NCATE commends ASU’s College of Education

AUGUSTA, Ga. –  “No areas for improvement” was the finding of the examiners from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) who completed their review of the College of Education at Augusta State University on February 7.

“This is a phenomenal achievement for the College of Education and the university. The leadership team for the College of Education has done a remarkable job by not only meeting the NCATE standards, but exceeding them. This is a tremendous affirmation for the university as we move forward into consolidation,” said Carol Rychly, acting vice president for academic affairs.

The NCATE team interviewed administrators, faculty, staff, current students, alumni and education professionals from the six partnering school districts to ensure that all programs preparing educational professionals are of the quality expected for professional accreditation.

“Faculty and staff at Augusta State were thrilled to learn that all standards were met with no standard having an ‘area for improvement,’” said Paula Dohoney, interim dean for the College of Education. “That is essentially a perfect score. We are elated that the NCATE Board of Examiners saw all of the work we have done in continuously improving our educator preparation programs,” added Dohoney.

The NCATE examiners found ASU met all elements of every accreditation standard. They commended the faculty of the college on their partnership with ASU’s College of Arts and Sciences. The examiners also cited ASU’s partnership with 52 area schools from six different counties as a national model for which other institutions should strive.

NCATE will now report their findings and recommendation to their Unit Accreditation Board which is responsible for determining the accreditation status of professional education units.

The site visit team consisted of representatives from NCATE, the profession’s mechanism to help establish high quality teacher preparation, and the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. Every seven years NCATE evaluates a school’s professional education programs.

For more information, call Tunisia Williams, assistant director in ASU’s Office of Public Relations and Publications, at 706-737-1877.