Student Teaching Placement
Candidates admitted to student teaching cannot be guaranteed a particular school district, building, or master teacher. The decision for placement is the responsibility of the Department of Education and school district personnel.
Student Teacher Placement Options
Option 1: Local area (no additional costs/fees)
The Carroll College local area placements are within commuting distance of the Carroll campus and include the following districts:
Helena School District #1
East Helena School District #9
Montana City School District #27
Other Lewis and Clark County Schools
Option 2: Out-of-area (may require additional costs/fees)
Teacher candidates requesting student teaching assignments outside the Option 1 placement areas must have a legitimate reason for doing so. Out-of-area placements in other communities or settings will be made when:
- Local area school districts (see Option 1) cannot provide an appropriate placement in the student’s area of licensing.
- An out-of-area placement provides a more valuable experience in the student’s area of licensing.
- A placement in the local area will impose extreme hardship and prevent the student from completing the student teaching experience.
For any out-of-area request to be approved, the faculty members of the Department of Education must judge that there is a very low probability that the student will require direct intervention of department faculty members during his/her student teaching experience. For that reason, students minimally must possess a GPA 3.25 or better and have excellent previous field experience evaluations.
All out-of-area student teaching placements must be approved by the faculty members of the Department of Education prior to student teaching assignments. A student seeking an out-of-area student teaching placement must submit a written request prior to or in conjunction with his/her Application for Student Teaching to the Director of Teacher Education explaining in detail the rationale for his/her request. Appropriate documentation supporting the request should also be attached.
If the student teaching placement request is approved, the Department will determine the best possible supervision model. Supervision may be fulfilled with Carroll College supervisors, with contracted supervision by another college/university, with another qualified individual, or with the use of technology. All costs for supervision that would exceed those incurred during a Helena placement will be borne by the teacher candidate. This may include the salary of the college supervisor and all expenses associated with travel, lodging and meals.
If the out-of-teaching placement request is not approved, the Education Department will place the teacher candidate in a local area school (Option 1 listed above).