Accreditation in teacher education

the long version

The Study of the Influence on Higher Education of Accreditation in Teacher Education has been sponsored by the National Commission on Accrediting and supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The National Commission appointed the Director and Assistant Director, named an advisory committee composed of highly respected leaders in higher education, and has served as the fiscal agent for the Study. The Study has been conducted independently of the Commission. This report of the Study has been prepared as a report to the National Commission on Accrediting (NCA), and also has been made available to the public. Since 1956, the national agency for accrediting teacher education in the United States has been the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). In addition, most of the states either accredit or approve teacher education programs of institutions of higher education within the states and, in some instances, in other states. Between national and state accreditation of teacher education, general institutional evaluation and accreditation are conducted by six regional accrediting associations. Thus, there are three levels of accreditation of teacher education: national, regional, and state. This Study is concerned with accreditation at all three levels and its influence upon higher education.