As Director of the
ESA Certification Board, it is my job (and privilege) to report to you on the
state of our Society's certification and credentialing programs. I'll be brief,
but I wanted to let you know that we are in the middle of some exciting and
productive times for ESA certification. Last year saw record growth for ACE and
a return to growth for BCE. Here are some of the highlights:
- ACE
grew at a 37% rate over 2012, closing the year with 763 ACEs. BCE grew at
a more modest 1%, but that is significant after several years of flat
growth and small declines. Both programs are solid.
- We
are in the process of writing new exam questions for the BCE Qualifying
Exam. If you have any questions you would like to submit for this exam (or
any other), please send to Chris Stelzig at cstelzig@entsoc.org and we will enter them into the review process.
- A
process that began in April 2012 to retool the ACE program came to
fruition on January 1st with a new application/renewal
structure and a new content outline and exam. Early indications are that
the new exam questions are more clear and targeted than some of the
previous questions without any sacrifice in quality or difficulty.
- We
partnered with the National Pest Management Association late last year to
grow and promote the ACE-Pest Control program. This will undoubtedly lead
to continued rapid growth.
- We
are working on building an ACE-International Pest Control program so that
we can take this program global.
- We
are investigating other entomologically-related fields to see if we can
build a credential program to serve other markets.
There is much more in
process – far too much to put into a blog post. I would encourage you to review the prior minutes of the Board meetings for additional details.
Suffice it to say that your Certification Board and staff are hard at
work building these programs. If you would like to contribute, please consider
either serving on a committee, running for an office, encouraging your peers
and colleagues to become certified, and possibly serving as a proctor.
Recently, I wrote a guest post for the
ESA Certification blog on this topic that discusses the important role of being
an honest proctor. Please read it and let me know how else I can serve you.
Pat Copps
2014 Director, Certification Board
ESA Certification Corporation
