The Department adheres to the standards and guidelines defined by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA), and the New Mexico State Department of Education.

A land-grant institution founded in 1888, New Mexico State University is designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution under Title III and Title V programs administered by the Office of Postsecondary Education of the U.S. Department of Education. Ranked by the Carnegie Foundation as a Research University with high research activity, NMSU's research expenditures exceeded $133 million for FY13. In addition, according to the most recently available statistics from the National Science Foundation, NMSU ranks third in research expenditures by Hispanic Serving Institutions.