All student teacher placements in MCPS must have written approval from the Office of Human Resources prior to commencing a student teaching program. This approval process is designed to ensure that student teachers are placed with professional development schools (PDS), as appropriate. Additionally, since MCPS pays a stipend to the supervising teachers during the time frame of the student teaching internship, this process is a way of monitoring our budget for this project, since only a limited number of student teachers can be accepted. Finally, this revised procedure provides more consistency in the overall student teaching process in MCPS.

Schools may work with the local universities, with which they have established a professional development relationship, to confirm their willingness to accept student teacher placements. However, it is further required that the universities submit a completed Student Teacher/Intern Assignement Verification Form to Kathleen Erkert, Office of Human Resources, 7361 Calhoun Place, Suite 401, Rockville, Maryland 20855 (FAX: 301-279-3024) for approval prior to the student teacher beginning their assignment. For further clarification, please contact Ms. Erkert at 301-279-3947.