PROFESSIONAL DESIGNATIONS PROGRAM

About the Designation

The Canadian Evaluation Society (CES), as the professional order for Evaluation in Canada, seeks to contribute to the professionalization of evaluation. The CES Credentialed Evaluator (CE) designation is designed to:

• define
• recognize and,
• promote

the practice of ethical, high quality and competent evaluation in Canada through a program for professional designations.

The designation means that the holder has provided evidence of the education and experience required by the CES to be a competent evaluator.

The designation is a service provided by CES to its members, who may elect to become credentialed on a voluntary basis. It recognizes those with the education and experience to provide evaluation services, and through its maintenance and renewal requirements, promotes continuous learning within our evaluation community.

CES will maintain a publicly available registry of CE's.

The Professional Designations Program and the CE also provide direction:

• For Evaluation Practitioners on the knowledge and skills required to be competent and guide their professional development
• For Learning Organizations and Service Providers on the type of education and professional development required to support the discipline
• For Firms / Organizations engaging or creating evaluation expertise, on the expertise to incorporate in job descriptions or seek in contracting evaluation services
• For Program Managers working with evaluation professionals, on the expertise they can expect to receive

What Qualifications are required?

Successful applicants will demonstrate:

Qualification 1: evidence of graduate level degree or certificate

• If your degree is from outside Canada, you may be asked to have your educational credentials assessed through one of the Credential Evaluation, Assessment and Qualification Recognition services listed in the Canadian Information Centre for Internal Credentials 
• The applicant is asked for evidence of education - a copy of their degree.
• Where an Applicant does not have graduate level education, a Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) may be undertaken. An applicant who does not have a graduate degree or certificate may be able to demonstrate the equivalent of that education through extensive work experience and professional development. Additional requirements are required to support an application under PLAR including: a current resume; examples of two work products; an essay outlining professional experience and education; please refer to the Applicant Guide for further information including fees.

Note: For the first year of the Professional Designations Program, there is a Grandparenting provision. If you do not hold a graduate level degree or certificate, but were a member in good standing of CES as recorded in CES membership list as of June 1, 2009 the PLAR is NOT necessary. CES national Council has included a grandparenting provision in the adoption of the Credentialed Evaluator designation.

Qualification 2: evidence of two (2) years (full-time equivalent) evaluation related work experience within the last ten (10) years. Statements of work experience are to be supplemented with letter(s) of reference using the reference/sponsor form.

Qualification 3: education and/or experience related to 70% of the competencies in EACH of the five domains of Competencies for Canadian Evaluation Practice . Applicants will draw selectively from their education and/or experience and align this to 70% of the competencies in each of 5 competency domains.

The alignment of experience and education to competencies in the five domains is done in a brief narrative  in the application form with a maximum of 150 words or 1000 characters (including all lines) is permitted with each competency.

It is not necessary to have both education and experience related to a competency. Rather applicants should provide evidence that, collectively and in combination, they have the required competency. Education is here taken to include professional development activities  as well as formal education.

Qualification 4: the fourth qualification is related to maintaining the CE designation. Credentialed Evaluators will be required to provide evidence of ongoing learning and professional development - 40 hours of learning every three years.

Who decides?

• The CES has created a Credentialing Board (CES-CB), consisting of experts from our field - as recognized CES Fellows and National Award winners. The CES-CB is the decision making body for the Professional Designations Program. It considers the merits of a members' application for credentialed status, that is, to become officially credentialed as an evaluation professional, as recognized by the Canadian Evaluation Society.
• CE decisions are made by Members of the CB, through an anonymous review of applications. Each application is reviewed by two CB Members and by a third Member if the decision of the first two reviewers is not the same. The decision of the CES-CB is communicated to the applicant through the CES President.
• Decisions can be appealed by applicants within thirty days of notification. Applicants are encouraged to review and augment their application for the appeal process or pursue additional education or experiences so they may better meet the stated requirements Appeals will undergo a further decision process with two reviewers and a third Member review where the decision of the first two is not the same. Decisions of this Appeals process will be final.

Please refer to the CE applicant guide  for additional information. For questions or information please contact the CE Applications Administrator.

How much does it cost?

The application fee is $485 and is a non refundable expense for processing the application within a 3 year timeframe (renewable upon repayment) and making the decision. For those applicants providing additional evidence of qualifications under PLAR, an additional fee of $550.00 will be assessed. This fee is payable using the CE membership application form . An annual maintenance fee of $50, in addition to CES membership fees is required to sustain the designation once awarded.

How to Apply?

• Once your application fee has been processed, the CE Application Administrator will contact you with your Login ID and temporary password. These are needed to access the CE application site.
• If you have already submitted your application fee, apply for the CE designation on-line  through the CES secure member management system.
• You may revisit your own application account as often as necessary to prepare your application.

If you do not have an Internet connection in your area or for additional information contact us: vp_profdes@evaluationcanada.ca, aa_profdes@evaluationcanada.ca 

Discover the history of this project .