The purpose of all student interventions within the University of Northwestern’s Teacher Education Program is to facilitate growth towards successful achievement of program outcomes and success as a beginning teacher. When a concern about professionalism or academics occurs, it is best for the student and program faculty to address it directly in order to define the problem and assist the student in setting appropriate goals for improvement. For this purpose, the following process has been defined for either a professional behavior intervention or an academic progress intervention process.
1) A Request for Review of Professional Behavior or a Request for Review of Academic Progress may be completed when there is a professional behavior concern or an academic performance concern that may negatively affect a student’s ability to successfully complete the teacher education program and perform as a professional educator. This request may be completed by Northwestern faculty members, cooperating school personnel, or the program coordinator.
2) The Request for Review is completed as necessary and submitted to the Assistant Dean of the School of Education. This form may be completed and submitted at any point during a student’s involvement in a teacher education program, from initial enrollment in pre-professional courses to program completion and teacher licensure recommendation.
3) Once a Request for Review is received by the Assistant Dean of the School of Education, the related program coordinator is contacted and an ARC (Admission Retention Committee) intervention meeting is called to meet with the student and discuss the concern. At this meeting the ARC may discuss the concern and require no further action or require Professional Behavior Plan (PBP) or an Academic Progress Plan (APP) be devised. This plan will be completed with the student's program coordinator or another SOE faculty member within the ARC. A follow-up meeting of the ARC is set to monitor the student’s completion of the plan.
4) A Professional Behavior Plan (PBP) or Academic Progress Plan (APP) will consist of specific objectives, procedures for assessment of objectives, responsibilities of the student and any faculty identified in the plan, and a timeline for progress assessment.
5) If an Intervention Plan has been required, a follow-up meeting of the ARC will take place as planned. At this meeting the ARC may decide whether the plan has been successfully completed and no further action is required, or the plan needs to be reinstated, revised, or extended. In this case a new plan is required and a new follow-up meeting with the ARC is set.
b. If the student has been unsuccessful in completing one or more plans, the student may choose to withdraw from a teacher licensure program or the ARC may recommend dismissal.
Minutes of the Admission and Retention Committee meeting are distributed to the student, academic advisor, Program Coordinator for the student’s major, the Assistant Dean of the School of Education, and the student’s SOE file.
Minutes of all ARC Intervention meeting and related documentation are distributed to the student, academic advisor, program coordinator, Assistant Dean of the School of Education, and the student’s SOE file.
Successful resolution of all Professional Behavior Plan objectives is required to receive approval for admission to a teacher education program, admission to student teaching and recommendation for licensure. Therefore, the requirement of an Intervention Plan may interrupt a student’s progress in a teacher licensure program.