The UNC School of Education was one of nine educator preparation programs from across the U.S. to receive the 2024 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). The School received the recognition in 2019 – the first time it was awarded – and is the first program to earn the recognition for a second time.
The recognition was presented during the fall 2024 CAEPCon in Arlington, Va., on Monday, Sept. 9, to programs that provided evidence and data trends to achieve accreditation with no stipulations or areas for improvement.
The School earned reaccreditation in spring 2024 after an extensive self-study by the School and its educator preparation programs and an accreditation team site visit in December 2023. This most recent re-accreditation marked the School’s third consecutive accreditation with no stipulations or areas for improvement. The School’s programs are accredited for the next seven years.
“This is an incredible recognition and a fitting one that reflects the ongoing work and dedication of our faculty and staff members to ensure our programs are of the highest quality,” said Jill Hamm, Ph.D., interim dean of the School of Education and William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education. “Our work to assess and refine our educator preparation programs means our graduates enter schools with evidence-based practices that help their PK-12 students succeed inside and outside of the classroom.”
The Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement is named after the founding President of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC). CAEP was created by the consolidation of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and TEAC. Murray was the founding President of TEAC, served as Chairman of the Board for TEAC and was also an initial member of the CAEP Board of Directors. He was a key advocate for a single set of educator preparation standards to unify the profession and was instrumental in the merger that created CAEP. He also served as the Dean of the College of Education at the University of Delaware from 1979 to 1995.
“These providers are committed to preparing their candidates to make a positive difference in the lives of all K-12 students as soon as they enter the classroom. The CAEP Standards are the gold standard for teacher preparation and the schools that receive CAEP Accreditation are demonstrating to their local communities that they will go the extra mile to better serve all PK-12 learners through more rigorous preparation of educators,” said Yuhang Rong, Ph.D., chair of the CAEP Board of Directors. “The Murray Leadership Recognition highlights the commitment to continuous improvement these providers have made. CAEP Accreditation is a sign of commitment to quality through purposeful use of evidence.”
According to CAEP, recipients of the 2024 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement are selected from the educator preparation providers (EPPs) that were granted accreditation by CAEP at the initial level from the previous year, who provided a full complement of evidence with demonstrated data trends and no stipulations or areas for improvement. Providers selected for recognition advance equity and excellence in educator preparation through the purposeful use of self-study procedures and evidence-based reporting that assure quality and support continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 learning. These EPPs use inquiry and assessments to establish quality assurance systems to drive improvement.
“Being the first program to receive this recognition for the second time is an incredible honor and testament to the work of the UNC School of Education,” said Diana Lys, assistant dean of educator preparation and accreditation, who leads the School’s accreditation efforts and accepted the Murray Recognition at the CAEP gathering on Sept. 9. “As someone who is deeply engaged with accreditation, which is a rigorous, peer-reviewed process, this award speaks highly to our work and affirms that we prepare excellent educators.”
CAEP accreditation serves the dual purposes of accountability and continuous improvement. 559 educator preparation providers in forty-four states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Bahrain, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates have been accredited under the CAEP Standards. The CAEP accreditation process evaluates the performance of providers and focuses particularly on whether candidates will be prepared, by completion, for the challenging responsibilities that educators face in America’s classrooms. Approximately, 600 educator preparation providers participate in the CAEP Accreditation system, including many previously accredited through former standards.
About the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation
The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation advances excellence in educator preparation through evidence-based accreditation that assures quality and supports continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 student learning. Learn more at CAEPnet.org.