or other school professional with appropriate certification who
provides support to a beginning educator by providing instruction, coaching,
counseling or other assistance in the performance of his/her duties and
responsibilities;
(I) Preservice.
The period of time during which a student is undergoing professional training
to become a teacher, administrator or other certificated school employee;
and/or
(J) Teacher assistant. An
individual who assistant or aide is serving in a classroom under the
supervision of a certificated teacher with responsibilities comparable to a
certificated teacher in a public school or accredited non-public school
setting.
(2) Each
institution of higher education offering professional education program(s) for
teacher certification shall require preservice teacher education students to
complete clinical and other field experiences under the supervision of a
qualified cooperating teacher and a qualified clinical faculty member from the
institution's professional education program in accordance with rules
promulgated by the board, with the following exception:
(A) Programs having preservice teacher
education students who have been employed in public or accredited nonpublic
schools for at least two (2) years as teacher assistants shall accept such
experiences in lieu of the conventional student teaching requirement if the
following conditions are met:
1. The
preservice student's experience as a teacher assistant was concurrent with the
student's participation in the professional education program and in the same
content area and grade range for which the student is seeking
certification;
2. The teacher
assistant shall have conducted teaching activities comparable to those required
for other preservice education students in conventional student teaching
placements and demonstrating similar competencies;
3. The teacher with whom the teacher
assistant served meets the qualifications for a cooperating teacher, as defined
in this rule;
4. The teacher with
whom the teacher assistant served has been provided training for observing and
evaluating the assistant's teaching practice through the institution providing
the assistant's professional education program or through the school or
district's mentor training program; and
5. The teacher assistant has been working
with permission and under the authority of the principal of the school or a
designee.
*Original authority: 161.092, RSMo 1963, amended 1973,
2002; 161.097, RSMo 1985; 168.021, RSMo 1963, amended 1973, 1984, 1988, 1990,
1998, 2000; and 168.400, RSMo 1985, amended 1990,
2002.