UM-Flint Education Unit Earns National Accreditation
Accreditation has been granted to the Professional Education Unit of the School of Education and Human Services at the University of Michigan-Flint.
Through an extensive review of the unit by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the accreditation was approved by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). The U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Accreditation recognize NCATE as a professional accrediting body for teacher preparation.
"This is an important milestone in the continuing growth and success of the Education Unit at the University of Michigan-Flint," said Sapna V. Thwaite, Ph.D., director of NCATE accreditation and associate professor. "We are proud to have met the rigorous standards of national accreditation, and look forward to many more years of educating thoughtful and committed education professionals."
The process for NCATE accreditation includes a review of all programs in the educator preparation provider (EPP). The EPP is for the initial and advanced preparation of teachers and other professional education personnel to work in preschool through 12th-grade settings.
"Achieving national accreditation is an historic moment for UM-Flint's educator preparation programs for two reasons: it signals that we have built initial and advanced educator preparation programs of the highest quality, and it represents a level of collaboration between two academic units (the College of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Education and Human Services) the likes of which our campus has never seen before," noted SEHS Interim Dean Robert Barnett.
According to NCATE, in many EPPs, some programs are offered primarily in units other than education (for example, in the College of Arts and Sciences). NCATE expects the education unit to coordinate these professional education programs and holds the unit accountable for the quality of these programs, as well as those offered within the unit itself.
UM-Flint List of Initial Accreditation Programs:
Elementary Education Programs
- – Elementary Education
- – Early Childhood Education
Secondary Education Programs
- – English
- – French
- – History
- – Mathematics
- – Music Education
- – Secondary Masters of Arts with Certification
- – Social Studies
- – Spanish
- – Speech
- – Visual Arts
UM-Flint List of Advanced Accreditation Programs
Masters of Arts in Education Programs
- – Early Childhood Education (with and without ZS)
- – Education Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership
- – Literacy K-12
- – Master of Public Administration with Educational Administration Concentration
- – Special Education
- – Technology in Education-on campus and global (with and without NP endorsement)
- – Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership
"I am so proud of the collaborative efforts of our faculty, staff, students, and P-12 partners, efforts that have continued to blossom in ways that will impact the quality of education our teacher candidates receive at UM-Flint and that they take with them into their own careers," said Barnett. "This process encouraged us to engage in a great deal of self-reflection on the strengths and challenges of our programs and our identity, and it inspired us to become a model of excellence in training educators for the demands of a 21st century P-12 world."
The accreditation process was a lengthy one, starting in fall 2008 and ending four and a half years later in April of 2013. The next onsite visit from NCATE will take place during winter 2020.
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