By STEFANIE HILL

Staff Writer

The College of Education has received a passing grade according to an accreditation review board.

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) came Jan. 31 through Feb. 4 to review the College of Education and make sure they were meeting all national and state standards.

Even though the college is already accredited, every five to seven years the NCATE board comes in to make sure the college is keeping up with the program.

Dr. Jo Ann Dauzat, dean of the College of Education and a professor of curriculum, instruction and leadership, said the NCATE's recommendations were that the college met each and every state and national educational standard.

"They were met with no area of improvements and without weakness," Dauzat said. "That is the best of all possible outcomes. That's as good as it gets."

Standards the NCATE were looking at were teacher candidate's (students preparing for a teaching career) knowledge and skills and dispositions necessary to help students learn. Also they look at faculty qualifications, performance and development.

Dauzat said NCATE went to local schools to get interviews with the administrators of the schools to ask about alumni of Tech who had become teachers at the schools.

"They went to Homer Elementary, Ruston High and Elementary and others to ask them questions about the qualifications of the people that completed our programs," Dauzat said.

Dauzat said the NCATE looks for three pieces of evidence to substantiate the college is indeed meeting standards.

"They do observations of faculty and classroom observations, and they interview the faculty and students," Dauzat said. "They also look over our institutional report."

The institutional report is an overview of all the programs the College of Education implements to meet NCATE standards.

Dr. Lawrence Leonard, an associate professor of curriculum, instruction and leadership and NCATE coordinator, said the institutional report gives citations for documents to verify everything according to the report is true.

"The documents can be found in our accreditation room, and each one can be easily found," Leonard said.

Leonard said the conceptual framework the college follows to stay on top impressed the NCATE board.

"In fact, I think it is going to be used as a model for some states in developing their own conceptual framework," Leonard said.

Dr. Cathy Stockton, an associate dean of graduate studies and research and an associate professor of education, said it is rare for a university in Louisiana to receive such high marks.

Stockton said, "It is the best NCATE report to ever be received by a Louisiana university."