Upon admission to a graduate or licensure program, you may begin collecting hours toward the 120-hour requirement. To do so, you should:

  • complete your hours during the school day or as a co-curricular activity
  • be directly involved in instructional activities (i.e., not just observing or “babysitting”)
  • log your hours with a supervisor’s signature on the appropriate log form, or attach pay stubs in lieu of signatures
  • complete your hours in a public school setting (although some other settings may also count. See below.)

Counting Hours
As a student in the professional year, the 120 hours is an excellent way for you to earn extra dollars. Opportunities for this primarily occur in three ways:In the field teaching

  • Being an AVID tutor
  • Being a substitute teacher (including  school- and home-based instruction)
  • Being a paraprofessional / teacher’s assistant or long-term sub

If you choose one (or a combination) of these opportunities to complete your 120 hours, you may count ALL of these hours toward your 120 hour requirement, so long as the hours are completed in a Newport News public school.

Other opportunities for accomplishing the 120 hours are:

  • Field work done in a Newport News public school as part of any departmental internship ( for example, PSYC 491) May count ALL hours toward 120.
  • Field work done as part of a departmental internship AND in a public school setting that is NOT in Newport News : May count 70 hours toward the 120 hours; HOWEVER, you will still need to do 50 hours in Newport News Public Schools.
  • Field work done as part of a departmental  internship  that is NOT done in any type of public school setting BUT still involves working in an instructional, mentoring, or advisory capacity with children: May count 45 hours
  • Field work done in a NNPS public school setting as part of another CNU program or project (such as PLP), may count ALL hours toward 120.
  • Field work done in a neighborhood, home-school, or private tutoring capacity (includes music or art lessons) with K-12 children: May count up to 25 hours.
  • Field work done in a child care center, private school setting, private school or public school after-school program, or as an instructional part of Parks and Rec (will need documentation of duties): May count up to 50 hours

Note: Hours may start being counted upon acceptance into the MAT program.

Logging Hours
All field hours must be logged on a field experience log form, including substitute hours. All forms should be signed by a school or other administrator for verification, except when pay stubs are applicable. In the case of private tutoring/lessons, a parent signature is allowed.

For additional information, see the Field Experience Handbook.