Student Positions | Teaching Fellows | Research Assistants

HGSE Student Positions

Please note: HGSE students can access TF positions on the School's intranet. Positions are also posted
on the bulletin board located in the basement of Longfellow Hall (adjacent to room 34).

HGSE Teaching Fellow Program Policies and Eligibility Guidelines

The following guidelines are in effect for academic year 2005-2006.
Faculty and students will be notified of any changes.
Adopted May 2004

I. Roles and Responsibilities of Teaching Fellows

The range of Teaching Fellow (TF) responsibilities and the balance of effort among them reflects the variety of content offered and pedagogical approaches employed in courses at the Graduate School of Education, as well as the personal styles, strengths and preferences of both faculty and Teaching Fellows. Teaching Fellow duties may encompass, to varying degrees, any of the following:

· Attending classes, teaching team meetings, and/or office hours
· Planning or designing sections, course sessions, or assignments/assessment standards with the instructor
· Teaching required or voluntary sections, lab sessions, or review sessions
· Presenting material in regular class sessions
· Facilitating small group discussions or projects in or out of class
· Supervising students at field placements or off-site activities
· Demonstrating, teaching use of, or supporting use of course-related software or technology
· Providing written feedback on student work
· Assigning grades to student assignments, exams, or class participation
· Communicating with students (via office hours or online) on course substance
· Coordinating student placements with site-based supervisors and organizations
· Updating or posting materials to a course web site
· Other administrative duties (contacting and arranging for guest speakers, preparing handouts, arranging for special media needs, obtaining readings or other materials, assembling course packs, etc.)

Faculty are encouraged to use their faculty assistants as much as possible for administrative tasks such as those described in the last two bullets, particularly in the days or weeks leading up to the start of the semester, but it is recognized that there are circumstances under which it is more efficient for a TF to do them. Faculty who expect to engage a student in a significant amount course design, planning, or administrative activity prior to the start of a semester should apply for TCQ funds to compensate the student for this work.

Teaching Fellows should not be asked to provide administrative support unrelated to the course, to work on research projects (unless separately compensated for this purpose), or to do personal errands on behalf of faculty. Faculty are responsible for assigning final grades to all students in their courses.

Teaching Fellows are expected to observe high standards for professional conduct, including courtesy and respect in intellectual dialogue, fair treatment of all students, clear communication and prompt feedback, and care in interpersonal interactions to avoid familiarity that might compromise objective and fair evaluation of a student's work.

II. Student Eligibility for Teaching Fellow Slots

Teaching Fellows must be registered in residence as HGSE doctoral students, and have the equivalent of one full-year of HGSE coursework prior to being appointed. In rare cases where the specialized nature of the coursework makes it impossible to recruit TFs from within the doctoral student population of the School, faculty may request authorization to search for TFs outside HGSE or from qualified masters students. However, all TFs must be Harvard students eligible for Teaching Fellow appointments within the University.

Students may hold a maximum of ten TF ***slots over their entire period of study. Waivers to the ten-slot limit will only be considered if a student has an approved Dissertation Proposal (stage 5 and above) and is in good academic standing.

Students may hold a maximum of two TF ***slots per academic year. Students may request a waiver to this limit with the support of the faculty member who teaches the course. Decisions to grant waivers will be tied to satisfactory academic progress. Students who are TFs for full-year courses or who hold a double-slot for one course may go over this limit by one slot without having to file for an exception.

Students are eligible for TF appointments in any year of doctoral study. However, students beyond the sixth year of doctoral study (D7 and above) may only serve as TFs if they have an approved Dissertation Proposal on file (stage 5) and are in good academic standing. Any student who wishes to petition for an exception to this policy must do so with the endorsement of his or her advisor as well as the course instructor.

Salary scales

Teaching Fellowships are merit-based. While eligibility to receive financial aid is not a requirement, students are strongly encouraged to apply for HGSE financial aid to ensure that they are considered for all forms of aid for which they are qualified.

TF Salaries are set by the Finance Office in consultation with GSAS rates. Salaries for each TF "slot" in 2005-06 are: $3,840 at the Junior rate; $4,380 at the Senior rate. "Slots" are defined as the equivalent of one working day per week, per semester.

TFs are eligible to receive the Senior Rate if they meet any of the following criteria:

· They have an approved QP Proposal (Stage 3 or above);
· They have previously served as a TF for the same course;
· They are serving as a head TF for a large enrollment course;
· They have already received the Senior Rate for another course.

III. Allocation of Teaching Fellow Slots to Courses

Teaching Fellowships serve a number of important purposes for the School, for faculty, and for students. They help faculty provide high quality, individualized attention to students in large classes and to focus their effort and energy where it matters most. Coming from a pool of experienced teachers and administrators in their own right, teaching fellows often add useful perspective and expertise to courses. Teaching Fellowships provide opportunities for doctoral students to teach, to work closely with faculty mentors, and to master material in deep and lasting ways. For students who aspire to careers in academia, serving as teaching fellows represents an important part of the training they receive here as students. Finally, Teaching Fellowships provide a critical source of financial support for doctoral students.

At the same time, the Teaching Fellow program represents a significant expenditure of core instructional resources at the School - resources that are finite. The goal of this policy is to provide an equitable, clear and flexible set of guidelines that will help administrators make informed, fair decisions that allocate this critical resource where it is most needed each semester. Just as important, students attending HGSE want to interact with and have their work evaluated by the faculty, and while using Teaching Fellows to share the burden of teaching and evaluating student assignments is critical in larger courses, we should be especially judicious about the extent to which we use TFs in smaller courses.

The decision rules set forth below apply to TF slots funded by the core TF budget. Some programs or faculty are able to use other resources (external partners, grants, etc.) to supplement their TF allotments. Teaching Fellows funded by other sources are not subject to this process, but all of the student eligibility rules apply to them regardless of funding source.

Criteria for allocation

Generally speaking, only courses enrolling more than 20 students will be eligible for a TF slot, although exceptions may be made on the basis of the factors enumerated below. The number of TF slots (if any) assigned to courses enrolling more than 20 students will be based on a combination of total enrollment and workload or pedagogical factors.

Among courses of comparable size, factors that generally suggest higher allocations of TFs would be demonstrably higher workload due to:

· Highly technical or methods-based coursework
· Technology intensive assignments or pedagogy
· Requirement that TF(s) teach discussion or review sections or labs
· Particularly heavy grading/evaluation workload as measured by number, frequency, length, or nature of required course assignments
· Supervision or coordination of field-based assignments or practica

Factors that generally suggest lower allocations of TFs would be:

· Team-taught courses for which both faculty receive full instructional credit
· Light grading/evaluation workload as measured by number, frequency, length, or nature of required course assignments
· TF does not teach sections

Special consideration may be given, on a case by case basis, for faculty who are new to the School, who are teaching a new course for the first time, or for extenuating circumstances.

Procedure for requests and decisions:

In 2004-05, all faculty requesting TFs for their courses followed the procedure described below. In 2005-06 and subsequent years, only new courses, new instructors, or courses that have not previously gone through the procedure will pleae follow the procedure described below:

The Instructor will submit a standard form with a course syllabus. The form can serve as the basis of a TF position posting, as well. Instructors will use the form to make the case for the number of TFs they want based on what the TFs would be expected to do and the nature of the assignments given in the course, in addition to the projected enrollment.

When courses are repeated in the same format by the same instructor in subsequent semesters, it will not be necessary to go through this process. Allocation changes will be based on changes in enrollment.

TF allocations will normally be made after students have registered for classes. Courses that consistently enroll a large number of students, or that are required for students in particular programs and so have a guaranteed course enrollment, may be pre-allocated a certain number of slots to allow the instructor to line up prospective TFs before the semester starts. TF slots will not normally be pre-allocated for courses that do not consistently enroll at least 40 students or whose enrollment fluctuates from year to year. Any position posted prior to course registrations must clearly state that final approval for the position is contingent upon sufficient course enrollment.

Allocations will be made by the Office of Academic Services under the oversight of the Associate Dean for Curriculum and Faculty Appointments.

*** "Slots" are defined as the equivalent of 1 working day per week, per semester. The above salary rates are for a "slot." Students must be aware that in some cases slots are split so that some students may be hired for less than or more than one slot; salaries are adjusted according to the appropriate percentage of a slot in such cases. For example, some positions are for yearlong courses and may be two full slots, and the student will be paid for two slots (see above rates). Other positions may be a half a slot, and the student will be paid one half of the salary above. Students are asked to keep this information in mind when planning their work as teaching fellows.

*****Please note: all persons serving as teaching fellows for the first time must schedule a brief orientation with Norma Diala (212 Longfellow Hall or Jan Still. (214 Longfellow Hall)

Download Teaching Fellow Form

Research Assistant Guidelines and Rates

The following guidelines are in effect for academic year 2005-2006. Faculty and students will be notified of any changes.

2005-2006 Research Assistant Rates

***The rates are based on the number of years the student has been paid on the Student Monthly payroll at HGSE. These appointments include Research Assistantships, Teaching Fellowships, TEP Advisors, and USP Interns. These rates are not reflective of the graduate level year (i.e., a student could be a D-4, but if this is his/her first year working on the Student Monthly Payroll, the salary would be at the first year rate). Also please note that the Student Monthly payroll is designated for students working a consistent numberof hours for a period of more than three months. For further details, download Payroll Differences explanation.

Links to Tax Forms

• Federal Withholding
• Massachusetts Withholding
• I-9 Employment Verification

More forms are provided online by Holyoke Center.