For a better experience, click the Compatibility Mode icon above to turn off Compatibility Mode, which is only for viewing older websites.

CAEP Accreditation

Drexel University School of Education

CAEP Logo

The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) granted accreditation to Drexel University School of Education educator preparation programs at the initial and advanced levels. 

CAEP is the only national accreditor for educator preparation that has been recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation since its inception.

  • Vision: Excellence in educator preparation accreditation.
  • Mission: CAEP advances equity and excellence in educator preparation through evidence-based accreditation that assures quality and supports continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 student learning.

CAEP Initial Level Standards 

Initial certification/licensure areas consist of Elementary Education (grades PK-4; PK-4 and Special Education); Elementary Education-Middle Level 4-8 (with Math and English; Math and Science; Science and English certification options); Secondary Education (Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Space Science, English, General Science, Mathematics, Physics and Social Studies); and Special Education PK-12. All initial areas are offered as both undergraduate and post-baccalaureate programs of study.

Standard 1: Content and Pedagogical Knowledge

The provider ensures that candidates develop an understanding of the critical concepts and principles of their discipline and facilitates candidates’ reflection of their personal biases to increase their understanding and practice of equity, diversity, and inclusion. The provider is intentional in the development of their curriculum and clinical experiences for candidates to demonstrate their ability to effectively work with diverse P-12 students and their families.

R1.1 The Learner and Learning: The provider ensures candidates are able to apply their knowledge of the learner and learning at the appropriate progression levels. Evidence provided should demonstrate that candidates are able to apply critical concepts and principles of learner development (InTASC Standard 1), learning differences (InTASC Standard 2), and creating safe and supportive learning environments (InTASC Standard 3) in order to work effectively with diverse P-12 students and their families.

R1.2 Content: The provider ensures candidates are able to apply their knowledge of content at the appropriate progression levels. Evidence provided demonstrates candidates know central concepts of their content area (InTASC Standard 4) and are able to apply the content in developing equitable and inclusive learning experiences (InTASC Standard 5) for diverse P-12 students. Outcome data can be provided from a Specialized Professional Associations (SPA) process, a state review process, or an evidence review of Standard 1.

R1.3 Instructional Practice: The provider ensures that candidates are able to apply their knowledge of InTASC standards relating to instructional practice at the appropriate progression levels. Evidence demonstrates how candidates are able to assess (InTASC Standard 6), plan for instruction (InTASC Standard 7), and utilize a variety of instructional strategies (InTASC Standard 8) to provide equitable and inclusive learning experiences for diverse P-12 students. Providers ensure candidates model and apply national or state approved technology standards to engage and improve learning for all students.

R1.4 Professional Responsibility: The provider ensures candidates are able to apply their knowledge of professional responsibility at the appropriate progression levels. Evidence provided should demonstrate candidates engage in professional learning, act ethically (InTASC Standard 9), take responsibility for student learning, and collaborate with others (InTASC Standard 10) to work effectively with diverse P-12 students and their families.

Standard 2: Clinical Partnerships and Practice

The provider ensures effective partnerships and high-quality clinical practice are central to candidate preparation. These experiences should be designed to develop candidate’s knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions to demonstrate positive impact on diverse students’ learning and development. High quality clinical practice offers candidates experiences in different settings and modalities, as well as with diverse P-12 students, schools, families, and communities. Partners share responsibility to identify and address real problems of practice candidates experience in their engagement with P-12 students.

R2.1 Partnerships for Clinical Preparation: Partners co-construct mutually beneficial P-12 school and community arrangements for clinical preparation and share responsibility for continuous improvement of candidate preparation.

R2.2 Clinical Educators: Partners co-select, prepare, evaluate, and support high-quality clinical educators, both provider- and school-based, who demonstrate a positive impact on candidates’ development and diverse P-12 student learning and development.

R2.3 Clinical Experiences: The provider works with partners to design and implement clinical experiences, utilizing various modalities, of sufficient depth, breadth, diversity, coherence, and duration to ensure candidates demonstrate their developing effectiveness and positive impact on diverse P-12 students’ learning and development as presented in Standard R1.

Standard 3: Candidate Recruitment, Progression, and Support

The provider demonstrates the quality of candidates is a continuous and purposeful focus from recruitment through completion. The provider demonstrates that development of candidate quality is the goal of educator preparation and that the EPP provides supports services (such as advising, remediation, and mentoring) in all phases of the program so candidates will be successful.

R3.1 Recruitment: The provider presents goals and progress evidence for recruitment of high-quality candidates from a broad range of backgrounds and diverse populations that align with their mission. The provider demonstrates efforts to know and address local, state, regional, or national needs for hard-to-staff schools and shortage fields. The goals and evidence should address progress towards a candidate pool which reflects the diversity of America’s P-12 students.

R3.2 Monitoring and Supporting Candidate Progression: The provider creates and monitors transition points from admission through completion that indicate candidates’ developing content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical skills, critical dispositions, professional responsibilities, and the ability to integrate technology effectively in their practice. The provider identifies a transition point at any point in the program when a cohort grade point average of 3.0 is achieved and monitors this data. The provider ensures knowledge of and progression through transition points are transparent to candidates. The provider plans and documents the need for candidate support, as identified in disaggregated data by race and ethnicity and such other categories as may be relevant for the EPP’s mission, so candidates meet milestones. The provider has a system for effectively maintaining records of candidate complaints, including complaints made to CAEP, and documents the resolution.

R3.3 Competency at Completion: The provider ensures candidates possess academic competency to teach effectively with positive impacts on diverse P-12 student learning and development through application of content knowledge, foundational pedagogical skills, and technology integration in the field(s) where certification is sought. Multiple measures are provided and data are disaggregated and analyzed based on race, ethnicity, and such other categories as may be relevant for the EPP’s mission.

Standard 4: Program Impact

The provider demonstrates the effectiveness of its completers’ instruction on P-12 student learning and development, and completer and employer satisfaction with the relevance and effectiveness of preparation.

R4.1 Completer Effectiveness: The provider demonstrates that program completers:

  • effectively contribute to P-12 student-learning growth

AND

  • apply in P-12 classrooms the professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions that the preparation experiences were designed to achieve.In addition, the provider includes a rationale for the data elements provided.

R4.2 Satisfaction of Employers: The provider demonstrates employers are satisfied with the completers’ preparation for their assigned responsibilities in working with diverse P-12 students and their families.

R4.3 Satisfaction of Completers: The provider demonstrates program completers perceive their preparation as relevant to the responsibilities they encounter on the job, and their preparation was effective.

Standard 5: Quality Assurance System and Continuous Improvement

The provider maintains a quality assurance system that consists of valid data from multiple measures and supports continuous improvement that is sustained and evidence-based. The system is developed and maintained with input from internal and external stakeholders. The provider uses the results of inquiry and data collection to establish priorities, enhance program elements, and highlight innovations.

R5.1 Quality Assurance System: The provider has developed, implemented, and modified, as needed, a functioning quality assurance system that ensures a sustainable process to document operational effectiveness. The provider documents how data enter the system, how data are reported and used in decision making, and how the outcomes of those decisions inform programmatic improvement.

R5.2 Data Quality: The provider’s quality assurance system from R5.1 relies on relevant, verifiable, representative, cumulative, and actionable measures to ensure interpretations of data are valid and consistent.

R5.3 Stakeholder Involvement: The provider includes relevant internal (e.g., EPP administrators, faculty, staff, candidates) and external (e.g., alumni, practitioners, school and community partners, employers) stakeholders in program design, evaluation, and continuous improvement processes.

R5.4 Continuous Improvement: The provider regularly, systematically, and continuously assesses performance against its goals and relevant standards, tracks results over time, documents modifications and/or innovations and their effects on EPP outcomes.

Standard 6: Fiscal and Administrative Capacity

The EPP has the fiscal and administrative capacity, faculty, infrastructure (facilities, equipment, and supplies) and other resources as appropriate to the scale of its operations and as necessary for the preparation of candidates to meet professional, state, and institutional standards. For EPPs whose institution is accredited by an accreditor recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education (e.g., SACSCOC, HLC), such accreditation will be considered sufficient evidence of compliance with Standard6. If an EPP’s institution is not accredited by an accreditor recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education, the EPP must address each component of ST 6 in narrative supported by evidence.

R6.1 Fiscal Resources: The EPP has the fiscal capacity as appropriate to the scale of its operations. The budget for curriculum, instruction, faculty, clinical work, scholarship, etc., supports high-quality work within the EPP and its school partners for the preparation of professional educators.

R6.2 Administrative Capacity: The EPP has administrative capacity as appropriate to the scale of its operations, including leadership and authority to plan, deliver, and operate coherent programs of study so that their candidates are prepared to meet all standards. Academic calendars, catalogs, publications, grading policies, and advertising are current, accurate, and transparent.

R6.3 Faculty Resources: The EPP has professional education faculty that have earned doctorates or equivalent P-12 teaching experience that qualifies them for their assignments. The EPP provides adequate resources and opportunities for professional development of faculty, including training in the use of technology.R6.4 Infrastructure The EPP has adequate campus and school facilities, equipment, and supplies to support candidates in meeting standards. The infrastructure supports faculty and candidate use of information technology in instruction.

**Only For EPPs seeking access to Title IV funds**

Standard 7: Record of Compliance with Title IV of the Higher Education Act

Freestanding EPPs relying on CAEP accreditation to access Title IV of the Higher Education Act must demonstrate 100% compliance with their responsibilities under Title IV of the Act, including but not limited to, on the basis of student loan default rate data provided by the Secretary, financial and compliance audits, and program reviews conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. Freestanding EPPs will need to provide narrative and evidence for all components of ST 7.

CAEP Advanced Level Standards

Advanced certification/licensure areas consist of Instructional Technology Specialist, Reading Specialist, and School Psychology. The School Principal and Superintendent course of study is administered by the Educational Administration program but resides as a concentration track in the EdD program.

Standard RA.1: Content and Pedagogical Knowledge

The provider ensures that candidates for professional specialties develop an understanding of the critical concepts and principles of their discipline and facilitates candidates’ reflection of their personal biases to increase their understanding and practice of equity, diversity, and inclusion. The provider is intentional in the development of their curriculum for candidates to demonstrate their ability to effectively work with diverse P-12 students and their families.

RA1.1 Candidate Knowledge, Skills, and Professional Dispositions: Candidates for advanced preparation demonstrate their proficiencies to understand and apply knowledge and skills appropriate to their professional field of specialization so that learning and development opportunities for all P-12 are enhanced, through:

Applications of data literacy;

  • Use of research and understanding of qualitative, quantitative and/or mixed methods research methodologies;
  • Employment of data analysis and evidence to develop supportive, diverse, equitable, and inclusive school environments;
  • Leading and/or participating in collaborative activities with others such as peers, colleagues, teachers, administrators, community organizations, and parents;
  • Supporting appropriate applications of technology for their field of specialization; and
  • Application of professional dispositions, laws and policies, codes of ethics and professional standards appropriate to their field of specialization.

RA1.2 Provider Responsibilities: Providers ensure that program completers have opportunities to learn and apply specialized content and discipline knowledge contained in approved state and/or national discipline-specific standards. These specialized standards include, but are not limited to, Specialized Professional Association (SPA) standards, individual state standards, standards of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and standards of other accrediting bodies [e.g., Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)]. Evidence of candidate content knowledge appropriate for the professional specialty should be documented.Standard

Standard RA.2: Clinical Partnerships and Practice

The provider ensures that effective partnerships and high-quality clinical practice are central to preparation so that candidates develop the knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions appropriate for their professional specialty field.

RA2.1 Partnerships for Clinical Preparation: Partners co-construct mutually beneficial P-12 school and community arrangements for clinical preparation and share responsibility for continuous improvement of candidate preparation.

RA2.2 Clinical Experiences: The provider works with partners to design varied and developmental clinical experiences that allow opportunities for candidates to practice applications of content knowledge and skills that the courses and other experiences of the advanced preparation emphasize. The opportunities lead to appropriate culminating experiences in which candidates demonstrate their proficiencies, through problem-based tasks or research (e.g., qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, action) that are characteristic of their professional specialization as detailed in component A1.1.

Standard RA.3: Candidate Quality and Selectivity

The provider demonstrates that the quality of advanced program candidates is an ongoing and intentional focus so that completers are prepared to perform effectively and can be recommended for certification where applicable.

RA3.1 Recruitment: The provider presents goals and progress evidence for recruitment of high-quality candidates from a broad range of backgrounds and diverse populations that align with their mission. The provider demonstrates efforts to know and address community, state, national, regional, or local needs for hard-to-staff schools and shortage fields. The goals and evidence should address progress towards a candidate pool which reflects the diversity of America’s P-12 students.

RA3.2 Candidates Demonstrate Academic Achievement and Ability to Complete Preparation Successfully: The provider sets admissions requirements for academic achievement, including CAEP minimum criteria (group average college GPA of 3.0 or group average performance in top 50th percent of those assessed on nationally normed assessment), the state’s minimum criteria, or graduate school minimum criteria, whichever is highest, and gathers data to monitor candidates from admission to completion.

RA3.3 Monitoring and Supporting Candidate Progression: The provider creates criteria for program progression and uses disaggregated data to monitor candidates’ advancement from admissions through completion. The provider ensures that knowledge of and progression through transition points are transparent to candidates. The provider plans and documents the need for candidate support, as identified in disaggregated data by race and ethnicity and such other categories as may be relevant for the EPP’s mission, so candidates meet milestones. The provider has a system for effectively maintaining records of candidate complaints, including complaints made to CAEP, and documents the resolution.

RA3.4 Competency at Completion: The provider ensures candidates possess academic competency to help facilitate learning with positive impacts on diverse P-12 student learning and development through application of content knowledge, data literacy and research-driven decision making, effective use of collaborative skills,and application of technology in the field(s) where certification is sought. Multiple measures are provided and data are disaggregated and analyzed based on race, ethnicity, and such other categories as may be relevant for the EPP’s mission.

Standard RA.4: Satisfaction with Preparation

The provider documents the satisfaction of its completers and their employers with the relevance and effectiveness of their preparation.

RA4.1 Satisfaction of Employers: The provider demonstrates that employers are satisfied with the completers’ preparation for their assigned responsibilities.

RA4.2 Satisfaction of Completers: The provider demonstrates that program completers perceive their preparation as relevant to the responsibilities they confront on the job, and their preparation was effective.

Standard RA.5: Quality Assurance System and Continuous Improvement

The provider maintains a quality assurance system that consists of valid data from multiple measures and supports continuous improvement that is sustained and evidence-based. The system is developed and maintained with input from internal and external stakeholders. The provider uses the results of inquiry and data collection to establish priorities, enhance program elements, and highlight innovations.

RA5.1 Quality Assurance System: The provider has developed, implemented, and modified, as needed, a functioning quality assurance system that ensures a sustainable process to document operational effectiveness. This system documents how data enter the system, how data are reported and used in decision making, and how the outcomes of those decisions inform programmatic improvement.

RA5.2 Data Quality: This provider’s quality assurance system from RA5.1 relies on relevant, verifiable, representative, cumulative, and actionable measures to ensure interpretations of data are valid and consistent.

RA5.3 Stakeholder Involvement: The provider includes relevant internal (e.g., EPP administrators, faculty, staff, candidates) and external (e.g., alumni, practitioners, school and community partners, employers) stakeholders in the program design, evaluation, and continuous improvement processes.

RA5.4 Continuous Improvement: The provider regularly, systematically, and continuously assesses performance against its goals and relevant standards, tracks results over time, documents modifications and/or innovations and their effects on EPP outcomes.

Standard RA.6: Fiscal and Administrative Capacity

The EPP has the fiscal and administrative capacity, faculty, infrastructure (facilities, equipment, and supplies) and other resources as appropriate to the scale of its operations and as necessary for the preparation of candidates to meet professional, state, and institutional standards. For EPPs whose institution is accredited by an accreditor recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education (e.g., SACSCOC, HLC), such accreditation will be considered sufficient evidence of compliance with Standard.6. If an EPP’s institution is not accredited by an accreditor recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education, the EPP must address each component of ST 6 in narrative supported by evidence.

R6.1 Fiscal Resources: The EPP has the fiscal capacity as appropriate to the scale of its operations. The budget for curriculum, instruction, faculty, clinical work, scholarship, etc., supports high-quality work within the EPP and its school partners for the preparation of professional educators.

R6.2 Administrative Capacity: The EPP has administrative capacity as appropriate to the scale of its operations, including leadership and authority to plan, deliver, and operate coherent programs of study so that their candidates are prepared to meet all standards. Academic calendars, catalogs, publications, grading policies, and advertising are current, accurate, and transparent.

R6.3 Faculty Resources: The EPP has professional education faculty that have earned doctorates or equivalent P-12 teaching experience that qualifies them for their assignments. The EPP provides adequate resources and opportunities for professional development of faculty, including training in the use of technology. R6.4 Infrastructure The EPP has adequate campus and school facilities, equipment, and supplies to support candidates in meeting standards. The infrastructure supports faculty and candidate use of information technology in instruction.

**Only For EPPs seeking access to Title IV funds**

Standard RA.7: Record of Compliance with Title IV of the Higher Education Act

Freestanding EPPs relying on CAEP accreditation to access Title IV of the Higher Education Act must demonstrate 100% compliance with their responsibilities under Title IV of the Act, including but not limited to on the basis of student loan default rate data provided by the Secretary, financial and compliance audits, and program reviews conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. Freestanding EPPs will need to provide narrative and evidence for all components of ST 7.