Emmanuel Reinbold, Former Senior Evaluator, ACSI Certification Department
The ACSI certification process has tended to be confusing. Sometimes it is overwhelming. We in the Certification Department are working to help you!
Over the last year, one of our major goals has been to simplify certification and make it more understandable. As a result, we have had a representative at several ACSI teacher conventions, we have developed a certification manual on CD-ROM, and we have made our website more user-friendly. Additionally, we have reduced our turnaround time significantly—from two to three months, to the current two to three weeks.
In our effort to make certification more doable, we have come up with some suggestions that have helped some schools eliminate much of the confusion:
- The school should be responsible for certification! The certification process should not be left up to teachers to handle on their own; they do not have the time. When teachers receive correspondence from ACSI, they are likely to place it in a drawer to deal with later—usually, at the time of renewal.
- The first step for a school that is taking charge of the certification process is learning about the forms. The two most important certification forms are the application form and the credit evaluation and recommendation form (CERF). The application is a four-page form that teachers fill out and submit with appropriate documents, including their transcripts and their continuing education unit (CEU) records. The Certification Department fills out the CERF and sends it to the teachers with their certificate. The form details what the applicants will need to do to renew their certification and upgrade their certificate. The CERF is as important as the certificate!
- Next, we recommend that the school establish a certification contact person. This person will review all certification applications before they are sent to the Certification Office, and will then review the CERF that we send with the certificate. When teachers have questions about the certification process, they will ask the contact person, who will then ask us if necessary. In this way, the contact person will come to understand the certification process better and answer questions without contacting the Certification Office.
- Once the school has appointed a certification contact person, we recommend that the contact person set up a plan of action with each applicant when he or she receives the certificate. This plan will detail each applicant’s deficiencies with ACSI along with a strategy for correcting them. The applicant will then have a clear understanding of what requirements need to be met, and will be able to meet them in time for renewal.
If your school would like to register the name of your contact person with ACSI, send us an email. We will send you an email survey to find out how we can serve you better. Finally, we will send you a certification starter packet.
Simplifying Certification 5.4