On America's Accreditation System Of Teacher Education Institutions

Accreditation system of teacher education institutions is an important ensuring mechanism for teachers' professionalization. A better accreditation system can to some extent help ensure the quality of pre-service teacher education and lay a sound foundation for the future enter-service and in-service professional development. The America's accreditation system of teacher education institutions refers to an assessment system that, with the institutions' application, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) makes regular evaluation of the teacher education institutions according to the accreditation standards formulated by NCATE, which abbreviates NCATE accreditation. It has been exerting great influence on the development of teacher education in America. And the effects are coming as: convenient for students' mobility among schools and the teachers' transference to other states; encouraging competition among teacher education institutions and academic mobility; leading to the regular internal assessment in teacher education institutions and promoting the professional level of pre-service education; and helping establish a quality assurance system for teacher education.Firstly, the research makes an analysis of the accreditation system; introduces the member organizations of NCATE; and expounds the internal management, functions and tasks of NCATE, the scope of NCATE accreditation as well as the relationship between NCATE accreditation and the state accreditation. Secondly, it analyzes the accreditation standards formulated by NCATE, and presents the specific contents and characteristics of 6 unit standards. Thirdly, it discusses the basic procedure of the...