Student Teachers, Rights of

Students who seek teacher certification through university approval must successfully complete [Page 441]the prerequisite coursework, a field experience course, and a final student teaching internship in order to gain licensure for teaching purposes. Clearly, student teaching is a high-stakes enterprise that represents the culmination of a student's teacher preparation program and serves as the prerequisite to teacher certification. Legislation in each of the 50 states provides institutions of higher education with express or implied authority for this purpose. On occasion, the representatives of the sponsoring institutions of higher education or the cooperating school boards make decisions that deprive students from colleges or schools of education of the opportunity to begin or complete student teaching, thereby leading to litigation. In light of emerging questions surrounding this ...