In the post-Watergate, post-Enron world today, neither public nor private organizations and institutions enjoy the public's trust, and rightly so. The unethical and improper, if not illegal, actions of a few have compromised forever the trust that was once enjoyed without question.
Transparency and accountability have become essential attributes of responsible organizations. Open meetings, comprehensive reports, freedom of information and independent testing are among the several methods employed. Independent testing has been an accepted norm for products for decades - Underwriter's Laboratory, Good Housekeeping, Consumer Reports are a few of the more commonly known providers of such services on which the public has come to rely.
Testing as applied to products is not necessarily applicable to services performed by individuals. Here, credentials, such as licensing and certification, are employed to determine an individual's capability to perform a particular task or service. Today, there are more than 1000 professions and occupations ranging from appraisers to welders and every letter of the alphabet in between which are either licensed by the government or certified by some organization. While these institutions and organizations attest to an individual's qualifications, how does the public know that the persons so licensed or certified do indeed possess the represented qualifications? And, that is the question, albeit in more limited form, that has been presented to this panel.
A common problem in discussing credentials is that while there are just a few significant terms, these terms are universally abused. People say registration when the correct term is license; they say accreditation when the correct term is certification; and vice-versa. So I begin by providing the correct definitions of the relevant terms - credential, license, certification, and accreditation.
A credential is something that gives a title to credit or confidence; it is also a testimonial showing the person is entitled to credit or a right to exercise official power (Webster). Credentials can be university degrees, licenses, and/or certification.
A license is authorization granted by a government to perform a function or service, e.g., a driver's license, an engineering license, etc. Licensing is based on the police powers of government to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. It requires the demonstration of the minimum degree of competence needed to perform the authorized function.
Certification is a voluntary act that, according to some organized procedure, measures an individual's capability to perform a particular function. Because it is voluntary, it conveys no authority or privilege, i.e., one need not possess the certificate to legally perform a function or service, albeit custom or market forces may require it. Certification exists today in more than one thousand professions and trades.
Accreditation is like certification in that it is voluntary and measures capability to perform. It differs in that it applies to institutions and programs, not individuals. A familiar example is the accreditation of education programs. Another is accreditation of certification programs.
