( BLUEFIELD)--Dr. Thomas Blevins, Director of Instructional Technology Planning and Coordination/West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and Dean of the Virtual College and Technology and Professor of Education and English at Bluefield State College, will chair a National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) visit to Virginia State University, April 22-26.
Blevins, who has been a member of more than a dozen NCATE Board of Examiners teams, also chaired NCATE visits to the University of North Carolina-Charlotte in the fall. NCATE teams conduct intensive site evaluations of higher education institutions' teacher education programs, utilizing NCATE's standards regarding program knowledge base, assessment, diversity, clinical and field experiences, students, faculty and governance/resources.
"The NCATE accreditation visits provide the opportunity for professional, peer-reviewed accreditation of an institution's teacher education program," Blevins observed. "There are numerous benefits derived through this process. First, the college being evaluated receives useful information that can enhance the strength and viability of its teacher education program. At the same time, NCATE is able to utilize without charge the services of teacher education professionals who have been specifically trained in accreditation evaluation. Finally, as chair of the Board of Examiners, I can bring back to Bluefield State College new ideas that can be used to enhance our teacher education program."
NCATE Board of Examiners teams upon which Blevins has served have evaluated teacher education programs at colleges and universities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois, Oklahoma, Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, and South Carolina.
He is also a North Central Peer Reviewer and was a member of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association team to Mayville ( North Dakota) State University last semester.
April 21, 2006
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