Merged NCATE Likely to Raise Teacher-Entry Bar

When united, two accreditors hope to change recruiting

As the two bodies that accredit American teachers' colleges prepare to merge into a single entity, its leaders are signaling that the new Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation plans to require training programs to improve their processes for selecting candidates.

"The new CAEP standards are going to be much more rigorous with regard both to admission policies and recruitment policies," James G. Cibulka, the president of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, or NCATE, said in a recent interview.

His comments give the first inkling of what the new body will consider as part of a revamped accreditation process, and are germane to a growing debate about how to recruit more academically capable individuals into teaching, especially at the elementary level.

Though details still need to be fleshed out by CAEP, the basic proposal already has backing from influential figures in the teacher education world.

"It's exciting, and it's been too long in coming," said David M. Steiner, the dean of the school of education at Hunter College, in New York City. "Let's pull our sleeves up and get to work."

NCATE and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council, or TEAC, announced plans to merge late last year. The new body, CAEP, is scheduled to begin accrediting programs in 2013. ("Merger Lies Ahead for Accrediting Bodies of Teacher," Nov. 3, 2010.)

NCATE, by far the larger of the two accreditors, requires teacher-training programs to establish an admissions process, but has not set any particular standard for entry qualifications, such as minimum exam scores or grade point average.

New Thinking

In a recent letter to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Mr. Cibulka intimated that the time is ripe to take a closer look at the issue.

"Accreditation standards have been mostly silent on admissions in the past; that must change," he wrote.

In addition to admission, CAEP will consider requiring programs to document efforts to recruit top-caliber talent from a diverse pool, and the evidence behind those efforts.

"You can have high standards for admission, but if you do nothing to reach out to identify the target audience and attract that audience into the program, you may have very little effect," Mr. Cibulka said.

A number of factors appear to have influenced the new accrediting group's thinking. For one, empirical research over the past decade has identified some teacher characteristics that are correlated with better student academic outcomes. And NCATE, Mr. Cibulka said, has been examining the ...

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