Clinical Information

Students will sign in to the clinical portal in Sonia using their UNC Charlotte account. All available clinical sites are visible in the Sonia portal. Instructions to sign up are available on the Signing Up for Your Clinicals Page. If you experience difficulties with Sonia, please email Sonia Student Placements at sonia-placements@charlotte.edu.

• The Sonia portal shows an up-to-date list of sites that have availability to host students for clinicals.
  • If students get the message “No more slots are available,” it means someone signed up for the last available slot at the school.
  • Students should not contact a school or try to arrange clinicals at schools where we do not have existing slots available in the portal. If your preferred clinical site is not available in the portal, you must select another site.
  • Students are expected to complete field experiences in more than one setting throughout their program. Please plan ahead with this in mind.
  • Once you have signed up, log in to Sonia to see your assignment.

The Sonia Clinical Portal is only available:

• Fall Semester: Open August 25 (8:00 am) until November 21
• Spring Semester: Open January 20 (8:00 am) until April 18

Students: Review Clinical Information and Sign Up for your Clinicals Here

Please note requirements for certain districts:

The Office of School & Community Partnerships arranges clinicals in the following counties: Cabarrus, Catawba, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell-Statesville, Kannapolis, Lincoln, Rowan-Salisbury, Stanly, and Union Counties. You MUST complete the volunteer forms and any other required documents for each county before going to the school.

If you sign up for a school in Union County Public Schools, complete the Volunteer form prior to beginning at the school

If you book a school in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), you MUST register as a volunteer. https://www.cmsvolunteers.com/ IMPORTANT: Please select the school(s) you signed up to visit so that your name appears on the school’s approved list.

After you sign up in Sonia for a school in Cabarrus County Schools, all students are required to complete the clearance process through the district’s Human Resources Department. Please complete the Clinical Observation Student Teacher’s application. The application can be found at https://cabarrus.schoolspring.com/ (note: students do not need to upload letters of reference; they just need to provide the names of their references). Please contact Angie McClain (Angie.Mcclain@cabarrus.k12.nc.us) with any questions about the application.

If you book a school in Lincoln County Schools, please notify Rachel Frye at rachel.frye@lincoln.k12.nc.us if your time at the school will exceed 20 hours.

If you booked a school in the Mooresville Graded School District, all students are required to complete the clearance process through the district’s Human Resources Department. You will contact Rachel Bustle at abills4@charlotte.edu.

If you plan to complete a placement in Cleveland County Schools, all students must complete the district’s clearance process through the Human Resources Department prior to beginning any observations or field experiences. To request a placement, please contact Lee Howell at lphowell@clevelandcountyschools.org. When reaching out, please include the school(s) requested, number of hours required, and the grade level/content area or type of experience needed.

The contact person in all other districts (not listed above) may be emailed once the clinical portal opens. Instructions for locating this person’s contact information are in the step-by-step guide at the top of this page.

Candidates who are:

• In their own classroom as an employed teacher/TA (i.e., a residency teacher, graduate teacher of record, teaching assistant) 
• In a distance setting (i.e., in a district that is not considered a local district partner). Local district partners include Cabarrus, Catawba, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell-Statesville, Kannapolis, Lincoln, Rowan-Salisbury, Stanly, and Union Counties.
• Requesting placement in the following districts: Avery, Buncombe, Guilford, New Hanover, Randolph, Wake, and Winston-Salem Forsyth

will complete a different clinical enrollment process than non-employed students in the 50-mile radius around UNC Charlotte. Complete this Google Form (using your UNC Charlotte email @charlotte.edu to indicate where you would like to complete your clinicals, so that OSCP staff can confirm if a partnership agreement is already in place and if the school meets the requirements for the clinicals you need to complete.

Please note that partnership agreements can take up to 6 months to complete. This may delay the completion of your course requirements. You may NOT begin your clinical requirements unless your private/charter school or district is on the current partnership schools and districts spreadsheet.  Please email oscp-coed@charlotte.edu if you would like to complete your clinicals in a charter/private school or district not currently on the list. 

Please send this information to oscp-coed@charlotte.edu so we can initiate a partnership agreement

1- Name of district, private/charter school, or site

2- Administrator’s name and email address.

3- Site Address

Students requesting placements in Avery, Buncombe, Guilford, New Hanover, Randolph, Wake, and Winston-Salem Forsyth should also email oscp-coed@charlotte.edu with the following information: Preferred School and grade level/content, number of hours required for class and activities (e.g., 3 hours of observation).

Faculty can also arrange placements for their students in certain cases. Faculty who are completing this process should visit this spreadsheet and complete all fields to have their clinicals vetted by OSCP. These students should not complete anything in the Sonia portal or in the employed/DE process.