College of Education and Human Services

Accreditations
Approvals
Memberships
Selection/Retention Standards

Programs
College of Education
Human Services
Teacher Education

Accreditations

American Library Association (ALA)
Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI)
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)
Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language
    Pathology (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing
    Association (ASHA)
Council on Academic Accreditation of the American Speech-Language-
    Hearing Association (ASHA)
International Reading Association (IRA)
Middle States Commission on Colleges and Schools (Middle States)
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
National Association of Schools of Music (NASM)
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)

Approvals

The American Chemical Society
Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE)
U.S. Department of Education

Memberships

American Association of State Colleges and Universities
Council of Graduate Schools
Educational Associate Institute of International Education
Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools
Pennsylvania Association of Graduate Schools
The Teacher Education Council of State Colleges and Universities

Programs Administered through the College of Education and Human Services

LIBERAL STUDIES, B.S.,
CONCENTRATION IN LIBRARY SCIENCE (48 credits)
Required: LS 255, 257, 258, 357, 361, and 385. A minimum of 39 credits must be at the 300-level or above.

LIBERAL STUDIES, B.S.,
CONCENTRATION IN ATHLETIC COACHING (72 credits)
Required: HPE 333, 334, 406, 407, 408, 409, 440, and COOP 444. Two courses from HPE 351, 352, or 354. A minimum of 39 credits must be at the 300-level or above.

College of Education

The College of Education and Human Services offers programs to prepare professional educators and other human services personnel. Nine specialized curricula are offered in professional education: early childhood education, mid-level education, environmental education, library science, modern languages, music education, secondary education, special education, and speech pathology and audiology. Each teacher education curriculum is designed to meet university graduation requirements, the certification requirements of the state, and the accreditation standards of various professional groups.

The mission of the Clarion University College of Education and Human Services is to prepare effective, dedicated, and high quality professionals, decision makers, and life-long learners who have mastered a recognized body of knowledge, internalized standards of excellence, and demonstrated the required candidate performances. At the center of the mission are candidates, P-12 students, and education and human service professionals, who are active participants in the process of building knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

Based on a strong commitment to learning and teaching, the Conceptual Framework of the College of Education and Human Services defines the preparation of effective, dedicated, and high quality professionals as candidates: constructing knowledge, skills, and dispositions. The framework reflects state and national education standards and describes principles of learning and teaching for administrators, teaching and human services professionals, candidates, learners, school district and agency partners, families, policy makers, and others who make decisions about excellence in Education. The framework offers a foundation for articulating and discussing current learning theories and research on effective educational practices and for assessing professional candidate performance.

The College of Education and Human Services is committed to selecting and graduating outstanding candidates who are empowered with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to assume responsibility for the exercise of professional judgment and continued professional growth to meet the needs of a diverse population in a rapidly changing society. The programs and environments offered by the College are dedicated to facilitating the development of professional candidates who apply knowledge, skills, and dispositions to:

emphasize the importance of individual variations of unique physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and technological abilities and skills;

embrace cultural diversity;

respond to societal needs and influences affecting learners and their families;

promote learning and teaching strategies that facilitate the development of meaningful knowledge, skills, and dispositions;

provide authentic learning and assessment experiences with appropriate technology applications;

support learning interactions fostering collaboration and cooperation among learners, families, and other members of learning communities;

maintain high standards of professionalism;

make effective educational decisions; and continue to learn and grow personally and professionally.

Human Services

In the human services field, programs are offered in rehabilitative services at the associate degree level, rehabilitative sciences and speech pathology and audiology at the bachelor's degree level, and a five-year program leading to the master of science degree. Certification also is available in speech pathology and audiology.

Programs in these human service areas provide students with the professional preparation to work with children, adolescents, and adults in school and community settings. Students in these programs are prepared to assist individuals who may experience a range of physical or mental disabilities. They develop their skills in classroom, clinical, and field settings at the university, cooperating agencies, and institutions. Completion of their degree program should help students qualify for employment in a variety of roles based on the training they receive in the various human services programs within the college. Their responsibility will be to help people acquire those competencies necessary for independent living.

Teacher Education

In its teacher education programs, the College of Education and Human Services is committed to producing professionals who are effective decision-makers and whose skills, attitudes, and beliefs are built upon the following teacher education conceptual framework that underlies all teacher education programs in the college.

Candidates Teacher Education Conceptual Framework

Based on a strong commitment to learning and teaching, the mission of the Clarion University College of Education and Human Services defines the preparation of effective, dedicated, and high quality professionals as candidates: constructing knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Clarion's Conceptual Framework for Learning and Teaching reflects the current knowledge base in the field of Education as advocated by professional accrediting agencies. The Conceptual Framework defines and describes principles of learning and teaching for administrators, teaching and human services professionals, students, families, policy makers, and others who make decisions about excellence in education. The framework offers a foundation for articulating and discussing current learning theories and research on effective educational practices for professional education candidates as well as for university and school faculty and for assessing professional candidate performance.

Candidates are at the center of the Conceptual Framework. The centrality of learners, depicted by the graphic above, reflects current cognitive views of how individuals learn. The framework identifies both students and professionals as candidates who are active participants in the process of building knowledge, skills, and dispositions within the context of what they already know and applying the new understandings and skills to authentic situations. Candidates are surrounded by three triangles depicting the development of students and professionals as they acquire knowledge, skills, and dispositions within the:

contexts of individual variations, diversity, and societal influences and the
processes of knowledge development, learning interactions, and authentic learning and assessment to facilitate the
outcomes of professionalism decision making, and life-long learning.

The first triangle of the model is Contexts. Candidates develop in the contexts of individual variations, diversity, and societal influences. The candidates are inseparable from these important contexts that impact the ways in which individuals process and develop knowledge and experiences.

Individual variations provide complex contexts for the development of learners. As individuals develop knowledge, skills, and dispositions, they are dependent on the unique set of physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and technological abilities and skills they each possess.

Diversity is an important context for candidates' development. Educational programs include communities of learners encompassing students, families, and professionals from diverse backgrounds. Respect for and responsiveness to the diversity of learners is a crucial component of this context.

Societal influences include the economic, social, technological, cultural, and political contexts that affect schools and agencies. These contexts impact candidates as they develop knowledge, skills and dispositions and apply these new understandings and skills to real-life situations.

The second triangle of the Conceptual Framework identifies the Processes of Knowledge Development, Authentic Learning and Assessment, and Learning Interactions. Candidates use these processes to promote cognitive, language, creative, social, emotional, physical, and motor growth and development.

Knowledge development is a process candidates use to build meaningful understandings that support growth and development. Grounded in cognitive learning theory, inductive and deductive instructional models assume the active involvement of learners in the process of acquiring and developing knowledge. Professionals use a variety of models of learning and teaching that are designed to help students develop deep understandings. Knowledge is not static but will continually evolve and change as candidates confront new information, experiences, and technology.

Authentic learning and assessment are processes requiring understandings similar to the thinking encountered in actual situations outside the classroom. Effective instruction, technology, and authentic assessment assist candidates in the application and investigation of real world problems and solutions. Learning experiences and assessments are anchored in the candidates' real world experiences contributing to the knowledge construction in a particular content discipline.

Learning interactions is a process occurring as candidates communicate, collaborate, and negotiate in the construction of knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Learning interactions are enhanced through the integration of technology. Interactions encourage candidates to verbalize their thinking, refine their understandings, and reflect on growth and changes.

The third triangle reflects the candidates's Outcomes. All university Education and Human Services programs for candidates at the initial and advanced levels guide and facilitate learners as they develop:

Professionalism - personal codes of behaviors and responsibilities as members of learning communities;
Decision making - essential skills in the active construction of knowledge, skills, and dispositions; and
Life-Long Learning - habits of inquiry and reflection that help nourish continuing curiosity and excitement about the world.

Certification

Students who complete one of the teacher education curricula at Clarion and who are awarded a baccalaureate degree are qualified for the Pennsylvania Instructional I Certificate. The student must apply for the certificate and the certificate must be issued before graduates may teach in the public schools of Pennsylvania. Recommendation for certification is based upon program requirements in effect when the application is filed, students are urged to complete the application during the semester in which they plan to graduate. Applications are available in the Office of Field Services.

Students should be aware that Act 34 of 1985, Act 33/Act 151 of 1994, and the FBI Clearance of 2006 require applicants and some transferring employees of public and private schools, licensed day care centers, and some residential facilities to provide a criminal record check, a child abuse clearance, and Federal Bureau of Investigation clearance. Some human services agencies also require these clearances of prospective employees. Applications for teacher certification may be denied based on information presented in these background clearances.

Any certificate may be extended to include other teaching fields by completing approved programs in those areas. Students not enrolled in a program leading to a Bachelor of Science in Education degree can make application for teacher certification by obtaining admission to and completing one of the university's approved programs in teacher education.

The Instructional I Certificate will be issued to individuals who fulfill the following:

Possess a baccalaureate degree.
Successfully complete an approved teacher certification program.
Provide verifications of a valid health examination (within one year) and negative tuberculin test (within two years) at the date the application is processed.
Present evidence of having passed the Pennsylvania Department of Education prescribed and administered teacher certification tests in all certification areas.
Present evidence of approved background clearances.
Receive recommendation for certification from the dean, College of Education and Human Services.

College of Education and Human Services Selection, Retention, and Graduation Standards

I. Student responsibilities in any program of the college

A. Complete all application forms in a timely fashion:

1. Admission to program
2. Student teaching/internship/externship experience
3. Graduation from the university
4. Certification, where appropriate, from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

B. Meet with advisors on a regular basis for career and program counseling as well as at the appropriate checkpoints in the program to obtain the appropriate forms.

C. Arrange for any tests needed to comply with the Public School Code of 1949, as amended, Article XII, Section 1209, which in part provides that teaching certification may not be issued if the "applicant is either mentally or physically disqualified by reason of tuberculosis or any other communicable disease or by reason of mental disorder, from successful performance of the duties of a teacher."

II. Admission to a program

A. All programs require completion of 68+ semester hours and a qualifying QPA, including six semester hours of introductory courses (grade of C or higher) to be determined by the appropriate department in the College of Education and Human Services.

Mid-level Education (4-8)	ED 110, ED 122
Pre-K-4 (Early Childhood)	ED 121, 123
Library Science	LS 255 and either ED 110 or ED 122
Modern Languages	ED 110, ED 122
Music Education	ED 110, ED 122
ALL Secondary majors	ED 110, ED 122
Intervention Specialist/Special Education (Pre-K-12)	SPED 128, 129
Rehabilitative Sciences	REHB 126, 227
DUAL CERTIFICATIONS:
Pre-K-4 (Early Childhood)	ED 121 and SPED128
Speech Pathology and Audiology	CSD 125, CSD 150, CSD 156

B. Completion of a speech and hearing screening

C. ACT 33/151, ACT 34, and FBI clearances (Act 114)

D. PASS PRAXIS I tests - Pre-Professional Skills in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics before junior class status.

E. Two college-level English courses are required

ENG 111 (Composition) and one Literature (Grade of C or higher)

F. Two college-level mathematics courses are required (Grade of C or higher)

Mid-level and Pre-K–4	MATH 111, MATH 211 (prerequisite for ECH 415 or EDML 324)
Secondary Mathematics	CPSC 201
Secondary Biology and Earth and Space	MATH 171 + 1 higher level
Secondary Chemistry	MATH 270, 271
Secondary General Science	MATH 171, MATH 221 or 321
Secondary Physics	MATH 270 + 1 higher level
Speech Pathology and Audiology	MATH 112 or higher + MATH 221 or PSY 230
Intervention Specialist	MATH 111, MATH 211
ALL others	MATH 112 + 1 higher level or MATH 113

NOTE: MATH 050 does not count toward general education requirements, graduation, or as a MATH requirement for education majors.

NOTE: All students must complete both English requirements and both mathematics requirements with a grade of C or higher prior to student teaching or intern/externship.

G. Possession of an appropriate required cumulative QPA or higher at the time of application.

H. Removal of any academic, physical, or mental deficiencies noted at any point in the student's program that would prevent the candidate from fulfilling the responsibilities of the professional area.

NOTE: Transfers and readmits must meet these requirements as well, but will be treated on a case-by-case basis.

III. Retention in a program

A. Maintenance of an appropriate cumulative QPA.

B. PRAXIS II (Content Knowledge & Specialty Tests)

C. Attainment of a grade of C or higher in all required professional courses and all required major courses in an area. Mid-level and early childhood majors must also attain a grade of C or higher in required content competency courses. All proficiencies must also be C or higher (or equivalent).

D. Removal of any academic, physical, or mental deficiencies identified after admission to a program before being permitted to continue in the program.

E. Completion of all program requirements.

IV. Qualification for student teaching/internship/externship

A. Completion of 90 semester hours of university credit in professional program, including all teaching methods or clinical courses.

B. A grade of C or higher in all required professional courses, all required major courses, required content competency courses, and proficiencies (where required).

C. An overall appropriate cumulative QPA.

D. Satisfactory completion of required tests (PRAXIS), review of criminal record (ACT 34), child abuse clearances (ACT 33/151), and FBI clearance (Act 114) are necessary for field placement, including verification of a valid health examination and negative tuberculin skin test.

V. Graduation requirements

A. Fulfill all university standards for graduation.

B. An overall appropriate cumulative QPA.

C. A grade of C or higher in all required professional courses, All required courses in the major area, content competency courses, and proficiency courses (where required).

VI. Pennsylvania teacher certification requirements at Clarion University

A. Complete all program requirements and meet the standards of the Teacher Certification Program at Clarion University.

B. Pass all appropriate current examinations required by PDE.

All Majors:
PRAXIS I (Reading, Writing, Mathematics)
and appropriate Specialty Area Exam(s)

Mid-level, Pre-K–4 & all Pre-K-12 Majors:
Fundamental Subjects-Content Knowledge

C. Complete application for certification.

D. Certify U.S. citizenship or hold an immigrant visa which permits employment within the United States and declares intent to become a U.S. citizen.

E. Certify no habitual use of narcotic drugs in any form or excessive amounts of intoxicating beverages (School Code 1209) and not under indictment for and not convicted of a criminal offense.

F. A health examination is required (within one year) and negative tuberculin test (within two years) at the date the application is processed. These must be completed at, or verified by, the Keeling Health Center on campus.

G. Receive recommendation for certification from the Dean, College of Education and Human Services or current Certification Officer.

VII. The College of Education and Human Services will, through a formal agreement with Student Support Services and the Educational Opportunities Program, identify students with disabilities for the purpose of advisement in relation to professional, certification, and degree requirements.

A. Students with disabilities will be encouraged to self identify to their faculty advisor, and/or department chair and associate dean for purposes of receiving appropriate accommodations which ensure their full participation in a college program.

B. The associate dean, department chair, or advisor may meet with each student with disabilities to discuss professional, certification, and degree requirements. The associate dean and/or department chair will discuss these issues with regard to the student's disability and any potential functional limitations that may impact the attainment of certification, the degree, and effective practice in the profession. Appropriate accommodations and strategies to compensate for any functional limitations will also be discussed with the student. Results of this meeting will be documented, signed by the associate dean, and copies of the report will be placed in the student's departmental file, field experience file, and Student Support Services file.

C. Whenever possible, students will be placed and supervised in an early field assignment as a means to ascertain their abilities and to develop strategies to overcome functional limitations.

D. If faculty suspect a student has a disability which may negatively affect the student's ability to obtain certification, the degree, or practice in the profession, the student should be referred to Student Support Services for assistance.

E. All faculty will be made aware of the need to openly discuss professional, certification, and degree requirements with students with disabilities. However, the final decision to pursue a degree program rests with the student as long as program requirements are met satisfactorily. Faculty must also be aware that all graduates of certification programs should be qualified to practice in the profession in a competent manner.

VIII. Transfer students

Each transfer student must follow the selection and retention standards of the College of Education and Human Services. The appropriate department chair will evaluate transcripts and any deficiencies will be noted. An advisor will be assigned to assist transfer students in developing individual plans to remove identified deficiencies. If the student is transferring 60 or more credits, PRAXIS I tests must be passed before higher level education courses may be taken.

IX. Petitions procedure

The faculty of the College of Education and Human Services recognizes there may be times when special circumstances arise which may legitimately justify the waiver of certain policies and/or standards. Students who have failed to meet the policies and/or standards because of unusual and extenuating circumstances are permitted to file a petition with the college. Petition forms are available in the Office of the Dean. All petitions must be written, addressed to the dean, and filed in a timely fashion. Students will be notified in writing from the Dean's Office regarding a decision, with a copy to the student's academic advisor.

Application Procedures for Student Teaching/Internships/Externships

Read the qualifications for student teaching, internship, and externship, and the conditions for assignment.
Complete the Application for Student Teaching/Internship/Externship with the advisor. Complete the Personal Data Form. Return these forms to the Office of Field Services.
Discuss questions concerning assignments, if necessary, with the academic advisor, department chair, or director, Office of Field Services.

Conditions for Assignment

All qualifications must be met prior to the start of the student teaching, internship, and externship.
Applicants must have verification of a valid health examination and negative tuberculin skin test prior to reporting to the field assignment. Verification of liability insurance is also required.
Students are responsible for their own travel and housing arrangements. Every attempt is made to place students at approved sites within a 50-mile radius of Clarion.
Students will follow the school district/agency calendar, including in-service days, breaks, and holidays.
Applicants will not be assigned to school districts/agencies they previously attended as elementary and secondary pupils and those where relatives work and attend school.
Applicants will not be assigned to their home communities.
Assignments will be for a full day, five days per week, for a full semester.
Tentative assignments for summer and fall will be announced during April; assignments for spring will be available by last week of classes in December. Applicants may wish to secure housing in the community where they are assigned.
Applicants will be assigned to selected and approved sites and cooperating professionals by the academic departments and Office of Field Services. Students are not permitted to make their own arrangements.
Applicants will not be permitted to enroll in courses, except designated seminars, during this professional semester; this field experience is a full-time professional responsibility.
Applicants will report any changes in status or plans to the director, Office of Field Services, whenever they occur.