Certification Brief

Certification Brief – 4/6/11

The NACAS Certification Task Force, the NACAS Education Foundation and the NACAS Board are making steady progress on completion of the Certified Auxiliary Service Professional (CASP) program by October 2011.  Major progress points include:

•  Experts are helping us design the exam.  Comira, Inc. of Sacramento, California has been retained as the consultants/psychometricians who will direct our exam building.
• Twenty subject Matter Experts (SMEs) have been selected and began the hard work of exam question development at their March meeting.   Two 150 question exams will be completed by July 2011 after a series of meetings regarding the exams.  This is directly based upon the work analysis conducted in 2010 and the input of NACAS members and other auxiliary professionals.  Those areas and their weight are available on the NACAS Community.
• The  CASP exam will be computer-based.  This decision allows the exam to be offered at over 250 testing centers in the U.S. and Canada, without requiring extensive travel to a centralized site.
• NACAS will seek ANSI accreditation.  Accreditation of certification programs is obtained by very, very few associations or organizations.  NACAS has adhered to the highest standards in the accreditation industry as it put together the CASP program and will take the next step to attain ANSI accreditation standards.  This includes conformity with international ISO/IEC standards.
• Establishment of a semi-autonomous Certification Commission within NACAS has begun by initiating the development of policies and procedures.  This is an important part of the accreditation standards of ANSI.
• Fundraising efforts continue to be successful.  The Foundation has committed to continued funding of the development process and establishment of an endowment, estimated at $500,000.  The purpose of the endowment is to establish long-term support to keep certification affordable to professionals in higher education.  Barnes and Noble Booksellers Inc. was the first NACAS Business Partner to commit to a lead gift of $25,000 per year for five years to develop and endow this program.  American Campus Communities has also committed to this program.

This process has been and continues to be a rigorous process in which member and non-member input has helped to define this program.  This has also involved the highest level of cooperation between NACAS, the NACAS Education Foundation, our NACAS Regions, and our members.  There will be more information coming soon and we will work to ensure we properly communicate this information to you, our members.

Patty Eldred, Certification Task Force Chair
Dr. Jeff Pittman, Certification Task Force Co-Chair and Director of Exam Development
Frank Mumford, NACAS President
Marti Gray, NACAS Education Foundation President
Dr. Bob Hassmiller, NACAS CEO