A note from Mark LaCelle-Peterson, President and CEO
CHEA is a nonprofit, nongovernmental institutional membership organization that recognizes accrediting organizations—serving as the “accreditor of the accreditors.” Recognition affirms that AAQEP’s standards and processes promote academic quality, advance candidate achievement, demonstrate accountability and transparency, respect providers’ missions, and support innovation. And we’re good with that!
Does this recognition make a difference? It does, in at least three ways.
- First, AAQEP grows stronger by participating in the CHEA system, just as your programs benefit from the process of self-study and peer review. Engaging in quality assurance is good for all of us!
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Second, the recognition represents a respected external validation of AAQEP’s system. It constitutes the higher education community’s affirmation that AAQEP meets shared expectations for evidence-based quality assurance.
- That in turn leads to a third impact: growth. States where policy made CHEA recognition a prerequisite to working with an accreditor are now free to begin conversations with us (some of which are already well underway!), and we welcome the opportunity to be able to work with providers in those states.
Of course, many states and over 150 educator preparation providers didn’t wait until AAQEP had CHEA recognition to engage with us—and we are grateful for your trust!
What’s more, we couldn’t have achieved recognition without the strong track record our early adopters helped create, as the CHEA system requires accreditors to be in operation and to show that their work meets all standards. This achievement is also made possible by the working group members who designed the system, the peer reviewers who put it into action, and my incredibly dedicated and talented staff colleagues who make AAQEP such a responsive and supportive association.
This recognition is for all of us—so congratulations to everyone!
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Congratulations on Your Accreditation |
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Please join us in celebrating the following providers’ recent AAQEP accreditation:
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Bank Street College of Education (NY)
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Houghton College (NY)
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Leeward Community College (HI)
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Teachers College Columbia University (NY)
These institutions join 27 other providers that have now achieved AAQEP accreditation. And another 15 reviews at 12 institutions are being completed this spring/summer!
For a chronological list of actions by the Accreditation Commission, see this online record.
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AAQEP membership now encompasses 154 educator preparation providers in 27 states and territories. Please give a warm welcome to our newest members joining this spring:
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Avila University (MO)
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Bard College (NY)
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CalStateTEACH (CA)
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Dallas Baptist University (TX)
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Felician University (NJ)
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Nebraska Wesleyan University (NE)
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North Carolina Wesleyan College (NC)
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SUNY Fredonia (NY)
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Penn State Harrisburg (PA)
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University of Colorado Denver “ASPIRE to Teach” (CO)
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University of Nevada, Reno (NV)
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Wake Forest University (NC)
In addition, two affiliate members have “upgraded” to regular membership and will soon be joining cohorts: City College of New York, CUNY and The College of New Jersey.
You can find a searchable directory of all members here. Welcome, all!
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AAQEP Cohorts: Updates for 2021-2022 |
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CALENDAR NOTE
Monthly cohort meetings will be on hiatus in July and August, but we'll see you at your regularly scheduled time in June!
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A note from Karen Lowenstein, Director of Member Services
As you know, AAQEP is committed to giving every member an opportunity to join a cohort, and I repeatedly hear members express gratitude for their cohort colleagues and their monthly conversations. To make sure this experience continues to be available for our growing membership numbers, it's time to add a couple of new cohorts and make some adjustments in the monthly meeting calendar for 2021-22.
Common Meeting Week
Starting in September, all cohorts will meet during the second week of each month instead of being staggered across multiple weeks. Member webinars and workshops will not be scheduled during this week in order to avoid conflict with cohort meetings, which will give members more equitable access to AAQEP opportunities. Creating a “cohort week” may also enable more cross-cohort sharing and allow staff liaisons common time to reflect and plan together between meetings.
New Writing Cohorts
Rather than creating new cohorts to be populated gradually as new members join, we will continue to place newcomers into existing cohorts based on their chosen characteristics. But we'll free up space for them by offering two new cohorts to members whose accreditation timeline has them immersed in writing their Quality Assurance Reports.
All members planning to host accreditation site visits in either fall 2022 or spring 2023 have been invited to either join one of these writing groups or remain in their current cohort. Each writing cohort will have the usual monthly meeting with an AAQEP liaison, but the conversation will be structured for peers to collaborate in small teams, share their self-study work, and offer feedback to each other. (As a reminder, if you are among the invitees, please respond by June 15 to help staff complete planning.)
Thanks to those who have contributed suggestions and expertise to create this new model! Please continue to give feedback to your liaisons or contact me at k.lowenstein@aaqep.org with ideas for future cohort collaboration.
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2022 Symposium to Be Virtual
Proposals Due August 2
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For 2022, we’re building on our successful model from 2021! To assure a high-quality experience and maximize safe access amidst the uncertainties of the pandemic and budget restrictions, the 2022 symposium will again be completely virtual and spread across 3 days.
Thanks to your ideas and feedback, we’re refining our content planning, production schedule, and engagement opportunities for the best symposium yet. We’ll continue to provide strong technology and presenter support, integrate more networking and social opportunities, and spotlight practical strategies for accreditation work that appeal to a variety of perspectives and experience levels.
To view the complete call for proposals, download the PDF, or click straight through to the submission form below. Proposals are due by August 2.
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Last Call for Volunteers:
AAQEP Events Committee
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If you’re interested in helping to plan future events and peer-reviewing session proposals for the Quality Assurance Symposium, the AAQEP Events Committee wants you!
Committee terms last 3 years and include free registration for the symposium as well as free AAQEP individual membership (if you’re not already affiliated with a member institution/organization).
Please see our call for volunteers for details and apply by June 1 for one of the four open seats.
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A note from Sara Hiller, Director of Accreditation Services
To facilitate advance planning while protecting individuals’ safety and ability to participate, AAQEP will continue to conduct site visits fully online through at least January 2022. If you're planning to host a site visit after then, please plan on it being on site. (Should things change, it's easier to shift plans from on site to virtual than in the other direction. Stay tuned to our COVID-19 info page for the latest updates.)
Here’s a quick overview of what's happening in the most active AAQEP accreditation cycles:
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For spring 2021, site visits are almost complete. Thank you to our reviewers who make this all possible. Our accreditation decision meetings are under way and will continue through the summer.
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For fall 2021 reviews, the logistics calls are complete and I will be contacting reviewers for their Quality Review Teams next. Friendly reminder: your Quality Assurance Reports and local practitioner selection are due 6 months before your scheduled visit date.
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For spring 2022 reviews, I have emailed all host providers to start the process to choose your site visit dates. If you are hosting a spring visit and have not filled out the site visit dates form already, please do so as soon as possible.
If your review is on a later cycle, you might be thinking about writing an Accreditation Proposal. If so, keep in mind that while proposals can be submitted at any time, we match them with peer reviewers on a quarterly basis; the next match date is August 1. We also offer a free webinar each quarter to help you prepare a proposal, and the next one on our calendar is June 21. In addition, you can find guidelines for writing a proposal and other related resources on this members-only web page (you'll need to log in to access it).
See the event calendar below for quick links to register for coming events. For an overview of the AAQEP accreditation timeline and other member resources, please visit our Member Resources web page. If you have any questions about the next step in your accreditation review, contact me at s.hiller@aaqep.org.
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Claim Your Member Benefits! |
- Access restricted pages such as Site Visit Essentials
- Download report templates and samples
- Use your member portal to pay invoices and manage profile settings
- Register for members-only or member-discounted events
As a member, you also have access to two curated "playlists" of archived videos on YouTube:
You can bookmark these links right now for future reference, or find them anytime on the Access Member Events page (login required).
For questions or assistance with any online resources, contact Kristin McCabe at k.mccabe@aaqep.org. |
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Questions? Suggestions? Please reach out at any time to your AAQEP liaison or simply email aaqep@aaqep.org.
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AAQEP — Always improving together |
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