DETERMINATION OF PLACEMENT SITES AND ASSIGNMENTS
1. Students are strictly prohibited from arranging for student teaching sites, assignments, and cooperating teachers.
2. Office of Field Experiences policy generally prohibits assigning student teachers to schools or agencies in communities where they have attended schools, or where they, their spouse, their children, or other close family members are enrolled, employed or closely affiliated.
3. Placement sites are selected to meet program objectives and to maximize the efficient use of university resources , including assignment of university supervisors.
See Appendix B for a list of the school districts.
Exceptions to this policy are seldom granted and require submission and approval of an Application for Exception to Placement Policy available in the Office of Field Experiences. Financial hardship or future employment plans are not acceptable reasons for an exception to placement policy.
4. School districts, schools, and other agencies voluntarily provide prospective sites for student teaching assignments as a professional courtesy. They also have the right to cancel placements if they determine, based on professional judgment, that deficiencies in the knowledge, skills, and/or dispositions of UW-Whitewater students have a negative impact on pupils, teachers, or other members of the school or agency community.
5. Service as a cooperating teacher is a voluntary professional activity . Cooperating teachers are selected on the basis of their meeting criteria . (See "Criteria for Selection of Cooperating Teachers” in the next section of this handbook.)
6. Cooperating teachers and/or other school district or agency officials may require interviewing students before agreeing to accept them for a placement. As part of the interview, students may be asked to present a résumé, a portfolio, or other documents. Students should inquire what will be required at the interview in advance.
7. No changes in the officially assigned semester for student teaching are allowed without permission from the appropriate department.