On Top of the News
CAEPed Crusader Ousted
5/29/15 | Inside Higher Ed

Behind the Headline
Strengthen State Oversight of Teacher Preparation
Fall 2013 | Education Next

The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), the body that accredits teacher preparation programs, announced last week that it would be dismissing its founding leader, Jim Cibulka.

As Doug Lederman of Inside Higher Ed notes, CAEP’s efforts to reform teacher education have been opposed by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (the group that represents ed schools) and teachers unions. Earlier this year, the AACTE passed a resolution criticizing CAEP’s standards, processes and governance structure. CAEP’s efforts to raise the academic bar for students admitted to teacher education programs have been particularly controversial.

According to Doug Lederman

The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation has weathered more than its fair share of turbulence in its few years in existence, perhaps the inevitable result of its origins (a merger between two unequal and competing accreditors) and its mission (tougher standards in a field long criticized for settling for lesser ones). That the organization has accomplished what it has, let alone survived at all, is arguably a victory.

Lederman’s article describes CAEP’s history and its recent efforts to reform teacher education.

Jim Cibulka’s article, “Strengthen State Oversight of Teacher Preparation,” was part of a forum on teacher preparation and licensure in the Fall 2013 issue of Education Next.

—Education Next