Eligibility pathways: Thinking differently and leveraging key data and stakeholder input

I.C.E. Exchange Program Description: There are various considerations in identifying eligibility requirements for credentialing programs. Education or training requirements and work experience are two common ones, but there are different iterations and combinations of these requirements that can be outlined to determine eligibility to sit for a credentialing examination. These requirements must be well defined and anchored into a rationale to justify their application to the purpose of the certification while ensuring it does not unreasonably limit access to the credentialing program. That being said, it is important to ensure credentialing organizations ask themselves key questions as they consider the evolution of their programs. For instance, how do different eligibility pathways measure against performance on the examination? Are we seeing differences in performance and success rates based on the various eligibility pathways? How is this impacting decisions on reviewing eligibility requirements and considerations in evolving these requirements to sit for the examination? Do we necessarily need a linear approach on education completion and work experience requirements before sitting for the examination or can we look at this in a more holistic way leading to credentialing decisions?

In this presentation, the presenters will review and address these questions and considerations, leveraging examination data and strategic input collected from their credentialing program. We will use poling questions to the audience to gather information on what is being done by other programs and engage in discussions on how to evolve our thinking and potentially redesign eligibility pathways to continue to meet the needs of the community being served by credential holders.