Representatives of the agencies responsible for accrediting Gordon College's Early Childhood Education program are visiting the campus next week.
The Georgia Professional Standards Commission, PSC, and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, NCATE, are the professional accrediting organizations for schools, colleges, and teacher preparation programs in Georgia. NCATE is the accrediting body for programs across the United States. It is a coalition of more than 30 organizations representing teachers, teacher education, policymakers and the public. NCATE currently accredits 632 colleges of education with 78 more seeking NCATE accreditation.
"This is an important visit in our process of becoming an accredited program that produces high-quality educators," said Jerry Stinchcomb, interim chair of the division of education at Gordon College. "NCATE accreditation means that we have met national professional standards."
The five-day visit will involve meetings with teacher-candidates as well as administrators, instructors and representatives of the Teacher Education Council, a group of local educators assisting in the development of the Gordon program.
Review team members include representatives from Albany State College, Augusta State University, Columbus State University, Florida State University and Georgia Southern University.
There are currently 30 teacher-candidates in the first class that will graduate in spring 2009 with degrees in Early Childhood Education, Gordon's first baccalaureate degree. The second class of juniors will begin this fall.
The accreditation process usually takes two years, according to Stinchcomb, but everyone is working double time to make sure the program is accredited prior to the graduation of the first class.
While the results of the visit will be released to Stinchcomb on the last day of the review, a final report on the findings of the review team will be released within 45 days of the visit.