Policy and procedure update
September 7, 2005

TEAC has a new a policy, effective with the upcoming audit cycles. The program will select a practitioner to serve on the audit team with the other TEAC auditors and the state representative in instances where TEAC has a formal state agreement or protocol.

In states where TEAC has a formal agreement or accreditation/program approval protocol, a representative of the state department of education joins the audit team. This person fully participates in the audit and assists the team in properly interpreting state regulations and policies with regard to teacher education. 

In any audit, however, there are also issues and findings that can be clarified through the advice and counsel of someone with local knowledge about the program, the community, local schooling, the careers of the program’s graduates, and the like. The recent audit teams have felt that they would be equally well-served if they also had a local practitioner on the team who could provide similar assistance with regard to matters of local practices and issues that may not be known to the state representative.

The TEAC audit team will now include a local practitioner (such as a classroom teacher, principal, or counselor) who can provide knowledge about the local context and advice to the audit team, much as the state department of education representative has done in the past with regard to state policies.  The role of the local practitioner would be similar and complementary to that of the representative of the state department of education. The practitioner is a member of the team, participates in all activities of the team while the team is on campus, and is a party to all subsequent reports and responses between TEAC and the program. 

The addition of a practitioner does add a small cost to the audit visit. The program will select the practitioner, insure there is no conflict of interest, cover costs (if any) of a substitute, and pay the person no less than the same honorarium that is paid to the program’s cooperating teachers. 

The matter of a potential conflict of interest is complex and subtle in this case, because while the practitioner needs to be familiar with and knowledgeable about the program and its graduates, the person must not have a direct personal stake in the outcome of the audit. In any case the person’s relationship (past and present) with the program must be disclosed to TEAC; we ask that you send a copy of his or her vita and a brief statement describing your reasons for selecting this person (electronically, to rebecca@teac.org).

The practitioner auditor will receive briefing and training during the organizational meeting of the team the evening before the audit, will have full access to the Inquiry Brief or Inquiry Brief Proposal and its supporting materials, and will participate in the audit interviews and investigations.