NCATE continues teacher accreditation
October 2007
Auburn University's College of Education has proven its commitment to producing quality teachers for our nation's children by achieving continuing accreditation under the performance-oriented standards of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)
 , the organization responsible for professional accreditation of teacher education.
The College of Education has been continuously accredited by NCATE since 1959. NCATE currently accredits 623 institutions, which produce two-thirds of the nation's new teacher graduates each year. As of fall 2007, 99 institutions were candidates or pre-candidates for accreditation. "The announcement of our NCATE continuing accreditation reaffirms the excellence of our teacher-education programs, the expertise and dedication of our faculty and staff, and the high quality of our campus and school partnerships," said Dean Frances Kochan.
Studies show that teacher quality is the most important factor in preschool through 12th-grade student achievement. Professional accreditation is one way to assure the public that schools of education are graduating well-qualified teachers ready for today's classrooms. NCATE-accredited schools must meet rigorous standards set by the profession and members of the public.
In April 2007, members of an NCATE accreditation team conducted an on-site visit that included document review, classroom observations, and interviews with students, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni as well as campus, civic, and school partners. The accreditation team was jointly composed of teacher educators, administrators and P-12 school faculty from across the country as well as state members responsible for individual program approvals.
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