Evidence in the exhibit room should include unit and program assessments of candidate proficiencies and the effectiveness of the unit. Evidence includes, but is not limited to, end-of-course assessments, internship assessments, candidate portfolios, candidate projects, results of state licensing exams, follow-up studies, and program evaluations. The unit should also include as exhibits details about its assessment system and assessment instruments being developed and implemented as part of that system.

The unit should clearly label and key to the standards all evidence in the electronic exhibit room. The unit should compile a list of all evidence in the exhibit room to distribute to the team. If evidence is located somewhere other than the electronic exhibit room, the list should indicate where to find it. The unit should clearly mark evidence that demonstrates the correction of previously cited weaknesses or areas for improvement to facilitate the work of the BOE team. Electronic exhibits should be designed to facilitate team members’ moving easily through exhibits without scrolling through large documents. For additional information on setting up an electronic exhibit room, read Guidelines for Electronic Exhibit Rooms and view the electronic exhibit rooms of selected institutions in the Exhibit Room FAQs.

The unit should compile, aggregate, and summarize candidate performance data for review by team members. Much of the candidate data will be compiled for national and state reviews of programs. Assessments, scoring rubrics/criteria, and samples of candidate work should be available to the team during the on-site visit. The unit should select samples of candidate work (e.g., portfolios) that demonstrate proficiencies at different levels (e.g., unacceptable, acceptable, and accomplished). Generally, such samples will be sufficient to augment the summarized data, but the BOE chair may request additional materials prior to and during the on-site review. The papers Aggregating Data and Aligning Data with Assessments provide additional suggestions and examples of presenting performance data for the NCATE review.

List of Suggested Exhibits for NCATE Visits

NCATE has revised the list of suggested exhibits. The exhibits on this list will be very helpful to teams as they evaluate institutions. Please note that the quality of these exhibits will determine their degree of utility for teams. While this list covers most of the exhibits needed by teams, it is not exhaustive. Institutions should provide additional materials based on institutional context.

Examples of many of the items listed are in Institutional Reports posted in the resources section of the NCATE website. NCATE is currently working on several projects to provide examples of the types of evidence that are most helpful for demonstrating compliance with Standards 1 and 2.

The NCATE Unit Standards, the Handbook for Accreditation Visits, and the BOE Report Template, all posted on the NCATE website, should continue to be the primary documents used as institutions prepare for visits. The Handbook includes a detailed section on preparing for the visit that provides a thorough description of the entire process.