Washington, D.C. – Earlier this month, the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) announced that Austin Peay State University (APSU) is one of 32 providers from 16 states, Puerto Rico and Jordan to receive recognition for its leadership and commitment to continuous improvement.
The recipients of the 2022 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement provided evidence and data trends to achieve accreditation with no stipulations or areas for improvement.
“This recognition is the culmination of a lot of work from a lot of people — our staff, faculty, our district partners, and academic units across the university,” Dr. Prentice Chandler, dean of the APSU Eriksson College of Education, said. “This was truly a team effort, and this is a team win.”
“This accolade shows that we are among the top educator preparation providers in the nation. Not only have we earned CAEP Accreditation, the gold standard for educator preparation, this recognition provides validation that our students and their families are investing in an education program that is second to none. Excellence in teacher education lives at Austin Peay State University,” stated Chandler.
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.
“Frank Murray was passionate about education preparation, a prominent leader in our profession, and an advocate for evidence to improve education. The providers that CAEP is recognizing are committed to continuous improvement and preparing their students to succeed in a diverse range of classrooms after they graduate,” said Yuhang Rong Chair of the CAEP Board of Directors. “CAEP Accreditation is a sign of commitment to quality through purposeful use of evidence. The Murray Leadership Recognition recipients should be proud of their accomplishments.”
Recipients of the 2022 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.
CAEP accreditation serves the dual purposes of accountability and continuous improvement. 471 educator preparation providers in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, 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.
Frank Murray Recognition for Continuous Improvement:
Appalachian State University—North Carolina
Austin Peay University—Tennessee
Averett University—Virginia
Brigham Young University—Utah
California University of Pennsylvania
Clemson University—South Carolina
Delta State University—Mississippi
East Tennessee State University
Eastern Connecticut State University
Emory and Henry College—Virginia
Furman University—South Carolina
Georgian Court University—New Jersey
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Lehman College-CUNY—New York
Mary Baldwin University—Virginia
Middle Tennessee State University
Milligan University—Tennessee
Montclair State University—New Jersey
Oral Roberts University—Oklahoma
Queen Rania Teacher Academy—Jordan
Rutgers University—New Jersey
Southern Connecticut State University
Taylor University—Indiana
The Citadel-The Military College of South Carolina
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
University of Kansas
University of North Georgia
University of Pikeville—Kentucky
University of Puerto Rico at Bayamon
Virginia Commonwealth University
Webster University—Missouri
Western Carolina University—North Carolina
