by Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
According to a recent column by Jack O’Dwyer, PRSA released results indicating professional accreditations has fallen sharply during recent years.
Accreditation by the two principle organizations representing communicators and public relation professionals has, during the past ten year period, lost prestige, membership as well as money.
Any organization, be it Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), American Marketing Association (AMA) or even the Sugar Association, is in the business of serving members. Part of that business includes offering services to advance member’s careers, providing information and techniques that allow for increased work skills.
For both PRSA and IABC, accreditation has been the crowning achievement offering members an elite status above peers.
Both programs are currently facing obstacles that have forced leadership to review and revise the future of accreditation.
According to a recent column by Jack O’Dwyer, publisher of O’Dwyer’s, PRSA released results indicating professional accreditations has fallen sharply during recent years.
For the first nine years of the Society’s new accreditation program started in 2003, an average 136 new communicators per year have received Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) status – half the average 274 per year achieved in the previous ten years.
After 46 years of offering the program, only 18% of PRSA members have obtained an APR despite ceaseless promotion.
“To me, it shows the value -or lack of value – people in our business place on the APR,” O’Dwyer told David Reich at My 2 Cents, “No wonder! The new test is multiple choice questions on a computer, done after a “readiness review” involving no writing.”
Neither writing nor creativity is tested at any point in the new APR process. The “Readiness Review” includes examination of materials submitted by APR candidates. Judges are fellow local chapter PRSA members.
IABC’s Accreditation At Crossroads
Accreditation at rival IABC’s Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) program is also under internal scrutiny, according to Paige Wesley, vice-president of communications. The organization officially suspended new accreditations on the first day of September.
Gloria Walker, chair of the ABC program based in Southall, U.K. and former University of Texas Longhorn, said “the IABC executive committee has been reviewing the program for the past nine months and said that applications will not be taken until changes have been made.”
IABC’s International Executive Board is firmly committed to the accreditation program, but its model wasn’t sustainable,” said current board chair Kerby Meyers. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
To date this year only 45 members have passed the exam costing $500, down from 106 the previous year. IABC currently has 1010 accredited members – off a high of 1443 – from an international membership of more than 14,000. The organization accredited 583 members in the past five years.
“IABC’s International Executive Board is firmly committed to the accreditation program, but its model wasn’t sustainable,” said current board chair Kerby Meyers, a non-accredited IABC member. “We asked the accreditation committee and IABC staff to work together to develop a program that is operationally efficient, truly measures professional competency and builds upon the program’s tradition. While that’s being developed, the application process was suspended on September 1, which means we are no longer accepting new applications, but accreditation candidates currently in the pipeline will continue to move through the program.”
“The question on the table is ‘can the communicators path be defined through the profession, and what does IABC need to do at each level to give support?’” said former IABC chair Adrian Cropley, ABC of Melbourne Australia. “ We started to implement that strategic direction. A committee worked to establish the new “career roadmap” that crossed boundaries of numerous IABC committees – looking at integrating accreditation and the award process. We now have a strong direction on which to build going forward.”
“Do we need credentialing at different stages of a communicators career? Does it need it to be an ongoing process? Do we need a process that members gain, and then recertify, as an Accredited Business Communicator? How do we support them?” these are all questions the committee addressed said Cropley.
IABC is currently seeking a path to implement a new “career roadmap.” It would include the realignment of the current awards process from the current Bronze, Silver and Gold Quills into a more unified program that would say “We Train, We Accredit, We Reward” communicators at every step of their career.
In the meantime, while searching for the new road forward, accreditation has been left abandoned like a bride on the side of the road.
PRSA’s Accreditation Quandary
While IABC’s accreditation is currently searching for a new road forward, PRSA accreditation also faces ongoing problems.
Only five percent of questions on the current computerized exam deal with the subject of press relations. The “APR Guide” given candidates touts the “Diffusion Theory” advanced by Everett Rogers, Ph.D. “Word of mouth” is very important in diffusion because change “cannot be accomplished through news media alone”.
According to the APR study guide, “getting people to behave in a certain way” is the goal of PR rather than disseminating information.
According to IABC past chair Adrian Cropley, ABC, IABC is currently seeking a path to implement a new “career roadmap.” It would say “We Train, We Accredit, We Reward” communicators at every step of their career. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
Prior to 2003, APR’s were required to endure five and a half hours of testing that included writing samples and grading by an outside service.
PRSA bylaws state non-APRs are forbidden to run for national office, leaving more than 80 percent of its members ineligible to be involved at the national level.
Recently, millions of dollars were thrown at the program by PRSA. It lost $2,926,080 from 1986 to 2002, resulting in a shift to computer-administered testing. In the year 2000 it cost the Society $411,467 to accredit 234 members – $1,794 for each new APR. This was cut to $352 by 2002 when 411 APRs were inducted at a net cost of $144,679.
According to O’Dwyer a large part of the problem lies in the lack of the interest in New York City, the epicenter of the PR world, where only approximately seven percent of members are accredited – 50 of the 694.
Currently, APRs pay $50 every three years to keep their status current. They are required to submit a list of courses and seminars taken, books read and other educational activities.
The requirements are considerably less strict than before the changes according to O’Dwyer, “There is no indication anyone has ever been denied continuance of his or her APR because of lack continuing education.”
Accreditation’s Uncertain Future
While both organizations face accreditation challenges, it all boils down to “lack” – lack of respect for accreditation by the business community, lack of money by applicants and lack of relevancy in todays social media society – especially to young communicators.
The final nail in the coffin for both accreditation programs might come from of all places a former ally. According to numerous jobseekers, professional headhunters are telling job applicants businesses do not see accreditation as a plus, so “leave off the “ABC” and “APR” from the resume.” Something neither organization wants to hear.
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O’Dwyer has always been against accreditation.
Rita:
It is a given that O’Dwyer has issues with PRSA and accrediation, no argument here. What cannot be argued is that Jack lives for figures, and he very seldom wrong in his reporting when figures come into play. The purpose of the article is not anti-accrediation, but the fact that both programs face an up-hill battle in reestablishing the two programs as an important tool communicators need to further their career.
I serve on the IABC accreditation committee and I can testify that we certainly have not left accreditation abandoned on the side of the road. All organizations should reassess their programs and make improvements. We are doing that. The new program will be rolled out next year. In the meantime, we picked a date to stop taking applications for the current program. Now we can focus on getting all of our candidates through the current process and then start fresh with the new program. That keeps candidates from having to worry about being in the process when the system changes.
Ginger:
I am sorry you felt offended by my bride analogy, perhaps it wasn’t the best but anything can be second-guessed. I tried to show in the article changes were in fact on the way, and what the changes would look like. It is hard to get accurate information when the information is not available.
I knew of the suspension of accreditation weeks before the announcement. I held the story because I was told after the board met more specifics would be made available.
The posted article was shown to Chris Sorek, Paige Wesley, Kerby Meyers, Adrian Cropley, ABC and Robin McCasland before it was printed; as a matter of fact, it was shown starting in first draft to final scheduled post.
Kerby Meyers gave the quote in the article after reading the draft. No other information or corrections were made by any of the five professional communicators – even after having a final chance to comment before publication. I feel that I accurately printed all the information the organization and its board were giving out.
Adrian did an excellent job of explaining what the board was hoping to accomplish – that information came from an interview I did at the International Conference.
Ginger, we are all professional communicators. There is an organization of 14,000 members that deserve to be given insight into the workings of the inner circle. I just do the best I can with the information that is made available. If you want me to do a better job, provide better information.
Ed Lallo
Fair amount of misinformation and hearsay in this article.
As someone who was accredited under the ‘old’ PRSA system, and participated as an APR in both ‘old’ oral reviews and ‘new’ Readiness Reviews, and who developed test questions (after completing a required PRSA webinar in test question development) and participated in technical review sessions (of test questions) – I was fairly impressed with the rigor PRSA puts into developing the current APR exam.
That assessment is not made in isolation regarding the professional testing environment – I also passed the USGBC LEED-AP* exam in 2003, and take 16 hours of online recertification modules every two years for my FAA Instrument Flight Instructor credentials.
As far as writing skills – the readiness review tests the candidates on 16 knowledge skill areas, via a submitted project, presentation and oral quizzing. For anyone who thinks it is easy – here’s some food for thought: I once participated in a Readiness Review where we evaluated a senior academic faculty member. Neither I nor the two other APRs were very impressed – this person got a barely-passing score (candidates are not told the score – only pass/fail – they can get from 0 to 3 in each of the 16 areas – must get at least 32, and no zeros.)
The unattributed comments in this article from so-called “numerous job seekers” about being told by “professional headhunters” to leave off professional credentials is absurd.
So I think we all know where some writing skills are needed – and it’s not the PRSA exam. More like articles in NewsroomInk.
Jeffrey Geibel APR, LEED-AP*, CFII**
* United States Green Building Council – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – Accredited Professional
** (FAA) Certificated Flight Instructor – Instrument
Jeffrey:
Thank you for your comments, you bring up some very good points. It is great to see that you are getting value out of your APR, that is the design of both programs.
I researched the article to the best of this humble reporters ability. I am sure you agree that the purpose of a journalist is to bring to the attention of readers topics of interest – my topic is the often hidden inside view of the two organizations that represent more than 35,000 communicators worldwide.
If you would like to do an article for Newsroom Ink on the value of an APR I would be glad to print it both here and on BeHeardAustin.com – the news site of IABC Austin
The statement that writing is not tested on the APR exam is inaccurate. I’ve served on the Universal Accreditation Board and as a Readiness Review panel member. Candidates submit a “written questionnaire” as part of the requirements.
When I served on the Universal Accreditation Board of PRSA and its partner organizations, I made the suggestion that instead of accrediting individuals, the organizations should instead look at the possibility of accrediting PR faculties and curriculums. Schools participating in such an accreditation program (for a fee) would be able to offer their PR majors not only a degree, but a level of accreditation recognition from PRSA as a value-added opportunity for students. This would create competition among schools promoting their PR majors. Who would want to go to a non-accredited school? And the problem of administering exams would go away, the individual promotional expense to get people to take the exam would vanish, and the organizations would generate annuity income from the schools that would want to have the cachet of being PRSA accredited.
Thoughts or objections?
Steven L. Lubetkin, APR, Fellow, PRSA
Past Member, PRSA National Board of Directors 2003-2005
Past Member, Universal Accreditation Board, 1997-2003
Managing Partner, Lubetkin Global Communications LLC
steve@lubetkincommunications.com
@PodcastSteve – Twitter
http://www.lubetkin.net/
Ed, I remember this topic coming up years ago when I was a contributor to the IABC Cafe blog. I appreciate your post, because it continues an important discussion. The “value of accreditation” can be both personal and professional. Its value increases when the accreditation process is credible, consistent, challenging and rewarding. I’m grateful that the IABC members engaged in the revamp of the IABC Accreditation Program want to increase its relevancy and rewards. Professional credentialling won’t disappear due to social media or the influx of young professionals.