Teacher Certification Program Competencies

Department of Music Education

(Adapted from the School of Education Secondary Teacher Education Program Competencies & Learning to Teach Growth Chart)

The competencies outlined below provide the framework for the Teacher Certification Program. The courses and fieldwork are designed to build capacities in these areas. These competencies are the basis for the evaluation of the student teacher’s development toward becoming a professional teacher.

• Competency 1 – Instruction Competency: Planning, organizing and implementing effective instructional practices and routines.

• Competency 2 – Student Competency: Establishing and maintaining a productive and respectful classroom culture.

• Competency 3 – Professionalism Competency: Engaging in professional practices.

Rating Levels

Secure: (Target by end of student teaching placement) The student teacher is “ready for hire.” The student teacher has knowledge of the practice and has independently designed, used, evaluated and modified it in the classroom; the student teacher has demonstrated the skill to strategically make decisions and explain their purpose and time of use.

Developing: (Target by middle of student teaching) The student teacher has knowledge of the practice, has successfully employed and evaluated it in guided contexts, and has demonstrated skill, confidence and initiative to plan and enact it in a classroom with mentor and field instructor oversight.

Beginning: (Target by beginning of student teaching) The student teacher can successfully implement the practice in a guided context, with a few students, and/or with extensive supervision, guidance or collaboration.

Unsatisfactory: The student teacher has repeatedly demonstrated lack of awareness, knowledge, and skill of the practice and its central features. The student teacher had the opportunity, but was unable to demonstrate the practice with students in the field or simulated settings.