Minimum Requirements of Cooperating Teachers - Accreditation, Certification and Partnership Initiatives

Minimum Requirements of Cooperating Teachers Faculty Qualifications and P-12 Clinical Faculty (Cooperating Teachers) for Interns

290-3-3-.02(6)(f)3

1. Faculty who teach professional education courses or supervise interns for teaching field programs should be thoroughly familiar with the current professional responsibilities of the P-12 practitioners in that teaching field.

2. P-12 clinical faculty (cooperating teachers) who supervise interns shall be accomplished school professionals who are

a. properly certified at the Class A level for their present assignment or hold National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification that is appropriate to their present assignment,
b. have at least three years of professional educational work experience in their field of specialization, and are
c. currently teaching classes in the intern’s area(s) of specialization.

3. For candidates in Class B programs and candidates in Alternative Class A programs who are not employed on the basis of holding an Interim Employment Certificate, if no acceptable teacher with Class A certification in the intern’s area(s) of specialization is available in the institution’s service area, then the EPP head may document and grant an exception for a cooperating teacher who meets the other criteria but holds a valid Class A certificate endorsed for Educational Administration or Instructional Leadership or a valid Class B Professional Educator Certificate rather than a Class A Professional Educator Certificate in the intern’s area of specialization. In addition, an intern in a Pre-K, early childhood education, elementary education, or collaborative special education program (K-6 or 6-12) may be supervised by a cooperating teacher who holds a Class A certificate endorsed for reading specialist.

4. For a candidate in an Alternative Class A program who is employed full-time as a teacher in the area of the candidate’s Alternative Class A program, if no acceptable teacher with Class A certification in the intern’s area(s) of specialization is available in that school, then the EPP head may document and grant an exception for a cooperating teacher who meets the other criteria but holds a valid Class A certificate endorsed for Educational Administration or Instructional Leadership or a valid Class B Professional Educator Certificate rather than a Class A Professional Educator Certificate in the intern’s area of specialization. In addition, an intern in a Pre-K, early childhood education, elementary education, or collaborative special education program (K-6 or 6- 12) may be supervised by a cooperating teacher who holds a Class A certificate endorsed for reading specialist.

5. An intern placed in a pre-kindergarten setting may be supervised by a teacher who meets the criteria indicated above, or if a teacher who meets those criteria is not available in the EPP’s service area (Class B) or the school (Alternative Class A), the intern may be supervised by a lead teacher designated by the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education and employed in a setting accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

6. P-12 faculty shall provide regular and continuing support for interns through such processes as observation, conferencing, group discussion, and e-mail and the use of other technologies.