Dr. Frank B. Murray and Dr. Arthur E Wise

Washington , DC -- Dr. Frank B. Murray, President of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council, and Dr. Arthur E. Wise, outgoing president of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, today jointly announced the unanimous agreement of their respective governing boards to work together on the development of an accreditation system for educator preparation that has multiple pathways to accreditation. Both agencies currently perform the accreditation function independently of each other. In particular, both boards authorized the appointment of a joint NCATE/TEAC Design Team to develop a specific proposal for an accreditation system with multiple pathways to accreditation.

NCATE has been an educator preparation accreditor since 1954. TEAC has been operational since 1997. In recent years, there have been discussions within the profession about whether it and our children would be better served by a system of educator preparation accreditation rather than by two unrelated accreditors. Drs. Murray and Wise discussed this issue last year with the deans of education of the American Association of Universities. This year, the two accrediting agencies jointly appointed a group composed of representatives of the agencies to consider the issue. At the same time, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education ( AACTE) also formed a Task Force on Building Agreement on an Accreditation System for Teacher Education. The task force issued a report calling for the creation of a unified system. The joint NCATE/TEAC committee formed by NCATE and TEAC presidents Wise and Murray then unanimously decided to recommend to the respective governing boards the proposal for an accreditation system with multiple pathways to teacher education accreditation.

Dr. Murray stated: “I have been concerned that the important innovations that TEAC brought to the accreditation of educator preparation not have the unintended consequence of a public perception of a field in disarray. I am pleased that the profession has been able to reach consensus on the need to explore embodying those innovations in a system of accreditation that has them as one of the options available to institutions pursuing accreditation . I look forward to working with NCATE to achieve that objective.”

Dr. Wise stated: “I view the agreement with TEAC as a wonderful capstone to my 18-year career at NCATE. I firmly believe that it is possible to combine the benefits of standards-based accreditation, its close integration with state program approval, choice in process and the economies of scale into a single system. I feel privileged to have been involved in helping start the development of such a system. I applaud Dr. Murray for his leadership.”

Dr. James Cibulka, incoming NCATE president on July 1, said, “I am very pleased at the positive steps taken by both the NCATE and TEAC governing boards. I look forward to working with Dr. Murray, and anticipate an early fall meeting of the design team. This is an excellent beginning to a new system of teacher education accreditation. As a former dean, I believe the field as a whole welcomes this forward movement.”

Sharon Robinson, President of AACTE and convener of the AACTE Task Force, noted the significance of this step. “At a time when helping all students achieve should be our top priority, a rigorous system of teacher education accreditation is essential to preparing highly qualified teachers who can help students reach their potential,” she said.

The work of the joint NCATE/TEAC design team is subject to the continuing support and ultimate approval of both boards.