The number of available professional certifications, and the number of certified professionals, has been increasing at a very rapid rate. Some of the growth is driven by the increase in population, and the rest by individuals wanting to get a job in a particular profession or folks making a job change and wanting something to help them stand out from the rest of the applicants.

A good starting point for this discussion is the definition: Certification is defined by the National Organization for Competency Assurance as “the process by which a non-governmental agency or association grants recognition of competence to an individual who has met predetermined qualifications specified by that agency or association.”

There are many accredited certifications and, of course, many more professional certifications that have not achieved accreditation. For the purpose of this article, we will only consider the issues associated with accredited certifications.

Accreditation comes from an evaluation by an impartial third party. In the U.S. there are three such bodies: American National Standards Institute (ANSI), The Council of Scientific and Specialty Boards (CESB), and International Credentialing Excellence (ICE).

To be accredited, the administrative body for the certification must (in part):

 Ensure all programs are free of bias

 Require periodic recertification

 Determine pass/fail cutoff using psychometrically valid criteria

 Maintain disciplinary procedures

 Assure separation of the education and certification components of a certification

 Have a public member on the board

(This requirements listing is not all inclusive)

Eligibility

The organization administering a certification, often called a sponsor, establishes education and experience criteria to qualify for the cert.

Bias

The sponsor must have requirements for and demand that all qualified candidates will be accepted.

Ethics

Accredited certifications require adherence to a prescribed set of professional ethics (Sometimes called Code of Conduct)

Examination

This is generally the last step before awarding the certification. The examinations are expensive to develop and maintain.

 A body of knowledge must be developed, generally by a panel of subject matter experts.

 Then questions must be developed that speak to the established body of knowledge.

 This is followed by psychometrically sound standard-setting that will result in the exam pass/fail score

 Next, each question in the exam must be monitored to assure that it is accurately measuring a candidate’s knowledge of the subject matter

Recertification

This mandates that a certificate holder meet certain professional practice and educational requirements during an established time frame to maintain certification. The education piece is often met by accumulation of Continuance of Education (CEU) points (sometimes called Continuance of Certification (COC) points). Some organizations allow recertification by retesting.

This has been a quick and much abbreviated look into an accredited certification. In closing it seems obvious that by having earned an accredited certification a person has increased value to themselves and their employer. They have met exacting criteria to qualify, have passed a subject matter test and are remaining professionally current through practice and ongoing education.