* Special Education K12
Join our Cadre of Special Education K12 Cooperating Professionals
To provide students with exposure to school based intervention practices, the COE places 20-30 graduate K-12 teacher candidates with special education professionals. Mentors demonstrate best practices in instruction, behavior, academic, and social supports for students with diverse learning needs in various schools and learning communities.
We deeply appreciate the wealth of classroom experience and pedagogical expertise our cooperating professionals provide.
TSPC Cooperating Teacher Minimum Approval Criteria (OAR 584-400-0145)
- Hold a qualified TSPC license.
- Meet the ≥3 year experience requirements.
- Meet related endorsement requirements.
- Be part of the UO COE instructional team, including the Clinical Placement Coordinator and University Supervisor to support successful development of a student teacher. This includes online training meetings.
District teachers earn stipend, tuition benefits, and professional development units, in terms where licensure evaluation and assessments are required. Check with your HR Office to determine how these benefits are dispersed.
SPED K12 Mentor Roles & Responsibilities:
- Complete the UO Cooperating Professional online Canvas training module and/or attend any corresponding online orientation meeting.
- Orient your assigned candidate to school and learning community policies and procedures.
- Provide a positive model of special education foundations in early intervention, behavioral intervention, and social supports for students with diverse learning needs.
- Help candidate develop strength-based understanding of typical and atypical development; school assessments; family involvement; design of intervention; implementation of intervention; evaluation of intervention; interdisciplinary and interagency collaboration; and hands on applications.
- Encourage and enrich candidates preparation for working with diverse populations and provide a range of intervention model experiences.
- Demonstrate how to arrange an environment for learning, plan and provide effective instruction and student supports, provide relationship to general education, collaborate, and provide suggestions for how to deal with challenging pupil behaviors.
- Mentor your candidate’s interests, experience, and knowledge as a professional educator. Provide proactive guidance and coaching to normalize teacher anxieties and learning opportunities. Include university supervisor in candidate communications for wraparound supports.
- Encourage and include the candidate in on-site and external professional development (up to 5 hours each term).
Responsibilities:
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- Have weekly meetings with teacher candidate to review student’s progress, give candidate informal feedback, and answer questions.
- Work with the assigned university supervisor to provide regular consultation, guidance, and support.
- Observe and complete all required licensure observations and evaluations, providing feedback on meeting Special Education Early Intervention candidate requirements.
SpEd Multiple Term Hosting Options
Depending on teaching assignment, mentors may host multiple 10-week terms.
| 10-Week Term | Candidate Onsite Hours | Outline | Licensure task support stipend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar-Jun Part- time Supervised Student Teaching I | 2.5 hours per day | Observing and becoming familiar with classroom, school, and students; assist in small group instruction; typically includes reading intervention. | Yes |
| Sept-Dec Part-time Supervised Student Teaching II: | 3.5 hours per day | Supporting instruction and completing a variety of clinical tasks. | Yes |
| Jan-Mar Full-time Supervised Student Teaching III: | 5 days, 36 hours a week | Co-teaching model of shared planning, organizing, delivery and assessment of instruction to support classroom and individual student learning needs. | Yes |
Supervision: Candidates are assigned a University supervisor to assist in managing the student teacher experience and ensure student teacher is completing University and licensure requirements.
Join our Instructional Team: To become a new or returning cooperating professional, sign up through your district’s centralized process.
UO Special Education Instructional Team
- Clinical Coordinator: Kyle Reardon
- University Supervisor team
- UO COE Field Placement, coeplacement@uoregon.edu | 541-346-1397
- Special Education website: https://education.uoregon.edu/sped
Pre-Service Candidate Field Placement
The UO works with field placement affiliated partners for approved cooperating professional placement opportunities. The clinical coordinator assigns students to placements based on several factors including faculty recommendation, the student’s interest and prior experiences, availability of sites, and transportation limitations.
A: Clearance: As a prerequisite to entering the field, the UO requires that in addition to satisfactorily meeting all program requirements, SPED K12 candidates must complete the following:
- Oregon TSPC E-Licensure clearance
- Oregon DHS mandatory reporting of child abuse
- Civil Rights and Professional Ethics training (includes FERPA & HIPPA)
B: Field Activities:
- Observe, practice, develop, and demonstrate the competencies required for initial licensure.
- Help enhance the overall operation of the program for children and their families.
- Proactively take on instructional responsibilities under the supervision of the assigned cooperating professional.
- Demonstrate initiative and independence in co-teacher planning, organizing, delivering, and assessing instruction.
- Engage in self-reflection exercises by completing reflections of their practicum activities and evaluating their overall progress on competency areas at the middle and end of the term with their supervisor and Cooperating Professional.
- Maintain professional disposition in alignment with state, university, and site codes of conduct, sensitive to their role in providing care, custody, and control of minors and other vulnerable populations.
C: Not Approved Field Activities:
Licensure candidate’s are not employees, as such, they do not discipline students. Disciplinary or corrective issues are to be handled by cooperating professionals, staff, and building administration.
Updated: 2/26/24