About

Dr. Banhi Bhattacharya is an educator, researcher, accreditation specialist, and organizational consultant whose career spans multiple countries and various levels of the education system — from middle school classrooms, US-based educator preparation programs, to national accreditation systems.

As a consultant, Banhi works with educator preparation providers in their accreditation and national recognition journeys. She also provides guidance to national organizations in their standards implementation and review processes.

For about a decade at the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), Banhi built expertise across various dimensions of educator preparation accreditation. She was CAEP’s lead on the 2018 K-6 CAEP Elementary Teacher Preparation Standards, representing the organization on the development committee and coordinating both the creation and the rollout of the standards. At CAEP, she directed the National Recognition review processes of about 20 specialized professional association (SPA) partners and the committees reviewing and approving SPA standards. She also led CAEP’s annual compliance and quality assurance review process of over 600 educator preparation providers, and managed accreditation cases coordinating accreditation visits, delivering training, and advising institutions on accreditation and national recognition for programs leading to P–12 educator licensure.

Prior to CAEP, Banhi held leadership positions at Childhood Education International, a specialized professional association (SPA) for elementary education teachers at that time. There she facilitated the implementation of the 2007 K–6 Elementary Teacher Preparation Standards by providers and state certification offices. She was CEI’s primary liaison with CAEP, coordinating elementary education program reviews as part of the CAEP accreditation process. She has also served as a university instructor for pre-service teacher candidates at Michigan State University, a literacy specialist in a charter school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a middle school ESL teacher in India, where her career in education began.

Currently, in addition to her role as a consultant, Banhi enjoys giving back to the community as an ESOL instructor for the Fairfax County Public Schools’ Adult and Community Education program. While teaching keeps her grounded in the classroom by design, she plays a leadership role as the Assistant Vice President of Professional Development Operations for the PMI Washington DC Chapter (PMIWDC), one of the largest Project Management Institute chapters in the world.

Banhi graduated from Michigan State University with a Doctorate in Curriculum, Teaching and Educational Policy. She holds a Masters degree in Educational and Professional Development from Western Michigan University and a second Masters in English Literature from University of Calcutta, India.