As the Academy of Certified Archivists (ACA) approaches its 20th anniversary, it also approaches having 1000 members.  The majority of the membership is no longer based on the founding class of 1989 but on those that have taken the exam in the last ten years.  It is interesting to note that our founding class of 1989, to whom ACA owes a huge debt of gratitude, continues to maintain their certification either through active participation or emeritus status.  This indicates that certification, over the last 20 years, has proven beneficial to our members as a commitment to themselves and to the profession.  The steadily increasing numbers of new members also indicates that ACA is healthy, that our members are as dedicated to the principles and practices of our profession, the standards of excellence and to furthering their own commitment to themselves and the profession now as they were at the founding of the organization, and will continue to be in the future. The ACA exam is not developed in a vacuum and is in no way a haphazard exercise.  Each question is tied directly to existing published sources on archival practices.  The questions are written in accordance with standard rules for the creation of multiple choice exams.  The Exam Development Committee (EDC), consisting of six ACA members serving three year terms, the Vice President, and the Regent for Exam Development, works conscientiously towards creating an exam that is balanced between the domains as described in the Role Delineation created and updated by ACA, fair and as up to date as possible.  Each question used on the exam is psychometrically measured after the exam in accordance with standard test development practices.  Questions are evaluated and updated as new books on archival practices are published and as technology changes standard practices.   ACA provides several opportunities for input on the exam, including an open forum discussion at the most recent Society of American Archivists (SAA) annual meeting.  Those who attended included board members, people interested in taking the exam in the future and those who took the exam at the SAA meeting site.  It was interesting to hear various methods of studying for the exam. ACA is working on developing an additional function to the website which will allow for "study blogs" for those interested in forming virtual study circles. In order to help members understand how the exam is created, for the past several years ACA has offered the Item Writing Workshop at SAA. ACA is willing to do similar workshops at regional meetings depending on the availability of EDC members in a given location and as money allows.  This workshop provides an opportunity to experience the challenging and intellectually stimulating exercise of writing exam questions that must be based on published practices. Many of those who have attended these workshops go on to volunteer to serve on the EDC.  Serving on the EDC and participating in item writing workshops gives ACA members an opportunity to be directly involved with the development of the exam. ACA has three other committees in addition to the EDC, Certification Maintenance, Exam Administration and Outreach.  Certification Maintenance handles the review of petitions submitted by members to verify the continuing education and professional service required to remain certified. Exam Administration reviews applications to take the exam and works with the board on assigning exam locations and administers the "Pick Your Site" program for exam sites. Outreach works with the membership to provide information about ACA through a variety of methods including articles for newsletters, speakers' bureau materials for members who have been asked to present sessions, and table top information booths which can be made available for annual meetings. ACA remains dedicated to professional archival standards of practice, education, leadership and active participation in the various aspects of archival enterprise.  Please visit our website at certifiedarchivists.org for more information.Cindy C. Smolovik, CA, CRM, ACA President

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