After a five-year process, the Professional Education Unit at Northern Arizona University has earned a prestigious national accreditation.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education<\/a>\u00a0recently announced its accreditation of NAU\u2019s professional education programs, culminating a review that involved two site visits, an extensive database of coursework and student outcomes assessments, and numerous reports from individual programs to their respective professional associations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a validation of the quality of work our faculty members are doing to prepare PK-12 education professionals,\u201d said\u00a0Kathy Hildebrand<\/strong>, assistant vice provost at NAU. \u201cThe council has very high standards.\u201d<\/p>\n Hildebrand, who noted that NAU is the only institution in the state accredited by the council, oversaw the review process from its beginning in 2006. She explained how accreditation ensures that NAU\u2019s education programs \u201chave assessment plans and are implementing them, which provides evidence that our graduates are meeting national standards.\u201d<\/p>\n Data is collected on every student in the education programs, Hildebrand said, including those in discipline-specific teacher preparation programs outside the College of Education, as well as Extended Campuses students. Coursework assignments are \u201cdesigned to map to national standards,\u201d and student teaching assignments \u201cshow that our teachers are promoting learning among their students.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur efforts with student assessment are consistent with the university\u2019s efforts at promoting student outcomes assessment,\u201d Hildebrand said.<\/p>\n Hildebrand noted that a major step taken during this accreditation cycle was to put a system in place that comprehensively addresses the requirements of the review process. \u201cI think the system is a huge accomplishment,\u201d Hildebrand said, pointing out an\u00a0assessment system website<\/a>\u00a0that includes a handbook and resources for faculty.<\/p>\n Among the many benefits of accreditation, Hildebrand said, is the advantage that may be gained by NAU students. She explained that those seeking work out of state often find that schools prefer graduates from a school with NCATE accreditation.<\/p>\n While earning the accreditation is a point of pride, Hildebrand said there is little time to pause. \u201cWe\u2019re always working to improve things,\u201d she said. \u201cSeveral of the professional associations have updated their standards, so we have to update our assessments.\u201d<\/p>\n The next series of program reports for re-accreditation are due in 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"