NCATE Standards
August 2002
Boyce C. Williams
ncate@ncate.org
NCATE
The National Council for Accreditation of
Teacher Education is the professional
accrediting body for schools, colleges, and
departments of education. The U.S.
Department of Education recognizes
NCATE as the accrediting body for teacher
preparation.
NCATE’s Mission
Accountability
Improvement
Accreditation
Assures that institutions have met
rigorous standards
Links national standards for teacher
preparation with national standards for
students
Encourages excellence in colleges of
education
WHO IS NCATE?
NCATE is a coalition of over 30 national
professional organizations representing
over 3 million educators and members of
the public committed to quality teaching
NCATE FACTS
NCATE accredits 519 institutions that
produce approximately two-thirds of the
nation’s new teacher grads each year
NCATE has a record number of candidates
that have filed an intent to seek
accreditation--near 90--
NCATE FACTS
NCATE has active partnerships with 46
states to mesh state and professional
standards, thereby bringing increased
rigor to teacher preparation
NCATE 2000 Standards
Candidate Performance
Candidate Knowledge, Skills, & Dispositions
Assessment System and Unit Evaluation
Unit Capacity
Field Experiences and Clinical Practice
Diversity
Faculty Qualifications, Performance, and
Development
Unit Governance and Resources
Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework(s) establishes the shared
vision for a unit’s efforts in preparing educators to
work effectively in P-12 schools. It provides
direction for programs, courses, teaching, candidate
performance, scholarship, service, and unit accountability. The conceptual framework(s) is knowledgebased, articulated, shared, coherent, consistent
with the unit and/or institutional mission, and
continuously evaluated.
Conceptual Framework
Units will be expected to describe their
conceptual frameworks in an early section
of the institutional report to provide an
important context for the unit’s approach
to meeting the standards.
Units’ conceptual frameworks will be
submitted with preconditions in the future.
Organization of Revised
Standards
The Standard
Rubric
Explanation of the Standard
including a rationale for the standard
2. Assessment System and
Unit Evaluation
The unit has an assessment system
that collects and analyzes data on
applicant qualifications, candidate
and graduate performance, and unit
operations to evaluate and improve
the unit and its programs.
External resources for
measuring proficiencies
State licensure exams
Employer evaluations
National and/or
state program
reviews
Multiple choice tests
& written essays
Transcripts
Internal resources for
measuring proficiencies
 Candidate work
Lesson plans
Reflections
Case studies
Portfolios
 Observations &
Assessments of
Interactions with students
Parent communications
Teaching in small and large
group settings
Professional activities
 Student learning
- Student work
- Student achievement
Features of Good
Assessment Systems
 Developed collaboratively
 Provide information on candidate
mastery of standards
 Embedded in instruction
 Conducted on continuing basis
 Use multiple indicators at
admission
 Occur at several decision points
throughout candidates’ programs
 Administer multiple assessments
Good Assessment Systems
 Make use of candidate proficiency information
from external sources.
 Ensure credibility--fairness, consistency,
accuracy, and avoidance of bias.
 Include rubrics or criteria to determine levels
of accomplishment.
 Use results to improve programs.
 Include collection of information about the
unit’s operations and programs, which is used
to improve programs.
CANDIDATE
PERFORMANCE
1. Candidate Knowledge,
Skills, and Dispositions
Candidates preparing to work in
schools as teachers or other professional school personnel know and
demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and
dispositions
Dispositions (continued)
Dispositions are guided by beliefs and
attitudes related to values such as
caring, fairness, honesty,
responsibility, and social justice.
For example, they might include a
belief that all students can learn, a
vision of high and challenging
standards, or a commitment to a safe
and supportive learning environment.
from INTASC….
The teacher believes that all children can
learn at high levels and persists in helping
all children achieve success.
The teacher appreciates and values
human diversity, shows respect for
students’ varied talents and perspectives,
and is committed to the pursuit of
“individually configured excellence.”
from INTASC….
The teacher respects students as individuals
with differing personal and family
backgrounds and various skills, talents, and
interests.
The teacher is sensitive to community and
cultural norms.
The teacher makes students feel valued for
their potential as people, and helps them
learn to value each other.
1. Candidate Knowledge,
Skills, and Dispositions
Candidates preparing to work in
schools as teachers or other professional school personnel know and
demonstrate the content, pedagogical,
and professional knowledge, skills, and
dispositions
1. Candidate Knowledge,
Skills, and Dispositions
Candidates preparing to work in
schools as teachers or other professional school personnel know and
demonstrate the content, pedagogical,
and professional knowledge, skills, and
dispositions necessary to help all
students learn.
1. Candidate Knowledge,
Skills, and Dispositions
Candidates preparing to work in
schools as teachers or other professional school personnel know and
demonstrate the content, pedagogical,
and professional knowledge, skills, and
dispositions necessary to help all
students learn. Assessments indicate
that candidates meet professional,
state, and institutional standards.
Performance Evidence in
Accreditation
 Program Reviews
 State Reviews, and
 BOE Visits
Presentation of
Performance Evidence
Evidence must be related to
professional, state, &
institutional standards.
Performance data must be
aggregated and interpreted.
Examples of candidate work should
illustrate the variety of
assessments & depth of candidate
proficiencies.
Presentation (continued)
Description of how courses &
experiences provide opportunities for
candidates to learn & practice the
knowledge & skills in professional &
state standards.
Description of how program faculty
determine they make sound
judgments about candidates’
readiness for licensure and initial
work in their field.
Sampling
Assessment Information
Provide a true representation of candidate
proficiencies
Represent “all candidates”
Be quantitative
Be qualitative, provide instruments or
tasks, rubrics/criteria, candidate responses
Interpreting
Assessment Information
Help reviewers makes sense of the data;
provide a context
Interpret results in relation to the standards
Use state licensure tests cautiously
Ask yourself:
How am I convinced by data that the candidates
have met the standards?
How can I help someone who does not know this
institution understand what we have achieved?
Can I build on what my institution has already done
for previous NCATE assessment standards?
How do I make sense of data about candidates that
come from many faculty, courses, and programs in
differing forms?
Types of Performance
Assessments
Classroom performance, live and video
Micro teaching
Early field experiences
Student teaching & internships
Lesson artifacts
Lesson/unit planning
Handouts
Slides
Assessment documents
Assessment Examples
Paper/pencil tests of knowledge
Praxis II/state tests
End-of-course teacher tests
On-demand tasks
Simulations
Case studies
Problem-based scenarios
Assessment Examples
Interviews of candidates
Admission
Continuation
Debriefings
Testimonials
Attestations by candidates, students, peers,
cooperating teachers, & university supervisors
Standard 3
Field Experiences
and Clinical Practice
The unit and its school partners
design, implement, and evaluate
field experiences and clinical
practice so that teacher candidates
and other school personnel develop
and demonstrate the knowledge,
skills, and dispositions necessary
to help all students learn.
Standard 4
Diversity
Diversity
Differences among groups of people and
individuals based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, language, exceptionalities, religion, sexual orientation, and
geographic region in which they live.
4. Diversity
The unit designs, implements, and
evaluates curriculum and experiences
for candidates to acquire and apply the
knowledge, skills, and dispositions
necessary to help all students learn.
These experiences include working with
diverse higher education and school
faculty, diverse candidates, and diverse
and exceptional students in P-12 schools.
UAB Discussion of Diversity
Is diversity of faculty & candidates still an
expectation of the standard?
- Yes
Does the UAB still expect teams to report
numbers in regard to diversity?
- Yes
UAB Discussion (continued)
If the unit creates experiences—summer
programs, visiting scholars, lecture series,
etc.—can these be sufficient to meet the
intent of the standard?
- If they are on-going and regularly offered,
they may contribute to candidate
development of knowledge, skills, &
dispositions related to diversity
UAB Discussion (continued)
If “good faith efforts” are being made to
recruit & retain di9verse faculty &
candidates, but there are no results,
should a weakness still be cited?
-
A weakness should be cited, but the “good
faith” efforts should be described in the
team’s findings
Standard 5
Faculty Qualifications,
Performance, and
Development
Faculty Qualifications, Performance,
and Development.
Faculty are qualified and model best
professional practices in scholarship,
service, and teaching, including the
assessment of their own effectiveness as
related to candidate performance; they
also collaborate with colleagues in the
disciplines and schools. The unit
systematically evaluates faculty
performance and facilitates professional development.
Standard 6
Unit Governance and
Resources
Unit Governance and Resources
The unit has the leadership,
authority, budget, personnel,
facilities, and resources, including
information technology resources,
for the preparation of candidates
to meet professional, state, and
institutional standards.
Fall 2002 & Spring 2003
The unit is implementing the first steps of its
assessment system.
The unit and its professional community have
developed some internal performance
assessments based on professional, state, and
institutional standards.
Rubrics/ criteria for scoring and tests for
credibility are being developed.
Fall 2003 & Spring 2004
The unit is in the third year of implementing its
assessment plan.
The unit is using internal performance
assessment based on professional, state, and
institutional standards to identify the
competence of ALL candidates.
A system for testing the credibility of the
assessments has been developed.
Fall 2004 & Spring 2005
The unit’s assessment system is being
implemented, evaluated, and refined.
Performance assessments are being tested
for credibility.
Data on candidate performance from external
and internal measurements have been
compiled and are being used to improve
programs.