The College of Education and Educational Technology has earned unconditional reaccreditation from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.
The U.S. Department of Education recognizes NCATE as a professional accrediting body for colleges and universities that prepare teachers and other professional personnel for work in elementary and secondary schools. NCATE is a nonprofit, nongovernmental association that includes more than 30 national associations representing the education profession at large.
The college first received NCATE accreditation in 1954.
“Continuing to hold our programs up for critical review by an independent, third-party organization such as NCATE is an excellent way for us to demonstrate the high quality and exacting standards of our teacher-preparation programs,” said Keith Dils, interim dean of the College of Education and Educational Technology.
“The many positive comments and observations made by the visiting NCATE Board of Examiners are testament to the good work of our students, our faculty, and our school district partners.”
Preparation for NCATE continuing accreditation evaluation takes many months of work, Dils said. “It is a comprehensive, multistep process which involves an in-depth qualitative and quantitative examination of all the programs within the college.” The NCATE Board of Examiners reviews this self-evaluation before visiting the college or university.
“The site visit is by no means simple or routine,” he added. “The examiners are experienced evaluators who ask the hard questions in order to ensure that every NCATE-accredited program meets the highest of standards for teacher and other professional education preparation standards.”
Dils recognized a number of IUP faculty and staff for their work in the reaccreditation process:
- Jeff Fratangeli, special projects coordinator; Lloyd Onyett, assistant dean; and Joe Domaracki, interim associate dean for teacher education, all from the College of Education and Educational Technology, for their coordination and collection of data, surveys and reports and their participation in the site visit
- Joe Kovaleski, Mark McGowan, Susie Fello, Laurie Nicholson, Bob Millward, Cathy Kaufman, Mary Jalongo, Anne Creany, and Sue Rieg, program coordinators within the college, for their creation of assessments, collection of assessment data, use of that data for program improvement, and interaction with NCATE site visit team members
- Eileen Glisan, foreign languages; Janet Walker, secondary mathematics; Soo Lu, social studies; Sally McCombie, family and consumer sciences, and Jo-Ann Kerr, English education, the coordinators of the K–12 and secondary education programs throughout the university
NCATE evaluation of programs is performance based, and institutions are required to provide evidence of competent teacher-candidate performance. NCATE-accredited colleges are expected to ensure that teacher candidates know their subject and how to teach it effectively.
In addition to the college's NCATE accreditation, all of its individual teacher preparation programs are recognized by specialized accrediting agencies.
IUP holds universitywide accreditation through the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and 44 degree programs hold specialized accreditation through other national professional agencies.