IUS Times

Perseverance pays off for School of Education

"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another."
---Walter Elliott

Our School of Education has been running a marathon.

It crossed the finish line last November when the recent audit by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) Board of Examiners was completed.

Preliminary findings of the NCATE Board of Examiners (BOE) team indicated that the School of Education met all six standards with no areas of improvement cited. However, the School will not learn of the final decision regarding continued accreditation until late spring 2006.

Most everyone on campus had already heard that the School of Education earned re-accreditation from NCATE. But only a handful of individuals know what it takes to earn such a squeaky clean preliminary report.

The real story begins in 1999. That's when the BOE last visited our campus. In 1999, IU Southeast earned accreditation from NCATE easily enough but was cited for three areas deemed as "needing improvement." Those three areas were:

• Greater diversity among faculty and staff
• Improved curriculum centers
• Less reliance on part-time faculty, especially at the graduate level

Those two little words--needing improvement--sparked a strong resolve and a spirit of perseverance within the School of Education. Even though BOE audits often include at least a few citations for improvement, the faculty and staff in our School of Education hoped to see an A+ on their next NCATE report card.

According to School of Education Dean Gloria Murray--who became the interim dean in 2001 and the dean in 2002--the staff and faculty tackled the three areas cited by NCATE with fierce commitment and a passion for perfection.

One of the first tasks was simply to get focused. Murray and her staff, with the leadership of NCATE Coordinator Carolyn Babione, hosted regular, ongoing, meetings to gauge their progress toward improvement goals. Thus, the School of Education had NCATE preparation meetings at a rate of about three times a month. Over a five year period, that means there were about 135 meetings specifically dedicated to NCATE accreditation.

As the faculty and staff worked to bring about meaningful, lasting, and tangible changes, they had to make sure there was a solid paper trail for the BOE to follow. The paper trail had to show what had been done, when it was done, who did it, and how it made a difference. This paper trail was organized according to NCATE standards. Ultimately, the files were stored in large plastic bins that could be easily moved to an exhibit room for the future NCATE examiners. In addition to the exhibit room, BOE examiners could go to the School of Education website to examine additional documents.

While on campus, the BOE evaluated feedback from interviews with local school administrators and teachers, IU Southeast faculty and staff, and recent graduates. They also visited schools in the IU Southeast service area such as New Albany High School, Bridgepoint Elementary, and Farnsley Middle School in Louisville.

Murray says that some of the initiatives for improvement were easier to accomplish than others. For example, the suggestion for "improved curriculum centers" was handily addressed by the construction and grand opening of our new library. Murray says that while IU Southeast always had great material for its curriculum centers, the material was not always accessible for all students. The new library has made the material more accessible for everyone.

NCATE's suggestions for improved staff and student diversity, as well as less reliance on part-time faculty, was addressed with the help of IU Southeast human resources and our Director of Equity and Diversity Jackie Love.

The School of Education will be notified of its accreditation status by NCATE's Unit Accreditation Board (UAB) in March or April 2006. The next NCATE on-site examination for IU Southeast is expected to be 2012.

While Murray and her staff are happy to have the NCATE on-site evaluation behind them, they acknowledge that not much will change. They will continue their NCATE meetings and increase the frequency of those meetings as they get closer to the next BOE visit.

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