Weighted Suspension Rate
Action Points
No Action 0.0
Any # of In School Suspension (ISS) 0.5
1-2 instances of Out of School Suspension (OSS) 1.0
3-4 OSS 3.0
5-9 OSS 5.0
10 or more OSS 7.0
Alternative School Assignment 6.0
Expulsion 7.0
(GaDOE, 2017a)
EPP Accreditation Agencies
United States teacher education programs historically have been inconsistent in ensuring candidates leave with the combination of pedagogical preparation and supervised practices to meet the “challenges posed by higher standards, changing technologies, and a diverse student body.” (Darling-Hammond, 1996; NCTAF, 1996). One of the root causes identified by Darling- Hammond (1996) is the lack of a required accreditation process for teacher education programs to set expectations for program quality.
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (2010) defines accreditation as “the process of reviewing colleges, universities, institutions, and programs to judge their educational quality – how they serve students and society.” Accreditation supplies a framework enabling EPPs to self-assess and analyze whether their programs prepare new teachers to enter the classroom with the pedagogy, content knowledge, and experiential learning to teach effectively. The accreditation of teacher education programs had roots in 1917 when five presidents of teacher colleges established the AATC. Concerned about the need for more high quality
teachers to meet a growing number of schools, the leaders believed the responsibility for meeting the challenge rested with the administrators and faculty members of teacher colleges. In 1925, the AATC was combined with the Normal School Section of the NEA, becoming an official
23 department with complete autonomy (Ducharme & Ducharme, 1998). The organizational
constitution and bylaws established a committee on accrediting and classification. In 1947, the AATC merged with the National Association of Colleges Departments of Education and the National Association of Teacher Education Institutions in Metropolitan Districts to form the AACTE. One of the charges for the newly created organization, as articulated by Charles Hunt, a pivotal leader in AATC and AACTE, was to strengthen the work of the Accrediting Committee (Popham, 2015).
AACTE published Revised Standards and Policies for Accrediting Colleges for Teacher Education in 1950, the first of several standards for accreditation. After years of balancing the desire to serve as both a professional association for diverse institutions, ranging from small teacher colleges to schools of education situated within large institutions, and an accrediting body, the NCATE was created in 1954. The goals of the NCATE were to “establish rigorous standards for teacher education programs” and hold accredited institutions accountable for maintaining articulated standards. Additionally, NCATE hoped to encourage unaccredited schools to utilize the NCATE’s standards to ensure program quality (NCATE, 2014). NCATE required schools of education seeking education to complete a conceptual framework, or “shared vision of the unit’s efforts in preparing educators to work in P-12 schools,” in addition to
addressing their efforts to meet that six overarching NCATE unit standards and the standards associated with the corresponding specialized professional association, or NCATE subgroup. In the 1980’s, Arkansas, North Carolina, and West Virginia required NCATE accreditation for all schools of education (NCATE, 2014). Table 8 lists the NCATE’s six unit standards. (Popham, 2015).
24 Table 8
NCATE Unit Standards
Standard Standard Name Number of
Number Critical Elements
1 Candidate Knowledge, Skills, & Professional Disposition 7
2 Assessment System and Unit Evaluation 3
3 Field Experience and Clinical Practice 3
4 Diversity 4
5 Faculty Qualifications, Performance, and Development 6
6 Unit Governance and Resources 5
The CSSO established the INTASC in 1987 to foster collaboration among states interested in enhancing extant teacher preparation, induction, and initial licensing standards. In 1992, INTASC published Model Standards for Beginning Teacher Licensing, Assessment, and Development: A Resource for State Dialogue. The Standards were developed by practitioners and representatives from seventeen state agencies to move the needle on the discussion of “the knowledge, dispositions, and performances” that demonstrate teacher quality for all teachers, regardless of content area and grade level (CSSO, 1992). They formed a template for what beginning teachers should continuously practice and reflect upon in order to improve their effectiveness and prepare them for National Board Certification, the most respected professional certification granted to exemplary veteran teachers. Additionally, INTASC sought to encourage all state agencies to rethink current training and licensing standards and identify opportunities for continuous improvement. Renamed InTASC, to reflect the organization’s commitment to
supporting teachers throughout the development continuum, the Standards were updated in 2011 to reflect a move towards documenting how practice standards are demonstrated at varying career developmental stages as well as aligning the Standards with recently published national and state standards documents.
25 In 1997, TEAC was created as an alternative of NCATE, criticized by some for having minimal standards and a time-consuming accreditation process (Popham, 2015). TEAC’s overriding goal is to advance P-12 student learning by supporting the preparation of competent, caring, and qualified professional educators through recognizing, assuring, and promoting high quality teacher education programs (TEAC, 2013).
In 2009, organizations such as the AACTE, CSSO, NCATE, and TEAC advocated to develop a “model unified accrediting system” that not only combined the strengths of NCATE and TEAC but raised the stature of the teaching profession through heightened quality assurance of teacher preparation programs (Brittingham et al., 2010). In 2010, NCATE’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Clinical Preparation and Partnerships for Improved Student Learning published their recommendations on principles and strategies for creating programs “grounded in clinical practice and interwoven with academic content and professional courses (NCATE and TEAC, 2010).”
NCATE and TEAC merged in 2013 to create CAEP. CAEP’s mission was to “advance equity and excellence in educator preparation through evidence-based accreditation that assures quality and supports continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 student learning” (CAEP, 2015b). The five CAEP standards are derived from the beliefs that quality educator preparation programs produce competent, caring graduates and are comprised of faculty who create “a culture of evidence” and utilize it to ensure the quality of program offerings (CAEP, 2015a).
Georgia Professional Standards Commission
The GaPSC is one of twelve independent state standards boards that regulate licensure, teacher preparation program standards and approval, and professional conduct (National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, 2010). Created by the
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