School of Education and Movement Studies

What Is A Placement File?

A placement file is a collection of specific documents related to professional employment. It is assembled by you and maintained by the School of Education. You can request the documents to be sent to potential employers who have asked you to provide credentials.

Click here to request a placement file be sent.

What Documents Are In A Placement File?

A placement file contains the forms, and only the forms, listed here:

• PLACEMENT OFFICE REGISTRATION. This form includes your designation that the status of the file be "Open" or "Closed/Confidential."
• PERSONAL DATA SHEET. This one page form is not a resume but fulfills some of the same function in the abbreviated way. Like the resumé, the "look" of this form should be neat and crisp (typed, succinct, not hand written).
  
• RECOMMENDATION LIST. This form is used internally in the School of Education to identify those individuals who have agreed to write recommendations for you, and to document the receipt of those recommendations. This form is not sent out as part of your placement file.
• RECOMMENDATION FORM FOR TEACHING (3). You need to identify three people who have observed you while teaching and whose qualifications for writing the recommendation will likely be viewed by a personnel officer as relevant.  We strongly urge you to include student teaching personnel (e.g., your supervising teacher or a building administrator from your school) as two of your references. Any potential employer will very likely view the absence of recommendations from these key people as significant . Be sure to inform your potential references that the boxes need to be filled in and that employers are particularly interested in written comments, especially if the comments are in letterform and on letterhead. In fact, some personnel officers ask for letters of recommendation in lieu of a placement file, so asking for a letter with the recommendations form is wise.  Remember to provide each person you have asked for a recommendation with the form and a stamped, preaddressed envelope to:  

• APPENDIX B. PERMISSION TO USE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN EDUCATION RECORDS (also called "Appendix B"). When the writer of a Recommendation is a person working with a PLU contract (e.g. professor, university supervisor), you need to provide this form to the writer along with the Recommendation For for Teaching, and request that this form be returned along with the Recommendation Form for Teaching.

Hints

1. For various legal reasons protecting you and schools, official PLU Transcripts can be provided to potential employers only by the Registrar, and only at your direct request to the Registrar.
2. Resumes, although not part of a Placement File, still have good power to support you as enclosures to letters of inqury, follow-up, or appreciation you send to potential employers, or as documents you can bring to an interview and leave with the interviewer.
3. In some job-specific cases, there may be people not included in your Placement File who might nevertheless be good recommenders for you to use. You can arrange these recommendations to be provided outside of the Placement File channels. When you do this, be sure to let the employers know what to be expecting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How can I get started, and when?
A: You can start your Placement File at any time. The best time is near the completion of your student teaching semester, but this service remains available after graduation to any PLU alumni who has completed the professional program of study in the School of Education. To begin the process provide the following materials to the School of Education:

1. Placement Office Reigstration Form
2. Recommendation List form
3. A check in the amount of $50 made out to Pacific Lutheran University. For this fee, an "official" placement file will be opened, maintained (for your entire professional life, if that is your desire), and distributed at your request to up to 10 potential employers. After the first 10, the fee for an additional 10 is $35 .

Q: What is the difference between a "closed" and "open?"
A: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 grants you permission to maintain placement/credential files which you may read (referred to as "open" files) or files to which you waive the right to read and the material submitted by those you request to recommend you is held to be confidential (referred to as "closed" files).

Q: When will my placement file be sent to a potential employer?
A: When the following three conditions have been met:

1. The file is complete.
2. The fee has been paid.
   
3. The School of Education receives a request from you (not the employer) to send the file to a specified school district.
   
   

Q: What documents are sent to the schools where I am applying for jobs?
A: Personal Data Sheet
    Completed Recommendation Forms (at least 3)
    Letters of Recommendation sent to us by those listed on your Recommendation List

Q: Are official or unofficial transcripts included in the Placement File?
A: No. If transcripts are required as part of your application for employment, you will need to request those yourself from PLU's Student Services Center.