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Dean Borasi Reports on NCATE Process
 Dear
Faculty, Staff, Students, and Collaborators,
I am delighted to report that the National Council for
Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) visiting
team, in their "exit interview," reported
to us that in their evaluation we have met all standards
for national accreditation, for both our initial and
advanced teacher, school counselor, and school administration
programs (with only one small area "needing improvement").
While the final decision about accreditation will not
be made until the NCATE Board meets in October, it looks
like we've done it!
The NCATE visit was the culmination of a process that
took an extraordinary amount of time on the part of
many over the last two years. I know that each and every
faculty and staff member was called into service in
the name of NCATE at some point, and I greatly appreciate
the professional and collaborative way that we accomplished
this work.
While our move to get accredited by a national professional
organization was prompted by state certification requirements,
I believe that we truly used the process to make significant
and lasting improvements in our programs that prepare
educators for PreK-12 schools and the way we assess
our students. As a result of all this hard work, the
Warner School is now a stronger institution that is
positioned to provide the best possible preparation
for
PreK-12 educators.
I want to thank everyone involved in the NCATE process,
including the faculty who wrote program reports; the
faculty and staff who created and/or collected documents
for the Exhibit Room; the many people who read and helped
to improve the Institutional Report; and the faculty,
staff, students, and community members who helped to
make the site visit an unqualified success. We accomplished
something really quite impressive, and I am personally
and professionally appreciative of the efforts of everyone.
In particular, I would like to publicly thank Sonia
James-Wilson, our official "NCATE Coordinator,"
for her thoughtful work on assessment, for serving as
our capable liaison with the Eastman School, and for
her leadership and support through the entire process.
Shaza Kahn, her graduate assistant, greatly contributed
to the creation of our Exhibit Room. The chairs _ Joanne
Larson, Howie Kirschenbaum, and Tyll van Geel _ worked
tireless hours on programmatic and institutional issues,
with Howie taking on the challenging task of organizing
the entire site visit. Richard Grunow, the chair of
the Music Education department at the Eastman School
was our liaison with Eastman during the entire process
and responsible for collecting the necessary documents
about the Eastman School. And Chris Ghinazzi provided
capable support and organization throughout the process,
helping to keep the project and visit on track.
Again, many thanks! And congratulations to both the
Warner School and the Eastman School on a job well done.
Raffaella
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