Accreditation for Ball State University's Teachers College has been under fire in the past few years, though not many people know it.
The institution could even lose its accreditation from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education in March if it does not meet certain standards.
Dean of Teachers College Roy Weaver traveled to Washington D.C. this weekend to appeal a recommendation made by the unit accreditation board to revoke Teachers College's advanced preparation level accreditation.
There are two levels for which an institution can receive accreditation: initial, or undergraduate; and advanced, or graduate and beyond.
Ball State's initial preparation level received accreditation in Spring 2003; however, the advanced preparation level fell short in two of the six standards NCATE uses to evaluate programs. The advanced program was then said to have "accreditation with conditions," meaning that NCATE would follow up with the institution in two years to see if it had improved on the standards in which it had faltered.
NCATE uses a set of six standards when it reviews education programs at colleges. Ball State was found to be failing in standards one and two, Weaver said.
Standard one focuses on measuring the students' knowledge, skills and dispositions. Standard two focuses on the assessment system and unit evaluation used to collect the information for standard one.
Judy Miller director of the office for teacher education services, said the failure in these two standards did not reflect on the quality of education students were receiving.
"They don't criticize the faculty, the programs, the students or the institution," Miller said. "As a matter of fact, what's reassuring from what they said is that ... they praise the quality of the students."
It is not enough, however, for the institution to simply know it is doing a good job, she said.
"You have to have the data, evidence and proof," Miller said. "That's what this whole thing is about. They believe we are doing a good job, but you have to have the data to prove it."
During the two years the college was given to fix standards one and two, Miller said Teachers College worked on a system called "R-grade," which would meet the recommendations of NCATE for collecting and using the data it needed.
However, when the unit accreditation team visited Ball State in Spring 2005, it felt the college had improved a great deal in standard two but not enough in standard one.
The university decided to appeal the recommendation by the team to revoke its accreditation.
"The basis for the appeal was a difference in the interpretation of the standards," Miller said.
The university disagreed with the board on points such as how much data was considered sufficient and how the institution used the data it collected, she said.
"We know we have data and information and that sort of thing," Miller said. "The question is whether or not the data we had is sufficient to answer their questions."
Weaver said the review committee granted the institution's appeal at the hearing.
The next step will be for an NCATE audit committee to review the college's status in March and reconsider the institution's accreditation, Weaver said.
"We won't know anything more about the status until then," he said. "I'm optimistic that we'll receive full accreditation, but you know, until an actual decision comes from the unit assessment board, one cannot be 100 percent sure."
Miller said Teachers College is still considered an accredited institution until a final decision is made.
"It's black and white," Miller said. "You either get it or you don't. You're either fully accredited or you're not."
Miller said national accreditation is a way of getting the recognition for the quality of the program.
"It's an outside validation of what you're doing," she said. "You would still have state accreditation, and the programs could still run, and we could still license people."
Some institutions don't even seek national accreditation, Miller said. As long as an institution is accredited by the state, it's not a necessity. There are 16 institutions in Indiana that are accreditated for both initial and advanced preparation levels.
"National recognition is an important thing," Miller said, "but in this case, it doesn't reflect on the quality of the preparation that the students are getting because the issues that they are raising aren't related to that."
TIMELINE:Spring 2003 - All of the initial teacher preparation programs met the standards and received accreditation. The advanced level preparation didn't meet standards one and two, however, so they received accreditation with conditions.
Spring 2005 - The accreditation team came back two years later to check on the progress of the institution and said it had made great progress in standard two but still had issues with standard one.
January 2006 - Teachers College Dean Roy Weaver went to Washington D.C. for a hearing to appeal the unit accreditation board's recommendation that Teachers College should lose its advanced level accreditation. The appeal was granted.
March 2006 - The NCATE audit committee will review the decision for accreditation of the institution.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
