3.2 Professional Behavior and Academic Progress Intervention Process

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 at any time during a student's involvement in a teacher education program.  This includes the time from initial enrollment in pre-professional courses to program completion and teacher licensure recommendation. A request should be sent directly to the student's program coordinator.

2) Once a Request for Review is received by the program coordinator, the Assistant Dean of the School of Education is contacted and an ARC (Admission Retention Committee) intervention meeting is called with the student to discuss the concern.  At this meeting the ARC may find that no further action is required or decide to devise a Professional Behavior Plan (PBP) or an Academic Progress Plan (APP).  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 will also be set to monitor the student’s completion of the plan. 

A Professional Behavior Plan (PBP) or Academic Progress Plan (APP) will consist of specific objectives, procedures for assessment of objectives, responsibilities of the student/faculty identified in the plan, and a timeline for progress assessment.

3) 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 or if the plan needs to be reinstated, revised, or extended. If a new plan is required, a new follow-up meeting with the ARC will be set.

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.  Failure to complete one or more plans may result in dismissal from the teacher licensure program.

Minutes and Intervention plans from all ARC Intervention meetings are distributed to the student, academic advisor, program coordinator, SOE Assistant Dean, and the student’s SOE file.