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 appropriately with Professional Development Schools (PDS). Additionally, since MCPS is required, under the negotiated agreement between the Board of Education and MCEA, to pay a stipend to the supervising teachers during the timeframe of the student teaching internship, this process is a way of monitoring the identified budget for this program and monitoring the number of student teachers that can be accepted into the program. Finally, this procedure provides more consistency in the overall student teaching process within MCPS. Read more