Licensure
Program Components
Courses begin Summer 2009
The
Alliance for Quality Urban Education (AQUE) is a partnership
among key stakeholders in teacher education in the District
of Columbia. The goal of AQUE is to improve student achievement
through a comprehensive teacher preparation model, designed
to support the ongoing development of a highly qualified
teaching force.
Through
AQUE, American University's School of Education, Teaching
& Health is able provide teachers with the opportunity to
gain licensure while
being
supported
through an induction program as well as by supervising
faculty and mentor teachers.
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University
Coursework
Currently
we are recruiting DCPS & DC Public Charter School Teachers for the Summer
2009 Elementary Education program:
Intensive
Graduate Certificate in Teaching: Elementary Education
AQUE program participants will be required to satisfactorily
complete eight three-credit graduate courses through
the American University School of Education, Teaching
& Health for standard licensure.
The eight courses included in the AQUE Elementary program
of study have been approved by the DC Office of the
State Superintendent of Education for alternative certification.
These courses include:
1.
Theories of Educational Psychology and Human Development
2. Effective Teaching for Diverse Learners
3. Foundations of Education
4. Teaching Reading in the Elementary School
5. Teaching Mathematics in the Elementary School
6. Teaching Language Arts in the Elementary School
7. Teaching Social Studies in the Elementary School
8. Teaching Science in the Elementary School
Graduate
Certificates in Education usually require 6 credit hours
of student teaching. These credits will be waived for licensure
participants in the AQUE program teaching in DC schools.
The courses required for certification will be scheduled
to accommodate the professional requirements of working teachers.
Click
here for a chart listing the courses per semester and
the cost per semester for the Fall program.
Teaching
Portfolio
In
addition to university coursework, AQUE participants will develop
a teaching portfolio through the School of Education, Teaching
& Health's electronic portfolio system. Beginning their
first semester, teacher participants will collect completed
course
and classroom
work in this electronic portfolio. These collected artifacts,
such as assignments, exemplary student work, summaries of standardized
test scores, assessments created, art, videotape, photographs,
etc., will be used by AQUE participants to document their increasing
capabilities as teachers. The portfolio will represent their
competencies and provide evidence of their growth toward beginning
teacher performance standards set forth by the Interstate New
Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC). As a culminating
assignment, AQUE participants will create a showcase portfolio
that will be used to assess their performance as teachers in
lieu of “student teaching.”
Praxis
I and Praxis II
In order to qualify for a standard license, AQUE program participants will
be required to pass both the Praxis I and Praxis II tests. Passing scores on
the Praxis I tests are required for acceptance into the program. Passing scores
on the Praxis II content area test are also required before acceptance into
the program. For more information about
which specific test to take please check our Praxis
test information page or
contact Karen DiGiovanni, Director of Teacher Education, at 202-885-3727 or
by e-mail at digiovanni@american.edu.
Passing scores on the Praxis II pedagogy test are required
before completion of the program.
Master’s
Program
Teacher participants are eligible to transfer credits earned through their
participation in the AQUE program to the American University School of Education
Master of Arts in Teaching: Elementary Education degree program. In order to
enter the M.A.T program, AQUE participants will be required to meet the university’s
minimum requirements for graduate admission. Three additional courses will
be required to complete the M.A.T.
Clinical
Faculty Supervision
AQUE program participants will be provided with on-site
supervision by American University School of Education,
Teaching & Health clinical faculty selected
to observe, provide guidance, and assist participants in the development of
teaching
competencies.
Clinical faculty members will work one-on-one with participants making on-site
visits every month of the school year during the participants’ first
year of the program. Clinical faculty will provide AQUE participants
with critical assessments of their teaching effectiveness and discuss the strengths
and weaknesses of their teaching strategies as well as present them with recommendations
for improvement. Clinical faculty will begin the process of building portfolios
with the participants and will regularly review the participants’ progress
as recorded in their portfolios.
Financial
Support
A combination of grant funding, other program resources, and funding from American
University is available to assist program participants in defraying the cost
of graduate tuition. Program participants receive $8,000.00 over two years
through a U.S. Department of Education grant, which will pay for approximately
33% of participants’ tuition for graduate level courses at American University.
In addition to U.S. Department of Education funding, AQUE program participants
also receive generous tuition support from American University. As a result
of this combination of financial support, the portion of the tuition that remains
for participants to pay is generally no more than 25% of the total cost of
graduate tuition. Participants will be eligible for financial aid to finance
their portion of tuition. This financial burden may be minimized through the
increases in pay steps that accompany advanced academic work in the DCPS pay
structure. The following is the estimated student cost per semester for the
AQUE program.
SUMMER
2009
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROGRAMS - Classes start June 22, 2009:
Year
1
|
TOTAL
|
Year
2
|
TOTAL
|
| Summer
2009 |
$1,900.00
(2 Courses) |
Spring
2010 |
$2,140.00
(2 Courses) |
| Fall
2009 |
$2,140.00
(2 Courses) |
Summer
2010 |
$2,140.00
(2 Courses) |
| |
|
|
|
Total:
Year 1:
|
$4,040.00 |
Total:
Year 2:
|
$5,350.00 |
