Staff analysis: A document prepared by the TEAC staff to assist the Accreditation Panel. This document takes into consideration the panelists’ individual analysis of the program’s case for accreditation and the staff’s own analysis. The staff analysis considers whether or not there are credible rival hypotheses for the claims in the Brief and whether or not the evidence for the claims is sufficient.

State accreditation agreement: A formal agreement between a state and TEAC that defines the state’s recognition of TEAC’s accreditation of programs, its relationship with state program approval, and guides any joint or concurrent state-TEAC site visits.

State approval: A governmental activity requiring specific professional education programs within a state to meet standards of quality so that their graduates will be eligible for a state license (same as program approval or program registration).

Stipulation: A finding by the Accreditation Panel, and confirmed by the Accreditation Committee, of a weakness in the evidence for a component of any element in the TEAC system (1.1–4.7) that is sufficient to indicate that component is below standard, but insufficient to place the entire element (1.0, 2.0, 3.0, or 4.0) below standard. A program must address stipulations immediately and within two years must present in its annual report to TEAC evidence that is sufficient to refute the weakness.

Subcomponent: Subcomponents (only in element 4.0) and are designated by a second decimal. (For example, 4.2.4, Parity with the institution, is a subcomponent of component 4.2, Faculty, of element 4.0, Program’s Capacity for Quality.

Subject matter knowledge: TEAC requires that the teacher education programs it accredits offer the traditional academic college major of approximately 30 credit hours of graduated study, or its equivalent. Because the major is geared toward graduate study or entry level employment in the discipline, however, the program faculty should carefully examine each major to insure that it is appropriate for the future teacher because it leads students to the kind of basic understanding necessary to be an effective educator.

Those seeking some teaching assignments (for example, elementary school teaching or secondary school teaching in social studies or general science) are required to have the equivalent of the academic major because there is often no appropriate formal major for these fields.

Substantive change: Any change in the published mission or objectives of the institution or education program; the addition of courses or programs that represent a significant departure in terms of either content or delivery from those that were offered when TEAC most recently accredited the programs; a change in legal status or form of control of the program; or a change from contracting with other providers for direct instructional services, including any teach out agreements.

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