Items of Critical Importance Regarding Placement Files

1. A placement file is not an application for employment. Do not send a copy of a placement file to an employer without having made a previous contact or without an accompanying letter stating your reason for sending the file. Otherwise the file may be returned to us or discarded.
   
   
2. Do not send a copy of a placement file to any state certification office when applying for a certificate in another state. It is not verification of completion of a degree, or having done student teaching. Institutional recommendations must come from the School of Education.
   
   
3. Requests for copies of placement files to be sent:
   • Must contain your complete name (no nicknames or shortened names) and Social Security Number.
   • The e-mail address of the hiring authority.
   • School District names must be included in the location of where the file is being sent (no Joint School District #20, but the complete name of the district). Without the name we cannot send the file. We are obligated to keep the file from being used for other than the legal purposes for which it has been established.
   
   
   
4. Unless there is a compelling reason, it is best not to have copies of the placement file sent to school districts until all student teaching reports and recommendations have been received. The districts rarely make hiring decisions without seeing the student teaching reports.
   
   
5. The file will be e-mailed within 24 hours of the request.
   
   
6. School district officials do not want to and will not wade through numerous recommendations or other materials in addition to student teaching reports. Two or three recommendations are sufficient for a beginning teacher.
   
   
7. We reserve the right to remove materials from files with more than ten (10) documents in them. Cooperating teacher reports and college supervisor reports are considered to be one document each. Once you start teaching, one teacher rating form or recommendation per experience is sufficient. Voluminous and outdated files do not enhance your employment prospects.
   
   
8. Placement File Contents:
   • Copies of teaching certificates/licenses and test scores are not part of placement files. The districts must see original certificates and test scores have to be sent from the originating source.
   • Certificates or letters of recommendation, military service discharge papers and ratings, program descriptions, newspaper clippings, diplomas, awards, observation of teaching reports, etc. are not appropriate file materials and will not be made part of the file.