AUTHOR: Peggy Bell Hendrickson, Director, Transcript Research
Choosing a private evaluation company can be a stressful experience. Unlike most of the world, credentials evaluation in the US is handled by private businesses without oversight by the government. This means student applicants have flexibility in finding a company that meets their needs in terms of price, requirements, scheduling, and more.
It also means student applicants have more options than guidance on which company to choose, which can be overwhelming when there are so many options, and there’s so much riding on the evaluation report.
Each private evaluation company has its own criteria, equivalencies, grading scales, methodologies, and areas of expertise. They have different goals than individual higher education institutions in that they provide evaluations for professional licensing, employment, immigration, military service, and educational purposes.
Another significant challenge is the acceptance of the evaluation reports. How can a student applicant, university advisor, employment recruiter, or other potential recipient or end-user know if an evaluation company is reputable, and their reports widely accepted?
The reality is that things like reputation, ratings, and reviews can all be falsified or exaggerated, or the information may be legitimate but made by someone uninformed or misled. A credential evaluation report can literally change someone’s life, but it’s only valuable if the company who issued it is seen as trustworthy, reliable, and knowledgeable by the intended recipients.
While organizations such as public universities with large populations of internationally educated graduates may conduct their own credential evaluations in-house, it is increasingly common for organizations of all types to outsource this work to those who have the time, resources, knowledge, skills, expertise, and passion to specialize in it.
But how does someone browsing on the internet know if a prospective credential evaluation company is the right choice for them?
That’s where NACES (National Association of Credential Evaluation Services) comes in. While there is no “accreditation” body for private evaluation companies in the US, NACES is a professional association of private evaluation companies. NACES maintains strict membership requirements, a code of ethics and professional standards, and high-quality standards. Furthermore, its members publish and present extensively in the field of international education and are at the forefront of the field of comparative education.
NACES has been the premier association for credentials evaluation in the US for almost 40 years, and NACES and its member organizations work with other professional associations like TAICEP, the Association for International Credential Evaluation Professionals; AACRAO, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers; and NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
NACES members are required to maintain a robust reference library of contemporary and historical print and digital publications about comparative and international education systems. Member organizations must ensure ongoing, continuing professional development of credential evaluation staff, and each organization must also contribute annually to the international education community.
NACES member organizations must also meet minimum requirements for the educational and professional backgrounds of their senior evaluators. While evaluation outcomes are determined solely by each independent member organization, all evaluation reports must include specific elements detailed on the NACES website.
New members are elected to NACES after a comprehensive application process, an in-person site visit, and a formal review of sample evaluations. Becoming a NACES member signifies an ongoing commitment to quality credentials evaluation. Those who are admitted into NACES membership have met stringent requirements in terms of comparative education training, documentation practices, library resources, professional development or publication history, evaluation report content, and more.
Please note that there are also other reputable credential evaluation membership organizations. Sometimes, too, private evaluation companies choose not to be members of a membership agency for their own reasons, not because of any lack of quality or expertise on the part of the agency.
The local international education community may be able to offer an informed opinion about the experience and expertise of a private evaluation company, regardless of its membership in an association such as NACES. However, NACES membership ensures quality while still offering choice for student applicants and their intended recipients.
Check out our directory of NACES members today!
