School of Education granted NCATE accreditation

School of Education granted NCATE accreditationNovember 09, 2006Patrick Farrellpmfarrel@syr.edu

At this year’s fall meeting, the Unit Accreditation Board of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) voted to grant full accreditation to Syracuse University’s School of Education. NCATE is a nonprofit, non-governmental alliance of 33 national professional education and public organizations whose common goal is ensuring that teachers and other educators who work in pre-K-12 schools are well qualified. The U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation recognize NCATE as an accrediting body for schools, colleges and departments that educate school professionals.

Programs covered by NCATE accreditation at SU include all teacher education programs, school administration, school counseling, school media, school psychology and speech-language pathology.

NCATE accreditation tells the public and prospective employers that Syracuse University’s education graduates have successfully completed programs of study that meet the following standards:

• the programs successfully underwent rigorous external reviews by professionals in those fields;
• the programs meet state, national, and professional standards;
• the programs’ students are thoroughly assessed throughout their studies not only on what they know but also on what they can do, i.e., their performance in classrooms or other appropriate school settings; and
• the programs’ students must successfully meet all performance-based standards before they are recommended for state certification or licensure.

Through completing programs that meet NCATE standards, teacher candidates from the School of Education will be well prepared for new, more demanding initial certification expectations in many states and for board certification through the new National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Also, graduates of NCATE-accredited schools are often able to transfer their existing teacher qualifications from state to state based on NCATE-specific reciprocity agreements. But most importantly, NCATE accreditation certifies that program graduates are well-qualified to work in schools.