AACTE Supports Accreditation

Accreditation assures that the preparation of professional educators ultimately serves the interests of P-12 students. AACTE asserts that all providers of services to prepare education professionals should be nationally accredited.

Accreditation in educator preparation serves the public's interest by ensuring the highest quality of professional preparation of educators and thereby promoting the growth and development of all learners. It upholds transparent, credible, and consistent standards to which professionals are accountable and acknowledges our shared responsibility and mutual accountability to prepare highly qualified professional educators.
Click here to read AACTE's Principles for National Accreditation in Education.

AACTE's Involvement in the Accreditation Process

AACTE's involvement as a central stakeholder in the accreditation process can be traced back to 1952 when it participated as one of the organizers that established the National Council for Accreditation in Teacher Education (NCATE). Both organizations share the goals of assuring quality in teacher education and this relationship continues today through AACTE's role representing teacher educators as a member of NCATE's constituent coalition. Other constituent members represent state and local policymakers, teacher organizations, and the specialized professional associations (SPAs).

AACTE recognized the need to have a unified accrediting system and convened an Accreditation Task Force to identify principles to guide a unified approach to accreditation in educator development. Representing AACTE, NCATE, and TEAC, the Task Force recommended a transition plan for establishing a unified accrediting body.
Click here to read the Report of the Accreditation Task Force.

As a result, NCATE and the Teacher Educator Accreditation Council (TEAC) were consolidated to create a new accrediting body for the field, the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), caepnet.org.

AACTE Accreditation Activities

AACTE is engaged in many activities that support the accreditation process.

• Participates in the development of NCATE's standards, policies, and procedures by appointing members to serve on the various policy boards.
• Participate in the selection process for the NCATE Board of Examiners by appointing qualified members to serve a 3-year term. Click here to review the application process.
• Provides accreditation technical assistance services to member institutions. Click here for more information.
• Partner with CAEP (NCATE & TEAC) in presenting an institutional orientation and professional development conference designed to introduce institutions to the accrediting process, update accredited institutions on new standards, and provide strategies for integrating the accreditation review with ongoing program improvement efforts.