As a measure of quality, professional certification bodies can opt to participate in a voluntary accreditation process, which follows a process-based framework. Most certification bodies choose to be accredited to one of two standards:
And in the field of nursing, there is a specialized accreditor, the Accreditation Board for Specialty Nursing Certification (ABSNC) Standards. Each organization maintains a publicly available list of accredited certification bodies and their certifications.
Since only a small percentage of certification bodies partake in the accreditation process, there needs to be other ways to gather information to make a judgment about certification quality. The questions outlined below can be used to help uncover answers about the processes and outcomes associated with a certification to assess quality.
Credential As You Go has acquired three phases of funding to date. Lumina Foundation funded Phase I, resulting in the Incremental Credential Framework for testing. The Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education funds Phase II (Grant R305T210063), which focuses on rapid prototyping of and research on incremental credentials with a national campaign. An anonymous private donor fund at the Program on Skills, Credentials & Workforce Policy at George Washington University funds the development of the prototype Learn and Work Ecosystem Library. Walmart funds Phase III, which focuses on systems change for expansion and sustainability of incremental credentials. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of Lumina Foundation, Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education, Walmart, or George Washington University.
