Clinical Fieldwork and Student Teaching

The Single Subject Credential Program places significant emphasis on clinical fieldwork and student teaching with the aim of having candidates meet or exceed the 600 hours of clincal practice required by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.  Our goal is that each Teacher Candidate participates in at least 150 hours of  fieldwork (observation/participation) during their first semester as part of EDSC 449E Externship in Single Subject Teaching and at least 450 hours of student teaching during their second semester as part of EDSC 449I Second Semester Student Teaching.  These hours typically begin with the first day of the public school semester and end with the last day of the public school semester. And all this is in addition to the 45 hours of reflective observation completed in the pre-requisite course EDSC 310 The Teaching Experience. 

Ideally, Teacher Candidates begin their fieldwork on the first day of the public school semester.  In the fall this date ranges from early-mid August for some districts, all the way to after Labor Day for others. And in the spring this date ranges from early to late January. Differences in start date impact holidays and semester breaks.  Thus, some districts end in late May and others end in mid-June. CSUF Teacher Candidates are expected to follow the school calendar for the entire school year.  They are also expected to attend teacher work days (non-student days) and encouraged to attend staff meetings and professional development opportunities whenever possible.

The Single Subject Credential Program (SSCP) has partnerships with 14 local districts where most Teacher Candidates are assigned to field experiences. Consultation, cooperation, and collaboration for placements occur with district placement coordinators. The process is complex.

• Subject Area Coordinators submit placement requests for newly admitted Teacher Candidates on the Collaborative Placement Spreadsheet. These requests are based on their knowledge of both the candidates and the Mentor Teachers and/or school sites available for placements. 
  • NOTE: Candidates are not permitted to student teach at a school in which a close relative (parent/sibling/aunt/uncle/grandparent) is employed. 
• Next, the SSCP Director organizes requests by district.   The Director submits them to the individual district coordinators who begin the intensive process of communicating (in turn) with the site principal, department chair, and potential mentor teacher. District coordinators share placement update emails with the Director and update the Collaborative Placement Spreadsheet. 
• When the district placement coordinator confirms the request to the SSCP Director, the names and emails of pre-screened Mentor Teachers are recorded and the teacher candidate-mentor teacher pair is sent a welcome email with contact information, SSCP features, and next steps. Site principals, district placement coordinators, and subject area coordinators are copied on these emails. See here for a sample of the Placement Confirmation Email.

This process occurs between late April-August for fall admits and December-January for spring admits.  Some districts require formal interviews as part of their selection process.  If a district is unable to provide a placement, the SSCP Director seeks a new placement request from the Subject Area Coordinator and the process repeats itself. Occasionally, Candidates are placed outside of the 16 districts. This is usually due to unique situations, including candidates in subject areas with a high number of candidates (such as English) or few high-quality teachers, or the Subject Area Coordinator wishes to place a candidate with a high-quality teacher outside partner districts. In these situations, the Subject Area Coordinator initiates contact with the district and follows the same placement process as outlined above, providing the SSCP Director with the placement confirmation.

Teacher Candidates are oriented to fieldwork prior to reporting to schools.  They are also provided a protocol for the  First Day Reporting to Schools and the First Week of Fieldwork.

In the first semester, candidates are grouped into "Partner District Cohorts" (PDC) for their EDSC 440S/440F courses, and the PDC instructors represent the university in the district, conduct on-site general pedagogy seminar classes, and provide counseling and advisory services to candidates in order to support their first semester student teaching experience.  PDC instructors provide Mentor Teacher Orientations and helpful communications within the first eight weeks of the first semester of the SSCP.

*Field experiences for Intern Candidates are arranged by the Single Subject Intern Director and district personnel, including district Human Resources staff and the site principal. A mentor is established at the time of hire for the Intern. Additionally, separate Internship Agreements are established with the district of hire and the University. The SSCP at CSU Fullerton only allows Intern Candidates in the second semester of our program. See our Intern Program page for more.