The Lynch School of Education and Human Development is one of only 13 U.S. higher education institutions to be honored for its teacher education program with the Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement by the Council for the Accreditation of Education Preparation for certification without stipulations or areas for improvement.
The Murray Leadership Recognition is named for the founding president—an advocate for a single set of teacher preparation standards—of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council, which merged with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education to form CAEP in 2013. CAEP is the nation’s sole accreditor for P-12 educator training.
The Lynch School and other honorees, selected from the pool of education preparation providers that earned CAEP accreditation last year, provided evidence and data trends that assure quality and support continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 learning while advancing equity and excellence in educator preparation. The accreditation process evaluates the performance of providers and focuses particularly on whether candidates will be prepared for the challenging responsibilities that educators face in America’s classrooms, according to CAEP.
Susan Bruce
“Department faculty are highly collaborative and engage in continuous improvement of our teacher education program,” said Susan Bruce, professor and chair of the Lynch School’s Teacher Education, Special Education, and Curriculum and Instruction Department. “Behind this effort is a commitment to prepare teachers who will challenge inequities and collaborate with others to improve the lives of all children.”
“CAEP accreditation is a sign of commitment to quality through purposeful use of evidence,” said Karen Symms Gallagher, chair of CAEP’s board of directors. “The providers recognized by CAEP are committed to preparing their students to succeed in a diverse range of classrooms after they graduate.”
The other Murray Leadership Recognition winners were Duke, Emporia State, George Mason, James Madison, John Carroll, Minnesota State, Northeastern State, Nova Southeastern, Northern Kentucky, Southern Nazarene, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Universidad De Puerto Rico.
—Phil Gloudemans | University Communications | November 2019