Training for Examination Committee Members American Institute of Constructors Constructor Certification Commission Training for Examination Committee Members

Purpose of Training Provides a brief history and overview of Constructor certification. Provides foundational information about the Constructor Certification Commission. Provides responsibilities associated with your specific role in the Commission.

Training Instructions Carefully view the Power Point slides and make notes of any questions you may have. Complete two short assessments – one relating to your mastery of the material presented and the second of the session itself. Complete and sign and required Commission documents. Contact the Chair of the Examination Committee or the Commission Certification Manager to obtain answers to your questions.

History & Overview of Constructor Certification You will now view a short Power Point presentation on the history and overview of constructor certification. When complete note any questions you may have to later ask the Chair of the Committee or Certification Manager. Continue with this Power Point to learn about the mission, goals of the Commission along with its major processes, and detailed information concerning your responsibilities.

Constructor Certification Commission Mission and Goals Mission - To certify Professional Constructors thorough established standards based upon education, experience and examination process. Goals are to: Provide a valid Constructor verification process, Improve the image of the Constructor and the construction profession, Improve the standards of the practice of construction, Promote the continual professional development of the Constructor. Promote membership into an organization of professional constructors, the American Institute of Constructors, and Promote the AIC Constructor Code of Conduct.

Constructor Certification Commission Objectives The objectives of the Commission are to develop, implement and coordinate policies and procedures for:  The certification process, A framework for the development of the professional Constructor, A feedback process to higher education construction programs and the industry, and Continual professional development for practicing professionals.

Constructor Certification Commission Organization The Commission is a semi-autonomous body that operates under the auspices of the American Institute of Constructors. The Commission is the governing body and consists of a Board of Governors and Board of Advisors. Much of the work of the Commission is accomplished through its committees & subcommittees.

Constructor Certification Commission Standing Committees and Subcommittees Examination Committee - Responsible for developing, assessing, validating, up-dating, and formatting questions on examinations. Examination Subcommittees: Item Writing Item Reviewing Writing Skills Scoring for Level I (AC) Examination The Examination Committee and each of its Subcommittees have their own Operations Manual by which to fulfill their Commission responsibilities.

Constructor Certification Commission Standing Committees and Subcommittees Skills and Knowledge Committee Responsibilities: Works with the AIC Professional Standards Committee to maintain and revalidate the body of knowledge and provide the Examination Committee with any changes for incorporation into future examinations. The Skills and Knowledge Committee also: Prepares and maintains the criteria for evaluating continuing professional development programs.  Reviews the applications for certification for compliance with certification criteria and such other duties as the Commission may assign.

Constructor Certification Commission Standing Committees and Subcommittees The Skills and Knowledge has these Subcommittees: Application Vetting Continuing Professional Development Audit The Skills and Knowledge and each of its Subcommittees have their own Operations Manual by which to fulfill their Commission responsibilities. Finance Committee - Responsible for preparing the annual budget, monitoring the spending of commission funds and revenues and developing in conjunction with the Certification Manager, marketing plans.

Constructor Certification Commission Contractors Management Contractor – is responsible for administering the day to day activities and events of the Commission. Talley Management Group Certification Manager – Mr. Joe Sapp Examination Contractor – is responsible for all certification examination-related activities. Professional Testing Corporation President – Ms. Sallyann Henry

Constructor Certification Commission Major Processes Certification Examination Development Entails developing and reviewing of questions and selecting them for both the Level I (AC) and Level II (CPC) examinations. The development process includes working with the Examination Contractor to insure all examinations are valid, reliable and fair through the utilization of nationally recognized effective test psychometric measures. Commission Policies – 2.1 and 2.2.

Constructor Certification Commission Major Processes Certification Examination Application and Notification Includes the application process, determining eligibility to take the examinations, scoring of the both certification examinations, rescheduling of examinations, informing qualificants (examinees) of their performance on examinations and conducting appeals (when needed). Commission Policies – 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 and 1.8.

Constructor Certification Commission Major Processes Certification Examination Site Selection and Administration Includes the identification, selection and maintenance of the sites, examination site activities and the administration of examinations. Commission Policies – 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3.

Constructor Certification Commission Major Processes Certification Maintenance Includes assigning of certification numbers, maintaining one’s certification, allowable use of the AC and CPC credential, validation of certification examination body of knowledge, review of acceptability of required continuing professional development documentation, reinstating certification and responding to communications. Commission Policies – 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7.

Constructor Certification Commission Major Processes Commission Personnel Includes the responsibilities, qualifications and selection of Commission, Committee, Panel and Task Force members and contractors, contractor employee job descriptions, joint construction association chapter activities, and the selection, training and assessing of Commission members, volunteers and contractor staff. Commission Policies – 5.1, 5.3, 5.4 and 5.9.

Constructor Certification Commission Major Processes Governance of Constructor Certification Activities Includes making changes to Commission organization, operations and certification schemes, signatory authority, internal audits, conflict of interest, confidentiality, ethical conduct of Commission members, volunteers, contractor staff and certificants, whistleblowing, and documentation and document control and security. Commission Policies – 5.2, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12, 5.13 and 5.14.

Constructor Certification Commission Major Processes All of these processes have specific policies and procedures with associated documents. Some of these will be reviewed in the next portion of the training. All Commission Policies and Procedures along with their associated documents can be found at www.professionalconstructor.org.

General Responsibilities of the Examination Committee Reviewing, selecting, developing, assessing, validating and updating certification examinations. Protecting the security and confidentiality of the certification examinations and processes. Maintenance and oversight of its Item Writing, Item Reviewing and Writing Skills Scoring Subcommittees. The Committee ensures that it meets its responsibilities through its Operations Manual (Commission Document No. 15).

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished To ensure that the examination questions in the database for the Level I examination adhere to the requirements set forth in the Test Specification for the Level I (AC) Examination (Commission Document No. 28) and the Commission’s Multiple Choice Item Writing Guidelines (Commission Document No. 9) and To ensure that questions in the database for Level II examination meet the requirements set forth in the Test Specification for the Level II (CPC) Examination (Commission Document No. 29) and the Commission’s Problem Based Scenarios Item Writing Guide (Commission Document No. 13). These tasks are accomplished by …….

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished First, submitting all test items to the Examination Contractor for item editing, bias-sensitivity review, and item formatting. Then in Item Review Subcommittee meetings with the Examination Contractor all test questions are identified as a Level 1 or a Level 2 Test question based on the knowledge level as fundamental or advanced. Next, content is verified as appropriate, key is validated, consensus changes are made and the item is coded according to the Level 1 or Level 2 Test Specifications.

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Furthermore, Examination questions are first reviewed by the Item Writing Subcommittee after they are first drafted. Another review is conducted by the Examination Contractor, then the Item Review Committee reviews and then the Examination Contractor enters the items into the item bank. An item bank question then has the potential of being looked at least one more time before it is placed on a particular examination by the Examination Committee members while selecting the examination questions for an administration of the examination.

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Second, at each Examination Committee meeting it is determined by the Examination Contractor whether the meeting will be a reading/selecting of questions for the AC or CPC Exam At each Examination Committee reading/selecting meeting the Examination Contractor provides more questions than are needed in each content area. The Examination Committee members does a thorough reading of all test items presented by the Examination Contractor. Then Examination Contractor determines how many questions are needed by content area with the Examination Committee members selecting the questions to be on that administration of the Examination. .

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Third, is to develop new Examination questions based on the Level I and Level II Test Specifications or requests from the Exam Committee, the Examination Contractor, the Examination Item Review Committee or new techniques in the industry This is accomplished by the Item Writing Subcommittee by: Creating new items according to the Multiple Choice Item Writing Guidelines (Document No. 9) for both examinations. Creating new items according to the Problem Based Scenarios Item Writing Guide (Document No. 13) for the Level II Examination.

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Fourth, to maintain the examinations in accordance with the current relevant reference materials. This is accomplished through the use of Examination Item Writing Form (Commission Document No, 18) - available in hard copy or on the Commission’s website – This Form contains blanks to be filled in for the name of the author of the proposed question and also space for the author to list references to be used and to document the correct answer. Furthermore, the Item Writing Subcommittee creates test questions from current relevant materials.

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Fifth, to maintain the quality and content of the Exhibits included in the Level I and Level II Examinations. This is accomplished by Examination Committee members helping to create digital files for all exhibits required for both the AC and CPC examinations. These digital files are maintained by the Examination Contractor with copies being retained by the Management Contractor. The Examination Committee reviews the exhibits being provided when they read/select an examination before it is administered. The Item Writing Subcommittee also reviews the exhibits when it is reviewing examination questions that have a problem.

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Sixth, to review each form of the examination. The vetting of all forms of all examinations will be conducted with the representative of the Examination Contractor to assure the quality and content of the examinations are consistent with psychometric standards and the standards established by the Commission. This is accomplished before the administration of the Level I and Level II Examinations the Examination Committee meets with the Examination Contractor in attendance and as a group they vet the examinations for quality and content according to the appropriate Specifications for the AC and/or CPC examination(s).

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Seventh, to review the Specifications for Level I and Level II Examinations to assure that they are relevant and current. The Examination Committee shall recommend revisions to the Specifications as needed to the Commission. This is accomplished at the Examination Committee meetings where the examinations are being vetted or during the selection/review meeting with the Examination Contractor in attendance.

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Furthermore, All current test specification categories are also reviewed to verify they are correct for each test item. During this process topics arise that are new or certain test specifications can be consolidated because of the review of test items, these potential changes are made as recommendations and forwarded to the Commission as potential changes to the Examination Specifications.

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Eighth, in conjunction with the Examination Contractor set the dates for the Level I and II Examinations. This is accomplished once each year at the Examination Committee meeting, the Examination Contractor proposes new test dates, they are discussed and approved as part of the business meeting minutes and forwarded to the Commission for approval.

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Ninth, to make minor revisions to existing questions contained in the examination question database during its review of the various forms of the examinations. The Examination Committee: Can deem questions unacceptable for either the Level I or Level II Examination and they will be returned to the Item Writing Subcommittee to review and correct to produce a useable question or discarded.

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Tenth, to assign questions to the appropriate classification of all examinations to be consistent with Examination Specifications. This is accomplished at an Examination Committee Item Review meeting by a full committee consensus or by the Item Writing Subcommittee before the questions are forwarded to the Examination Contractor after which it is reviewed again prior to being put into an examination item bank.

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Eleventh, to review and score the Writing Skills portion of the Level I Examination. This is accomplished by the Writing Skills Scoring Subcommittee Training a group of CPC’s or AC’s by reviewing the Business Letter Scoring Criteria and the Business Letter Grading Descriptors, (the Commission’s Document No. 33). Each Grader reads each Writing Sample individually and scores each Sample from 0 to 7 points. Each person states their score, and the Exam Committees score is stated to build consensus.

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Twelfth, to review examinee comments and review any statistics associated with the examination process after each administration of examinations and before final scores are calculated for each candidate. This is accomplished by the Examination Contractor with the assistance of the Exam Chair or experienced Exam Committee Members to discuss individual test items that did not perform well and relevant candidate comments to determine what actions should be taken before the final scores are determined.

Specific Responsibilities of the Examination Committee and How they are Accomplished Thirteenth, New members are added to a committee of experienced members one or two at a time so that there is always a continuity of experienced members to mentor the new members. The new members are briefed on the process at each meeting  and then they participate in the exam review process under constant peer review because the item reviews are always oral and by consensus. The new member has to be able to participate and defend their view that may be in conflict with the consensus.

Conclusion You now have been provided with a bit of Commission history, its mission, goals and objectives, an overview of its major processes and details about the responsibilities associated with your respective role in the work of the Commission along with related Commission Policies and Procedures and pertinent documents. If you have any specific questions relating to any of the material presented please contact the Chair of the body on which you serve or report to or the Commission Certification Manager. To complete this training session by completing certain Commission documents and assessments please proceed.

Commission Documents To comply with the Commission’s Policies and Procedures certain documents are required associated to your role. First the Commission will need a copy of your resume which needs to be updated to the current year. Second you may be asked to sign certain Commission forms associated with your position such as a Confidentiality Statement (Commission Document No. 25). These must be signed on an annual basis and you will be contacted by the Chair of your body or the Certification Manager to complete them when required.

Assessments As part of its training process, the Commission feels it is critical that it assess if the participants understood the information presented through the administration of a short ten question multiple choice evaluation. This assessment can also be used to substantiate your participation in the training. Your score on the evaluation will remain confidential and will be used to not only improve the training and training materials but also your performance in your role. You will receive feedback on how you did along with any recommendations for improvement.

Assessments Finally, the Commission, in its continuous improvement efforts, would appreciate it if you would complete an evaluation of the training session and materials using Commission Document No. 37 – Training Session Participant Evaluations Thank you for your participation and we look forward to your productive role to promote constructor certification.

Questions For any questions please ask the trainer or contact: Mr. Joseph Sapp, Certification Manager Constructor Certification Commission joe@professionalconstructor.org 703-683-4999 Revision History: May 17, 2013 5/20/2013