Menu

Advanced Program Clinical Practices

The University of Central Arkansas (UCA) College of Education (COE) programs take seriously the clinical experiences of advanced program candidates as they seek to add to their existing teaching credentials (e.g., endorsements, additional license areas). Clinical experiences are an integral component of the advanced education program curriculum, and are required of all students in the COE advanced programs.

All COE advanced licensure programs acknowledge the critical importance of developing candidate knowledge, skills, and dispositions. To that end, the COE advanced licensure programs have unified to create guidelines for advanced program clinical practices. Based on these guidelines, programs can tailor clinical experiences for candidates based on their unique identity, foci, and purpose.

As a college, the advanced programs are committed to promoting every educator’s sense of professional efficacy. Professional efficacy affects an educator’s sense of responsibility and competence to contribute to the growth and development of all learners and is grounded in:

  • guided clinical experiences with diverse students in diverse settings,
  • collaborative learning communities,
  • authentic assessment and reflective decision making,
  • professional integrity including leadership, collaboration, and service.

Clinical experiences for advanced programs focus on the abilities of faculty and candidates to convey, develop, critically examine, and apply knowledge to advance educational practice in order to promote social, cultural, and economic justice for the development of all P-12 students.  This work should focus on authentic problems of practice central to the intended licensure area and the educator roles associated with these licenses. Candidates have the right to be directly guided and supported in this work by both provider- and school-based clinical educators.

The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) require colleges and universities offering accredited education degrees to provide students educational instruction and opportunities to support them in developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions aligned with their intended area of licensure. The inclusion of required clinical experiences in the CAEP standards are contained in Standard/Components 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 (see Appendix A).

As of Fall 2017, all programs will report data related to clinical experiences in their annual program report due to the COE Dean’s Office on October 15th each academic year and reflecting data from the previous academic year (e.g., the Fall 2017 report will reflect the data from Fall 2016, Spring 2017, and Summer 2017 terms).  This may be reported as a key assessment or simply included in the annual report.

UCA COE Advanced Licensure Programs

The UCA COE has multiple programs supporting candidates seeking advanced licensure. These programs include:

Department of Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education (ELSE)
  • Special Education
  • Reading
Department of Teaching and Learning (T&L)
  • Advanced Studies in Teacher Leadership
  • Gifted and Talented Education
Department of Leadership Studies (LS)
  • Library Media
  • Counseling
  • Educational Leadership – Building Level
  • Educational Leadership – District Level

Candidate Guidelines for Field in Advanced Licensure Programs

  1. Candidates in advanced programs should have experiences across their intended licensure grade range and should have the opportunity to work with individual students, groups of students, whole classes, and/or school faculty and staff.
  2. Clinical experiences should focus on authentic problems of practice central to the intended licensure area and the educator roles associated with these licenses.
  3. Clinical experiences should promote a positive impact on the learning and development of all P-12 students. These experiences may include working directly with students and/or working with school faculty/staff on issues central to the work those personnel do with P-12 students.
  4. Clinical experiences should benefit the candidates, the school/community, and the faculty. This relationship should be mutually beneficial with a primary focus on developing candidate effectiveness in creating environments that support all students’ learning and development.
  5. Candidates in advanced programs should have a minimum of three clinical experiences that are directly supported by both provider- and school-based clinical educators.
  6. Clinical experiences within a program must be carefully planned to provide candidates with sufficient depth, breadth, diversity, coherence, and duration.
  7. Clinical experiences in advanced programs can be supported by technology-enhanced learning opportunities (e.g., video supervision, virtual coaching supervision, etc.)
  8. Clinical experiences should be monitored and assessed through embedded assignments with rubrics aligned to the program SPA content requirements.
  9. Candidates should receive direct and timely feedback from the provider- and/or school-based clinical educator(s).
  10. Quality of the field will be assessed by asking for feedback from the (1) advanced program candidates and the (2) school/community partners (teachers, principals, directors, curriculum specialists, etc.). Assessment can be controlled by the program or delivered via a standardized survey administered from the UCA qualtrics account. This data will be reported in the program’s annual report and should be shared with advisory groups, school partners, and other appropriate stakeholders. This data may be positioned as one key assessment within the advanced program of study.
  11. Programs will work with advisory groups, school partners, and other appropriate stakeholders to ensure coherence across clinical and academic components of preparation.
  12. Guidelines for advanced program candidate entry, preparation, and exit should be reviewed and approved by program advisory groups, school partners, and other appropriate stakeholders.
  13. Guidelines for identifying and retaining school-based clinical faculty should be reviewed and approved by program advisory groups, school partners, and other appropriate stakeholders.
  14. Guidelines for preparing, evaluating, and supporting school-based clinical faculty should be reviewed and approved by program advisory groups, school partners, and other appropriate stakeholders.

Appendix A

Initial Program Components

Advanced Program Components
Standard 2: The provider ensures that effective partnerships and high-quality clinical practice are central to preparation so that candidates develop the knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions necessary to demonstrate positive impact on all P-12 students’ learning and development.

 
Component 2.1 Partnerships for Clinical Preparation

Partners co-construct mutually beneficial P-12 school and community arrangements, including technology-based collaborations, for clinical preparation and share responsibility for continuous improvement of candidate preparation. Partnerships for clinical preparation can follow a range of forms, participants, and functions. They establish mutually agreeable expectations for candidate entry, preparation, and exit; ensure that theory and practice are linked; maintain coherence across clinical and academic components of preparation; and share accountability for candidate outcomes.

 
Component 2.1 Partnerships for Clinical Preparation

Partners co-construct mutually beneficial P-12 school and community arrangements, including technology-based collaborations, for clinical preparation and share responsibility for continuous improvement of advanced program candidate preparation. Partnerships for clinical preparation can follow a range of forms, participants, and functions. They establish mutually agreeable expectations for advanced program candidate entry, preparation, and exit; ensure that theory and practice are linked; maintain coherence across clinical and academic components of preparation; and share accountability for advanced program candidate outcomes.
Component 2.2: Clinical Educators

Partners co-select, prepare, evaluate, support, and retain high-quality clinical educators, both provider- and school-based, who demonstrate a positive impact on candidates’ development and P-12 student learning and development. In collaboration with their partners, providers use multiple indicators and appropriate technology-based applications to establish, maintain, and refine criteria for selection, professional development, performance evaluation, continuous improvement, and retention of clinical educators in all clinical placement settings.
Standard 2.2: Clinical Educators

Partners co-select, prepare, evaluate, support, and retain high-quality clinical educators, both provider- and school-based, who demonstrate a positive impact on advanced program candidates’ development and P-12 student learning and development. In collaboration with their partners, providers use multiple indicators and appropriate technology-based applications to establish, maintain, and refine criteria for selection, professional development, performance evaluation, continuous improvement, and retention of clinical educators in all clinical placement settings.
Component 2.3 Clinical Experiences

The provider works with partners to design clinical experiences of sufficient depth, breadth, diversity, coherence, and duration to ensure that candidates demonstrate their developing effectiveness and positive impact on all students’ learning and development. Clinical experiences, including technology-enhanced learning opportunities, are structured to have multiple performance-based assessments at key points within the program to demonstrate candidates’ development of the knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions, as delineated in Standard 1, that are associated with a positive impact on the learning and development of all P-12 students.

 

 
Component 2.3 Clinical Experiences

The provider works with partners to design clinical experiences of sufficient depth, breadth, diversity, coherence, and duration to ensure that advanced program candidates demonstrate their developing effectiveness in creating environments that support all students’ learning and development. Clinical experiences, including technology-enhanced learning opportunities, are structured to have multiple performance-based assessments at key points within the program to demonstrate advanced program candidates’ development of the knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions, as delineated in Standard 1, that are associated with a positive impact on the learning and development of all P-12 students.