The Rider University School of Education continued its mark of distinction with the full reaccreditation of its undergraduate and graduate education programs. Such national recognition came last month from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).

Established in 1954 as the professional accrediting agency for teacher preparation, NCATE's mission is to help ensure quality performance and the effectiveness of today's teachers. With teacher preparation increasingly in the local and national spotlight, NCATE has moved toward a performance-based system of accreditation. Rider is now one of five of the 25 colleges and universities in New Jersey that are NCATE approved at this time and the only independent institution to do so.

Rider's undergraduate education department prepares students for careers in elementary and secondary education. Elementary education majors can select to minor in early childhood education, special education, or middle school education. On the secondary level, students can choose to specialize in business/marketing education, English, a foreign language (French, German, or Spanish), mathematics, science, and social studies. Additional certification is also available in bilingual education, teaching English as a second language, and psychology.

On the graduate level, teacher candidates prepare for master's degrees in counseling services; curriculum, instruction and supervision; educational administration; reading/language arts; and human services administration. In addition, the department provides opportunity for study leading to certifications in school counseling, an educational specialist degree in psychology, and graduate level teacher certification.

Dr. Carol Brown, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Education and Sciences, coordinated Rider's NCATE reaccreditation effort. "I want to thank Dr. Brown and the entire faculty in the School of Education for their extraordinary hard work and support," said Dr. Phyllis Frakt, vice president for academic affairs and provost. "Without their tireless and dedicated work to enhance our programs and keep them current, we could not have achieved such success."

According to Dr. Brown, it was a strong team effort.

"This external recognition of our programs demonstrates Rider's continued commitment to producing top-notch teachers," said Dr. Brown. "I am very grateful for the high level of cooperation I received from our colleagues in the liberal arts and sciences as well as in offices all across the campus that helped us prepare for this review. All the faculty and staff in the School of Education worked very hard to make this happen."

Faculty within the School of Education submitted program report folios indicating the content, professional and pedagogical knowledge, skills and dispositions demonstrated by Rider's teacher candidates. According to Brown, emphasis is now being placed on measuring how teachers present a subject, how well it is taught, and how well it is actually understood by their students.

Performance outcome assessment is now one of NCATE's major thrusts. NCATE's standards focus on five major areas: the overall design and mission of professional education; the quality of teacher candidates; the quality of their faculty; diversity in the curriculum, students, faculty and clinical settings, and the resources, governance and accountability of the school responsible for the preparation of its teachers.

"The public demands that teachers not only know their discipline, but also know how to effectively impart their knowledge base to their students. It is crucial that teachers have the necessary knowledge and skills to be successful in the classroom and Rider has already demonstrated this. We look at what teacher candidates know, how they create settings conducive for learning, and how well their students learn.

"For any aspiring teacher coming to Rider, NCATE's seal of approval of our institution is strong evidence that Rider offers professional teaching certification second to none," said Brown. "Our graduates can work anywhere in the country as well-prepared, successful teachers."

Based in Washington, DC, NCATE is endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education and the Commission on Recognition of Postsecondary Accreditation.