Since 1995, the CAA and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) have had an accreditation agreement in place to support collaboration between accrediting agencies and recognize that graduate education programs in audiology and speech-language pathology should not be subject to duplicate accreditation reviews, and thereby substantially reduces the burden to programs.
The Agreement for Recognition document was updated in 2008 to clarify the responsibilities and procedures between the CAA, NCATE, and programs; therefore, superseding all former agreements between these agencies.
NCATE accepts the accreditation decisions of the CAA. This means that any CAA-accredited programs in audiology or speech-language pathology housed within a college, school, or department of education and that also are due for NCATE accreditation of teacher education programs, will have to provide only minimal documentation as part of the NCATE review of the professional education unit.
What to Include in the NCATE Review
As part of the NCATE review, CAA-accredited programs are required to provide (see Item 4 of the agreement):
- A copy of the official letter of notification from the CAA that conveys the current accreditation status and cycle of accreditation
- Evidence that the program meets NCATE’s Unit Standard 6, which requires that the professional education unit (e.g., the school, college, or department of education) “effectively manages or coordinates all programs” that prepare P-12 school personnel. Therefore, the education unit is required to maintain a formal relationship with CAA-accredited programs.
- Assessment data presented to CAA should be available to NCATE’s Board of Examiners (BOE) team
Students and faculty members from CAA-accredited programs may be included in BOE interviews during the on-site visit.
Meaning of NCATE Recognition
The CAA views this agreement as recognition of the quality of the CAA’s accreditation standards and process. We are pleased to have NCATE reaffirm its relationship with CAA. More information is available about NCATE’s policy through the NCATE website.
We encourage accredited programs to share this information with deans or other university administration officials as appropriate. Feel free to contact the CAA or NCATE/CAEP offices with any questions regarding this agreement.
Spring 2014 Update
NCATE merged with the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) to form a new accrediting agency for teacher preparation programs, Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), in 2013. The new agency continues to transition and its primary focus at this time is the adoption and implementation of new standards and processes for the more than 900 education providers that participate in the accreditation program.
In January 2014, CAEP indicated that they plan to review and renew the memoranda that NCATE has had in place with the professional program accreditors like the CAA, which accredit programs for other types of school personnel. It is our understanding that all agreements will be in place for the next two years and at the end of the 2-year period, the agreements will be revisited with each of the accreditors. The CAA is not anticipating any changes, but as CAEP has new standards and processes, and the CAA is initiating a review of its accreditation standards, those elements will be taken into consideration when renewing these agreements in 2 years. Contact the CAEP offices.
