Guidelines for proposing a federally funded teacher center were developed by the National Teacher Center Resource Center to assist local education agencies and institutions of higher education to complete teacher center program proposals. This manual is designed to assist proposal writers and those providing technical assistance to know when federal criteria have been met adequately. It is not the intent of the guidebook to suggest a format for teacher center proposals. It is hoped, rather, that the "suggested" indicators will spark ideas for proposal improvement and will help writers and technical assistants to see their proposals more objectively. The program proposal evaluation criteria include: (1) plan of operation; (2) quality of key personnel; (3) budget and cost effectiveness; (4) evaluation plan; (5) adequacy of resources; (6) authority of policy board; (7) potential for increasing teacher effectiveness; (8) adequacy of dissemination; (9) size, scope, and duration; (10) potential impact of inservice training; (11) representatives of policy board; and (12) support of new or expanded activities. (Authors/JD)