School of Education & Human Sciences recognized for leadership in continuous improvement in honor of Frank Murray

LAWRENCE – The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) announced today that the University of Kansas is one of 32 providers from 16 states, Puerto Rico and Jordan to receive recognition for their leadership and commitment to continuous improvement. The recipients of the 2022 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement provided evidence and data trends to achieve accreditation with no stipulations or areas for improvement. 
 
The Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement is named after the founding President of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC). CAEP was created by the consolidation of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and TEAC. Murray was the founding President of TEAC, served as Chairman of the Board for TEAC and was also an initial member of the CAEP Board of Directors. He was a key advocate for a single set of educator preparation standards to unify the profession and was instrumental in the merger that created CAEP. He also served as the Dean of the College of Education at the University of Delaware from 1979 to 1995.

 “Frank Murray was passionate about education preparation, a prominent leader in our profession, and an advocate for evidence to improve education. The providers that CAEP is recognizing are committed to continuous improvement and preparing their students to succeed in a diverse range of classrooms after they graduate,” said Yuhang Rong Chair of the CAEP Board of Directors. “CAEP Accreditation is a sign of commitment to quality through purposeful use of evidence. The Murray Leadership Recognition recipients should be proud of their accomplishments.” 

Recipients of the 2022 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement are selected from the educator preparation providers (EPPs) that were granted accreditation by CAEP at the initial level from the previous year, who provided a full complement of evidence with demonstrated data trends and no stipulations or areas for improvement. Providers selected for recognition advance equity and excellence in educator preparation through purposeful use of self-study procedures and evidence-based reporting that assure quality and support continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 learning. These EPPs use inquiry and assessments to establish quality assurance systems to drive improvement. 

“This accomplishment represents a team effort of the School of Education and Human Sciences accreditation team, school and department leadership, and faculty and staff from 24+ programs across campus,” said Kelli Thomas, Associate Dean for Teacher Education and Undergraduate Programs in the School. “This recognition that we are among the top educator preparation providers in the country is possible because of the widespread engagement and contributions to continuous improvement by numerous colleagues in the School of Education and Human Sciences, the School of Music, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Thank you to all of our colleagues who do the day-to-day work to provide high quality educator preparation for our students.”

“We are very proud of our faculty, staff and partners who worked hard over the years to create a program that focuses on continuous improvement and is being recognized by CAEP as among the top educator preparation programs in the country,” said Rick Ginsberg, dean of the School of Education and Human Sciences. “Not only have we sought out CAEP Accreditation, the gold standard for educator preparation, this recognition provides validation that our students and their families are investing in an education program that is second to none.” 

CAEP accreditation serves the dual purposes of accountability and continuous improvement.  471 educator preparation providers in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have been accredited under the CAEP Standards. The CAEP accreditation process evaluates the performance of providers and focuses particularly on whether candidates will be prepared, by completion, for the challenging responsibilities that educators face in America’s classrooms. Approximately, 600 educator preparation providers participate in the CAEP Accreditation system, including many previously accredited through former standards. 

The KU School of Education & Human Sciences is a nationally ranked school, preparing educators and human science professionals as leaders since 1909. In 2022, two of its programs ranked among the nation’s best in the 2023 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools,” released March 29.