The scientific designs of research, understood and honored by academicians as reliable and valid, are less credible to those outside the walls of our institutions. Measures of accountability must be credible to the constituents, most of whom do not have the benefit of classes in research design. Educators and the programs that prepare them must be accountable beyond the level of other professions. We hold a public trust and we must be faithful stewards of the trust. For the reasons stated above, we must be held accountable for the way we prepare teachers.
Teaching is a moral act, an act of great importance demanding accountability.
One measure of accountability is accreditation, and one approach to accreditation is preformance-based program review. Performance-based program review holds the promise of providing an approach to accreditation that is credible with most of the constituencies listed. It must be developed carefully to ensure that the standards and the processes by which they are applied are both valid and reliable. As professionals who understand the meaning of those concepts, we must be actively involved in providing such a system. We can no longer simply judge ourselves.