Accreditation: A third-party attestation conveying a formal demonstration of an organization’s competence to carry out specific tasks.
Certificate of Achievement or Assessment-Based Certificate: A document issued to demonstrate the successful completion of an education or training program; it includes an assessment(s) of the learner’s achievement of intended learning outcomes.
Certificate of Completion: A certificate issued after an individual completes or attends an education and training program. These types of certificates do not include an assessment of learning.
Certification: A learner earns certification after passing a third-party assessment based on a set of competency standards or minimum performance expectations. These standards are set through a defensible, industry- or profession-wide job analysis process which is reviewed and revised regularly. Recertification may be required to keep a certification current. Certifications may be revoked for incompetence, unethical behavior, or failure to meet recertification requirements.
Competence: The ability to apply knowledge and skills to achieve intended results.
Examination Blueprint/Outline: The content areas to be included in an examination, together with the criteria (weighting) of the content areas on the overall examination.
Job Analysis or Job Task Analysis: The method(s) used to identify specific jobs or job-related tasks and the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform them competently. Job analysis establishes the validity of assessments used in issuing credentials.
Recertification: The process for renewing a certification—to ensure that the certification holder has up-to-date knowledge and skills. Recertification may involve taking an assessment, completing continuing education courses, paying a fee, meeting experience requirements, and/or maintaining ethical conduct.
Scope of Certification: The range and nature of specific tasks that a certified person is expected to be able to perform competently, by virtue of holding a specific certification within a certification scheme.
Information about accreditation, standards, and compliance impacting companies especially in the learn-and-work ecosystem may be found at the Learn & Work Ecosystem Library:
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.
