This program is closed for 2007.

Transitioning Our Provisional Stars (TOPS) 2007 Accelerated Licensure Program

Applications are due July 16, 2007. Please click here for the application form. We have created an admissions checklist to help you with the application process.

University Coursework

Graduate Certificate in Teaching: Elementary Education
TOPS program participants will be required to satisfactorily complete eight three-credit graduate courses through the American University School of Education, Teaching, and Health for standard licensure. The eight courses included in the TOPS program of study have been approved by the DCPS Educational Credentialing and Standards Office for alternative certification. These courses include:

1. Theories of Educational Psychology and Human Development
2. Effective Teaching for Diverse Learners
3. Foundations of Education
4. Teaching Reading in the Elementary School
5. Teaching Mathematics in the Elementary School
6. Teaching Language Arts in the Elementary School
7. Teaching Social Studies in the Elementary School
8. Teaching Science in the Elementary School

The courses required for certification will be scheduled to accommodate the professional requirements of working teachers. Teacher participants will enroll in two courses each semester from Fall 2007 – Fall 2008. Summer courses will be scheduled to conclude by the beginning of August. Click here for a chart listing the courses per semester and the cost per semester.

Teaching Portfolio
In addition to university coursework, TOPS participants will develop a teaching portfolio through the School of Education, Teaching & Health's electronic portfolio system. Beginning their first semester, teacher participants will collect completed course and classroom work in this electronic portfolio. These collected artifacts, such as assignments, exemplary student work, summaries of standardized test scores, assessments created, art, videotape, photographs, etc., will be used by TOPS participants to document their increasing capabilities as teachers. The portfolio will represent their competencies and provide evidence of their growth toward beginning teacher performance standards set forth by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC). As a culminating assignment, TOPS participants will create a showcase portfolio that will be used to assess their performance as teachers in lieu of “student teaching” and a comprehensive exam.

Praxis I and Praxis II
In order to qualify for a standard license, AQUE program participants will be required to pass both the Praxis I and Praxis II tests. Passing scores on the Praxis I tests are required for acceptance into the program. Passing scores on the Praxis II content area test are also required before acceptance into the program. For more information about which specific test to take, please contact Karen DiGiovanni, Director of Teacher Education, at 202-885-3727 or by e-mail at digiovanni@american.edu. Passing scores on the Praxis II pedagogy test are required before completion of the program.

Master’s Program
Teacher participants are eligible to transfer credits earned through their participation in the TOPS program to the American University School of Education, Teaching, and Health Master of Arts in Teaching: Elementary Education degree program. In order to enter the M.A.T program, TOPS participants will be required to meet the university’s minimum requirements for graduate admission. Three additional courses will be required to complete the M.A.T.

Clinical Faculty Supervision
TOPS program participants will be provided with on-site supervision by American University School of Education, Teaching, and Health clinical faculty selected to observe, provide guidance, and assist participants in the development of teaching competencies. Clinical faculty members will work one-on-one with participants making on-site visits every month of the school year during the participants’ first year of the program. Clinical faculty will provide TOPS participants with critical assessments of their teaching effectiveness and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their teaching strategies as well as present them with recommendations for improvement. Clinical faculty will begin the process of building portfolios with the participants and will regularly review the participants’ progress as recorded in their portfolios. Clinical faculty members will assist TOPS program participants in bringing the portfolios to completion and turning them in at the end of the participants’ second year of participation in the program.

Financial Support
A combination of grant funding, other program resources, and funding from American University is available to assist program participants in defraying the cost of graduate tuition. Program participants receive $5,000.00 over two years through a U.S. Department of Education grant, which will pay for approximately 25% of participants’ tuition for graduate level courses at American University. In addition to U.S. Department of Education funding, TOPS program participants also receive generous tuition support from American University. As a result of this combination of financial support, the portion of the tuition that remains for participants to pay is generally no more than 30% of the total cost of graduate tuition. Participants will be eligible for financial aid to finance their portion of tuition. This financial burden may be minimized through the increases in pay steps that accompany advanced academic work in the DCPS pay structure. The following is the estimated student cost per semester for the TOPS program.

Elementary Education - Fall 2007

This program was made possible by a generous grant from the United States Department of Education’s Transition to Teaching Grant Program