×

Common Searches

What majors does UMSL offer? Where can I sign in to Canvas? What courses are offered this semester? What are the upcoming events at UMSL? How can I get IT help? How do I request a transcript? How do I add or drop a class? Who is my advisor?
Admissions Pay Tuition Financial Aid Scholarships and Grants Alumni and Giving Athletics Visit UMSL Careers at UMSL

Clinical Experience Policies

The following actions will be taken in cases in which community agencies or school districts request the removal of a College of Education educator candidate during any clinical experience, including agency and school placements, BES internship placements, and certification practicum placements.

  1. The agency or school partner must submit a request to the Clinical Experience Office for the candidate’s dismissal, including an explanation for the dismissal.
  2. The educator candidate will receive an email from the College of Education Care and Concern Team, requesting a meeting to discuss the clinical experience dismissal. Whether the educator candidate has been dismissed due to content inadequacy or dispositional concerns, the Care and Concern Team will decide if it constitutes a dismissal under this policy, and whether or not to provide the 2nd placement allowed for, given a dismissal.
  3. The Care and Concern Team committee will decide if the educator candidate may continue in their program by re-enrolling in the following semester, or if the candidate will be immediately and permanently dismissed from the College of Education based on extreme violation of candidate's actions, behavior, or language as stated in  the Student Standard of Conduct or the  professionalism expectations as required for teacher candidates in the Missouri Educator Evaluation System Teacher Candidate Rubric . In such cases, no candidate would be permitted to re-enroll in the University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Education without providing evidence that the behavior and their performance would reliably meet the expectations of the profession.
  4. The College of Education Care and Concern Team will determine if a referral to the University Care Team is necessary, and if so, will complete the UMSL Care Referral Form .
  5. The candidate will likely be required to drop the associated course for which he or she was dismissed. Refer to The Undergraduate Study Page or the The Graduate Study Page to determine when a course may be dropped with no grade, or when a grade of EX (excused), EX-F (excused but failing) will be issued at the time of dismissal. Please note that dropping or withdrawing from a course may adversely impact scholarships, financial aid, or progress toward certification/graduation.
  6. If an educator candidate receives a non-passing grade of B- or lower in BES Internship 1 or BES Capstone Internship, or a non- passing grade of C- in Practicum 1 or Practicum 2, then that shall be considered one of the two allowable placements.
  7. Due to the nature of agency and district partnerships, if an educator candidate decides to withdraw from BES Internship 1, BES Capstone Internship, Practicum 1 or Practicum 2, he or she must immediately contact Stephanie Koscielski, Sr. Director of Clinical Experience at koscielskis@umsl.edu to request a meeting with the Care and Concern Team prior to withdrawing from the course. Failure to make the request will result in only one more allowable placement, of the two total allowable placements. The Care and Concern Team will determine if it is in the best interest of the educator candidate to withdraw from the placement, and whether the placement that is being dropped will count as one of the two allowable placements. Additional information on dropping courses can be found at the Registration Add/Drop/Withdraw page .
  8. If the educator candidate is given the second placement, and is once again (a total of two times during their entire program ) asked by an agency or school district to be dismissed, the educator candidate will not receive a third placement, and therefore will not be able to complete the UMSL College of Education Certification or BES programs, and must drop the course in accordance with the University’s drop schedule. (See #3, above.) If the reason for the dismissal is documented inappropriate interactions or relationships with minors or other agency clients then the educator candidate will not be permitted to re-enroll in a College of Education program.
  9. The educator candidate may appeal the committee’s decision made in step #2 to the Department Chairpersons, Dr. April Regester at regestera@umsl.edu for teacher certification or Dr. Phillip Waalkes waalkesp@umsl.edu for Bachelor of Education Studies candidates.
  10. The educator candidate may appeal the department chairperson’s decision to Dr. Shawn Woodhouse, the Associate Dean of Student Services at woodhouses@umsl.edu .

Additional Information for Teach in Residency Dismissal Policy

UMSL-Teach in Residency is an alternative pathway where participants are granted a 2-year Provisional certificate allowing them to serve as a teacher of record while taking certification coursework. The Resident teachers are required to sign an academic contract which outlines their commitment of meeting the university's academic program requirements. This contract is approved by DESE and is a contributing factor towards the administration of provisional certification.   Once the resident teacher has obtained provisional certification, UMSL will monitor his/her compliance with all requirements necessary to maintain license/certification and will notify both the school district and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in the event that he/she is in jeopardy of forfeiting his/her certification/license. In the instance that a resident teacher has breached the requirements, he/she becomes ineligible for UMSL's alternative certification program and the provisional certification is ended.

Updated November 2023

The UMSL College of Education aims to be a collaborative and supportive partner with our K-12 Studio School Partners. In this most unusual time of educator shortages we have looked closely at our teacher candidates' time and efforts spent substituting in their Studio Schools. Some of the things we considered are:

  • The amount of candidates’ time spent in their assigned classrooms, allowing them to develop deep relationships, plan ahead for instruction and data collection, and ability to receive timely feedback from their clinical teachers.
  • The amount of time candidates are substitute teaching outside of their certification area, if any.

UMSL College of Education will support our teacher candidates’ substitute teaching in their specific certification area for a total of two weeks of their Practicum 1 (total of 4 days) or Practicum 2 (total of 8 days) when the need arises within the partner school. Teacher candidates’ time should be added in either ½ days (any time that equals ½ day or less)  or full days. 

UMSL teacher candidates can be paid for substitute teaching per the individual school district’s policy.

Approved 3-8-23