As part of each course students are required to take a practicum where they observe and interact with teachers and students inside a K-12 class for 10 to 20 hours. "By the time they get through all their coursework, they have been out in a school for approximately 120 to 150 clock hours," says Janet Johnson, a full-time instructor who also helps direct the program. Additionally, students must complete a non-paying, nine-week student teaching internship and pass the Arizona state certification test before they can become bona-fide, state-certified teachers.

The program was designed with flexibility for working adults who have earned a bachelor’s degree and are seeking to enter the teaching profession. Rio Salado offers the courses within this program every two weeks, and students can complete each course at their own pace within the 14-week time period.

Courses under this two-week-availability system are never cancelled due to low enrollments, says Scarafiotti. "There can be 25 to 35 students (the limit) in a course, or there can be one student in a course."

Johnson says that students like having the option of enrolling in courses that are offered every two weeks instead of the typical semester-based scenario. This allows them to stagger their coursework and take one or more classes pretty much whenever they want to. Additionally, courses are designed so that ambitious students can choose to accelerate their completion time in well under 14 weeks. "We have students completing courses in five to six weeks," says Johnson. "I had one student who was working full-time and finished one class every two weeks, because she did one lesson, one chapter, every single night."

Students access course syllabi, reading assignments, lectures and supplemental library resources online, typically have a textbook they follow, submit assignments via e-mail or fax, and work one-on-one with instructors, who must respond to all student e-mails within 48 hours. Threaded discussions are not utilized in the teacher prep courses.

A number of student services, such as an online writing lab as well as online tutorials on topics such as information literacy and study skills are available to all Rio Salado students. Plus, Rio Salado has an innovative Beep-a-Tutor Program in which tutors are available by beeper from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. Other student services include a general help desk that helps students work through instructional issues, and a technology help desk for helping students work through any technology-related barriers they may encounter.

One unique feature of the Teacher Prep Program is that all students must complete about half of their total program credits and take a test that measures their basic skill level before being formally accepted as matriculating students in the program and moving on to the second level. "This gives them an opportunity to really see if they like teaching," says Scarafiotti. "By the time they get to the second level they are guaranteed to complete the program."

So far, every student who has reached the second level has completed the program. However, the number of students who have completed their nine-week internship and have actually gone on to teach is, at present, relatively small because the program is little over one year old. For the first full nine-month program since the teacher prep curriculum started, 13 people who completed their course work, practicums, nine-week student teaching internship, and state certification test are out teaching right now, says Johnson, adding that about 25 students recently completed their student teaching internships and another 70 have gone into internships as of January 6, 2003.

The Teacher Prep Program currently employs about 60 adjunct faculty who are all practicing K-12 teachers. Faculty cannot take on more than three classes simultaneously, and they are paid according to the number of students enrolled in their classes.

New teachers go through a four-hour orientation and have access to instructional help from internal staff, including a adjunct faculty coordinator, seven days a week. Monthly teleconferences are held between instructors who are teaching the same courses. "We make sure that we are grading assignments consistently (a large part of the duties related to these courses); we answer questions; we talk about students; and we stay connected to each other," says Johnson.