English Education Program Assessment: Creating Standards and Guidelines to Advance English Teacher Preparation

When someone uses the term "standards," one tends to assume the topic under discussion is K-12 education, but standards for teacher preparation have their own parallel history. In English teacher education, that history has two strands: the NCTE Guidelines for the Preparation of Teachers of English Language Arts, which predate the "standards movement" (and which, as their title states, are guidelines rather than standards); and the NCTE/NCATE Standards for Initial Preparation of Teachers of Secondary English Language Arts, Grades 7-12 (sometimes known as "SPA" [Specialty Professional Association] standards), which were developed for use in NCATE accreditation. During the past 2 years, however, what might be described as a merging of these two strands has been underway. It is an administratively complex process that may be of real interest only to those who are directly involved. However, given the importance of standards and accreditation in today's world, the authors believe that Conference on English Education (CEE) members should have access to information about the making of standards and the ongoing evolution of the accrediting process. This paper discusses CEE's activities in these areas. (Contains 1 table.)