Selection Criteria

• Candidates can enter the School of Education officially in their junior year or when they accumulate 60 or more credits.
• As freshmen, candidates are assigned an advisor in both the School of Education and their second major. Candidates are carefully monitored by their two advisors over the first two years.
• Being admitted to the School of Education is a very selective process. Candidates must have minimum GPA (which we have raised over the last year), passed state mandated pre-licensure tests and taken two developmental education courses (Contexts of Schooling and Developmental Psychology) before they can officially apply and be admitted to the School of Education.
• Cohort average for candidates admitted to the School of Education in 2012-2013 disaggregated by Elementary and Secondary Education Programs.

The Department of Teacher Education Handbook (click here for handbook) outlines key information for application and admission into the School of Education and Student Teaching.

We are constantly making changes to the requirements based on the information we receive from our P-12 educators (school leaders and cooperating teachers) on teacher effectiveness, our national accreditation organizations (CAEP and Specialty Professional Associations (SPAs)) and New Jersey Department of Education.

We have outlined changes throughout this Standard and others within this exhibit room with excerpts from meeting agendas, minutes and official university documents. All attachments are noted.

Updates to Admissions' Process

A motion was made in the September 2013 Department of Teacher Education Meeting to require further testing for admission into the School of Education, which does not occur until the Junior Year (see item above)

Attached is the Praxis Rule Changes document.  Below is the text from the document:

Due to recent changes in regulations from the New Jersey Department of Education, the Department of Teacher Education has instituted two new rules, one about taking methods courses (this includes most ELD and SED courses) and about student teaching (EDU 465).

1. Beginning in Fall 2015, students must have earned a passing score on all sections (reading, writing and math) of the Core Academic Skills Test before registering for any methods courses. This is a New Jersey Department of Education rule that applies to all elementary, secondary, and business education students and the department cannot make exceptions.  The Core Academic Skills Test is a new Praxis test — it is not the same as the Praxis I test Rider once required for Elementary Education students — and the New Jersey Department of Education has only recently announced this regulation. We will send out further information about this test as soon as it becomes available.
2. Beginning in Fall 2014, students must present evidence of a passing score on the Praxis II in their specialization area one month prior to the beginning of the student teaching semester.  Students whose scores fall short of the New Jersey required score in their teaching area can appeal to the Director of Field Placement for an exemption.  This is the same Praxis II test score students will need for certification, however, and Rider can in no way override this requirement for certification, so even if a student is granted an exemption and allowed to student teach, that student will not be able to be certified to teach in New Jersey without earning a passing score.