Good afternoon,

In 2013-14 our local school divisions determined that in lieu of requiring a background check for all practicum students each year, they would accept a practicum form modeled after the volunteer form in many school divisions.  We piloted the practicum information form (http://www.jmu.edu/coe/esc/Forms_Practicum.shtml) with the idea that students would submit this form to the office in the school in which they were placed for practicum.  This was found to be inconsistent across divisions, schools and institutes of higher education.

At the request of our partners, in May 2014, a meeting with central office personnel from our seven local school division partners - Shenandoah, Page, Rockingham, Harrisonburg, Augusta, Staunton and Waynesboro - determined a procedure change for increased accountability for practicum students to complete this form and for our programs to check them.  Therefore, our local school divisions would like the ESC to collect and maintain the signed forms on file.  Practicum students cannot be permitted to begin placements until a form has been received by the Education Support Center.

The new one-sided practicum form is attached.  Due to the requirement of a student signature by the schools, and the need for us to be able to fax or scan a copy to them if requested, we have not yet created an electronic process for this form.  For each section of student practicum that is coordinated through the ESC, please make sure that every student submits a completed, signed form to the ESC by September 5th in the fall.  It will be due by the second Friday of each semester. We are requesting that faculty collect the forms from each student PRIOR to giving them their placement information.  (Placements will be sent to program coordinators and/or supervising faculty via email as before.)

Please know that we are working diligently to fulfill program requests as we move forward into the new academic year.  We understand that the process can be lengthy and, at times, cumbersome.  To provide a context, we have 2000 placements (both practicum and student teaching)/year and each placement (from the time the application or request is filed with the ESC to the time when the program is notified of the placement) takes on average 2 hours/placement.  We are working to review the process to make it as responsive, efficient, and effective as possible given the numbers and our present resources.

Please let me or Maggie Kyger know if you have any questions or concerns.  We are committed to a positive partnership with our school divisions and I appreciate any suggestions you might have to make this process as seamless as possible.

Thank you for your help with this new procedure.

Best regards,
Dara

Dara Hall
Teacher Education Admissions and Field Experiences Coordinator
JMU Education Support Center
540-568-2996


############################

To unsubscribe from the COE-TEACHER-EDUCATION-UNIT-L list:
write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
or click the following link:
https://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=COE-TEACHER-EDUCATION-UNIT-L&A=1