Critiquing external quality reviews for teacher-education programs at regionally accredited, virtual, for -profit universities.

摘要

Teacher-education programs at regionally accredited, virtual, for-profit institutions of higher education are a relatively new phenomenon, beginning within the last decade. There is an absence of research relating to external quality reviews of teacher-education programs at regionally accredited, virtual, for-profit universities. This hypotheses-generating study focused on the primary characteristics of regionally accredited, virtual, for-profit institutions of higher education which offer teacher education programs. Connection between these universities and their teacher-education programs with federal and state policies were researched and described in this study. The relationships these universities have with one regional accreditor, the North Central Association, is discussed as is the universities' absence of relationships with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC).;Data for this study were collected from publicly accessible documents. Documents analyzed for this study included those accessed from federal and state departments of education, regional accreditors, university program descriptions and websites, journal and newspaper articles, and specialized accreditors such as NCATE and TEAC. Once data were collected, it was organized, described, analyzed, and interpreted. Data collection and analysis was viewed by the researcher as a cyclical and ongoing process. Once the data were organized and analyzed, further data collections, at times, were necessary. When predictions were repeatedly fulfilled and no surprises occurred, data collection was complete.;Hypotheses generated were, (a) one value of regional accreditation is it aids virtual for-profit institutions of higher education in accessing federal financial-aid funds; (b) one regional accreditor, the North Central Association, is more receptive to virtual for-profit institutions then all other regional accreditors, and (c) the profit motive appears to be a driving force behind offering virtual teacher-education programs. Further research focusing on teacher-education programs at virtual for-profit institutions of higher education and their relationship with teacher quality, as defined by No Child Left Behind, is crucial.