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Still Reconciling Data for CAEP? There’s a Better Way
April 3, 2026
We've talked before about how Liberty University uses CORE by PeopleGrove to manage placements at scale at their School of Education, and if you haven't read that yet, it's worth your time. But recently, we sat down with Liberty University's Dr. Nancy DeJarnette, Director of Accreditation and Assessment, for a deeper conversation. And this time, we went somewhere different.
Not just how they use CORE. But why they chose it and what it's actually unlocked for their accreditation workflow.
Here's what stood out.
The Accreditation Problem Nobody Talks About
Most conversations about software for field placement and student teaching start and end with logistics: scheduling, hours tracking, supervisor and mentor teacher access. Those things matter. But what Nancy raised was the layer underneath, which is the data infrastructure that either makes accreditation reporting manageable, or doesn't.
When placement systems, assessment systems, and student information systems aren't connected, accreditation season becomes a reconciliation project. CAEP requires EPPs to demonstrate that all candidates are meeting program standards, not just in aggregate, but broken down by program type, placement setting, and demographic group.
Without an integrated system, producing that report means manually pulling a candidate list from your SIS, matching it to evaluation scores from your placement tool, and building the disaggregation yourself in a spreadsheet, every cycle.
At Liberty University, the Banner integration brings candidate demographic data directly into CORE, so when Dr. DeJarnette pulls a CAEP report, the ethnicity, program code, and placement details are already attached. She can filter and export what she needs without a reconciliation project in the middle. For a program placing 2,000 students a semester across elementary, special education, secondary, and other licensure tracks, that's not a small task.
The Question That Influenced Liberty University’s Decision to Choose CORE
When Liberty University was evaluating vendors, they came up with a specific list. But the number one question was:
Can you do multiple placements within the same semester for a single candidate?
For special education candidates, PE and health candidates, music candidates, split placements are the norm, not the exception. Most vendors said no. CORE said yes. That was enough to shift the conversation entirely.
It's a small detail that reveals something bigger: this platform was built by people who actually understand the programs it serves.
What "Easy for Stakeholders" Really Means in Practice
Liberty University places approximately 2,000 students per semester, locally, nationally, and internationally. That means thousands of cooperating teachers and external supervisors interacting with the system every term.
Getting those partners to adopt a new tool is one of the biggest implementation risks any EPP faces. Liberty University's feedback after rolling out CORE: cooperating teachers called it a breath of fresh air. They receive an email, click a link, and they're in. Hour approvals are one tap. No login friction, no training required.
That's not just a nice-to-have. When your accreditation data depends on external partners completing evaluations and approving hours on time, a clunky user experience is a compliance risk.
What This Means for Your Education Program
If you're in the middle of an accreditation cycle, or already planning the next one, the question worth asking is whether your current tools are making that process harder than it needs to be.
Liberty University didn't just find a student placement tool. They built an integrated system where placement data, assessment data, and accreditation reporting all flow from the same source. That's what makes scale manageable and audit season survivable.
Want to see how it could work for your program? Request a personalized demo.
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