Clinical Practice

You will typically take the field experience course within the first 18 credits of your respective program of study, and the practicum course as one of your culminating courses at the end of your program of study. Consult with your program advisor to determine your eligibility for Field Experience/Practicum coursework. 

You will notice that there is a different number of required fieldwork hours depending on if you are a certified, or non-certified, teacher. A certified teacher is one who holds a New York State Initial Certificate or Professional license. An Internship Certificate is not recognized for certification classification.

Getting Started

If you are not currently working in a school, we recommend you reach out to principals near where you live so you can do fieldwork in a convenient location. If you need assistance in finding a placement, note that when you are filling out the student personnel form and follow up with ocp@touro.edu.

There are some items you will need to take care of before you start fieldwork:

• Fingerprinting
• Register for class: complete the student profile and will receive an email from an OCP team member with a CRN# that you will use along with the pin you received from your academic advisor to register for the course.

Now, some of the where, when, and how of fieldwork. 

The answer to our most commonly asked question? You cannot spend your Field Experience/Practicum in only one age/grade level. You must work in at least two grade levels.

Also,

• An inclusion/ICT class with a strong General Education component is acceptable as a General Education placement.
• An inclusion/ICT class with a strong Special Education component is acceptable as a Special Education placement.
• Over the course of the Field Experience and Practicum courses some work is done in a high needs school or a school serving a high needs community.
• A “high needs school” is defined as one of the schools designated as either Schools Under Registration Review, schools identified as Persistently Lowest Achieving, and those schools designated as Schools in Improvement Status, in which there is a shortage of certified teachers in the previous school year and there is a projected shortage of certified teachers in the current year.

Where can I student teach? (aka Placement)

You will need to complete fieldwork and practicum in a NYS school.

In New York State, you can log hours at a public school or a licensed private school. If you live out of state or in Canada you may be able to complete your fieldwork outside of New York with Program Administration approval.

Day care settings must be licensed by the New York State Department of Education and allow you to work across at least two different settings using two different grade levels. Remember that your cooperating teacher also needs to have a Master’s degree and three years experience. Day care facilities certified only by the New York City Department of Health are unacceptable settings.

You are allowed to complete your hours at two different schools (if you complete your hours in one school, you only need to fill out one site on the personnel form). Afterschool and weekend programs will work too. Feel free to find your own school within the borough you reside or contact OCP@touro.edu if you need additional assistance.

We typically want candidates to find a placement within an ICT, Special Education, or General Education classroom setting. Resource room and one-to-one tutoring does not satisfy the requirements for the field experience/practicum courses.

Your cooperating teacher (Certified teacher with a Master’s degree and 3 years’ experience) or school administrator can sign your timesheet. Depending on your placements, it is possible to have more than one cooperating teacher. You should consult with your field supervisors in such situations.

What counts as unacceptable fieldwork hours?

Regents:
Regents’ exam period does not count. 

Lunch, and preparation:
The Field Experience and Practicum Guides include the following statement related to required hours: Time spent during preparation periods not used for student teaching purposes, lunch hours not spent with students, and other activities that do not involve work with teachers or students, observations of teachers or students, or planning for student teaching activities may not be counted toward meeting Practicum requirements.

Substitute teaching:
If your principal approves and your field supervisor verifies that your settings are appropriate then you can log practicum hours only in your work setting. You must be assigned to a leave replacement or constant assignment 3 or more days in a row.

Field Experience/Practicum done while enrolled at another institution:
You have to complete the student teaching hours, as stated in the course syllabus, while enrolled at Touro College to satisfy the requirements of your master’s degree at Touro College.

Current teachers:
Current NYS certified teacher are not exempt from Field Experience and Practicum coursework, but they may be eligible for a reduction of hours.

If you are teaching at the appropriate grade level to meet a field experience or practicum requirement, you can use your own class only with the permission of the district principal and classroom teacher if you are the Teaching Assistant in that class.

You cannot submit previous hours, even if you are already teaching in a classroom. You can only submit hours once enrolled in your field experience or practicum class.

Timing (schedules, incompletes):
The Office of Clinical Practice will provide the specific date when you can begin logging hours if it differs from the first day of the semester.

Based on the course and certification area, the amount of required hours will differ so you will need to schedule accordingly to complete them within a given semester.

You are expected to complete the fieldwork for your field experience/practicum course within one semester. If you cannot complete your hours in the semester in which you are registered for that practicum or field experience class, you will need to request an Incomplete grade from your field supervisor in order to complete your hours the following semester.

In order to qualify for an Incomplete grade, you must submit at least 75% of course work within a given semester and discuss eligibility for an Incomplete with your field supervisor. After speaking with your field supervisor you will need to fill out a request an Incomplete contract which needs to be approved by a program chair or dean. Review the policy in your Canvas course or college catalog.

Please consult with your financial aid advisor regarding your loans.

Please note: summer is a shorter semester during which time you may be able to log approximately 174 hours based on the NYCDOE summer school schedule and placement availability.

Field Supervision and meetings

You will receive a phone call/email from your assigned field supervisor typically within the first two weeks of the semester. Your field supervisor will work with you on setting up the dates and times of your meetings and will observe you 1-2 times based on whether you are enrolled in the field experience or practicum course. Meetings are held in the borough where your placement site is located and your field supervisor will discus the time and date with you. If you miss a meeting, contact your field supervisor to make alternative arrangements, such as one-to-one meeting, phone conference, or Skype meeting. 

We cannot grant mentor/professor requests since field supervisors’ assignments are based on availability, certification levels, courses, placement location, and enrollment needs. There is no guarantee that you will have the same professor for the Field Experience/Practicum courses.