What is Recertification?
Knowledge within a profession doesn't stand still. Having passed
the certification examination, a certificant has demonstrated
knowledge of the designation's Common Body of Knowledge at the
point in time of the examination. In order to stay current in
the field as knowledge and techniques mature, the certificant
must be actively engaged in professional practice, and seek
opportunities to stay aware of and learn emerging practices.
Certified professionals are generally expected to:
* Attend professional conferences to stay aware of activities
and trends in the profession,
* Take education and training courses to continually update
skills and competencies,
* Develop and offer training to share knowledge and skills with
other professionals and the public,
* Publish information in order to disseminate personal, project,
and research experiences, and
* Participate in the profession through active committee
memberships and formal special interest groups.
Recertification Options
It is the desire of the Software Certifications Board to
maintain the highest degree of integrity within Software
Certifications. To maintain this integrity a certificant must
maintain a current knowledge base of quality principles,
practices, and technical knowledge as the information technology
industry advances or becomes obsolete. By requiring that the
certificant maintain and increase their level of competency
through various avenues of education and activity, the Board is
assured that the certification standards of integrity are being
met and the value of the certification designation is being
maintained.
To assure that this is happening, and that the certificant is
maintaining knowledge and skills that are state-of-the-art in
the field, the certificant must demonstrate continuing
professional education (CPE) activities. This can be
demonstrated by 2) taking an Examination for Recertification to
demonstrate the maintenance of the certification OR by 1)
submitting a Recertification Journal of qualified Continuing
Professional Education activities.
Both Recertification options are found online in the Customer
Service Portal. You can choose to record a Recertification
Journal OR take the Examination for Recertification, but not
both.
Recertification Deadline
Recertification is required every three years on the
anniversary of the date of the most recent recertification (or
original certification) date. Login to the portal and
click on My Certifications to see a list of your current
certifications and their expiration dates. Original
certification dates and expiration dates can also be found on
all program-issued credentials and certificates issued after
January 1, 2002. (Note: Credentials prior to 2002 did not
include expiration dates.)
Examination for Recertification
Active certificants may choose to recertify by examination.
Login to the portal and click on My Certifications to see a list
of your current certifications and their expiration dates. Click
on the Examination for Recertification* link and submit the
$200US recertification payment fee. You can then visit the My
Examinations page to schedule your examination at either a
Sponsored or Prometric site. All current deadlines apply when
scheduling a Sponsored Site exam so plan accordingly.
| * The exam MUST be taken before your certification
expiration date so plan accordingly as there will be no
extensions allowed. You only have one attempt to pass or
your certification will become decertified. |
Recertification Journal
Active certificants may choose to recertify by submitting a
Recertification Journal which contains at least 120 Continuing
Professional Education (CPE) credits. Report your CPE credits
using the online
Customer Service Portal Recertification Journal. The old
paper based journals are no longer allowed.
Login to the portal and click on My Certifications to see a list
of your current certifications and their expiration dates. Click
on the Recertification Journal link to review and record your
CPE credits. You can continue returning to the portal and
recording CPE for the entire 3 year period that your current
certification is active. However, once your current
certification expires, you will no longer be able to enter CPE
or submit the journal for processing.
You must submit the completed list of journal entries and pay
the $100 processing fee BEFORE the expiration deadline in order
to initiate the recertification process. You can submit the
journal as early as you like to be certified for 3 more years.
You don't get reset or lose time by submitting early (e.g. You
submit a journal 8/1/2008 for the 1/1/2009 CSTE expiration. Your
CSTE will be extended 3 more years to 1/1/2012).
Earning the required 120 CPE credits every three years, or an
average of 40 CPE credits per year, is typically not difficult
for professionals working in the field. Although CPE credits can
be earned and reported in any combination, most Journal Items
concentrate on traditional educational and professional
activities.
Recertification Journal Items
You can enter new Journal Items or edit existing Journal Items.
The Journal Items which can be claimed for CPE credit are:
Education
o Attended a Conference
o Attended a Course/Seminar
o Read a Book
o Read a Journal/Magazine Article
o Completed a Formal Self-Study Course/Seminar
o Participated in a Formal Study Group
o Learned a Software Tool
Publishing/Teaching
o Presented at a Conference
o Taught a Course/Seminar
o Authored a Book
o Authored a Journal/Magazine Article, Presentation, or White
Paper
o Authored a Course/Seminar/Self-Study
o Led a Formal Study Group
Professional Experience and
Development
Contributed to the Success of a Professional Organization
Lead a Major Process/Program Change at my Place of Employment
A complete listing of Journal Items can be found here.
Every Journal Item must improve one of the skill areas outlined
in the designation's Common Body of Knowledge. To maintain a
balance in recertification activities, some categories or
activities have a maximum number of credits that can be reported
in a recertification period. These caps, where appropriate, are
noted in the detailed descriptions of the items. Each Journal
Item will have specific instructions displayed online and also
some of the following fields
* The name of the Journal Item being claimed,
* A brief summary of the activity being claimed,
* The number of CPE hours claimed and explanation of how that
number was derived,
* A description of which specific Common Body of Knowledge
category the activity supports,
* Reference information for auditing of the Journal Item.
| Important:
Many certificants contact Software Certifications to ask
if specific activities would be acceptable for
recertification, and the answer is always that specific
activities can not be evaluated without the required
documentation simply because the certificant's
statements and rationale justifying the activity are an
important part of such an evaluation. Therefore,
specific activities can not be prescreened by Software
Certifications. Our general advice to certificants is:
If you aren't sure that an activity has increased your
competence as a software quality professional in one of
the body of knowledge areas for your certification, then
don't try to use that activity toward recertification. |
Certificants who struggle to earn sufficient CPE credits should
consider taking additional training in the field, as well as
joining and becoming active in the many professional
organizations and societies that provide educational
opportunities as well as opportunities to get involved in
professional activities. Joining organizations, taking classes,
getting involved in committees, publishing, and self-study are
all beneficial activities that demonstrate your commitment to
the profession; benefiting you and your employers, clients, and
customers.
Recertification Journal Approval
Submitted Recertification Journals are reviewed and if
satisfactory, new certification credentials are issued to the
certificant with a new recertification deadline extended three
years. If unsuccessful, a rejection notice describing the
deficiencies is returned to the certificant. Certificant's are
given one opportunity to resubmit their journal correctly. This
re-submission must be done within 30 days of notification or
prior to the certification expiration date, whichever is later.
Decertification
Certificants who fail to satisfy recertification requirements
are automatically decertified. Recertification requires
reapplication for candidacy and the retaking of any necessary
examination.
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