Standards of Capacity for
Program Quality

TEAC defines a quality program as one that has credible evidence that it satisfies the three TEAC quality principles. However, TEAC also requires the program faculty to provide evidence that it has the capacity— curriculum, faculty, resources, facilities, publications, student support services, and policies—to support student learning and program quality. This evidence should be independent of student learning and based on some traditional input features of capacity.

The faculty can make the case that the program has a sufficient capacity for quality in any way that meets scholarly standards of evidence; however, TEAC requires that the faculty cover the following basic points in making its case.

Quality control

The faculty must show that it monitors systematically the quality of the program and that the faculty is disposed to act to continuously improve program quality. This is just another way of saying that the faculty adheres to Quality Principle III. The faculty maintains a system of quality control and inquiry, verified by periodic internal audits, that (1) monitors the quality of the curriculum, faculty, facilities, resources, student support services, publications; and (2) is sensitive and responds to student comment and complaint.

Evidence of commitment

The faculty must also provide evidence that the institution is committed to the program. Commitment is most conveniently seen in the evidence of parity of the program within the institution. The program must at least have the normative capacity of the institution’s academic programs with regard to the quality of the curriculum, faculty, facilities, resources, student support services, publications, and features it shares with the institution’s other programs.

Unique capacity

The faculty must also address whatever unique capacity is needed for program quality in professional education.

Teacher education programs, for example, have unique features, such as student teaching and clinical courses. The institution and program must provide resources, administrative direction, and facilities for these unique and distinctive features.

The program faculty must make a case that overall it has the capacity to offer a quality program. The program does this by providing evidence in the ways described below.

4.1 Curriculum

TEAC’s Quality Principle I sets out the required components of the curriculum (1.1–1.3). In addition TEAC has three standards for the professional curriculum’s capacity for quality:

4.1.1 Reflects an appropriate number of credits and credit-hour requirements for the components of Quality Principle I. An academic major, or its equivalent, is necessary for subject matter knowledge (1.1) and no less than an academic minor, or its equivalent, is necessary for pedagogical knowledge and teaching skill (1.2 and 1.3).

4.1.2 Meets the state’s program or curriculum course requirements for granting a professional license.

4.1.3 Does not deviate from, and has parity with, the institution’s overall standards and requirements for granting the academic degree.

4.2 Faculty

TEAC requires evidence of oversight and coordination of the curriculum of the professional teacher education program. The entity responsible for the program may be an administrative department, school, program, center, institute, or faculty group. It may be as large as the entire college or university or as small as a committee of faculty and staff who have direct authority and responsibility for those aspects of the program that pertain to TEAC’s quality principles. Because of the variety of structures among institutions, TEAC uses the term faculty to represent this entity.

TEAC’s standard for the quality of the program faculty is the presence of the following attributes in the faculty:

4.2.1 The program faculty members must approve the Inquiry Brief or Inquiry Brief Proposal and accept the preparation of competent, caring, and qualified educators as the goal for their program.

4.2.2 The Inquiry Brief or Inquiry Brief Proposal must demonstrate the faculty’s accurate and balanced understanding of the disciplines that are connected to the program.

4.2.3 The program faculty members must be qualified to teach the courses in the program to which they are assigned, as evidenced by advanced degrees held, scholarship, contributions to the field, and professional experience. TEAC requires that a majority of the faculty members hold a graduate or doctoral level degree in subjects appropriate to teach the education program of study and curricula. The program may, however, demonstrate that faculty not holding such degrees are qualified for their roles based on the other factors stated above.

4.2.4 The program faculty’s qualifications must be equal to or better than those of the faculty across the institution as a whole: e.g., proportion of terminal degree holders, alignment of degree specialization and program responsibilities, proportions and balance of the academic ranks, and diversity (see also 4.4.4).

4.3 Facilities, equipment, and supplies

The program must demonstrate that the facilities provided by the institution for the program are sufficient and adequate to support a quality program as follows.

4.3.1 The program must demonstrate that it has appropriate and adequate budgetary and other resource allocations for program space, equipment, and supplies to promote success in student learning as required by Quality Principle I.

4.3.2 The program must have an adequate quality control system to monitor and improve the suitability and appropriateness of program facilities, supplies, and equipment.

4.3.3 The facilities, equipment, and supplies that the institution allocates to the program must, at a minimum, be proportionate to the overall institutional resources and must be sufficient to support the operations of the program. The program students, faculty, and staff must have equal and sufficient access to, and benefit from, the institution’s facilities, equipment, and supplies.

4.4 Fiscal and administrative

The program must have adequate and appropriate fiscal and administrative resources that are sufficient to support the mission of the program and to achieve the goal of preparing competent, caring, and qualified educators, as indicated by the following:

4.4.1 The financial condition of the institution that supports the program must be sound, and the institution must be financially viable.

4.4.2 The program must demonstrate an appropriate level of institutional investment in and commitment to faculty development, research and scholarship, and national and regional service. The program faculty’s workload obligations must be commensurate with those the institution as a whole expects in hiring, promotion, tenure, and other employment contracts.

4.4.3 The program must have a sufficient quality monitoring and control system to ensure that the program has adequate financial and administrative resources.

4.4.4 The financial and administrative resources allocated to the program must, at a minimum, be proportionate to the overall allocation of financial resources to other programs at the institution and must be sufficient to support the operations of the program and to promote success in student learning as required by Quality Principle I.

4.5 Student support services

The program must make available to students regular and sufficient services such as counseling, career placement, advising, financial aid, health care, and media and technology support.

4.5.1 Services available to students in the program must be sufficient to support their success in learning (Quality Principle I) and successful completion of the program.

4.5.2 The program must monitor the quality of the student support services to ensure that they contribute to student success in learning (Quality Principle I.)

4.5.3 Support services available to students in the program must, at a minimum, be equal to the level of student support services provided by the institution as a whole.

4.6 Recruiting and admissions practices, academic calendars, catalogs, publications, grading, and advertising

The institution that offers the program must publish in its catalog, or other appropriate documents distributed to students, information that fairly and accurately describes the program, policies, and procedures directly affecting admitted students in the program; charges and refund policies; grading policies; and the academic credentials of faculty members and administrators.

As part of its audit, TEAC examines the program catalog, Web pages, or other descriptive publications (including those that contain the program’s academic calendar, a list of faculty teaching in the program, and a description of the program’s history and guiding philosophy) to ensure that they are both accurate and consistent with the claims made in the Brief.

4.6.1 Admissions and mentoring policies must encourage the recruitment and retention of diverse students with demonstrated potential as professional educators, and must respond to the nation’s need for qualified individuals to serve in high-demand areas and locations.

4.6.2 The program or institution must distribute an academic calendar to students. The academic calendar must list the beginning and end dates of terms, holidays, and examination periods.

4.6.3 Claims made by the program in its published materials must be accurate and supported with evidence. Claims made in the Inquiry Brief or Inquiry Brief Proposal regarding the program must be consistent with, and inclusive of, claims made about the program that appear in the institution’s catalog, mission statements, and other promotional literature.

4.6.4 The program must have a fair, equitable, and published grading policy. (This policy may also be the institution’s grading policy.)

4.7 Student feedback

The quality of a program depends upon its ability to meet the needs of its students. One effective way to determine if those needs are met is to encourage students to evaluate the program and express their concerns, grievances, and ideas about the program. The faculty is asked to provide evidence that it makes a provision for the free expression of student feedback about the program and responds to student views and complaints.

4.7.1 The institution is required to keep a file of student feedback and complaints about the program’s quality, and the program’s response. The program must provide TEAC with access to those records, including resolution of student grievances.

4.7.2 Complaints from students about the program’s quality must be proportionally no greater or more significant than complaints made by students in the institution’s other programs.

State standards

When appropriate because of TEAC’s protocol agreement with a state, an eighth component to the TEAC capacity standards (4.8) is added, with subcomponents (4.8.1, etc.) in accordance to the state’s particular requirements.

Nonspecific concerns

If the Brief contains inaccuracies that are not clearly related to any feature of the TEAC accreditation framework, but which nevertheless speak to the overall reliability and trustworthiness of the Brief, the auditors will list them as nonspecific concerns about the accuracy of the Brief, and the tasks that probe these concerns will be counted in the overall audit opinion.