CTC Advice and Assistance
Since the NCATE standards do not directly have this category and it is required by CTC, we are providing this additional information.
Qualified members of the unit are assigned and available to advise applicants and candidates about their academic, professional and personal development, and to assist each candidate’s professional placement.
Each of SOLES’ professional education units—school counseling, teacher education and school leadership have faculty and administrators who advise candidates. In counseling, in addition to the official student faulty advisor, Peggy Hetherington, Director of Field Experiences is the key advisor related to practicum and fieldwork. In the School Leadership program, the Co-Directors of the Educational Leadership Development Academy (ELDA)—Rose Martinez and Richard Thome, regularly advise credential candidates. Masters degree students also have faculty advisors. In the Department of Learning and Teaching, in addition to faculty advisors, Kathy Estey advises transfer students from the College of Arts and Science. Helene Mandel (Director of Professional Services), as well as Betsy Gibbs and Adele Chandler (Field Experience Managers) also advise candidates.
We believe, as noted in Standard 5 (Faculty) that all of the above personnel are highly qualified to advise our candidates.
Appropriate information is accessible to guide each candidate’s attainment of all program requirements.
As described in Standard I, all candidates in all programs have program handbooks and field handbooks. This information as noted in Standard I is on the SOLES website for each program/department. In addition the Office of the Credential Analyst attends all program orientations so that all candidates understand the credential application process and how to find further information.
The institution and/or unit provide support and assistance to candidates and only retains candidates who are suited for entry or advancement in the education profession.
As noted in Standard I, each program/department has processes to evaluate any candidate who in not progressing satisfactorily for that stage of the program. Feedback is provided to candidates by either their faculty advisor or the appropriate administrator. These processes differ from program to program. Each year because of the processes in place we have candidates who are counseled out of the program.
In order not to be redundant, we provide one example here:
- School Counseling Program Student Handbook: In the School Counseling Program Handbook (Page 30) the CIBA Practicum Readiness Certification Form is used to ensure readiness for field placement and requires signatures from the faculty advisor, Director Clinical Instruction and Credential Analyst. Also, a variety of other information has to be cleared.