Archived July, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—May 15, 2000
CONTACT: Jane Leibbrand, (202) 466-7496

Groundbreaking Teacher Preparation Standards To Be Used Beginning Next Year

Revolution in Teacher Preparation and Training Just Ahead

WASHINGTON, DC—Groundbreaking new performance-based standards for teacher preparation were announced at a news conference here today by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Schools of education will have to meet rigorous new performance-based standards to be accredited by NCATE in the year 2001 and beyond. The U.S. Department of Education recognizes NCATE as the professional accrediting body for teacher preparation in the United States.

“The standards, which focus on candidate performance, represent a revolution in teacher preparation,” said Arthur E. Wise, NCATE president. “It is not enough for a faculty member to say, ‘I taught the material.’ Performance-based accreditation is based on results—results that demonstrate that the teacher candidate knows the subject matter and can teach it effectively in a real classroom. The institutions will need to provide credible evidence that their schools of education achieve this goal.”

“These standards offer a future in which classroom teachers work side by side with university faculty to design courses of study for teacher candidates,” Wise added. “The standards expect institutions to offer compelling evidence that candidates for teaching positions can demonstrate in-depth knowledge of subject matter as they explain important principles and concepts in the classroom. Teachers will improve their skills over time as they listen to feedback from peers, professors, and a variety of P–12 teachers who observe them regularly.”

“NCATE’s system is a direct response to policymakers’ calls for better teacher preparation and more rigorous standards for teachers,” said Bob Chase, President of the National Education Association and Chair of NCATE’s Executive Board for the 1999-2000 year. “Policymakers are searching for ways to scale up school and higher education reforms; NCATE’s system is an effective strategy for achieving both reforms simultaneously.”

“During the last decade, states implemented rigorous accountability measure for K–12 student and school performance,” says Nancy S. Grasmick, Maryland State Superintendent of Schools. “We now find ourselves at a critical juncture in education reform. The new NCATE accreditation standards coupled with individual state performance-based licensing systems bring education reform full circle, raising the bar for teacher preparation programs. The teaching workforce from NCATE accredited institutions will be well prepared for state licensing expectations and for the demands of the teaching profession today.”

The new standards were developed over a three-year period by NCATE’s Standards Committee. Its members represent major education stakeholder constituencies: teachers, teacher educators, school specialists and state and local policymakers. The Committee’s work was posted on NCATE’s web site continuously. NCATE disseminated the work of the committee to the broadest possible audience for comment throughout the standards development process.

“As more institutions meet NCATE’s national professional standards, more qualified teacher candidates will be available, since candidates from accredited institutions pass licensing examinations at a higher rate than do those from unaccredited institutions or those with no teacher preparation,” added Wise. “In this time of teacher shortage, encouraging schools of education to attain national professional accreditation will increase the supply of well-qualified teacher candidates who can improve student achievement.”

NCATE’s expectations weave many of the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s into one piece of cloth-the concepts embedded in professional development schools that make teacher preparation a "real world" experience; the measures of effective teaching initiated by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards; and the use of the profession’s standards in specific subject areas in accredited schools of education.

“The NCATE system takes the best of tested reforms and expects institutions to incorporate them,” added Wise. “NCATE influences new norms of behavior around reform ideas and concepts in teacher preparation. The new standards will change teaching practice and program structure at teacher preparation institutions so that institutions focus on assessing candidate performance to help ensure quality teaching.”

To become accredited, teacher preparation institutions must submit a self-study that describes how they meet the standards. An on-site visiting team examines the education unit and assesses its strengths and weaknesses in relation to the standards. Prior to the visit, the institution prepares information on how it meets subject matter standards. NCATE’s Unit Accreditation Board makes a final accreditation decision.

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the professional accrediting body for teacher preparation in the United States. Through NCATE, members of the public committed to quality in education, 33 national professional organizations representing those who teach in and operate P–12 schools, and those who educate those teachers work to improve the quality of education for our nation’s children.

A Brief Overview of the NCATE Accreditation Standards

Standard 1. Candidate Knowledge, Skills, and Disposition

NCATE expects candidates to know the content of their field (a major or the substantial equivalent of a major) and possess the necessary knowledge and skill to teach it effectively. Candidate work should focus on student learning. In addition, candidates from accredited institutions gain a liberal arts background along with professional knowledge so that they can develop meaningful learning experiences for all students.

Under the new standards, schools of education must provide evidence that they have used national and state standards to design and deliver the programs, and provide evidence that the candidates can meet the standards. PRASIS II or another content knowledge test may assess subject matter knowledge. Other measures of candidate content knowledge may be used as well. Candidates’ ability to synthesize the content to help P–12 students understand it is also evaluated in the new system.

NCATE’s constituent members include professional associates in each major subject matter area (i.e., National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Science Teachers Association, National Council for the Social Studies, International Reading Association, etc.) These and other associations set content standards for teacher preparation; NCATE uses the standards in the accreditation system. In addition, NCATE is currently working with Educational Testing Service to align its PRAXIS II licensing exams with the profession’s standards in the content areas.

Standard 2. Program Assessment and Unit Evaluation

The school of education must have a system in place to assess its candidates-including data on the qualifications of applicants and the performance of candidates and graduates. NCATE expects the school of education to use this data to evaluate and improve the programs. NCATE also expects the education unit to design candidate assessments using professional, state, and institutional standards as the major reference points. The assessments should be embedded in the preparation programs, and should be conducted on a continuing basis, both to help candidates improve their skills and to evaluate candidate progress and competence.

NCATE expects schools of education to use multiple assessments in a variety of forms. They may come from internal sources within the school of education, including tasks used to teach candidates (such as projects, journals), activities of teaching (such as lesson planning, diagnosing individual student needs, reflecting on instruction of students and making changes, creating assessments for students) as well as essays, papers, observation of faculty and supervising teachers, videotapes of performance, and other means. Assessment information will also come from external sources such as state licensure exams, evaluations during induction or mentoring, and employer reports. NCATE expects the institutions to establish criteria for determining levels of acceptable candidate performance. NCATE will also work with national subject matter associations to publish sample benchmarks for acceptable performance in the subject matter areas, and NCATE will establish criteria for the submission of credible evidence.

This data, when arrayed, will provide a more comprehensive picture of the effectiveness of the school of education and its programs than has been available in the past. Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1998 requires the collection and dissemination of teacher candidate results on state licensing exams. The information will be available to the public. This new public accountability mechanism will serve to accelerate the reform of teacher preparation in higher education institutions. NCATE will use the data from state licensing examinations as a factor in accreditation decisions.

Developing an assessment system that collects new information takes time. NCATE has developed a transition plan for the institutions. During the first year of implementation, NCATE Expects institutions to have an assessment plan in place. In each year thereafter, schools of education will be expected to be implementing their systems-collecting, compiling, and analyzing performance data, and piloting and using performance assessments.

Standard 3. Field Experiences and Clinical Practice

The performance-based NCATE system requires university and P–12 school faculty to function as partners in the education of teacher candidates. The school of education and its school partners are expected to collaboratively design, implement, and evaluate field experiences and clinical practice and ensure that candidates demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to help all students learn. The emphasis on the partnership between the university and cooperating schools is profound, and will engender change in many current programs.

Standard 4. Diversity

NCATE expects teacher candidates to be able to help all students learn. Candidates should have experiences working with diverse student populations, along with diverse faculty and peers. This standard reinforces NCATE’s commitment to a high quality education for all of America’s children.

Standard 5. Faculty Performance and Development

NCATE expects faculty to be good teachers; they should model best practice in teaching, scholarship and service. The unit must evaluate faculty performance and provide professional development opportunities.

Standard 6. Unit Governance and Resources

This standard ensures that the college has the necessary resources, including technology resources, to offer the programs that it chooses to offer.

View the NCATE unit standards adopted by the Unit Accreditation Board on March 31, 2000, and ratified by the NCATE Executive Board on May 11, 2000.

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