SWOSU Department of Education One of Only 26 Programs to Win National Award

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October 13, 2021

SWOSU Press Release

Southwestern Oklahoma State University’s Department of Education in Weatherford has been named one of the top programs by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP).

Ed Klein, chair of the department, was recently notified that SWOSU was in the top 26 out of 700 programs nationally and is a recipient of the CAEP Frank Murray Award for Excellence. The award goes to universities that provided evidence and data trends to achieve accreditation with no stipulations or areas for improvement, with all efforts implemented beyond the planning stage.

Our faculty here bring passion, persistence and exceptionality to the preparation of new teachers every day,” Klein said. “But now, CAEP has acknowledged that with this national award for the culture that we have created here at the SWOSU Department of Education.”

Klein said the university’s public school partners are a huge part of helping build the next generation of teachers by allowing opportunities for field experiences, hosting candidates during their internships, providing growth data on students served by our completers, and serving as members of our Teacher Education Council Advisory Board.

Dr. Veronica Aguiñaga serves as accreditation coordinator and helps facilitate this process along with our program coordinators and directors for our 17 nationally accredited programs,” Klein said. “We definitely owe these faculty tremendous thanks for their collaboration.”

SWOSU and Oklahoma Christian were the only Oklahoma universities recognized by CAEP. Other honorees were from 24 programs in 17 states and the United Arab Emirates.

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 and was a key advocate for a single set of teacher preparation standards to unify the profession and was instrumental in the merger that created CAEP.

Recipients of the 2021 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 plans. Recipients had no stipulations or areas for improvement.

Providers selected for recognition advance equity and excellence in educator preparation through purposeful use of self-study procedures and evidence-based reporting that assure quality and support continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 learning.

Approximately 700 educator preparation providers participate in the CAEP accreditation system, including many previously accredited through former standards. CAEP is the only educator preparation provider recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and supports continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 student learning.

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