Commission’s Accrediting Committee Elects Co-Chairs for 2013-14

SACRAMENTO — The Commission on Teacher Credentialing’s (Commission) Committee on Accreditation (COA) elected two experienced California educators to lead the COA in 2013-14: Kenneth Lopour, representing the K-12 community; and University of San Diego Professor Reyes L. Quezada, Ed.D, representing the higher education community.

Kenneth Lopour is an Assistant Principal at Canyon High School in Anaheim, Calif. He has also been an administrator at New Millennium Secondary School in Carson, Calif., and has taught in San Francisco, Orange County and Los Angeles County. He received his B.A. in Sociology and his teaching credential from San Francisco State University, and his M.Ed. in Educational Leadership as well as an administrative credential from California State University, Fullerton.

Dr. Reyes L. Quezada is a Professor of Education at the University of San Diego's School of Leadership and Education's Department of Learning and Teaching. Dr. Reyes has been a teacher and teacher educator for the past 30 years. He has been a professor at the University of Redlands, California State University, Stanislaus, and an adjunct professor at San Diego State University as well as at California State University, San Bernardino. He holds a California Multiple-Subjects Bilingual Emphasis Teaching credential-Spanish and Community College credentials in Counselor Education, Supervision, Psychology. His degrees include a B.A. from San Jose State University, a M.Ed. from the University of San Diego, an M.A. from San Diego State University, an Educational Specialist degree from Point Loma Nazarene College and a doctorate from Northern Arizona University.

The COA is a statutory committee appointed by the Commission charged with deciding on the accreditation of educator preparation programs, determining the comparability of national or alternative program standards with California standards of educator preparation, and bringing accreditation recommendations before the Commission for approval.

“Accreditation” is the approval process that all educator preparation programs must undergo in order to prepare licensed educators in California. The educator preparation accreditation system focuses on the demonstrated competence of California’s educators.

The system features ongoing data collection and a seven-year cycle of activities, including at least one site visit. The COA can determine at any point if program intervention or assistance is needed. This accreditation process is designed to assure the public and the policy makers that these programs are effectively training school personnel to function in the credential areas for which they are being prepared.

Evidence of the accreditation system’s success is the continuing viability of programs that produce effective educators for California’s students.

Commission on Teacher Credentialing media@ctc.ca.gov