Abstract:

What comes to mind when you hear the word accreditation? For some individuals, it brings up the feelings of fear and anxiety. For other individuals, accreditation triggers feeling overwhelmed as the individual recalls countless hours spent at the computer writing, rewriting, and writing again a number of lengthy descriptive responses to demonstrate adherence to a list of standards. Whatever the reaction, accreditation requirements have historically had one fact in common, and that is the goal of compliance.

While co-authoring our National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education report in 2010, I noticed that a paradigm shift had begun in the world of education and accreditation. Instead of demonstrating compliance, this national accreditor asked us to begin contemplating continuous improvement. This new mindset was not limited to the national level. Our state approval agency, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, formed a task force the following year to examine how Wisconsin might establish a Continuous Review Process of higher education institutions approved for teacher education programs. I was one of eighteen representatives on the task force. Also, I have been a member of the American Society for Quality since 2007. The American Society for Quality has its roots in quality improvement. As a member of a committee dedicated to bringing quality improvement and recognition to educators, I saw first-hand the resistance of members within the higher education institution to fully embrace the quality philosophy. “Nevertheless, efforts have been made to define and improve quality in higher education,” (Maguad, 2011, p. 768). Every year, the National Quality Education Conference brings the concepts of continuous improvement and quality alive for educators at all grade levels and has even attracted educators from around the globe to the United States. “Five teams from K–12 and higher education institutions are recipients of this year’s [2013] Education Team Excellence Recognition Awards,” (PRWEB, November 26, 2013). Award winning teams came to the conference held in Milwaukee from California, Illinois (two), Wisconsin, and Argentina. As a methods instructor for secondary education pre-service teachers, I introduced them to the concept of plan-do-study-act in teaching. “The PDSA is used to improve processes and, therefore, outcomes, and is continuous,” (Larsen, 2011, p. 28). In 2005, Byrnes and Baxter, two educators developed a teacher resource dedicated to bringing quality tools into the PK-12 classroom. This new focus requires a new mindset and a new way of using technology. We need technological systems to gather, archive, and report data so that we are able to make data-driven decisions toward continuous improvement.

Moving from compliance to continuous improvement has been a challenging and rewarding experience. We remain in the early stages of the transition, but it would be worthwhile to formally examine the effects of this accreditation change.

Keywords:

Accreditation, Higher Education, School of Education, NCATE, CAEP, Program Improvement, Continuous Improvement, PDSA, Action Research, Standards, Quality.