Journalistic #4
Title: New Accreditor Gains Ground in Teacher Education
Summary: After years of dominating the accreditation scene, NCATE has a competitor, TEAC, that threatens not only NCATE’s client base, but their definition of accreditation as an input process. TEAC brings the idea that accredition could mean approving and overseeing a set of values created by an education school. NCATE maintains that accredition means one set of agreed-upon standards, inflicted upon every school alike.
Topic: Accrediting all schools of education
Category: Journalistic #4
What is it? An article reporting on a new accrediting agency
Publication Information: Chronicle of Higher Education, Washington, D.C.: September 22, 2006
Author: Burton Bullog
Accessed: Mar. 14, 2009
Support:
- Teacher Education Accrediting Council (TEAC), new and innovative accrediting agency
- National Council for Accredition of Teacher Education (NCATE), widely-used accrediting agency
- David W. Breneman, dean of the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education; switch from NCATE to TEAC
- Arthur Wise, NCATE’s president
- The Council of Independent Colleges, represents over 5http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02web-darlinghammond.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02web-darlinghammond.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02web-darlinghammond.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02web-darlinghammond.html
50 small private institutions - Margaret A. McKenna, president of Lesley University in Massachusetts
- Deanne E. Beals, director of the University of Tulsa, a private institution
- Frank B. Murray, president of TEAC, former dean of the University of Delaware’s education school
- Alexandra A. Gribovskaya, director of the Columbia University’s Teacher College’s office of accreditation and assessment
- Sharon P. Robinson, president of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
- Linda Darling-Hammond, professor at Stanford University, worked with President Obama to draft his education plan, is being considered for Secretary of Education
- Edward A. Silver, associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Michigan’s School of Education
This article is quote-heavy. The article hits all the main characters in its story and quite a few others. The main figures to note are the presidents of the two competing accreditation agency, Arthur Wise for NCATE, and Frank B. Murray for TEAC. Both agencies have multiple clients willing to vouch for them, and point out the weak points of the opposing agency. The article does a good job of using experts to illustrate the pros and cons of each agency and paints a picture of the old, fuddy-duddy accreditation agency that is bogging down progress, while TEAC swoops in with a fresh face and new concepts of reform. Although this could not have been a forsight of the author, Darling-Hammond adds some credibility to the article as she has been working with President Obama and is a hopeful for Education Secretary.
Audience and Agenda: The print version of the Chronicle of Higher Education reaches 80,000 academics with 350,000 total subscribers. The web-version has one-million unique visitors a month. Although the targeted audience is university and college faculty and administrators, the Chronicle is marketed to appeal to the average reader as well.
Usefulness: The most fascinating trend in his article is the way in which NCATE and its followers express that NCATE’s standards are what defines accreditation. One supporter went as far as to say that TEAC was “a distraction” from the work of NCATE. Those in support of NCATE feel that if everyone were to be on the same page (their page) than the kinks in the education system would be worked out. “Every profession does it our way,” NCATE’s presidents says. The biggest critique against NCATE is that their standards are rigid and inflexible to meet the needs of each individual institution. This is a key point. A set of standards cannot, and should not, fit every model of school. The broad picture is that each state isindividually responsible for its education. Every school of higher education boasts of its unique approach. Thrusting set standards upon a school of learning is restrictive rather than helpful. This article also references complaints brought to the attention of NCATE’s president by the Council of Independent Colleges as to how extraneous and ineffective NCATE’s processes are. This article is very useful because it is stuffed with credible opinions and insights.
Works Cited:
- The about page for The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/help/about.htm
- Profile of Linda Darling-Hammond in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02web-darlinghammond.html
