CAEP is a professional accreditor organization that reviews departments, schools, and colleges who prepare teachers and other educators. After completing a program, teachers seek licensure or certification from the state in which they wish to teach. When an institution or specialized program is accredited, it has demonstrated meeting standards set by organizations representing the academic community, professionals, and other stakeholders. CAEP website: https://caepnet.org/
While the majority of MSU educational degree programs are solely under CAEP Accreditation, a few of our MSU educational degree programs have different accreditors (i.e., Music Education) and/or additional accrediting bodies (i.e., School Psychology graduate degrees and the Ph.D. K-12 Administration degree), which are noted by an asterisk on the Initial and Advanced Degree Chart.
CAEP Accreditation is organized by Initial Programs (undergraduate and graduate degree programs that lead to teaching certifications) and Advanced Programs (graduate degree programs that lead to specialist, school psychologist, or administrative endorsements.
To achieve accreditation we collectively build and refine a unified, aligned system and process that has known work, resources, and ample support. We hold Program Leader Fall and Spring events, coming together to deepen our relationships and understanding of our common work, progress, impact, and areas of future need. We hold individual level (initial and advanced) meetings and are creating Standard Goals Teams to review and provide feedback on the depth we live into CAEP standards. We discuss with stakeholders and the MSU CAEP Advisory Council our achievement and areas for continued focus, noting and acting upon their feedback.
Accreditation is strategic planning and continuous improvement. The work of accreditation is arduous, on-going, iterative, transparent, measured, and known. Achieving accreditation is an endorsement that our teacher, school psychologist, and administrative education program is trusted, effective, and able to help future educators succeed and positively impact students, school, and communities. Accreditation allows MSU to confer certification endorsement upon or after degree program competition.
Our continuous improvement work is guided by our Will and the Way: Building Partnerships to Ensure Quality Programs that Continuously Improve.
Our first CAEP Accreditation was award in 2022. We are currently in the fourth year of our seven-year CAEP Accreditation cycle. CAEP accreditation work includes annual reviews to determine whether EPP programs continue to meet specific standards. Every seven years there is a Self-Study, MDE, and CAEP Accreditation Report and Review.
MSU’s CAEP 7-Year Accreditation Cycle with key Timeline Tasks:
| 2022-2023 | Continued work, data collection/analysis, Complete April 2023 Annual Report |
| 2023-2024 | Continued work, data collection/analysis, Complete April 2024 Annual Report |
| 2024-2025 | Begin a New Accreditation Data Cycle #1 (Collect Program Standards Data 3x/per year), Complete April 2025 Annual Report |
| 2025-2026 | Data Cycle #2 (Collect Program Standards Data 3x/per year), Complete April 2026 Annual Report |
| 2026-2027 | Data Cycle #3 (Collect Program Standards Data 3x/per year), Begin writing in Dec. 2025 our Fall 2027 MDE Self-Study Report; Complete April 2027 Annual Report; in the Summer of 2027 Finalize the MDE Self-Study Report |
| 2027-2028 | Have our Summer/Fall 2027 MDE Program Review, Submit by January 2028 our CAEP Self-Study Report, Complete our April 2028 Annual Report |
| 2028-2029 | Hold our CAEP Fall 2028 Accreditation visit, Complete April 2029 Annual Report, Achieve in June 2029 CAEP Accreditation |
Accreditation work is ongoing and requires each degree program to:
- Identify, embed, teach & assess standards into their curriculum & practice
- Have transparent, known, iterative & measured continuous improvement practices that: