1.1 本实践为证书颁发者制定和管理质量证书计划以及利益相关者确定证书计划的质量提供了指导。 1.2 这种做法包括对颁发证书的实体的要求以及对其颁发证书的特定证书计划的要求。 1.3 该实践为特定实体在成功完成证书课程后向个人颁发一个或多个特定证书的认可或认可（或两者兼有）提供了基础。 1.4 本惯例不涉及与个人认证相关的指导，也不涉及与教育或培训计划（包括颁发参与证书或出勤证书的计划）相关的一般指导。 ====意义和用途====== 4.1 证书课程通常由社区学院和大学、政府机构、雇主、独立的营利性培训组织以及专业和贸易协会提供。虽然一般来说，对于继续教育和培训提供商（例如ANSI/IACET），确实存在质量指南 1- 2013）和提供人员认证计划的实体（例如ANSI/ISO/IEC） 17024:2012），目前，没有专门帮助提供证书课程的实体的质量指南。这种做法旨在改变这种情况，并已发展为: 4.1.1 为质量计划的开发和管理提供证书计划开发人员和证书发行人指南； 4.1.2 形成认可或认证系统的基础，或两者兼而有之，使消费者、雇主、政府机构和其他依赖熟练劳动力的人能够区分合格工人和欺诈性或更少的工人- 质量证书； 4.1.3 协助利益相关者区分证书项目和人员认证；和 4.1.4 协助利益相关者将证书课程与其他授予证书的课程区分开来，包括但不限于出席证书或参与证书。 4.2 目前，区分通过证书课程提供的重点学习和评估获得的证书与通过其他方式授予的证书是一项挑战。颁发证书不是一个区别因素。 “证书”一词被广泛用作表示取得或完成某项工作的证书。个人可能会收到教育或培训机构颁发的证书，作为学习活动出席情况的证明（通常称为出席证书），或收到证书，作为积极参与学习活动学习经验的证明（通常称为参与证书）。然而，证书的发放并不表明完成的教育或培训课程是证书课程。 在证书课程中，个人参与一个学习活动或一系列活动，旨在帮助他或她在规定范围内实现特定的学习成果；只有在验证成功完成所有课程要求（包括但不限于对学习者达到预期学习成果的评估）后，个人才能收到证书。 4.3 将认证计划与个人认证区分开来也很重要。认证是非政府实体授予时间的过程- 通常通过资格申请和评估，验证个人已达到既定的熟练程度或能力标准后，对个人的有限认可。虽然认证资格标准可能规定某种类型或数量的教育或培训，但学习活动通常不是由认证机构提供的。相反，认证机构通过申请流程验证在其他地方获得的教育或培训和经验，并对当前熟练程度或能力进行标准化评估。 4.4 相反，在证书计划中，学习事件和评估都是由证书颁发者开发和管理的，它们之间有着重要的联系。也就是说，学习活动旨在帮助参与者实现学习成果，而评估旨在评估学习者实现预期学习成果的情况。 4.5 此外，认证对保持熟练度/能力有持续要求，如果不满足这些持续要求，可以撤销认证。相反，证书没有持续维护或更新要求，因此不能撤销。

1.1 This practice provides guidance to certificate issuers for developing and administering quality certificate programs and to stakeholders for determining the quality of certificate programs. 1.2 This practice includes requirements for both the entity issuing the certificate and requirements for the specific certificate programs for which it issues certificates. 1.3 This practice provides the foundation for the recognition or accreditation, or both, of a specific entity to issue a specific certificate or certificates to individuals after successful completion of a certificate program. 1.4 This practice does not address guidance pertaining to certification of individuals nor does it address guidance pertaining to education or training programs in general, including those that issue certificates of participation or certificates of attendance. ====== Significance And Use ====== 4.1 Certificate programs are typically offered by community colleges and universities, government agencies, employers, independent for-profit training organizations, and professional and trade associations. While quality guidelines do exist for continuing education and training providers in general (for example, ANSI/IACET 1-2013) and for entities offering personnel certification programs (for example, ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024:2012), currently, no quality guidelines exist specifically to aid entities offering certificate programs. This practice aims to change that and has been developed to: 4.1.1 Provide certificate program developers and certificate issuers guidelines for quality program development and administration; 4.1.2 Form the foundation for a recognition or accreditation system, or both, that enable consumers, employers, government agencies, and others who rely upon a skilled workforce to distinguish between qualified workers and those with fraudulent or less-than-quality credentials; 4.1.3 Assist stakeholders in differentiating between certificate programs from personnel certification; and 4.1.4 Assist stakeholders in differentiating certificate programs from other programs that confer certificates, including but not limited to certificates of attendance or certificates of participation. 4.2 Currently, it is challenging to distinguish a certificate earned through the focused learning and assessment offered through a certificate program from one granted through other means. That a certificate is issued is not a distinguishing factor. The word“ certificate” is used broadly as a document awarded to designate the attainment or completion of something. An individual might receive a certificate from an education or training provider as verification of attendance at a learning event (often called a certificate of attendance) or receive a certificate as verification of active participation in a learning event’s learning experiences (often called a certificate of participation). The distribution of a certificate, however, does not indicate that the education or training program completed was a certificate program. In a certificate program, an individual participates in a learning event or series of events designed to assist him or her in achieving specified learning outcomes within a defined scope; the individual receives a certificate only after verification of successful completion of all program requisites including but not limited to an assessment of learner attainment of intended learning outcomes. 4.3 It is also important to distinguish certificate programs from the certification of individuals. Certification is a process through which a nongovernmental entity grants a time-limited recognition to an individual after verifying that he or she has met established criteria for proficiency or competency, usually through an eligibility application and assessment. While certification eligibility criteria may specify a certain type or amount of education or training, the learning event(s) are not typically provided by the certifying body. Instead, the certifying body verifies education or training and experience obtained elsewhere through an application process and administers a standardized assessment of current proficiency or competency. 4.4 In contrast, in a certificate program the learning event(s) and the assessment(s) are both developed and administered by the certificate issuer, and there is an essential link between them. That is, the learning event(s) are designed to help participants achieve learning outcomes and the assessment is designed to evaluate the learners’ attainment of those intended learning outcomes. 4.5 Also, certifications have ongoing requirements for maintaining proficiency/competency and can be revoked for not meeting these ongoing requirements. In contrast, certificates do not have ongoing maintenance or renewal requirements and therefore, cannot be revoked.