Colorado College

Colorado College DOES offer the opportunity to be licensed at the undergraduate level! Licensure is offered in elementary education (K-6), K-12 art, music and world languages and secondary (6-12) English, math, science and social studies. Each program has a content checklist detailing the required coursework necessary to be approved to teach in that discipline, all of which can be found on this page.

If you plan to teach elementary school, you may major in any liberal arts discipline. If you plan to pursue licensure at the K-12 or secondary level, you must major in the content area you plan to teach. You will also need to complete education coursework listed below.

To allow students extra time to meet the demands of their major and the teacher licensure program, there is the "9th" semester option, in which students complete their 4 blocks of student teaching after they graduate with their bachelor's degree. This "9th" semester is at a significantly reduced tuition rate. Additionally, students may wish to pursue licensure through the Master of Arts in Teaching program (see graduate programs).

Practicum experiences begin early in the program, with students engaging in observation of K-12 classroom, including intentional work with CLD learners. As students progress through the program, they have greater responsibilities to design, teach and assess culturally responsive units. The program ends with a full semester of student teaching with a master mentor teacher.

CC's teacher preparation curriculum is built around culturally responsive pedagogy. Equitable access to learning and authentic multicultural education is emphasized in all coursework.

All teacher candidates are supported by a team of educators including CC faculty, supervisor, cooperating teacher and school administrator. The team collaborates to provide ongoing feedback and support in the development of the teacher candidate in culturally responsive dispositions and teacher quality standards.

The program uses a holistic approach for program assessment and improvement, gathering and analyzing data from student performance in coursework, the Praxis exam, field experiences and the final student teaching rubric. In addition, teacher candidates take a pre- and post-survey, engage in focus groups throughout the program and take an Exit Survey. Assessments are used to monitor individual candidate progress and used to inform program changes and cohort trends.