Certification

Certification in evaluation is a process leading to a formal statement (document) that specifies what a person knows about evaluation principles, what evaluation skills they possess, and that they are able to conduct evaluations. Generally, certification is based on an individual's having passed a standardized test soon after having completed an educational program in a field or specialty. It might also require successfully taking multiple examinations throughout a program of study, as in medicine and actuarial science.

Determining the content of the certification examination is usually the purview of professional groups (e.g., the American Evaluation Association, the Canadian Evaluation Society, the Japanese Evaluation Society). Maintaining certification is an individual responsibility, but most fields mandate what is needed for certificate renewal, such as participating in continuing education courses (or workshops), producing examples of one's work, and, less frequently, being retested at regular intervals.

Certification is distinct from licensing and credentialing, with the distinctions often blurred. A license is granted by an official governmental entity that not only legally controls licenses to practice in a field but also the removal of same for cause. For the vast majority of fields, the license is based on performance in the certification examination, with responsibility for the content of the test and the standards to be achieved residing in the professional society. These standards are accepted by the government entity, which assumes the role of a regulator.

To illustrate the distinction between certification and licensing: A physician could be certified, but not licensed (have the legal right to engage in the practice of medicine) because he or she was known to have abused drugs or committed a felony. Each year in the United States, physicians, lawyers, pharmacists, and others who are certified in their respective disciplines lose their licenses through the actions of state-sanctioned boards of professional conduct and practice. Under due process, practitioners may legally challenge a decision to revoke or suspend their license in their chosen field of practice.

Credentialing refers to the completion of certain requirements (approved courses, applied field internships, apprenticeships, on-the-job training) for which one would be given a credential.

A professional group, such as the American Chemical Society, may give credentials, and to some extent, a university degree could be considered a credential. The passage of a certification examination (or examinations) may not be mandatory for a credential. Attestation to an individual's level of skill or performance [Page 50]by a professional group or a government body is neither present nor implied. Credentialing simply shows that a person has had exposure to certain information and has been involved in specified experiences. Credentialing is less rigorous than certification.

Certification is predicated on the concept of a profession as characterized by (a) a specialized body of literature and skills that must be acquired, (b) work that requires using those specialized skills and knowledge, (c) a common set of interests that set apart members of the profession from other individuals and groups, (d) the formation of professional societies, (e) a sense of calling (a strong desire to engage in the work), (f) fulltime practitioners, (g) formal training based on content determined by the professional society, (h) standards determined by the society that guide the conduct of work in the field, and (i) controlled entry. Entry, as noted previously, is via matriculation through established training programs, testing at or near the completion of training, and, in some instances, supervised participation in work in the field under an appropriately qualified individual.

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