Cato College recognized as a national leader by Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation

Cato College recognized as a national leader by Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation
Wednesday, November 17, 2021

The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) has recognized the Cato College of Education with the 2021 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement for providing evidence and data trends to achieve accreditation with no stipulations or areas for improvement.

The Cato College of Education is among the 26 providers from 17 states and the United Arab Emirates recognized for their leadership and commitment to continuous improvement. Recipients of the 2021 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement are selected from the educator preparation providers (EPPs) that were granted accreditation by CAEP at the initial level from the previous year, who provided a full complement of evidence with demonstrated data trends and no plans.

Recipients had no stipulations or areas for improvement. Providers selected for recognition advance equity and excellence in educator preparation through purposeful use of self-study procedures and evidence-based reporting that assure quality and support continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 learning. These EPPs have a mission driving their continuous improvement inquiry, use assessments that are relevant to the topic being informed and consequential, show the reliability and validity of the evidence provided for accreditation, have quality assurance capacities that inform their knowledge and address questions about relationships in the data

The Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement is named after the founding president of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC). CAEP was created by the consolidation of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and TEAC.

“Frank Murray was passionate about education preparation, a prominent leader in our profession and an advocate for evidence to improve education. The providers that CAEP is recognizing are committed to continuous improvement and preparing their students to succeed in a diverse range of classrooms after they graduate,” said Karen Symms Gallagher, chair of the CAEP Board of Directors. “CAEP Accreditation is a sign of commitment to quality through purposeful use of evidence. The Murray Leadership Recognition recipients should be proud of their accomplishments.”

“This third class to receive the Murray Recognition represents the diversity and innovation that comes with CAEP accreditation. Small, large, public, private, faith-based, and historically minority serving,” said CAEP President Chris Koch. “These recipients reflect the creativity that CAEP affords in achieving excellence, by meeting the standards in a variety of ways, for the diverse populations they serve.”

CAEP accreditation serves the dual purposes of accountability and continuous improvement; 423 educator preparation providers in 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have been accredited under the CAEP standards.

The accreditation process evaluates the performance of providers and focuses particularly on whether candidates will be prepared, by completion, for the challenging responsibilities that educators face in America’s classrooms. Approximately, 700 educator preparation providers participate in the CAEP accreditation system, including many previously accredited through former standards.

CAEP is the only educator preparation provider recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

Click here for the full list of programs who received the Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement.