300 student teachers have taken to the field

Campus Report Monday Feb. 27, 2006; Vol. 36 No. 20

This semester, more than 300 Fredonia seniors are student-teaching in classrooms throughout the state. There are 104 in high schools, 140 in elementary schools and 32 in pre-school settings.

Most of the students are placed in Chautauqua, Erie or Cattaraugus counties, but six are in New York City and three in Elmira, N.Y. (Elmira school officials were so impressed by the graduating talent at Fredonia, they requested an ongoing relationship with Fredonia's student teaching program).

The New York City opportunities come from the SUNY Urban Teacher Education Center (SUTEC), which connects SUNY talent with the needs of New York City schools.

Unique in the state to Fredonia, however, is the Fredonia-Hamburg Teacher Education program, which allows 25 childhood education seniors to spend their final year in an internship with Hamburg Central Schools. The unique arrangement between SUNY Fredonia and Hamburg is nationally known, and no other SUNY school has anything like it. Jessica Hageman of Orchard Park chose the program because it is giving her more experience before she graduates. "I student teach the entire year, and the more experience I get, the better off I am," she said. "I'm teaching in three different grade levels, so I'll get a good feel for what grade I want to teach in my career."

AnnMarie Loughlin directs the College of Education's field experience office, which shoulders the job of placing Fredonia's student teachers throughout the network of openings in the partnering school districts. This year, her office received more requests for student teachers than it could fill, which is not the case every year. The benefit to the school districts is evident in test scores, Ms. Loughlin noted, "Student standardized test scores have gone up due to the extra help and student assistance."