Frequently Asked Questions
You can find information about teacher shortage areas on the United States Department of Education Web page. You will find information on all states, including Rhode Island.
If you are an undergraduate or second-degree student, you take the bulk of your program coursework once you have applied to the FSEHD and been admitted to your intended major. You can take a few FSEHD pre-admission courses that provide clinical experiences such as observations and small group work with children and youth in a variety of settings.
Logon to MyRIC, and then go to the Student Center. This page displays a current course schedule and, at the bottom right, your advisor’s name. If you don’t see your advisor’s name, email the department chair of your intended major. See RIC’s Advising FAQs, for additional information.
No. Once you've been admitted to RIC, you must submit an FSEHD application. If you are a graduate student or a RITE applicant, you apply directly to your chosen FSEHD program.
Go to FSEHD Undergraduate Programs and Admission Web page or to the FSEHD Graduate Admission Web page. Choose the program link that applies to you and your plans.
Undergraduates and second-degree students have two sets of admissions requirements:
- FSEHD requirements include, but are not limited to, FYW and FNED courses, overall GPA and basic skills tests such as the SAT or ACT.
- Program-specific requirements include coursework and GPA requirements.
All requirements must be met to be admitted to a Feinstein program. To ensure that you have met program-specific requirements, consult with your advisor.
Please note: Youth Development has its own requirements and application for admission. Students interested in YDEV should email a program director.
While admissions requirements can be found on the FSEHD website, the process for admission varies depending on the program you're interested in.
- If you are an undergraduate or second-degree student, you must submit your FSEHD application via Chalk and Wire.
- RITE program applications can be emailed directly to you.
- M.A.T., Certificate of Graduate Studies and all other graduate programs apply through College Net.
- Youth Development has its own requirements and application for admission. Students interested in YDEV should email a program director.
Anthology is Web-based software, where you submit, evaluate and archive your student work such as course assignments/artifacts, your clinical experience locations and dates, and your application for an internship or student teaching experience. You can use Anthology to generate e-portfolios to showcase your work from any of the work (documents, audio or video clips) you submitted during your time in the FSEHD program. If you are an undergraduate or second-degree student, you will complete your FSEHD application through Anthology.
Please visit the Anthology resources page to find out how to create and/or renew a Anthology account. This page also provides instructions for submitting work and seeing results. Your Anthology account is paid for through the FSEHD education fee.
Once you are admitted to a FSEHD program, you become a FSEHD candidate. Whether you are a FSEHD community candidate or an initial certification undergraduate, second-degree, RITE or M.A.T. candidate, you will enroll in a range of content and pedagogy courses throughout your time in the FSEHD program.
In the first or second semester of program coursework, you will find that most courses include clinical experience opportunities to work with children and youth in school and community settings. You will spend more and more time in classrooms, culminating in a full-time clinical experience in your internship or student teaching placement.
A BCI (Bureau of Criminal Investigation) is a required background check. FSEHD requires all undergraduate and graduate students who work with children/youth/adults in any setting, virtually and/or face to face, to obtain a new BCI from the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office each year. Students upload their BCIs in Chalk and Wire.
Obtaining your BCI and uploading your BCI in Chalk and Wire.
Logon to Blackboard to find out. If any of your professors use Blackboard you will see the course(s) listed. Please note that it may take between 24 and 48 hours after enrollment in a course to access Blackboard for that course.
You will not be able to enroll in a course that puts you over the 18-credit limit. Someone must manually enroll you in the course. To make your request to be enrolled in a course, download the Over the 18-Credit Limit Form. Fill in all sections of the form and enroll in all courses except for the one that would place you over the limit. Discuss your plans with your advisor to ensure you are taking the appropriate courses. Once you’ve discussed this with your advisor, email your request to FSEHD@ric.edu and include the completed Over the Credit Limit Form and a current transcript. All information must be provided in order to review your request.
The associate dean will review previous semester work, GPA and credit load. If approved, the associate dean will enroll you in the course that puts you over the limit.
Note: Students who take more than 18 credit hours of course work per semester pay an additional $347 per credit hour (if in state) or an additional $856 per credit hour (if out of state and Northeast Neighbors). Waivers are not eligible for credit overload.
See the Assessment Glossary.
You will apply to student teach one year before your intended student teaching semester. An email from the Office of Partnerships and Placements will provide information about the application process and a meeting to describe the preparation steps.
Refer to the Office of Partnerships and Placements Web page, as deadlines and requirements change each semester. Be sure to check regularly with your advisor well in advance of the semester you plan to student teach to make sure all requirements are met.
Yes, even if you do not plan to attend commencement, you must apply to graduate. You must apply for graduation three semesters before your intended graduation semester. Applying to graduate generates your degree audit, which will be completed by the Records Office. The Records Office will inform you of any outstanding courses required for graduation. Please review How Do I Apply to Graduate on the Records Office FAQs page. Additional questions can be answered on the Graduation page.
FSEHD students are assessed an education fee to support School of Education program-related expenses, including technology and student professional development expenses.
Read your RIC email. You will receive an email from the FSEHD faculty members who are teaching courses you are registered for with information about how to join your class. This information may also be found on Blackboard for each of your FSEHD courses. Be sure to attend the first class.
You may enroll in a course during the first week of the semester. If you have trouble enrolling or you’ve waited until the second week of the semester to enroll, contact the faculty member teaching the course and/or the department chair to determine if you can be added into the course. The faculty member will reach out to you with information for attending class on the first day or as soon as possible. It may take one to two days, once enrolled, to gain access to Blackboard.
FSEHD students have access to G Suite for Education, a suite of free productivity tools to help students and faculty interact seamlessly and securely across devices. To access your RIC G Suite account, go to: https://servicecenter.ric.edu/TDClient/1794/Portal/KB/ArticleDet?ID=96207.
You can access a full listing of G Suite apps.
Logon to MyRIC and click Blackboard. Any courses using Blackboard will be listed.
You can also access Blackboard courses by logging on to https://blackboard.ric.edu/.
Your course instructor will help you understand the course design on Blackboard.
If you have Blackboard issues, send an email to the RIC helpdesk helpdesk@ric.edu.
General questions and answers can be found on the Records Office FAQ page such as changing a major, getting an academic transcript/degree audit, requesting course substitutions and dropping and/or repeating a course.