The Towson University Professional Education Unit is pleased to announce the continuation of its full accreditation status, certified by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) as of April 2008. The Unit was granted accreditation having met all of the rigorous, performance-based accreditation standards at the initial, continuing, and advanced preparation levels. At the exit conference of the on-site visit, the visiting NCATE/MSDE team, led by Dr. Arlinda Eaton, Associate Dean, California State University, Northridge, and Dr. Margaret Trader, Chair of the Education Department and NCATE Coordinator, McDaniel College (Maryland) commended the institution for the professional levels of excellence that characterize its comprehensive preparation programming
NCATE President Arthur Wise, in his formal letter of notification to Towson University President Robert Caret and College of Education Dean Raymond Lorion, congratulated the Unit "for displaying the high quality necessary to be granted national accreditation." He also expressed appreciation for the cooperation received from the faculty, staff and administration.
In response to the letter Dr. Lorion stated, "National accreditation, the profession's most rigorous mechanism to establishing high quality programs, is critical and well-deserved recognition of the excellence of our professional education unit, and reflects university-wide responsibility for professional education. Through the collaborative efforts of our faculty, staff, students, and P-12 colleagues, the Unit provided compelling evidence of candidates’ performance-based knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Professional accreditation ensures that we will maintain high standards of quality as Maryland’s premier professional education institution and continue to prepare the best possible candidates to educate our children.”
For more information on the accreditation, contact Dr. Tom Proffitt, Associate Dean, (tproffitt@towson.edu) or Dr. Karen Blair, Assistant Dean, College of Education (kblair@towson.edu).