Western Governors University

“We can be held to, and want to be responsible for, the same standards as any other institution of high quality in the country,” Schnitz said. “We’re not afraid to step up and be judged by the same requirements.”

The state approvals led to reciprocal agreements with additional states, yet many denied reciprocity for WGU’s alternative model.

Montana certification required a formal rule change. In Utah, where WGU is headquartered, the State Board of Education and the Dean’s Council had refused at first to certify the college, so WGU appealed to the legislature. When a law passed approving WGU programs for certification, the State Board and Dean’s Council eventually came around.

There was no circumventing obstinate boards in other states, and tracking reciprocity agreements and maintaining certification requirements became a logistical nightmare. Tired but still determined to make the Teachers College work, WGU applied for national accreditation from the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).

“Our real goal at the beginning was to get approval from every state, but it was taking forever,” said Schnitz, who became Dean when Garlett retired. “We had the audacity to apply for accreditation through NCATE, which usually takes traditional universities 18 months to simply write the application. We finished everything in less than six months.”

In October 2006, WGU received unconditional NCATE accreditation, becoming the first exclusively online university to do so. Enrollment in the Teachers College now exceeded 4,000 and soon after, the U.S. Department of Labor gave WGU a $3 million grant to train teachers in rural areas.

“America’s economy is increasingly knowledge-based and our future success depends on today’s students excelling academically, especially 53