Accreditation

Keene State College has and continues to strive to prepare our teacher education candidates so that they are ready to enter today’s classrooms. This process involves aligning our programs to both state and national standards, gathering data through key assessments, work samples, surveys, interviews, and more, connecting with our schools and alumni to gather feedback and to capture the important trends/issues in the field, and analyzing the data and feedback to make informed decisions for improvement.

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• National Accreditation
• Nationally Recognized Programs
• NH State Program Approval
• Educator Preparation Reporting Measures and Performance Data

National Accreditation

Keene State College was nationally accredited by NCATE (National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education) in July 2014. In Spring 2022, Keene State College will have a site visit from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP: http://caepnet.org ) seeking continued national accreditation.

Our CAEP self-study reports are available for public viewing.

CAEP is an accreditation system that evaluates quality of educator preparation programs through an external peer review in which an institution demonstrates how they are meeting the standards through data collection, reflective practices, documentation of the process, voices, and experiences of the student, alumni, cooperating professionals, employers, faculty, and partnering schools. CAEP’s Mission and Values highlights their values of excellence in educator preparation programs through evidence-based accreditation. This process helps ensure the quality of our programs and supports continuous improvement in at both the unit and program level to ensure preparing our teacher candidates to enter the classroom.

Keene State College’s Nationally Accredited Programs include:

• Early Childhood Education
  • Birth to Age 5
  • Birth to Grade 3 *
• Elementary Education
• Secondary Education
  • English
  • Math (Middle-level & Secondary)
  • Modern Language *
  • Science (biology, chemistry, earth science, general science, physics) *
  • Social Studies
• K-12
  • Music Education
  • Physical Education
• Graduate Education
  • Education Leadership
  • Special Education

Please note: Effective 7/8/2021, programs above indicated with a * are on administrative hold. There will be no admission to the program for current and prospective students while on administrative hold.

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Nationally Recognized Programs

As part of the national accreditation process, our individual programs are also nationally recognized by a Specialized Professional Associations (SPA).

• * Our Music Education program is reviewed and accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM).

• † The Elementary Education and Physical Education programs will be reviewed during the 2022 Spring CAEP site visit. Elementary Education currently does not have an active SPA with CAEP. Physical Education was not fully reviewed by the current SPA because CAEP did not have an active SPA available at the time of review.

Program Name	Specialized Professional Associations (SPA)
Initial Preparation
Early Childhood Education	National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
Elementary Education	Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI)†
English	National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
Mathematics (middle-level and secondary)	National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
Modern Languages	American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
Music Education	National Association of Schools of Music (NASM)*
Physical Education	Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE)†
Science Education Programs: Biology , Chemistry, Earth Science, General Science , Physics	National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
Social Studies	National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)
Advanced Preparation
Educational Leadership	Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC)
Special Education	Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)

* Please note: SHAPE reentered agreement with CAEP

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NH State Program Approval

The New Hampshire State Board of Education reviews and approves educator preparations programs in the state to ensure that future educators are highly qualified and well prepared to effectively serve all students. Keene State College was approved once again in 2011, recognizing the College’s quality programs which ensure that certification candidates meet the New Hampshire educator standards. The programs will be reviewed for state approval as part of the CAEP review process in Spring 2022.

To promote the learning of all students, each PEPP must document and provide evidence that every graduate demonstrates competencies in general education, professional education, and those specific to a beginning educator in each certification area. At Keene State College’s Professional Educator Preparation Programs (PEPP), the preparation of effective educators is demonstrated through the use of an assessment system and continuous improvement data cycles that evaluate the curriculum, learning facilitation, assessment processes and resources for the programs.

New Hampshire Department of Education letter to KSC president (PDF)

Educator Preparation Reporting Measures and Performance Data

Each year, the Keene State Educator Preparation programs are required to report our CAEP annual reporting measures information about candidate and program performance. Find complete details here.