Level 1 accreditations must meet the following requirements:
All education/training programs must have been in operation for a minimum of three (3) months as established by the first time the offering was delivered to participants with content as submitted in the application. All accredited providers must have at least one graduating class of at least five (5) participants, that has completed the full education program with curriculum content consistent with the intended accreditation application.
Contact Hours: 60-124 Contact Hours
- At least 60 hours of all education must be delivered in synchronous (real-time) activities and 80% focused on the PAAC Essentials and Competencies. The remaining hours of the education and education hours can be delivered asynchronously but must require some method of validating that the activity was completed by the participant.
- Contact hours: Clock hours spent in synchronous (real-time) interactions between faculty and participants and asynchronous or clock hours spent outside of real-time interaction between faculty and participants. Synchronous contact hours can include time spent in direct instruction, real-time discussions, observation and feedback or practice coaching sessions, and mentoring participants.
- Asynchronous contact hours can include outside reading, writing, research, journaling, practice coaching and various other activities that may occur outside of the synchronous setting. All asynchronous hours require some method of validating that the activity was completed by the participant.
- Homework/Independent study: Clock hours spent outside of real-time interaction between faculty and participants (asynchronous). These may include outside reading, writing, research, journaling, practice coaching and various other activities that may occur outside of the synchronous setting. All asynchronous hours require some method of validating that the activity was completed by the participant.
Application requirements
The organization will be asked to document the number of hours that their education program offers and provide a list of all classes being offered.
Course List
The organization will be asked to document all of the classes that make up the full intended program. The following details are required for each class:
- Title
- Brief description
- Hours spent teaching
- Core Competencies taught
- Primary delivery method
Education/Training Materials Upload
PAAC will request the following information to support a Level 1 application:
- Course outlines
- Participant & Instructor materials
- Bibliographies
- PowerPoint slides/other graphic handouts
- One (1) recording (MP3, WMA or WAV) with transcript of an observed coaching session
- Written feedback of the submitted observed coaching session
- Two (2) recordings (MP3, WMA or WAV) of a performance evaluation in which a student passed at the CACP level
- Written feedback and word-for-word transcript for both performance evaluation recordings submitted
Five (5) Observed Coaching Sessions for each Participant
PAAC considers observed coaching sessions a vital component of quality coaching education. Level 1 accredited providers are required to provide a minimum of five (5) observed coaching sessions for each participant. Written feedback must be provided for at least three (3) of the five sessions.
- Observed coaching session definition: Sessions in which a participant is coaching any client, fellow participant or another person as a method for practicing their coaching skills.
- Structure: Observed coaching sessions are observed by an instructor/observer who is responsible for providing written feedback to the participant, noting the participant’s use of the PAAC Essentials in the coaching session. These sessions may be observed live or through a recorded session. Observed coaching sessions count as part of the total instructional hours of the program.
Application requirements
The organization will be asked to submit one example of a recorded observed coaching session, and the corresponding written feedback for the submitted recording.
Confidentiality
Organization should only be submitting recordings for which they have received explicit permission from the client/participant to submit recordings of their coaching sessions to be reviewed by PAAC and performance evaluation assessors for the purposes of assessing the quality and methods of the coaching.
10 hours Mentor Coaching
- Level 1 accreditations are required to provide 10 hours of Mentor Coaching over a three (3) month or longer period of time.
- Mentor Coaching definition: a participant being coached on their coaching skills rather than on practice building, life balance or other topics unrelated to the development of a participant’s coaching skill. Mentoring is intended to serve as a development process for the participant that takes place in a repetitive cycle of receiving feedback regarding participant coaching, reflecting on this feedback and practicing new skills. The focus must be on the development of skills using the PAAC Essentials.
- Structure: Minimum of 10 hours of Mentor Coaching. These 10 hours should be integrated into the total contact hours and occur periodically throughout the course of the contact hours. Group mentoring may count for a maximum of seven (7) hours toward the mentoring requirement. The group being mentored may not consist of more than 10 participants. A minimum of three (3) of the 10 mentoring hours must be one-on-one mentoring. All Mentor Coaching should be completed verbally.
- Application requirements: The organization will be asked to supply a description of the Mentor Coaching process used within the contact hours.
Performance Evaluation
- Level 1 accredited providers must administer a final performance evaluation in a formal testing environment. The final performance evaluation must, at a minimum, contain an actual observation of coaching at least 20 minutes to one hour in length which is graded as a final performance evaluation.
- Standards: The performance evaluation must be graded at or above the PAAC CACP level Participants must receive written feedback/scoring for their performance evaluation that provides information regarding their performance on each of the PAAC Essentials.
- Performance evaluation reviewers must hold a PAAC Credential at the PCAC or MCAC level, and competently understand the PAAC Essentials and Code of Ethics.
Application requirements
The organization will be required to:
- Document the performance evaluation process and grading criteria used for the final performance evaluation;
- Document the start date for a class of participants that has completed the program including the performance evaluation process and when they graduated;
- Submit two (2) recordings of an actual participant coaching session that was used for the final performance evaluation and received a passing evaluation. Coaching demonstrations by faculty members cannot be submitted for evaluation.
- Submit the transcript and written feedback for these recordings.
- Procedure: Performance Evaluation recordings will be sent to qualified PAAC Assessors to be evaluated. This process is to ensure that the recording was assessed at the CACP Credential level within the program. If the recording does not pass at the CACP Credential level, the organization will be able to resubmit new recordings for a fee of $250 USD. This retake process can be completed a total of two (2) times. If the recordings still do not receive passing scores at that time, the education program will not be awarded the Level 1 accreditation.
Director of Education
The Director of Education provides oversight of the curriculum, instructional processes, education of instructors and all observation and examination processes.
Specific job responsibilities:
- Curriculum and class offerings: ensure the curriculum being taught is the same as the curriculum accredited by ICF as a part of the submitted Level 1 accreditation application.
- Instructional process: ensure content is delivered by methods noted in the submitted Level 1 accreditation application, and also that all time requirements for classes are met.
- Education of instructors: train program instructors in alignment with the Train the Trainer program outlined in the submitted Level 1 accreditation application.
- Examination processes: ensure performance evaluation process is being followed exactly as noted in the submitted Level 1 accreditation application.
Structure:
- Directors must hold an active PAAC PCAC or MCAC credential and subscribe to the PAAC definition of coaching, Code of Ethics and Five Essentials.
- 5 years client coaching experience
- Demonstrated facilitation and training skills – training history
Application requirements:
- The organization will be required to document who the Director of Education is and their current PAAC Credential level.