ANSI Issues Two Accreditations Under Certificate Accreditation Program

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), a private non-profit organization that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system, is pleased to announce that two more organizations have been accredited under the Institute's pilot Certificate Accreditation Program (ANSI-CAP).

The organizations and their scopes of accreditation are:

"On behalf of my colleagues at ANSI, I'd like to congratulate the National Apartment Association Education Institute and the National Graduate School of Quality Management for their accreditation under ANSI-CAP," said Lane Hallenbeck, ANSI vice president of accreditation services. "As the first program of its kind to offer a formal, third-party process for review and recognition of quality certificate programs, ANSI-CAP continues to further the quality of the American workforce. We are very proud to add value to the process through third-party accreditation, helping to assure integrity and consistency within the credentialing field."

Launched in 2009 to accredit organizations that issue education and training certificates to the U.S. workforce, ANSI-CAP provides neutral, third-party accreditation that a given certificate program meets ASTM E2659-09, Standard Practice for Certificate Programs, an American National Standard developed by ASTM International.

By demonstrating compliance to this standard, accredited certificate programs will further the development of a well-educated and qualified workforce, one of the chief goals outlined by President Obama in his recent State of the Union address. The accreditation program is also expected to provide quality benchmarks for the design of future certificate programs. With these evaluations and benchmarks in place, employees and their employers will be better able to determine the value and meaning of training and educational certificates.

ANSI-CAP follows the accreditation process outlined in the international standard ISO/IEC 17011, General Requirements for Accreditation Bodies Accrediting Conformity Assessment Bodies. This process includes using specially trained assessors to review documents submitted by applicants against defined requirements, conduct on-site assessments, and make recommendations to the ANSI-CAP Accreditation Committee that is responsible for making the accreditation decisions.

"We are delighted that the CAMT program has been accredited by the American National Standards Institute," said Jeffery Lowry, CAPS, NAAEI president and senior vice president, Multifamily Services of the McDougal Companies. "For years, the apartment industry has understood the critical link between positive job performance by apartment maintenance technicians and the renewal of an apartment lease. Now with ANSI accreditation of CAMT, NAAEI can provide third-party assurance to apartment owners and managers that CAMT will equip their maintenance employees with the skills they need to perform their job well."

"Our work with ANSI on the accreditation of our Homeland Security and Lean Six Sigma certificates was a challenging, educational, and highly productive process," commented Robert Gee, Ph.D., president and founder of The National Graduate School. "The ANSI system of analysis and review is unparalleled in the industry. We teach quality systems in our curriculum, and were able to demonstrate the same level of quality in our processes for ANSI. Being recognized by your peers as a leader, especially in our field of endeavor, is the highest honor."

These two organizations join five others that have received accreditation under ANSI-CAP.

Questions about ANSI-CAP can be directed to Turan Ayvaz, program manager, Certificate Accreditation Program ([email protected]; 202.331.3635).

About ANSI

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and the American quality of life by promoting, facilitating, and safeguarding the integrity of the voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system. Its membership is comprised of businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, government agencies, and consumer and labor organizations. The Institute represents the diverse interests of more than 125,000 companies and organizations and 3.5 million professionals worldwide.  

The Institute is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and is a U.S. representative to the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).

SOURCE American National Standards Institute