In the TEAC accreditation process,
the program’s self-study document is either an Inquiry
Brief (for those pursuing accreditation) or an Inquiry
Brief Proposal (for those pursuing preaccreditation
or new program accreditation). TEAC accredits a program
on the basis of its evidence that it produces graduates
who are competent, caring, and qualified educators, and
that the program has the capacity to offer quality. The
program presents this evidence in the Brief.
The whole point of the TEAC accreditation
process is to test the claims that the program faculty makes
in its Inquiry Brief or Inquiry Brief Proposal.
TEAC verifies the evidence presented in the Inquiry
Brief or Inquiry Brief Proposal and evaluates
whether or not the evidence supports the program’s
claim that it prepares competent, caring, and qualified
educators. The quality of evidence and the quality of the
system that produced it are the two key factors in the TEAC
accreditation decision.
The Brief is in essence a research monograph
(or, in the case of the Inquiry Brief Proposal,
a plan for such a monograph), and should be focused on what
the program faculty wants and needs to know about the program’s
performance. It should run about 50 pages, and it should
be based primarily on existing documents, such as reports
of ongoing inquiry, other accreditation reports, institutional
research, and other publications.
The Inquiry Brief or Inquiry
Brief Proposal should be meaningful to the program
and contain information necessary to properly and responsibly
administer and improve the pro-gram. It should be brief,
and it should be about inquiry. Producing the Brief should
be a seamless part of the program faculty’s normal,
collective activity to improve the program.
The program faculty members should work
together to produce the Brief. All faculty members of the
programs represented in the Brief should contribute to the
process, and TEAC requires that all faculty members in the
program review and approve the final Brief before it is
submitted for audit.
TEAC reviews drafts of the Brief and works
with the program faculty, providing feedback and guidance,
until the Brief is accepted for audit.
The time it takes a program faculty to
prepare a Brief varies, depending on local circumstances,
such a program structure, available documentation, state
context, and the institution’s commitment to the process.
Generally, it takes the same amount of time as needed to
produce a solid research article.
To produce the Brief, TEAC recommends that
program faculty follow the steps described at the end of
this section. In doing so, the faculty members will develop
a comprehensive understanding of their program necessary
to writing the Brief. They will also be well-prepared for
the audit.
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