Practitioner Teacher Program

The program is not offered in Hearing Impaired, Visually Impaired or Significant Disabilities.

While enrolled in the program, the individual is issued a Practitioner License 1. Upon successful completion of the program, the individual is eligible for a standard Professional Level license.

The individual participates in a yearlong residency under the tutelage of an expert Mentor and is issued a Resident teacher certificate.

Clinical experiences are required in classroom settings prior to the residency year and a one-year residency is also required. The clinical experiences prior to the residency year must include a minimum of 9 credit hours or 135 contact hours of training.

The one-year residency must take place in a public or approved non-public school in a classroom in the certification area. The residency must include a combination of the following experiences:

a. instructional goal-setting and planning, including IEP and IAP review and implementation;

b. classroom teaching;

c. analysis of student assessment results, including formative and summative assessment data, student work samples, and observations of student class discussions;

d. parent-teacher conferences and communication; and

e. interactions and collaboration with other teachers.

The teacher candidate must be supervised in all residency experiences by a team comprised of a school-based mentor teacher, the residency school site principal or designee, and a program faculty member. The school-based mentor must hold a level 1 or higher Louisiana teaching certificate, have at least two years of successful teaching experience, successfully complete a BESE approved mentor teacher training program, and pass the Louisiana teacher mentor teacher assessment series.

The teacher candidate must be mentored at least 15 percent, or 5 hours per week, of the school's instructional time by the school-based mentor. The mentorship must include intensive individual supports, including co-teaching, collaborative planning, and observation, and feedback sessions.

The supervision must include, at minimum, two formal observations of teaching practice per semester, which shall include feedback on performance and analysis of formative and summative student achievement results and candidate performance data. Observations may be conducted by any member of the supervision team.

Hours in the teaching of reading and literacy are required as follows:

1. for certification in PK-3 and 1-5, general-special education mild/moderate 1-5?9 credit hours or 135 contact hours;

2. for certification in middle grades 4-8 or general-special education mild/moderate 4-8?6 credit hours or 90 contact hours;

3. for certification in secondary 6-12, all-level K-12, or general-special education mild/moderate 6-12 programs 3 credit hours or 45 contact hours;