Most materials needed to conduct the review are posted on NCATE’s Web site. National and state BOE team members, state consultants, and representatives from state NEA and AFT affiliates should visit the Board of Examiners section to retrieve the appropriate materials. Most of the documents are in a Microsoft Word format and can be downloaded to a disk or hard drive to be completed before, during, and after the visit. Team members are responsible for reviewing, downloading, and/or printing the materials needed to complete the on-site visit.

Documents available on the website that should be completed as part of the visit include:

• Planning instrument

• BOE report template

• Evaluation forms

• Expense voucher

The following documents, which are on the website, are resources that should be used by team members as they conduct the visit and write the team report:

• BOE report samples

• Code of conduct

• Distance learning questions

• Off-campus program questions

• NCATE/state protocols

• Summary of standards

• Citing areas for improvement for the conceptual framework

• BOE report preparation guidelines

• BOE report style guide

• Current and Past BOE Updates

• Conflict of interest and date of availability form

These materials are available only on the website. If a disk or paper copy is required, team members must make a copy from the website. NCATE does not mail hard copies of these materials. Team members should contact the NCATE office for assistance if they experience difficulties accessing or downloading any of the materials.

Two to four months before the visit, NCATE sends team members the following information related to the institution being visited:

• Name of NCATE’s travel agency, and authorization code for visit;

• List of team members and institutional contacts;

• UAB action at the previous visit;

• Annual reports (Part C) submitted by the institution;

Some of the documents available to team members before the visit are described below. If team members have a question about or recommendations regarding any of the materials, they should contact NCATE staff.

Planning Instrument

BOE team members and chairs should complete the planning instrument as they read the institutional report and review online exhibits prior to the on-site visit. Using the evidence for conceptual frameworks and the rubrics for the standards, the instrument allows team members to note questions to be pursued and evidence to check during the on-site visit. It also allows them to keep notes that can be transferred to the written BOE report. It is designed to focus team discussions on the standards and determine additional data needed during the BOE team’s work session on Sunday of the on-site visit. It should also help the team plan what information needs to be sought Monday on campus.

The instrument must be completed before the first team meeting on Saturday or Sunday of the visit. Team members are expected to record on an overhead transparency or newsprint their previsit ratings for each area of evidence for the conceptual framework and each element of the standards listed on the rubric. The rating scales for the conceptual framework and standards differ as shown in the examples below from the planning instrument.

For the review of the standards elements, team members are asked to rate how adequately each is being addressed, using the following scale:

3 = Target
2 = Acceptable
1 = Unacceptable
0 = Data Are Not Available

For the review of the conceptual framework, team members are asked to rate how adequately each area of evidence is being addressed based on the information [i.e., institutional report (IR) and exhibits] available prior to the on-site visit, using the following scale:

3 = Very Thoroughly
2 = Adequately
1 = In Limited Ways
0 = Not at All

Evaluation Forms

BOE members are asked to evaluate the other national and state members on the team immediately after a visit. They are also asked to evaluate the performance of the team chair and NCATE procedures. The evaluation forms should be returned to NCATE with the expense voucher.

Evaluation of BOE Colleagues on the Team.

This evaluation provides data to NCATE about the performance of team members. It is used to identify potential new chairs and alerts the staff to BOE members who may not be performing at the level expected. Team members are also asked to evaluate the performance of the chair on one side of this form. (Team chairs are not expected to evaluate themselves; thus, they will not have this part of the form.)

Evaluation of the NCATE Procedures.

The items on this evaluation change periodically to solicit feedback on new procedures that have been implemented. Ratings of the quality of institutional reports and institutions’ preparation and readiness for visits are valuable in identifying practices that have worked. The feedback on this form may lead to adjustments in BOE training and the evaluation process for both team members and institutions.

Partnership States and Protocols

To determine whether the institution being visited is located in a state that has a partnership with NCATE, click here. If the state is a partner, a protocol can be accessed from this link. The protocol outlines the expectations of both NCATE and the state agency responsible for state approval. It indicates whether the state requires its institutions to submit program reports for review by the specialized professional associations and identifies the standards used by the state to evaluate programs. The size and composition of state teams are described, as well as the nature of the joint visit (i.e., a single joint team, two concurrent teams, or another structure). Team members should review the protocol to determine how the visit will be conducted.

Expense Voucher

The expense voucher is used to report out-of-pocket expenses incurred during the visit. BOE members may use NCATE’s travel agent to charge airfare or use their own travel agency or the web and seek reimbursement on the expense voucher. For most visits, institutions arrange for hotel expenses to be directly billed to the institution so that team members do not have to cover those costs. Expenses normally reported on the expense voucher include meals, airport parking, and mileage or taxicabs used in traveling to an airport.

List of Team Members

The team member list includes the addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses for both team members and the contacts at the institution—usually the unit head and coordinator of the visit. It also includes (if the visit is to be a joint visit with the State) the names and addresses of the state team members, the state consultant, and representatives from the NEA and AFT state affiliates. Sometimes the list is incomplete because not all team members have yet accepted the assignment. An updated list is forwarded to team members and the institution after additions have been made. If information on the team list is incorrect, the NCATE office should be contacted immediately.

Previous UAB Accreditation Action Report

If the institution being visited is currently accredited by NCATE, the team will have access to the report of the UAB action from the previous visit. If the visit was in spring 2001 or before, the report indicates weaknesses (now called areas for improvement) cited by standard. In its annual reports, the unit should have reported progress made toward eliminating these weaknesses or areas for improvement.

Annual Reports

Annually, the unit submits descriptive and quantitative information in its annual report to AACTE and NCATE, as described in detail in the institutional section of this handbook. In the NCATE part of the report (submitted only by institutions that are already accredited), the unit describes changes made in the past year related to the NCATE standards; action taken to address the cited areas for improvement may also be reported. For accredited institutions, team members will have access to all annual reports submitted since the last visit; for institutions seeking their first accreditation, team members will have access to all annual reports submitted since the institution became a candidate.

Trend Data

Trend data are compiled from the AACTE/NCATE annual reports submitted by the institution. The data include numbers on candidate enrollment and completion, candidate diversity, faculty size and demographics, faculty diversity, and budgets over four to five years. The data are presented so that teams can see any significant changes from year to year.

The Third-Year Review of Annual Reports

At the midpoint of an institution’s accreditation cycle, NCATE’s Annual Report and Preconditions Audit Committee (ARPA) reviews the institution’s annual reports and provides feedback on the progress made in addressing areas cited for improvement. The committee also checks annual report data for significant changes that may affect the unit’s capacity to continue to meet standards. The third-year review does not indicate that areas for improvement have been adequately addressed. In the case of most areas for improvement cited in BOE reports, the narrative response provided in annual reports cannot provide by itself sufficient evidence that an area for improvement has been fully addressed. On the other hand, it is likely—indeed, expected—that an area for improvement indicated as “not addressed” in the third-year review will have been addressed after the institution’s receipt of the third-year report, two years before its visit.

(Note: in most cases, the previous NCATE visit will have been conducted under a different iteration of standards than the standards being used in the current visit.