Additional Information
Experiences in Schools
Candidates in the professional educator program participate in numerous observation and practice-based field experiences beginning in freshman year through the student teaching experience. Candidates should be prepared to complete a minimum of 170 clinical field hours before student teaching. Field experiences are conducted in public and nonpublic schools within a 20-mile driving distance of the University’s Center Valley campus. The purpose of the program is to further develop, demonstrate, and assess the competencies of the certification program, thereby preparing the candidate for student teaching and eventual fulltime employment as a professional educator. The field program strives to develop sensitivity and culturally responsive attitudes in working with diverse student populations: races, genders, religious beliefs, national origins, and socio-economic backgrounds. All clinical field experiences and student teaching experiences will include field-based reports, evaluation, and feedback by cooperating teachers, University supervisors, and/or peers. See the Field Experiences Guide for Students for additional detail.
Legal Clearances: Requirements for Observation, Field Experiences, and Student Teaching
All students conducting observations or engaged in field experiences must obtain updated legal clearances before engaging in any fieldwork or entering schools. New clearances must be obtained each year before the fall semester. It is the student’s responsibility to provide legal copies to the education office to be kept on file. Required clearances include:
- Act 114 (FBI Fingerprinting)
- Act 34 (PA Criminal History Clearance)
- Act 151 (Child Abuse Clearance)
- PDE-6004 (Arrest/Conviction Report and Certification Form)
- TB test (negative results required)
- ECEE students must provide proof of rubella immunization, both initial inoculation and booster.
Information about clearances is available in the education department office. Students wishing to complete field experience requirements in Allentown Diocesan schools must also complete training in the Protecting God’s Children program and Diocesan signature forms. Other requirements may be mandated by the school or school district at their discretion. Please see the education department office for changes in clearance policies.
Evening Classes
Select Professional Phase courses may be offered in the evening in a hybrid format depending on enrollment demands.
Comprehensive Assessment Program Portfolio Requirement
All students in education must complete and submit a final semester portfolio. The CAP portfolio will be reviewed and evaluated by a committee of the faculty. Students who receive an unsatisfactory rating will be required to remediate the portfolio. See current CAP portfolio requirements on the Education Program Information Center on Blackboard.
Student Teaching
All certification programs include a 14-week full-time student teaching experience for initial certification. To be eligible for student teaching, students must have been accepted into the professional educator program (PEP) and will formally apply for student teaching by October 1 (for spring placement) or March 1 (for fall placement). Students must take and pass all Basic Skills exams or have met the SAT/ACT exception requirement and must have taken the Praxis II Subject Area test or the PECT Tests for certification in Pre-K-4 with a satisfactory score. (See the student teaching application for details.) Students who plan to student teach must complete all aspects of the professional sequence and satisfy all major certification requirements before student teaching and practicum experiences. No other coursework is permitted during student teaching. Once candidates have completed all courses within the professional sequence and have been approved to student teach by the major chair, they are ready to student teach. Student teaching for initial certification is offered as four separate courses during the final semester of senior year within a public or nonpublic school. Candidates for certification must enroll in all four courses of student teaching concurrently. Student teaching and practicum field experiences are supervised by program faculty with knowledge and experience in the area of certification and mentored by highly qualified and trained cooperating teachers in the schools.
Students seeking certification who receive a final grade below a C in any domain of the student teaching/practicum course sequence cannot be recommended for certification. Student teachers not performing at a satisfactory level will face termination from student teaching. See the Student Teaching Handbook for conditions and details.
Professionalism and Educator Ethics
All student teaching candidates must present record-free clearances and be determined to be of “good moral character” as defined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. In addition, if a student teaching candidate has shown behaviors in contradiction to the PA Educators Code of Conduct, a full-time faculty committee will meet to determine student teaching eligibility. Due process as defined by the university will be followed.
Education Program Completion Leading to Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Teacher Certification
Candidates who successfully complete all the requirements outlined in the degree and/or certification programs of the DeSales University education program will be eligible to receive an Instructional I certification from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Candidates for certification must also meet and demonstrate mastery for Pennsylvania Department of Education competencies embedded in the courses. In accordance with the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s standards, policies, and procedures for the state approval of certification of professional education for the public schools of Pennsylvania, certification candidates must complete a full-time (14 weeks) student teaching field experience, and achieve at least a satisfactory rating on the PDE 430, Pennsylvania Statewide Evaluation Form for Student Professional Knowledge and Practice (refer to Student Teaching Handbook). Candidates must also be of good moral character to be recommended for certification in Pennsylvania. All certification candidates must schedule an exit interview with the director of early childhood and elementary education, special education, or secondary education at the end of student teaching. Other requirements for certification may be mandated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at any time.
Dual Certification / Five-Year Undergraduate-Graduate Program Policies
Undergraduate education students with a major in early childhood and elementary education or a minor in secondary education may enroll in graduate courses leading to dual/additional certification in special education PreK-8, special education 7-12, English as a second language program specialist K-12 certification, STEM, or instructional technology specialist certification.
Education students seeking admission into the dual-certification track will apply by October 1 of junior year (or after the successful completion of 18 courses). This application will be in conjunction with application for the professional phase. To gain acceptance, students must have a 3.0 GPA at time of application and must have taken the PAPA exams or the ETS Core exams (or must have met the SAT/ACT exception requirement per PDE) for the professional phase. A committee of the department will review applications and accept students into the dual-certification track.
Second-semester juniors (or with accumulated successful course completion of 23 or more courses) who are accepted and enrolled in a dual-certification track will be permitted to enroll in graduate coursework specific to their dual-certification track only, before attaining senior status. In addition, graduate course registration before attaining senior status will be limited to one graduate course per semester. Students must also demonstrate maintenance of the GPA requirement before enrollment in graduate courses.
Dual-certification track students will meet the undergraduate policy for overload of courses and will be restricted to enrollment in dual-certification courses only under this policy.
Undergraduate students accepted and enrolled in a dual-certification track may take up to 12 credits of graduate work before undergraduate graduation; however, a maximum of nine credits only may be applied toward a master’s degree pursued at DeSales.
TIMS (Teacher Information Management System)
All candidates for certification who have completed all program requirements, field requirements, student teaching, and teacher assessment exams will apply for certification online at the Pennsylvania Department of Education website. All information must be entered and required documentation must be submitted either online or in paper. At such time as all information has been correctly entered, candidates will appear on the DeSales University dashboard for approval. You will be notified once the certifying officer at DeSales has recommended and affirmed your application for certification.
Out-of-State Certification
The following states have teacher certification agreements with Pennsylvania: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Candidates seeking certification in the above listed states should write to the teacher certification office of the state for the details of their agreement with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
DeSales graduates seeking certification in a state not listed should write to the teacher certification office of that state for application forms and instructions. Names and addresses of the appropriate officials should be available on the Pennsylvania Department of Education website.
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