Information for individuals who are in charge of the visit and who will coordinate or chair meetings and discussions.

Questions to ask your accreditation agency:

• What titles does your agency use to designate team members with specific roles and leadership responsibilities?
• What requirements and qualities are needed for being team leader, coordinator, or meeting chair?
• How are team leaders, meeting coordinators and meeting chairs selected and trained?
• What procedures should be followed if a team member does not show up for the site visit or is unable to perform his or her duties?
• Under what circumstances should a site visit be rescheduled?

Depending on the accreditation agency and the size of the evaluation team, team members may have different roles, responsibilities and titles. Sometimes one person or a small number of team members will have leadership roles, while at other times, roles and responsibilities will be shared by many or even all team members. For example, in some agencies, the team leader always chairs meetings; whereas in other agencies, every team member has the responsibility of chairing at least one meeting during a site visit.

As the name implies, "team leaders" are in charge of the site-visit team. The team leader is designated by the accreditation agency and must have knowledge of the agency's policies and procedures in order to ensure that they are followed during the visit. At some agencies, this individual may be involved in coordinating activities and facilitators for sessions with the institution's representatives or even in the selection of other members for inclusion on the site-visit team. Depending on the agency, duties of the team leader could include:

• Contacting team members prior to the visit
• Coordinating the schedule before and during the visit
• Serving as the primary liaison between the institution and agency
• Chairing meetings
• Facilitating team discussions
• Achieving team consensus
• Preparing the final report
• Mentoring team members
• Assigning roles or duties to other team members

Some site-visit team members may also be given other titles such as "coordinator," "facilitator," or "chair," etc. Special responsibilities may be designated prior to arriving at the visit or assigned by the team leader during the team's orientation session at the institution. Such responsibilities may include:

1. Coordinating the logistics for assigned sessions. These may include:

• Room set-up: Arrange the seating in the room to facilitate discussion. The team should be seated together, in a fashion that permits discussion and interaction, while alleviating the need to search for team members in a mixed audience.

• Introductions: While introductions may have occurred as individuals assemble for the session, it is helpful to go around the room and have each participant introduce himself/herself and provide a brief statement of background and/or how the individual is involved in the particular group. It is helpful to provide a brief statement describing the team and its purpose both in a general sense and relating to the specific session at hand.

• Ground Rules: It is important to describe the ground rules for each session prior to beginning; this consists of describing the available time frame, as well as the approach to be used. The chair should serve as timekeeper, to assure adherence to the schedule.

2. Serving as discussion leader/facilitator to foster interaction between all team members and representatives of the institution during assigned sessions. Frequently the session leader/facilitator is given the title of "meeting chair" and will initiate the discussion and questions for the session, with other team members joining in if they have comments or questions.

On occasion, weather, illness, or other unavoidable circumstance may make it impossible for a team member to go on a scheduled visit or fulfill his or her duties. If this should happen, the accreditation agency should be contacted and the agency's policies and procedures should be followed to inform the program or institution about the situation and to decide whether to continue or postpone the visit.

If the agency receives sufficient notification prior to a visit, there may be time to find a replacement team member or reschedule the activities in a way that is acceptable to the program or institution. If a team member becomes unavailable on extremely short notice, and the decision is made to continue the visit, the team leader will typically work with representatives of the program or institution to rearrange the activities on the visit schedule.