Target: What the auditors are seeking to verify in the Brief. A target can be a particular sentence, claim, statistic, or piece of evidence. Each target is linked to an element, component, or subcomponent of the TEAC system. For example, if the target is the sentence all faculty teach in their areas of competence, the purpose of choosing the target is its link to subcomponent 4.2.3, the faculty’s qualifications.

Teach-out agreement: An agreement between accredited institutions, which provides equitable treatment of students if one of the institutions stops offering an educational program before all enrolled students have completed the program.

Teacher competence: A teacher’s competence is a reflection of the repertoire of skills, understandings, and dispositions he or she possesses. The particular set of skills, understandings, and dispositions that a program faculty takes to represent competence is reflected in the claims made about the program’s candidates and in the literature and evidence cited in the Inquiry Brief to justify the claims. The Inquiry Brief must provide evidence about teaching skill that indicates that the candidates for the degree know how to teach and can show their skill in clinical settings.

Teacher qualifications: TEAC expects that program graduates will receive a state license to teach. In the past, earning a license was tantamount to successfully completing an approved program and receiving a recommendation for licensure from the faculty. But in most states, graduating from an approved program is now necessary but not sufficient to receive a state license. Many states require candidates in addition to pass criminal background checks, take and pass examinations, and meet health standards.

TEAC requires that a program that merits accreditation should select, screen, and prepare its candidates to meet all of the state licensure requirements. The significant data bearing on this claim are twofold: (1) the number of teacher education candidates who graduate from a program each year; and (2) the proportion of those graduates who earn a state teaching license.

Teacher skill: TEAC expects that all teacher candidates at the close of their teacher education programs can perform in rudimentary ways in the classroom. In an independent manner, candidates are expected to plan lessons effectively, implement them well, and assess their impact with rigor. In their performances, it is expected that teacher candidates will meet standard problems facing teachers and address them successfully. It is TEAC’s perspective that no teacher candidate should be recommended for licensure in the profession without demonstrating teacher competence as defined.

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