Office of Partnerships, Professional Experiences, & Outreach
(Looking for clearances, forms, or handbooks? Scroll down!)
WHAT IS THE OPPEO?
The OPPEO is the entity responsible for facilitating the logistics between Shippensburg University's various Educator Preparation Program requirements and the Pennsylvania Department of Education's expectations of our programming. We facilitate placements for field experiences and student teaching placements for our teacher candidates. We work with University professors, districts, teacher candidates, and a variety of other stakeholders to deliver this extremely important component of your education--and ultimately your career.
WHY ARE YOU EMAILING ME?
The OPPEO will be emailing you to facilitate your field experiences and student teaching placements. In order to engage in those field experiences, you must comply with our requests. Our office will assume that you are up to date on the information provided on this and the teacher education website, so make sure that you are doing your due diligence as an adult professional.
WHY ARE YOU EMAILING MY COOPERATING TEACHER?
The OPPEO has a role in the "quality assurance" aspect of our teacher candidates performance in their placements. We send a variety of surveys to cooperating teachers (and supervisors) each semester. If you are not exhibiting the expected professional dispositions, we may need to schedule an IAP meeting. Don't be scared of the IAP's, they just serve as a friendly reminder of what services are available to you and contain recommendations. They can contain requirements if you are not on track to graduate or be certified. Again, our role is to ensure that you are not only ready to teach, but that you will be able to get certified to teach by the state once you graduate.
WHAT ARE PROFESSIONAL DISPOSITIONS & WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT THEM?
During your time in the field, we are looking to ensure that you are displaying professionalism, which we have outlined within our professional dispositions rubric as aligned with our conceptual framework. During student teaching, we rate your professional dispositions. You are also rated by a document called the PDE 430. Without a passing cumulative score on your PDE430's, you will not be certified to teach in the state of Pennsylvania. In order to ensure that passing score, you should familiarize yourself with the PDE website, and the field experience expectations they require. You can find more information about these things below: