WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: IAAP Certification

for

From: Paul Bohman
Date: Mar 26, 2016 11:58AM

Thanks for following up on the IAAP certification Jennison. I'll give my
response as the Chair of the IAAP Certification Committee, not as a
test-taker (I'm not eligible to take the test myself due to my role in the
IAAP).

- We had about 40 people in the first group of people who took the CPACC
(Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies) exam at the
CSUN conference. We purposely limited the first group to a small number of
people. We will roll out the test to a wider audience, internationally, in
June.
- Some people used screen readers to take the test (one person even used
an iPhone hooked up to a braille device to take the test!)
- People who took the test will receive their results in a few weeks
after the IAAP determines the cut score of the exam, which will be based in
part on a detailed analysis of the responses by test takers and the
feedback given to us by test takers. We've already gone through a rigorous
process in determining the topics, writing the questions, evaluating the
questions, and having an external set of experts guide and analyze the
process as a whole. The last step is to determine if any of the individual
questions were problematic under real testing conditions. If so, those
questions won't count against the score.
- We are actively seeking and receiving feedback from test participants
on every aspect of the process: registration, test preparation, test
questions, the accessibility of the exam itself, and so on. We are doing
everything possible to ensure we listen carefully to this first group of
test takers, and we take their feedback very seriously.
- NOTE TO TEST TAKERS: Please DO NOT discuss or share the specific test
questions with other people. We have to maintain the integrity of the exam.
We have a pool of questions, so not everyone will receive the exact same
test, but we still ask you to abide by your commitment to not share exam
question details. If you have feedback on specific questions (and we are
very interested if you do have such feedback), please respond to the
official IAAP post-exam survey that you were given in an email, not to the
WebAIM list. If you took the exam and need the URL to the survey, contact
me directly, off list.
- You can certainly share your general reactions to the test with other
people, including on the WebAIM list, as long as you don't give away test
questions.
- If we need to make adjustments to the test based on the feedback we
receive, we will.
- As mentioned previously, the test will roll out internationally and be
available to take virtually anywhere in the world starting in June. You'll
be able to take the exam -- with a proctor present -- in your workplace, in
a university setting, in a testing center, or other similar environment.

A few other notes about the goals and level of difficulty of the exam:

- The exam is intentionally designed to be rigorous so that the
certification can be taken seriously. If the test were too easy, the
certification wouldn't mean much to anybody.
- We expect that test-takers will find certification valuable as a way
to show potential employers that they have accessibility expertise. It's a
way to stand out from the crowd.
- We expect that employers will find certification valuable as one
factor (among many) when trying to determine the best job candidate for the
job.
- There are certification preparation courses available. Deque has one
at dequeuniversity.com (disclosure, I work at Deque), and there are
others. Feel free to post links to other certification preparation courses
as a response to this post.
- You do not have to take any certification preparation course if you
don't want to, but your chances of passing will be higher if you do take
one of the preparation courses.

Future certification exams:

- The CPACC exam is about accessibility core competencies. For
project/program managers, sales people, or other roles that are not
technical, this may be the only exam you need to take. For people who
specialize in some aspect of accessibility (e.g. software, web, consumer
products, transportation, architecture and the built environment), you will
probably want to take one of the upcoming domain-specific technical exams.
- The first domain-specific technical exam will focus on the web and
digital accessibility.
- We are actively developing the web/digital accessibility exam and we
will release more details as we get further in the process.
- We expect to release the next exam within a year; sooner if possible,
but we don't have an official date yet for that exam.
- The CPACC exam is a prerequisite for the domain-specific technical
exams. They build on each other, and the future exams won't repeat content
from the core competency exam.



Paul Bohman, PhD
Director of Training, Deque Systems, Inc
703-225-0380, ext.121
https://DequeUniversity.com


On Sat, Mar 26, 2016 at 7:55 AM, Birkir R. Gunnarsson <
<EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Angela
>
> I took the test and the Deque course. Feel free to ask me off-list (I
> am still at CSUN so I may not respond to emails until Monday).
> I can attest to the fact that Deque know what they are talking about
> when it comes to accessibility. ;) Else I wouldn't be working for
> them.
>
> I can openly admit the exam was quite a bit harder than I expected it
> to be. I still don't know if I passed.
> This was the first round, there may still be some ine-tuning going
> forward, but it was valuable for me to get my head out of the code and
> remember the big picture and context of everything we are doing.
> I know people have their opinions on the whole idea of accessibility
> certification, but I can definitely say that we should all review this
> material.
> Cheers
> -B
>
>
> On 3/26/16, Jennison Mark Asuncion < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> > Curious to hear from folks who wrote the certification exam, how the test
> > went.
> >
> > Jennison
> > > > > > > > > >
>
>
> --
> Work hard. Have fun. Make history.
> > > > >