UMBC’s education department has received full accreditation without reservations from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the organization responsible for professional accreditation of teacher education. “We’re very pleased that UMBC continues to be fully accredited by NCATE,” said Eugene Schaffer, chair of the department of education. “The accreditation reflects UMBC’s commitment to providing future teachers with the best possible start to their careers.” NCATE currently accredits 670 institutions, which produce two-thirds of the nation’s new teacher graduates each year. NCATE-accredited schools must meet rigorous standards set by the profession and members of the public. UMBC’s programs were also recognized by national teachers’ Specialty Professional Associations and approved by the Maryland Department of Education during the same accreditation process. Preparing for NCATE accreditation requires the department to collect and organize thousands of items of data from students, teacher candidates, mentors, and principals The process took approximately three years, said Marta Seres, UMBC’s NCATE coordinator. UMBC will be up for accreditation again in 2018. NCATE revises its standards every seven years to incorporate best practice and research in order to ensure that the standards reflect a consensus about what is important in teacher preparation today. NCATE accreditation standards incorporate the model state licensing principles developed by a task force of the Council of Chief State School Officers. The U. S. Department of Education recognizes NCATE as a specialized accrediting body for schools, colleges, and departments of education. NCATE is composed of more than 30 professional and policymaker organizations representing millions of Americans committed to quality teaching. It was founded in 1954 by the teaching profession and the states. For more information about UMBC’s teacher education program, visit the UMBC department of education's website at http://www.umbc.edu/education. More information about NCATE is available at www.ncate.org.