Certificates, Programs & Degrees

Approved Licensure Areas

The University of Rio Grande has program approval from the Ohio Department of Education to offer teacher licensure in the following areas:

 Early Childhood - ages 3 - 8 (pre-kindergarten through grade 3)
Middle Childhood - ages 8 - 14 (grades 4 through 9)
     Must select two of the following concentrations:
               Language Arts
               Mathematics
               Science
               Social Studies
Adolescent to Young Adult-ages 12 - 21 (grades 7-12)
      Must select one of the following licensure areas:
               Integrated Language Arts
               Integrated Social Studies
               Integrated Mathematics
               Life Sciences
               Physical Sciences
Intervention Specialist 
              Mild to Moderate - Graduate 
              Early Childhood - Graduate
             Intervention Specialist - Undergrad
Multi-Age                               
       Must select one of the following licensure areas:
                Music
                Physical Education
                Visual Arts

Endorsements

The School of Education at the University of Rio Grande offers an Ohio Department of Education approved Reading Endorsement attachment to the teaching license. This endorsement may be attained by any teacher seeking a license in Early Childhood, Middle Childhood, Intervention Specialist, Adolescent to Young Adult, or Multi-Age Education. This endorsement will qualify the teacher to teach, in addition to the licensure area(s), classes such as Title I Reading and Learning/Study Skills Labs.

In order to obtain the Reading Endorsement, teachers must successfully complete the courses outlined in the Endorsement program, and receive a passing score on the appropriate Praxis II Examination.

Portfolio

A portfolio for teacher candidates is started in EDU 20403 Planning for Instruction. The faculty have developed a portfolio handbook to assist teacher candidates in gathering artifacts during their courses in General Education, Professional Education, and Curriculum Content. The portfolio is developed by the teacher candidates to reflect knowledge, skills, and dispositions centering on the Teacher Education Conceptual Framework. The portfolio is assessed by faculty and external evaluators at benchmarks identified in the Teacher Education Portfolio Handbook. Although the teacher candidates gather artifacts during their entire program, they actually enroll in the portfolio course (EDU 48901 Portfolio) along with clinical practice. During this course the portfolio is given final assessment by faculty and is reorganized into a Professional Portfolio that may be taken for employment interviews.