Department of Teacher Education
For information, contact the Department of Teacher Education, 401 McGuffey Hall (513-529-6443).
This department administers undergraduate teacher licensure programs approved by the Ohio Department of Education. Each program, when combined with a baccalaureate degree, makes the candidate eligible for the Ohio teaching licensure in a selected teaching field.
Students who have earned a baccalaureate degree may complete a teacher licensure program as part of a Master of Arts in Teaching degree program in five major cohort areas (math, science, English, social studies and foreign language) or may complete a licensure only program in all subject areas. (See the Graduate Fields of Study section for information about the Master of Arts in Teaching degree program.)
Students enrolled in teacher licensure programs are required to participate in clinical and field experience travel, site development, and supervision and are regularly assessed during the licensure program.
Students in the Department of Teacher Education must pass the content area of the Praxis II examination before student teaching.
Cohorts
A cohort is defined as a group of students who have been selected by the Department of Teacher Education to experience certain parts of their program together, provided they satisfy the prerequisite retention requirements for the methods courses for their licensure field and for student teaching. A cohort is identified by its general subject or licensure area and by a semester or academic year during which the members start or complete their methods courses. For example, Integrated Mathematics 2013-14, Science 2014-15, Middle Childhood Language Arts and Science Fall 2013, Middle Childhood Math and Science Spring 2013, and Early Childhood Spring 2014 are all separate cohorts.
Selection to a Cohort
Students declare a pre-major in a Teacher Education program at the time of university admission or as soon thereafter as possible. After declaring a pre-major, students must apply for acceptance to a cohort. Selection is limited for each cohort to ensure quality instruction; those applicants with the greatest potential for academic success are selected for each cohort. Admission to Miami University or to the School of Education, Health and Society as a pre-major neither implies nor guarantees selection to a cohort.
A cohort application form may be obtained from the Department of Teacher Education, 401 McGuffey Hall (513-529-6443). Admission to cohorts for pre-majors is based on a minimum 2.75 GPA in all Miami Plan courses. This consists of at least 12 credit hours of Miami Plan courses taken for a grade. Cohort application deadlines vary by program. Contact the department for specific dates.
Applicants must take the Praxis I test and score 173 on reading, 172 on math, and 172 on writing. Applicants with an ACT composite score of 21 or higher or SAT score (math and verbal) of 980 or above are exempt from taking Praxis I.
You may apply to two cohort programs in order to become eligible for multiple teaching licenses; however, you must be selected to both cohorts. If you are selected to an Adolescent Education science or foreign language cohort, you may also pursue any of the other programs within that same cohort; you must declare additional programs as additional majors.
Transferring from One Cohort to Another
A student in one cohort may not transfer to a different cohort, unless the student applies and is selected to the different cohort. Students who change majors or transfer into Miami may ask to be considered for an earlier cohort if space is available. Students who are selected for a cohort must take their cohort classes during that specific cohort year.
Transfer Students
Students transferring from another university or enrolled in another program at Miami may apply for selection into a teacher education licensure cohort following the guidelines in the “Limited Admission to Programs” section of this Bulletin.
Retention
There are retention checkpoints for each cohort at the time of registration for each instructional procedures course and at the time of application to supervised teaching. The department has established retention criteria specific to each major for each retention point, which are available from the department.
Technology Requirement
All teacher education programs will be infusing technology into their classes to assist teacher candidates in their preparation to teach in tomorrow's schools. All students seeking a degree in a teacher education program will be required to have a laptop computer when accepted into their teacher education cohort. Students should consider purchasing an Apple (Mac) laptop computer through the Miami Notebook program. Other laptop brands are acceptable, but not preferred.
