Click here to read the Redesign

This is an exciting time to be at NCATE. We have been working hard on a bold redesign of NCATE in collaboration with many stakeholders. I want to make clear why we are doing this, and why this redesign is an urgent imperative for all of us.

One impetus for redesign comes from representatives from many of our accredited institutions, who have asked for a more cost-effective accreditation process—one that is both less burdensome and more productive for them. We believe that the redesign we are proposing is consistent with NCATE’s long commitment to setting a standard of excellence in educator preparation, while also addressing these concerns. The redesign honors both the quality assurance and improvement missions of accreditation.

A second impetus for NCATE’s redesign, arguably more challenging, is the need to transform America’s P-12 education system to one that supports higher levels of student learning and success across the spectrum of diverse learners. We are in a period of transition from an older set of societal expectations for our schools to the demands imposed by a global economy. This time of change presents an opportunity to work together on institutional transformation. If P-12 education must be transformed, educator preparation programs also must be must redesigned, in some cases dramatically, to support that transformation. Indeed, the transformations required in both P-12 education and educator preparation may inform and support one another. You will see in this redesign a conscious effort to align our educator preparation programs more closely with the needs of the nation’s P-12 schools and to encourage stronger partnerships with the schools and other institutions

These two objectives come together in the concept of continuous improvement. Continuous improvement strategies are central to the redesigned process, to help institutions prepare educators who can increase all dimensions of P-12 student learning. Assessment of candidate and P-12 student learning, as well as unit and program performance---will continue to be a key feature of the NCATE accreditation system.

With an eye toward focusing on P-12 student learning, we have built into the accreditation process specific new opportunities for institutions undergoing reaccreditation to focus on continuous improvement and specific new mechanisms for NCATE to encourage and support their efforts. An accreditation system committed to excellence should encourage institutions to move beyond the “acceptable” level in meeting standards to “target” level performance. Also, it should afford institutions the option of initiating a “transformation initiative” that addresses major issues and challenges in our profession. Those initiatives can be pursued by one institution or by a group of institutions. In this way, we hope to add value to the reaccreditation process both for our institutions and for the profession. This research and development focus is intended to generate new knowledge about best practices in educator preparation and P-12 transformation that will be shared systematically, and which may over the longer term lead to a new generation of standards.

It is important that NCATE be actively engaged with efforts to improve the evidentiary base for educator preparation, which traditionally has been perceived as weak and not of practical use to shape programs. In fact, the knowledge base has been developing over the past decade or so with better designed research studies and especially with consensus reports from respected national institutions such as the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Education, and others. We now have strong research evidence on a few, but critical, topics such as how students learn and develop, use of assessment and feedback to enhance learning, and the importance of appropriate clinical experiences. The evidence base will continue to develop, and be more widely available to everyone, as longitudinal data systems that permit us to link student learning information with teacher characteristics and experiences come into place.

In its accreditation activities, NCATE must take advantage of the powerful leverage that such research can bring to needed reforms. Our dual mission encompasses both quality assurance and improvement to prepare educators who support high levels of P-12 student learning. NCATE’s leverage will become greater as it draws from the evidentiary bases now available to us and as they continue to develop. We have given considerable thought to how the NCATE standards and processes can support a focus on P-12 student learning to maximum advantage. First, we are examining whether our unit and program standards are appropriate and whether our accreditation processes truly measure quality in appropriate ways. Another important step, in addition to the research-based transformation initiatives we will invite our institutions to undertake, will be to create a task force that addresses strong clinical preparation and strengthening partnerships. The work of the task force may inform some revision of standards. These are the first steps in what is likely to be an evolutionary process of change and reform.

NCATE also has a special leadership role to play in working with states and other stakeholders to build a policy system that supports higher levels of P-12 student learning. We believe this redesign is an opportunity to engage the diverse actors in our educational system around a shared goal of higher performance.

Click here to read the Redesign

I look forward to your comments and ideas on these redesign proposals.

Cordially,

Jim Cibulka