Iowa's 4 Largest Universities Withdraw From NCATE

By Karen Diegmueller

The four largest universities in Iowa announced last week that they were removing their teacher-preparation programs from the national accreditation process.

In a joint statement, the presidents of all three of the public institutions in the state--the University of Northern Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Iowa--and the largest private one, Drake University, said they were pulling out of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education because it does not facilitate self-improvement.

Moreover, the university presidents argued, the agency imposes a national system of accreditation that is "too...