Middle Level Education Professional Preparation

Teacher in Classroom

The specialized professional preparation of teachers of young adolescents must be a high priority of teacher preparation programs. The Association for Middle Level Education is committed to promoting actions that will assure that all young adolescents are taught by highly qualified teachers. AMLE continues to be the leader in promoting responsive policies, practices, and programs for young adolescents and their teachers.

AMLE’s Standards for Middle Level Teacher Preparation

AMLE is a constituent member of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), formerly the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). CAEP accredits schools, colleges, and departments of education that provide professional preparation for teachers and other school specialists. AMLE is responsible for the program review process within CAEP for institutions seeking national recognition of middle level teacher preparation programs. The specialized professional preparation of teachers of young adolescents must be a high priority of teacher preparation programs. AMLE continues to be the leader in promoting responsive policies, practices and programs for young adolescents and their teachers. The current AMLE Standards were revised in 2022. Institutions pursuing SPA accreditation may benefit from reviewing these frequently asked questions and tips for preparing SPA reports.

Teacher Leading Students
Public Overview Document
Standards Members Only
Purchase Standards Book
Students Raising Hands

Program Review Board

AMLE is responsible for the Program Review Process within CAEP for institutions seeking national recognition of middle level teacher preparation programs. AMLE members have representation on CAEP’s accreditation evaluation teams and other Committees of the CAEP Board.

AMLE and other member organizations that form CAEP represent teachers, teacher educators, policymakers, and school specialists. The overall mission of the coalition is to set national standards that help assure quality and credibility in preparation programs for professional school personnel. To accomplish its mission CAEP is striving to link teacher preparation standards with state licensure requirements.

The program review process is conducted online and the only travel required of program reviewers is that of attending meetings at the AMLE annual conference in November. These meetings are held at the annual conference since members will likely already be attending the conference and therefore will not have any added travel expenses. Members of the AMLE Program Review Board are volunteers and no reimbursement for travel or other expenses is provided. Terms are typically three years, but may be renewed by the AMLE Professional Preparation Advisory Board. Based on excellence as a successful SPA reviewer, AMLE may recommend some of its members to serve on the SPA Standards Review Committee of the CAEP Board.

AMLE CAEP Coordinator

Ellis Hurd

For more information about professional preparation and credentialing of middle level teachers, please contact AMLE CAEP Coordinator, Dr. Ellis Hurd, at ehurd@ilstu.edu.