History
The IA Internship Program evolved for dual purposes. First to provide a realistic, field based internship for the LD/ED graduate students at George Mason University, and secondly to better meet the staffing needs of centers for students with emotional disabilities in Fairfax County Public Schools. A pilot program was initiated in the fall of 1992 to provide select graduate students with individually determined experiences and graduate internship credit while being employed as teaching assistants at an ED center in Fairfax County Public Schools. The graduate students selected for the program would be screened and hired under the standard qualifications of Fairfax County Public School's guidelines for teaching assistants and be required to fulfill standard requirements of employment. George Mason University would require the students to be in good standing in their degree program, already accepted into the ED/LD program and have approval of their faculty advisor. In addition to their typical instructional assistance duties, the students would be provided with a carefully designed program of experiences and supervision that would enhance their professional development and their familiarity with the school system and the emotionally disturbed population.
During the first year,
1992-1993, of the program three-graduate students participated in the internship at Burke Center, a center for students with emotional disabilities in Fairfax County Public Schools. The IA Interns began the year as instructional assistants and gradually took on more teaching responsibilities. Throughout the year the program was revised to best fit the needs of the graduate students and the center. By the second year, 1993-1994, of the program, more specific requirements were detailed for selecting the students and what each student would be expected to do during the year. Students were required to have completed 15 out of 36 graduate credit hours in the area of Special Education and they would teach a minimum of one class the second semester.The third year,
1994-1995, of the program another ED center school was added. A BI-monthly seminar was added to support, teach and analyze information being learned during the classroom day. The seminar involves all IA Interns in the program and included topics that pertained to the student's experiences and needs; classroom management, lesson plans, unit plans, reading, learning strategies, anecdotal records, professional portfolios, resumes, parent communication, IEP's and other topics were incorporated.Throughout the fourth and fifth year,
1995-1996, 1996-1997, of the program two more schools were added that were site-based center schools or co-facilities with ED centers within a regular school. Emphasis was placed on structuring the program. A specific manual for the IA Internship Program was written and used by the student teacher candidates, mentor teachers, principals and university supervisors. Fairfax County Public School's personnel department was contacted to become more involved with the IA teacher candidates during their internship. A seminar was devoted to information on resume writing, applying to the school division and the early hiring process if a student was successful in the program. The teacher candidates who completed the program successfully were finding that they were in high demand in many school settings not just the ED centers. One teacher candidate who completed the program and then took a ED teaching job the following year said, "During the beginning teacher sessions before school started, I was surrounded by new teachers who were nervous and unsure of what to expect. I was excited and confident in my role to set up a classroom for ED students.The sixth year,
1997-1998, of the program added the position of a part-time IA Internship coordinator. This person was responsible to keep communication clear between the schools and university, provide the university link to the principals involved in the program, update and revise the manual, market the program to potential interns and new school sites and take over the paperwork involved in operating the program. The Burke Center's administration and staff had handled this paperwork since the program had originated.During the seventh year,
1998-1999, of the program seven schools are involved with sixteen interns. A contract is being written to work more formally with FCPS. Several schools in Fairfax County Public Schools and other school divisions have voiced an interest in having IA Interns in their schools for the next school year. Preparations are being made to recruit more graduate students for next year's program.The IA Internship Program has been successful in various ways over the last six years. Out of the thirty-six interns that have completed the program, twenty-five are teaching in special education in a Fairfax County Public School and the majority of them are teaching in a classroom for students with emotional disabilities. Positive comments abound from principals, mentor teachers, and IA Interns participating in the program. The IA Internship Program provides graduate students with a hands-on teaching apprenticeship working with one of the most challenging student populations in the field of special education. IA Interns successfully completing this program are well prepared to meet the day-to-day tasks involved in teaching a class of emotionally disturbed students.