It is sensitive to the ethical issues around confidentiality that would present themselves in a peer evaluation process of a child care administrator. It is flexible so candidates can move in and out of the process in response to their needs. When the candidate is evaluating their peers, they are also asked to reflect upon their peer's practice. This expectation for reflection is fundamental to the certification process and is the catalyst which makes the process dynamic, useful, and enriching. The process takes the candidate through a prior learning assessment, developing a learning plan, case study presentations, Self and peer evaluation, journal writing, and the development of materials which will assist the candidate in her work.
Training is provided to candidates for each step in the process.
The candidate develops a portfolio of the learnings she has accumulated over her lifetime which apply to her role as a child care administrator. She then does an assessment of those accomplishments relative to the child care administrator criteria. This assessment identifies the candidate's strengths and potential gaps in the skills, knowledge and attitudes outlined in the criteria and assists her in the development of a learning plan for the certification process. The learning plan focuses on the gaps identified in the prior learning assessment and identifies the areas of the criteria upon which she will concentrate. Ten case studies are a primary source of evaluation of the candidate's practice.