Dr. Kirpal Mahal, professor of physical education at Tusculum College, has been named to the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) Board of Program Reviewers.
Dr. Mahal will serve a three-year term on the board, whose members have successfully completed one program review and been co-trained by NCATE and the professional association in their educational specialty area.
NCATE is an independent accrediting body recognized as a standard of excellence in teacher preparation. Through the process of professional accreditation of schools, colleges and departments of education, NCATE works to make a difference in the quality of teaching and teacher preparation. NCATE’s performance-based system of accreditation fosters competent classroom teachers and other educators who work to improve the education of students.
The purpose of the NCATE Board of Program Reviewers is to provide consistent policies for programs reviewers for all specialty areas in education and to provide a status and position for program reviewers within the NCATE system. As a member of the board, Dr. Mahal is to participate in at least one cycle of program reviews annually, adhering to NCATE’s standards of fairness, collaboration, and confidentiality.
In a letter from NCATE notifying him of his selection to the board, Dr. Mahal was told, “The high-quality, rigorous reviews that the profession demands would not be possible without professionals of your caliber.”
Dr. Mahal has extensive experience in education program reviews. For more than a decade, he has provided his professional service as a volunteer reviewer of physical education and teacher education programs for the National Association for Sports and Physical Education (NASPE), the professional association for physical education teachers. A reviewer for NASPE since 1992, he reviewed four programs last year and has reviewed programs from a number of states from the Northeast to the Southwest.
Completing program reviews is beneficial to him professionally and to his students, Dr. Mahal says. Through the reviews, he learns what others are doing, what is happening in the field of teacher education and the changes that are occurring, which he can then share with his students.
In addition to his program reviews for American schools, Dr. Mahal is an examiner of doctoral dissertations for a university in his native India as a professional service to students in that country.