Licensure

Graduate Education Program Retention

Graduate students are expected to maintain strong academic performance throughout their program of study. Candidates for initial teaching licenses must maintain a portfolio of artifacts documenting their professional growth, following the SSC School of Education teaching proficiencies, which incorporate both the state and NCATE professional standards in the assessment of candidate performance.

From your first education course through your last, the student teaching practicum, you will be keeping a record of your progress by documenting selected course and field assignments in a Comprehensive Professional Development Portfolio (CPDP). By the end of your program, your CPDP will show that you have achieved the 10 teaching proficiencies that govern all licensure programs here.

Graduate students must make satisfactory progress towards completion of their degrees within the stated time limits for the graduate program in which they are enrolled, or face administrative withdrawal from the program. General policies governing satisfactory progress in SSC programs include the following:

• Students must complete their programs within 6 years.
• Students in programs with 45 or fewer semester hours must earn no more than 2 Cs; in programs with more than 45 semester hours, no more than 3 Cs.
• Receipt of an F results in automatic withdrawal from the program.

Incomplete Grades
A student may request a grade of “I”, or incomplete. If the instructor agrees to the incomplete, the late assignments must be submitted to the instructor by midway through the following semester. If that deadline is not met, the “I” changes to an “F” on the student’s transcript. It is the student’s responsibility to request the “incomplete,” and to ask for any extensions beyond the mid-semester deadline; either request may be granted or denied by the instructor.

Academic Appeals
A student may petition for a change of grade from the instructor, and may appeal any academic decision, including dismissal from the program. Both informal and formal appeals procedures exist and are detailed in the graduate catalog. Formal appeals reach the dean of the Graduate School and are heard by the Graduate Education Council or the vice president for academic affairs.

Program Completion

Comprehensive Exams
As a requirement for the master’s degree, most graduate education programs require comprehensive examinations to assess students’ mastery of the content of the program. M.Ed. and M.A.T. degree students must have completed at least 24 credits to be eligible for the exam, which is given three times a year (in November, March and July). Students have two chances to pass. M.Ed. in Technology in Education students submit a multimedia portfolio and C.A.G.S. students complete an action research project in lieu of the comprehensive exam.