• Forum Highlights Profession's Role in Ensuring High-Quality Teachers

• President's Briefing by Sharon P. Robinson - Accreditation in Context

The American Council on Education (ACE) provided a letter to its members and presidents in colleague organizations addressing accreditation issues in teacher education. AACTE provided a response to the ACE letter and to member deans. To view both letters, click on the links below.

• ACE Letter - 05/02/2007 (PDF)

• AACTE Response to ACE Letter - 5/16/2007 (PDF)

Indiana and Maryland have recently moved to further develop policy related to partnerships for accreditation and related program review. For more information, click on the links below.

• Indiana Department of Education Memorandum (PDF)

• Final Report of the Teacher Preparation Approval and Accreditation Advisory Committee (PDF)
  Maryland State Department of Education
  Division of Certification and Accreditation

During the fall / winter 2006-2007, AACTE members engaged in a dialogue on accreditation principles developed by leadership groups in the Association and endorsed by AACTE?s Board of Directors. Principles. These principles were the subject of a three-month comment period during fall and winter 2007.

During the AACTE conference, leaders provided information on the comments received and described action steps identified by AACTE?s Board of Directors to implement aspirations outlined in the accreditation principles. AACTE Board Model. At an open forum on the accreditation principles during the 2007 Annual Meeting, members and conference participants discussed several key issues to implementing the principles, including:

The challenge of addressing evidence of PK-12 learning;

Coordination of program quality evidence between accreditors and states;

Ensuring consistency of judgments in national accreditation reviews;

Approaches to reducing cost and burden of accreditation reviews; and

Issues of standardization and choice related to quality assurance.

During the coming year, AACTE will continue work toward implementation of the accreditation principles, with emphasis on establishing partnerships to support and broaden professional consensus. Key components of that agenda were identified by AACTE?s Executive Committee in April 2007:

1. Organize support in reauthorization of NCLB for performance assessment of teachers as part of the ?highly effective? teacher definition

2. Advance performance assessment models to reform the accreditation process

3. Build on the AACTE Principles and the accreditation experience of other professions to establish consensus across professional groups on the appropriate role and support for accreditation

4. Address the challenge of developing a single system of accreditation for teacher education

5. Increase AACTE?s capacity to offer technical assistance on accreditation and other accountability resources.

• Uniting the Education Profession around Professional Educator Preparation Standards

• Accreditation: What's the Point?
  By Randy Hitz (AACTE Briefs, March 2007)

• When Choice Matters
  By Sharon P. Robinson (AACTE Briefs, April 2007)

• Imagining Our Future
  By Randy Hitz (AACTE Briefs, May 2007)

The conference website has been updated. If you did not receive the login and password to download materials, please contact Barbara Olexer at Barbara@ncate.org.

Registration for the Fall 2007 conference will begin in late spring or early summer through NCATE. Contact Barbara Olexer at Barbara@ncate.org for registration information.

Comparison of NCATE and TEAC Processes for Accreditation of Teacher Education. One of AACTE's most important responsibilities is providing timely information for members and the education community. In this role, we are making available a comprehensive comparison of the two accreditors.
Updated December 2003.

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