Accreditation Makes Virtual Teachers College ‘Real Thing’

When Western Governors University introduced its teacher-preparation program, there were those who scoffed at the idea that teachers could be trained from scratch—virtually. Now, three years later, it has earned the imprimatur of national accreditation while seeing its enrollment multiply from fewer than 100 students to 4,500.

Officials attribute the growth chiefly to word-of-mouth publicity from satisfied students. After the nod from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, or NCATE, they expect the numbers to increase further.

“There are always those that regardless of accreditation look at online instruction and don’t think that it is on a par with other universities. It will be impossible to think that of WGU now,” said Janet W. Schnitz, the executive director of its teachers. “This university...