School of Education passes accreditation test

IU’s School of Education recently announced it has been reaccredited by the National Council for Accreditation for Teacher Education.

The school, which gained autonomy from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1923, is one of about 600 colleges nationally accredited said Gerardo Gonzalez, dean of the school.

“It is a wonderful recognition of the quality of our programs,” Gonzalez said. “It is a way to confirm what we believe about the qualities of our programs and the experiences we provide for our students so it is good to be nationally accredited. We are just delighted to be among the best in the country.”

Accreditation is based on meeting six NCATE standards, and the council evaluated IU’s Bloomington campus, as well as IU-Purdue University Indianapolis and Columbus.

“One set of evaluators do come to the campus once every seven years, and they are trained in the application of the accreditating bodies’ standards and they apply those standards to the entire school of education,” said Jane Leibbrand, NCATE vice president of communications. “They examine the programs as well.”

Leibbrand said the process for education schools is similar to the process of any other profession in the country.

“Accreditation grew up in America as a quality insurance mechanism because we don’t have a central ministry of education,” Leibbrand said. “In America, each state sets their own standards, so the standards for teacher preparation have been uneven. We as the accreditating body have one set of professional standards, so this helps even out the quality as institutions apply and meet the professional standards.”

A school has to demonstrate that the students have the knowledge needed to teach subjects effectively, Gonzalez said, and must also demonstrate the faculty is qualified.

There must also be an infrastructure that supports high quality instructions.
The report identifies areas where improvements are needed for teacher accreditation and teacher reviews, he said.

“We essentially were accredited with almost no real weaknesses, so it affirms the quality of our programs and what our faculty and I believe about the work we do and the ability of our graduates to perform at high levels in the schools,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said, however, the school hopes to improve in technology enhancement, as well as learn from graduates’ experiences in the field.

“We are always seeking to get better and learn from not only the accreditation but from our graduates and our faculty about ways to continuously improve,” Gonzalez said.

Because the national accreditation process is voluntary, Gonzalez said he wishes it were required of all education programs.

“It is an opportunity for us to learn from objective observers who visit the campus and who understand the standards and continuously improve,” he said.

Jill Shedd, assistant dean for teacher education said the NCATE, is in the process of changing its review system, and IU was one of the first schools in Indiana to be reviewed under the new pilot program.

“I am thrilled and relieved,” Shedd said of the report. “As challenging work is, it is very reaffirming. It is nice to get affirmation from a national association that we are doing a
good job.”