Accreditation Overview

The School of Education at Sonoma State University views accreditation as a process for assessing and enhancing academic and educational quality through candidate assessment and peer review.  Like all CSU programs, we engage in ongoing evaluation, review, and improvement efforts every academic year.  We are proud of our stellar record and solid program evaluations. 

Accreditation informs the public that the accredited college or university operates at a high level of educational quality and integrity. Our process includes a mandated review conducted by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC). The School of Education credential programs achieved the first joint accreditation by NCATE and CCTC in 2005, again in 2012, then most recently reaccredited by the CTC in 2020.

We routinely gather data including culminating teacher performance assessment, candidate survey of program effectiveness, and post graduate and employer survey of beginning teacher effectiveness.  Key assessment data are collected at admission, mid-point, conclusion and post graduate points.  These data are used to evaluate, validate, improve all programs; as well as prepare institutional reports that address program and accrediting agencies standards. These reports are validated by a team of examiners that review institutional data and evidence and interview all major SSU School of Education constituencies – current candidates (students), faculty, staff, administrators and P-12 colleagues (mentor teachers, administrators and others with knowledge about the School and its programs.  We are committed to continually engage our stakeholders in meaningful processes of review, evaluation, response, and improvement.

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC)

Professional accreditation is the process of ascertaining and verifying that, at each college and university that prepares individuals for state certification, sufficient quality characterizes that preparation. State certification is the process of ascertaining and verifying the qualifications of each future member of a profession like education. These two processes -- professional accreditation and state certification -- have distinct objectives but they serve a common set of overarching purposes. It is critical, therefore, that accreditation and certification function as an integrated system.