In response to a state-level mandate, Franklin College offers an alternative route to teacher licensure entitled the Transition to Teaching Program (TtT). All TtT Programs in Indiana are intended to serve members of the current work force who hold an appropriate baccalaureate degree and seek a career change.

 

The mission of the Franklin College Teacher Education Program is to prepare future professional educators to be “competent, caring decision makers.” This theme provides a unifying perspective to bring together the various components of all the educational programs at Franklin College. It implies thoughtful design and implementation of the various licensure programs in order to provide comprehensive and coordinated experiences for all candidates.

 

The goals and criteria of the Teacher Education Program set a standard of excellence and show that the programs attend to the career track of preparing K-12 educators. Candidates are active participants as learners because of the field-based nature of the program. The focus on specific dispositions needed by future professional educators leads to “values-focused” preparation. The program is developmental in nature, therefore the candidates move through a series of courses as a cohort group or community of learners in which each participant receives personal attention.

 

The mission also implies that the Teacher Education Program prepares educators who are able to perform effectively in authentic school-based situations. More specifically, Franklin College program completers must demonstrate knowledge, as well as certain desired skills and dispositions, that are critical to success as a novice teacher. Franklin College prepares future professional educators who clearly visualize their roles, meet the demands of innovation and change, and value learning as a life-long process.

 

The education department believes in the mission of service. The education department faculty reaches out to individuals, schools, and the larger community in order to serve in various professional roles. This service is in addition to their work as college professors, field experience supervisors and integral members of the college community.

Franklin College offers its alternative Transition to Teaching program in all of its approved licensure programs. These include: elementary education, secondary education – health education, language arts, mathematics, physical education, life sciences, physical sciences, chemistry, physics, social studies (economics, government and citizenship, historical perspectives, psychology and sociology), French and Spanish. No degree is awarded.

 

The complete, highly sequential TtT Program begins with one summer session consisting of four courses, followed by two complete and sequential academic years which span from mid-August through mid-May. (Note: If a low TtT enrollment exists, the four summer courses may be canceled, thereby requiring all accepted TtT student to enroll in these courses during an extra full prerequisite academic year.) The TtT student usually attends only part-time from August to May.

 

All course credit is at the undergraduate level. Classes are usually held during the day. TtT participants will be enrolled in fall, winter, and spring classes also taken by those students within the regular Franklin College teacher education program. All on-campus courses are graded A through F, and field experiences taken prior to student teaching are graded as S for “satisfactory” or U for “unsatisfactory.” All TtT courses must be successfully completed at a C grade or better (S required in field experiences). The Franklin College Transition to Teaching program requires continuous enrollment. Withdrawal from the program would require re-application. For the elementary education program total credit hours, including field experiences and student teaching, equal 24 credit hours as required by state mandate. For the secondary programs total credit hours, including field experiences and student teaching, equal 18 credit hours as required by state mandate. Transfer credit hours are not accepted in the Transition to Teaching program.

 

A unique aspect of this program is the amount of time spent in many nearby actual classrooms in order to assist a model veteran teacher and to teach many high quality lessons under that professional’s guidance. Currently, field experiences are (1) all day Wednesday for fall and spring semesters, (2) all day, every day during the month of January for winter term for both years, and (3) all day, every day, for 10 weeks of student teaching during March, April, and May of the second spring semester. Field experiences are located in our local cooperating school corporations. All field placements are made by the coordinators of field placements.

There may be an occasion when a student believes past experience or knowledge would make attendance in a regular college course unnecessary. The student must obtain Education Department approval and petition the Registrar for permission to attempt a departmental exam. If the department and the Registrar grant permission, an appropriately-qualified faculty member, appointed by the chairperson, devises and schedules an exam. Faculty members designated by the chairperson will grade the exam and assign a satisfactory or unsatisfactory grade. These exams may not be taken for credit, but a successful score may exempt a student from a requirement.

A student admitted to the Franklin College TtT program may document prior experiences and seek college credit by creating a Prior Learning Portfolio (PLP) and presenting it for assessment to a faculty panel with subject matter expertise in the area being assessed.

 

To make certain that the philosophy of Franklin College is understood, it must be stressed that Franklin College awards credit for college-level knowledge acquired in a non-college setting rather than for life experiences as such. Examples of such prior learning (PL) include but are not limited to college level learning that one has received through work, church, home and community volunteer activities.

 

A Franklin College Prior Learning Portfolio is defined as a well-documented, organized written record of learning outside the classroom which includes the following elements:

After the PLP is presented to the faculty panel for assessment, the panel will meet with the student to review the student’s understanding of the subject(s) for which college credit is being requested. The amount of PL credit awarded will be determined by the faculty panel.

 

Credits gained through PLP assessment are fully equivalent to academic credit earned at Franklin College through other means. The credit will be listed on the transcript without a grade and denoted as “P” for pass.

 

The maximum credit which can be awarded for PL is five hours. There is a fee per hour of PL credit awarded. Fees may be determined by consulting a Franklin College current fee schedule.

 

It is strongly advised that a student seeking PL credit apply for it early in the academic program since PL credit will affect the courses and total number of semester hours remaining for TtT completion.