New Mexico State University's College of Education continues to be nationally accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.
"To be accredited shows trust in the institution to perform the duties they were trained to do," said James O'Donnell, interim associate dean of the College of Education.
NCATE is a voluntary teacher accreditation process that NMSU participates in to ensure that it is providing the highest quality education to future professional educators. The Public Education Department in New Mexico is the formal body that approves all teacher education and licensure programs allowing NMSU to prepare professional educators.
The NMSU College of Education has been continuously accredited by NCATE since 1961, showing its commitment to future teachers and their students for more than 50 years.
NMSU College of Education Dean Michael Morehead says that the NCATE accreditation process is the most rigorous in the nation. Its accountability system has been significantly ahead of others in the use of data-driven decision-making.
"We go through this accreditation process and national review to analyze our progress and to assist us in maintaining the quality of our programs," Morehead said.
The most recent accreditation review visit to campus was in November 2009. NCATE returned to campus during the spring semester this year for a follow-up Standard 2: Assessment System and Unit Evaluation Focused Visit and NMSU met NCATE's Standard 2 requirements.
The data the College of Education has collected in the past was largely based on what the State of New Mexico required for teacher assessments. NCATE takes the data requirements more in-depth, requiring disaggregation of data by program, not major.
NMSU's next accreditation review is scheduled for 2016-2017. NMSU will review the value of reaccreditation as NCATE transitions to a new type of accrediting body, called the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation.