Field placements are a critical component of UMKC’s School of Education programs, allowing students to apply skills learned in the classroom to field and clinical experiences in real-world educational settings under the supervision of a cooperating/mentor teacher (CMT) or other practitioner. Students regularly find these experiences to be enlightening and indispensable to their professional preparation.
- Urban partnerships provide mutually beneficial situations: Nine local schools districts have committed to a partnership to focus on training our pre-service teachers in urban missions. These nine districts share in the School’s mission and vision for creating lifelong opportunities through education for all of America’s diverse urban communities.
- Early experiences: In 2010-2011, UMKC’s pre-service teachers spent 1,230 hours in special education classrooms, 26,752 hours in 114 elementary classrooms and 960 hours in 20 early childhood classrooms. Summer experiences for middle/secondary/K-12 pre-service teachers provided 7,320 hours to local academic summer school programs.
- Final teaching internships: Early Childhood and Elementary require a full year of onsite teaching internship for teacher candidates’ senior year. For 2011-12 UMKC will have 223 placements for final teaching internships in 104 schools in 23 districts, plus in three local charter schools. Middle School/Secondary/K-12 students will begin a one year final teaching internship starting in Fall 2012.
- Counseling and Educational Psychology (CEP) students: For 2010-2011, CEP students logged 18,947 direct client contact hours and spent a total of 40,003 hours across non-school practicum sites (1), non-school internship and advanced practicum sites (28), and school counseling practicum and internship sites (48).