Northern Arizona University - College of Education

Northern Arizona University
College of Education
PO Box 5774
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5774
(928) 523-2611

C.O.E. Undergraduate Programs

TEACHER EDUCATION (BSED)

Description

NAU's College of Education offers courses in teacher preparation through our instructional leadership and educational specialities areas. In our instructional leadership area, we offer programs in elementary education, secondary education, technology education, vocational education, and library science; our educational specialities area offers programs in special education and bilingual multicultural education and courses in educational technology.

Along with learning what to teach and how to teach you have opportunities to experience increasingly complex assignments in classrooms with master teachers. We consider fieldwork and practicum experiences as integral parts of your professional teaching preparation.

Our undergraduate programs lead to preparation and certification in elementary education, secondary education, and special education, and some courses lead to special endorsements on teaching certificates.

Admission Requirements

If you are seeking a B.S.Ed. degree or teacher certification, you must apply for admission to our teacher education program. Normally, you apply while you are enrolled in EDF 200 (or the equivalent if you are a transfer student). We accept applications at set times each year; contact Division of Student Services to obtain an application packet, which indicates the exact application periods. YOU must be admitted to teacher education to take coursework beyond EDF 200 and ESE 380.

Please be aware that the College of Education IS A PROFESSIONAL COLLEGE, and all PROGRAMS under our jurisdiction are controlled by special admission and retention standards. Our faculty may, under certain circumstances, recommend that a student be removed from a teacher education program.

Also be aware that you must have a grade point average of at least 2.5 in all your NAU coursework in order to graduate.

To be accepted in the teacher-education program, you must meet criteria established by our teacher-education committee. Our admissions screening committtee recommens admissions when you have met these criteria.

All students who apply must meet the following criteria:

• Completed 45 hours of coursework (including courses in progress at the time you apply)
• Completed or be currently enrolled in educational foundation coursework (EDF 200 or equivalent)
• Completed 15 hours of liberial studies courses in the discipline studies with a minimum grade point average of 2.5
• Have a grade point average of 3.0 in English foundations coursework (ENG 105 or equivalent). (IF YOU DON'T MEET THIS REQUIREMENT, YOU MAY TAKE A WRITING COURSE AT THE 200 LEVEL or HIGHER to REPLACE an ENGLISH FOUNDATION COURSE to ACHIEVE the 3.0 GRADE POINT AVERAGE.)
• Provide a written composition of at least two typed pages explaining why you want to be a teacher (This composition should reflect autiobiographical experiences that have influenced you to become a teacher.)
• Provide a Letter of Recommendation (This recommendation should be completed by someone who has observed your work with children or young adults in a voluntary or paid capacity. FAMILY AND FRIENDS ARE NOT CONSIDERED PROFESSIONAL REFERENCES. It is our policy to not accept recommendations from university professors unless they have directly observed your work with children or young adults.)

Elementary Education

If you are majoring in elementary education or in elementary and special education(dual major), you must meet the following additional admission requirements:

• have completed two lab science courses with a minimum grade point average of 2.5
• have declared a content emphasis or dual major
• have at least a grade of C (2.0) in MAT 155 or equivalent
• attend an elementary or special education advisement workshop

Secondary Education

If you are majoring in secondary education or in secondary and special education (dual major), you must meet the following additional admission requirements:

• have declared a major and minor or an extended major
• have completed at least 3 hours in your major
• have a grade point average of at least 2.5 in all major coursework
• have a grade of at least C (2.0) in MAT 110, 114, 135, or equivalent
• attend a secondary education advisement workshop

Student Teaching and Fieldwork Experience

In all of our undergraduate and post-degree programs in teacher education, we require student teaching experience. In addition, we require that you earn a minimum number of credit hours of practicum, which is a field experience with a practicing certified teacher.

Before we can accept you for student teaching, you must meet the following criteria:

• You must be admitted to our teacher-education program.
• Your NAU grade point average must be at least 2.5, and you must have a grade point average of 2.5 in all of your professional education courses, with no grade lower than a C (2.0).
• You must complete all of your education courses and departmental requirements before you can begin student teaching.
• You must complete SC 340 or 503 with a grade of C (2.0) or better
• If you are in elementary and/or special education, you must be approved for student teaching by representatives of our C.O.E. faculty.

  If you are in secondary education, you must receive approval to student teach from your major departmental advisor(s) as well as approval from representatives of C.O.E.'s faculty.

• You must have completed all of your education coursework, with the exception of EDF 200, within the last six years.
• You must demonstrate social and emotional maturity consistent with professional standards of classroom instruction and adequate physical health for teaching. Be aware that if a serious question is raised about your coursework, your personal conduct, or your contact in the schools, we reserve the right to require an individual diagnostic evaluation (medical or psychological) before we allow you to student teach.

The Flagstaff School District cannot accomodate all of our student teacher and fieldwork requests, so we sometimes assign students to other locations in Arizona. Assignments away from Flagstaff frequently require that you find temporary housing in the community to which you are assigned or travel from Flagstaff to surrounding communities.

NAU assesses a fee of $40 for fieldwork and $85 for each student-teaching placement each semester that you are registered for fieldwork and/or student teaching, regardless of the number of hours for which you are registered. This fee structure may change at anytime; we will give advance notice when possible.

Student Teaching Opportunities Abroad

Student Teaching in Europe
Sponsored by Department of Defense

Contact Person: LeRoi.Johnson@nau.edu

Go to : NAU's International Studies Office

Post-Degree Curricula

If you have already earned a B.S. degree but have not prepared for teaching, you may want to consider a post-degree program in elementary, early childhood, secondary, or special education leading to certification to teach in Arizona. If so, you should seek advisement in C.O.E.'s advisement office.

To be admitted to a post-degree program, you must meet the following criteria:

• You must apply for and be admitted to NAU's teacher-education program.
• If you wish to earn a secondary certificate, you must have completed an acceptable teaching major and teaching minor in the subject areas normally taught in public secondary schools. In some cases, you may be required to take additional work in your major and minor areas after consulting with your subject major advisor.

  If you wish to earn another kind of certificate, you must complete or have completed a content emphasis of 18 hours in an approved emphasis area. Go to Instructional Leadership to see a list of approved emphases.

• If you are deficient in any of the following areas, you must take courses to eliminate the deficiencies:
  
  • English (two courses)
  • oral communication (one course)
  • science (two courses)
  • mathematics (two courses)
  • arts (three courses)
  • general psychology (one course)
  • U.S. history (one course)
  • federal and Arizona Constitutions (one course)
• You must have the following professional coursework totals:
  
  • Elementary Education: 45 hours
  • Secondary Education: 31 hours
  • Special Education: 39 hours

  (With your advisor's guidance, you may select a limited number of professional courses in each program to count toward a M.Ed. degree.)

Certifications and Endorsements

In the following sections, we describe the requirements for various certifications and endorsements that you may need for your career in education.

If you intend to qualify for a certificate to teach in Arizona's public schools, you should select a program in teacher education at the beginning of your second year at NAU.

If you transfer to a program in teacher education from another program or institution after the beginning of your second year, you must meet all requirements of a teacher-education program, and we cannot ensure that you will complete the program in the usual amount of time (which averages about 4-4.5 years).

Certifications

After you complete your teacher-education program, you must apply for certification in the state of Arizona. You can get information about certification in other states in C.O.E.'s Division of Student Services and in NAU's Career Services.

In Arizona, you may apply for certification in elementary, secondary, or special education. Elementary certification is for teaching grades K-8; secondary certification is for teaching subjects in grades 7-12; and special education certification is for teaching special education grades K-12.

Be aware that you must be enrolled in POS 220 either PRIOR to or DURING the initial year of certification.

Certification forms are available in C.O.E.'s Division of Student Services. You receive an institutional recommendation for certification after successfully completing our teacher- education program.

Endorsements

Endorsements can be added to certifications. You can add an endorsement when you are initially certified or later.

Endorsements are available in art, music, physical, education, library science, driver education, bilingual education, English as a second language, and in middle school (grades 5-9), early childhood (grades K-3), and gifted education.

The reading-specialist endorsement is for grades K-12; the mathematics-specialist endorsement is for grades K-8.