National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) was founded in 1954 to accredit teacher certification programs at U.S. colleges and universities. NCATE was a council of educators created to ensure and raise the quality of preparation for their profession. The U.S. Department of Education recognized NCATE as an accrediting organization. NCATE accreditation is specific to teacher education and is different from regional accreditation.

On July 1, 2013, NCATE merged with the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC), which was also a recognized accreditor of teacher-preparation programs, to form the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). CAEP succeeds NCATE and TEAC as the only recognized accreditor specialized in accreditation of U.S. educator-preparation programs.

Founding organizations

Five national education groups were instrumental in the creation of NCATE: