Cassville Schools’ internship program aims at hiring home-grown teachers
Pictured above, education major and Cassville intern Collin Pearman assists students Mason Morales and Darrious Luper with their studies during class time.
July 3, 2019
Vinnie Roberts
This year in the Cassville R-IV School District, there were some fresh faces in the halls of the elementary building. Beginning in January 2019, Cassville opened up a paid internship program for several students pursuing education majors through Crowder College.
Dr. Richard Asbill, superintendent of Cassville Schools, said that this program was an evolution of an already-established program in the district.
“The concept for the internship is two-fold. For several years, we’ve attempted to do a ‘Grow Your Own’ program, where we have been looking at students who are pursuing a teaching degree, looking at them coming back to Cassville to come and work,” said Asbill. “The other portion of that is that there is a significant need in the state of Missouri for teachers. What we looked at would serve both of those needs.”
According to Amy Stephenson, Cassville’s Special Services director, the program began as a way to open the district up to attracting qualified teachers from the area. The Special Services Department was the initial department where interns started. For a template, the district used the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America’s (FCCLA) model established in their Teach and Train Program.
“When looking at multiple factors including the need for high quality teachers in the area, as well as the focus we have on building success in postsecondary endeavors, an extension of the Teach and Train program at the high school made sense,” said Stephenson.
The school worked with Crowder College to find candidates for the program. The students selected were Cassville alumni who were pursuing education degrees. Crowder College in Cassville currently offers a full education bachelors degree through a partnership with Missouri State University.
“Crowder College has a great program already established for students pursuing the education profession and, with Missouri State University programming available, it would be a perfect fit to continue the process of the Grow Our Own initiative,” said Stephenson. “Dr. Asbill brought about the idea and from that we started the pilot program in January 2019.”
In this pilot program, Cassville sought out Cassville alumni attending Crowder College and currently pursuing an education degree. These interns were asked to visit the campus and talk with the administration to gauge their level of interest in the program.
Interns were also limited to only working with students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade. According to Asbill, this was to eliminate any potential conflict that may arise from the interns being too close in age to students.
Three students were selected for the program’s initial run, all Cassville alumni. These interns worked 10 to 12 hours a week in the classroom with students and teachers, both teaching and assisting students as if they were student teaching.
“What we’ve done is give them a practical learning experience as well as an avenue for a career path,” said Dr. Asbill.
In order to make this program successful, Cassville staff ensured that the work done by these interns was strictly educational and not that of a classroom aide.
“It was clear that we wanted to provide the intern as true an experience that we possibly could, meaning we did not want to use them to make copies or file papers,” said Stephenson. “If this was supposed to train them and show them the real life of an educator, they had to provide instruction and make connections with the curriculum and students.”
The interns were responsible for a wide variety of things within the classroom, with all of their work being supervised by certified teaching staff members.
The daily responsibilities included: direct instruction in reading, language, math, writing and social skills. They were supervised by a certified teacher who provided academic direction and specific tasks to implement with the student or students they were assigned to work with daily.
For the pilot version of this program, students worked within the special education department under Stephenson’s supervision.
“The pilot program began in the Special Education Department in grades preschool through fifth,” said Stephenson. “The students engaged with the interns immediately and they looked forward to working with [the interns].”
According to Stephenson, the program was invaluable to the interns, with some of the interns even going on to accept part-time roles within the school after their internship had ended.
“In the conversations I had with the interns, they expressed that they enjoyed coming to work on a daily basis and were glad to have had the opportunity to see the inside workings of the educational field,” said Stephenson. “I am glad it solidified their choice in future plans. The exposure to the learning differences in students was something they all expressed as interesting and to be aware of those differences within their future classrooms.”
This new internship program is considered a success by the district. Later this summer, recruitment will begin for a new batch of interns. According to Dr. Asbill, the district has plans to expand the internships offered to more departments, with the number of interns expected to grow from three to anywhere from five to ten.
“The pilot program was considered successful, and we have already scheduled a meeting to recruit those students currently enrolled in an education program through their college or university. This is a program where all parties benefit: the students benefit from additional staff members to assist them, the teachers benefit from having additional support, and the interns learn valuable, hands-on practice to enhance their future.”
Dr. Asbill also added that the district has been meeting with representatives from several area universities to expand the benefits offered by the internship program. “We’re also looking at a partnership with Missouri State University and Missouri Southern State University so that the internships can be for credit. What we hope is to get them two to three hours of credit towards their graduation. We believe this is a valuable experience.”
Asbill added that both universities have been receptive to the idea.
The recruitment meeting for new potential interns is scheduled for August 20 at 3:30 p.m. in the conference room of the Central Office of Cassville Schools.
Vinnie Roberts
This year in the Cassville R-IV School District, there were some fresh faces in the halls of the elementary building. Beginning in January 2019, Cassville opened up a paid internship program for several students pursuing education majors through Crowder College.
Dr. Richard Asbill, superintendent of Cassville Schools, said that this program was an evolution of an already-established program in the district.
“The concept for the internship is two-fold. For several years, we’ve attempted to do a ‘Grow Your Own’ program, where we have been looking at students who are pursuing a teaching degree, looking at them coming back to Cassville to come and work,” said Asbill. “The other portion of that is that there is a significant need in the state of Missouri for teachers. What we looked at would serve both of those needs.”
According to Amy Stephenson, Cassville’s Special Services director, the program began as a way to open the district up to attracting qualified teachers from the area. The Special Services Department was the initial department where interns started. For a template, the district used the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America’s (FCCLA) model established in their Teach and Train Program.
“When looking at multiple factors including the need for high quality teachers in the area, as well as the focus we have on building success in postsecondary endeavors, an extension of the Teach and Train program at the high school made sense,” said Stephenson.
The school worked with Crowder College to find candidates for the program. The students selected were Cassville alumni who were pursuing education degrees. Crowder College in Cassville currently offers a full education bachelors degree through a partnership with Missouri State University.
“Crowder College has a great program already established for students pursuing the education profession and, with Missouri State University programming available, it would be a perfect fit to continue the process of the Grow Our Own initiative,” said Stephenson. “Dr. Asbill brought about the idea and from that we started the pilot program in January 2019.”
In this pilot program, Cassville sought out Cassville alumni attending Crowder College and currently pursuing an education degree. These interns were asked to visit the campus and talk with the administration to gauge their level of interest in the program.
Interns were also limited to only working with students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade. According to Asbill, this was to eliminate any potential conflict that may arise from the interns being too close in age to students.
Three students were selected for the program’s initial run, all Cassville alumni. These interns worked 10 to 12 hours a week in the classroom with students and teachers, both teaching and assisting students as if they were student teaching.
“What we’ve done is give them a practical learning experience as well as an avenue for a career path,” said Dr. Asbill.
In order to make this program successful, Cassville staff ensured that the work done by these interns was strictly educational and not that of a classroom aide.
“It was clear that we wanted to provide the intern as true an experience that we possibly could, meaning we did not want to use them to make copies or file papers,” said Stephenson. “If this was supposed to train them and show them the real life of an educator, they had to provide instruction and make connections with the curriculum and students.”
The interns were responsible for a wide variety of things within the classroom, with all of their work being supervised by certified teaching staff members.
The daily responsibilities included: direct instruction in reading, language, math, writing and social skills. They were supervised by a certified teacher who provided academic direction and specific tasks to implement with the student or students they were assigned to work with daily.
For the pilot version of this program, students worked within the special education department under Stephenson’s supervision.
“The pilot program began in the Special Education Department in grades preschool through fifth,” said Stephenson. “The students engaged with the interns immediately and they looked forward to working with [the interns].”
According to Stephenson, the program was invaluable to the interns, with some of the interns even going on to accept part-time roles within the school after their internship had ended.
“In the conversations I had with the interns, they expressed that they enjoyed coming to work on a daily basis and were glad to have had the opportunity to see the inside workings of the educational field,” said Stephenson. “I am glad it solidified their choice in future plans. The exposure to the learning differences in students was something they all expressed as interesting and to be aware of those differences within their future classrooms.”
This new internship program is considered a success by the district. Later this summer, recruitment will begin for a new batch of interns. According to Dr. Asbill, the district has plans to expand the internships offered to more departments, with the number of interns expected to grow from three to anywhere from five to ten.
“The pilot program was considered successful, and we have already scheduled a meeting to recruit those students currently enrolled in an education program through their college or university. This is a program where all parties benefit: the students benefit from additional staff members to assist them, the teachers benefit from having additional support, and the interns learn valuable, hands-on practice to enhance their future.”
Dr. Asbill also added that the district has been meeting with representatives from several area universities to expand the benefits offered by the internship program. “We’re also looking at a partnership with Missouri State University and Missouri Southern State University so that the internships can be for credit. What we hope is to get them two to three hours of credit towards their graduation. We believe this is a valuable experience.”
Asbill added that both universities have been receptive to the idea.
The recruitment meeting for new potential interns is scheduled for August 20 at 3:30 p.m. in the conference room of the Central Office of Cassville Schools.
