Teacher Education Program Assessment & Accreditation

Accreditation Standards

What IS CAEP?: CAEP (Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation) is the national accrediting organization for teacher education programs. CAEP accreditation indicates that a program meets rigorous quality standards and engages in continuous improvement. NSU's Teacher Education Program regularly collects and analyzes data on candidate performance, program quality, and graduate outcomes as part of maintaining CAEP accreditation.
What is InTASC: InTASC is a set of national teaching standards that describe what effective teachers should know and be able to do. The Teacher Education Program uses these standards to organize coursework, field experiences, student teaching, and many program assessments. Understanding the InTASC standards helps you see how different courses and experiences connect to the skills expected of professional educators.

What is CPAST?: Candidate Pre-Service Assessment of Student Teaching is the primary evaluation for field experiences. The CPAST is used, in part, beginning with the PSTE1 through the STE. The CPAST rubric can be found in Exxat under resources.
What is the CLPR?: The Common Lesson Planning Rubric is an assessment used in most methods courses and field experiences to evaluate lesson plans candidates create. The CLPR can be found in Exxat under resources.
What is the TWS?: The Teacher Work Sample is an assessment, based on the Common Lesson Planning Rubric, used to evlaute multiple lesson plans created by candidates in the PSTE 2 and STE.
What are SPAs?: Specialized Program Area evaluations used during the STE to assess candidate performance relative to content specific standards. Many, but not all, content areas have SPA evaluations. Rubrics can be found in Exxat under resources.