THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:

Committee on Higher Education and Professional Practice

FROM:

Johanna Duncan-Poitier

SUBJECT:

Teacher Education Accreditation Requirement

 

DATE:

August 23, 2005

 

STRATEGIC GOAL:

Goal 3

 

AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

 

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Discussion

 

Should the Board of Regents provide a process by which quality teacher education programs may continue their offerings if they do not meet the December 31, 2006, accreditation deadline?

 

Reason(s) for Consideration

 

Review of Policy.

 

Proposed Handling

 

The issue will come before the Higher Education and Professional Practice Committee for discussion at its September 2005 meeting. 

 

Procedural History

 

The Board of Regents adopted a new teaching policy, "New York’s Commitment: Teaching to Higher Standards," in 1998.  As a result of that policy, in 1999 the Board adopted section 52.21(b)(2)(iv)(c)(1) of the Commissioner’s Regulations, which requires New York State teacher education programs to become accredited by an acceptable accrediting organization by December 31, 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

Background Information

 

New York's 114 teacher education programs must be accredited by one of the following organizations: the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC), or the Regents (Regents Accreditation of Teacher Education—RATE). To date, forty-seven accreditation actions have been completed and the remaining sixty-seven institutions have either had an accreditation visit and are awaiting the decision or are scheduled for a visit through the fall semester of 2006.  Six of these institutions have accreditation visits scheduled for late fall 2006.  These institutions will likely not receive an accreditation decision until after the December 31, 2006 deadline.   

 

Two institutions that chose accreditation by NCATE are now addressing the conditions that resulted in  initial denial of accreditation.  Often, programs can remedy issues identified during an accreditation site visit, provided they have time to develop and implement a strong corrective action plan.  The current requirement for accreditation by December 31, 2006 does not leave these institutions, and others that may be in similar situations after their accreditation visits, enough time to implement their corrective action plans. 

 

Recommendation

 

          The Regents support the modification of the conditions and process in Regulations so that teacher education programs may continue their progress toward accreditation after December 2006.  The process should be consistent with Regents teaching policy and apply only to quality programs with a focus on limiting any negative impact on students enrolled in those programs.

 

For example, Regulations could be amended to allow institutions that are awaiting an accreditor’s decision to continue their teacher education programs after December 31, 2006, pending that decision. 

 

For programs that are addressing issues raised by accreditors, the Department could provide an opportunity to make necessary changes through a planned improvement process.  The Department, for example, could offer a corrective action process modeled on that used with programs that do not meet the standard requiring an 80 percent pass rate on teacher certification examinations.  Programs would prepare a three-year corrective action plan to detail how they will address the issues raised by the accreditor.  The plan would include timeframes for implementing each improvement and for a second site visit within the three years.  If the Department accepts the plan, the institution could continue to offer and accept candidates into its teacher education programs.   

 

Timetable for Implementation

 

With the Committee’s concurrence, draft regulations will be prepared for discussion by the Committee in January 2006, and action in February 2006.