Highest Rating Awarded by Joint National and State Team

Cal State Fullerton’s College of Education has received the highest possible rating for continued accreditation for all of its educator preparation programs from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC).

A joint accreditation team representing NCATE and CTC gave the college high marks across all of the standards that ensure educators are prepared for preschool through 12th-grade school settings.

Earlier this year, the CTC's Committee on Accreditation endorsed reaccreditation for all teacher credential programs. The Selected Improvement Commission of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) at its May meeting approved continuing the NCATE accreditation for CSUF teacher credential and advanced education programs.

“All standards were met with no stipulations, which demonstrates that the college meets rigorous standards set by the professional education community and offers the highest quality national and state programs to train educators for California's schools,” said Teresa Crawford, professor of elementary and bilingual education and the college's director of accreditation and assessment.

For the standard on faculty qualifications, performance and development, the college received the highest rating, said Claire C. Cavallaro, dean of the college. “This is remarkable and very unusual since this standard has the largest number of criteria,” Cavallaro said.

The college also was commended for its use of technology by faculty to model instruction, as well as by teacher candidates who are trained to integrate technology into the curriculum. The many high-quality support services for teacher candidates, such as counseling, advising, faculty mentorship and implementation of Student Success Teams — designed to increase persistence and graduation rates — were praised as strengths of the college by the accreditation team.

Since 1970, CSUF has maintained national accreditation with NCATE. Additionally, providers accredited under NCATE standards are now served by CAEP. More than 900 educator preparation providers across the country participate in the CAEP accreditation system.

Cal State Fullerton annually enrolls more than 1,000 credential candidates and graduate students for careers in education, including teaching, instructional design, school administration and community college leadership.