School of Education Earns Prestigious CAEP Accreditation

Congratulations to Dean Anne Lillis and her team at the School of Education for earning CAEP accreditation!

CAEP is an acronym for the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. Its accreditation process is comprehensive and rigorous. Approval is only granted to those who meet five comprehensive standards encompassing curriculum, a selective admissions process, strengths of school-based partnerships to support excellence in clinical training, the impact of graduates as teachers, as well as an infrastructure that supports continuous improvement.

"We are extraordinarily proud to earn accreditation from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, which is the absolute standard-setter for teacher preparation programs,” said Anne Lillis, Dean of the School of Education at Monroe College.

“Earning CAEP approval is a testament to the strength of our program, our student learning outcomes, the career-readiness of our graduates, and the dedication and excellence of our amazing faculty and field partners. We can all take great pride in this monumental achievement,” she noted.

As CAEP explains on its website:  “Educator accreditation is a seal of approval that assures quality in educator preparation. Accreditation makes sure that educator programs prepare new teachers to know their subjects, their students, and have the clinical training that allows them to enter the classroom ready to teach effectively…”

Monroe’s School of Education received accreditation approval in May. It is granted for seven years. The School will seek re-accreditation in 2028. 

Dean Lillis and her team began the formal accreditation process with a self-study in March 2020. The process culminated last December with a two-day virtual site visit that enabled the CAEP team to meet with college administrators, School of Education faculty and students, as well as others from the College community.

Dean Lillis further commented: “We are so proud of the outcomes our program achieves. Our diverse candidates and graduates continually demonstrate understanding and application of both theory and best practices in Early Childhood Education across multiple measures, including edTPA pass rate, NY State certification rate, employment as a teacher and retention in the field.”

Well done, School of Education!