ACTFL is committed to a transparent certification process. While not all individuals who apply for certification achieve it, ACTFL’s Quality Assurance convenes an Appeals Committee on a quarterly basis to reconsider certification decisions. Candidates for an appeal must meet the following criteria:

Certification materials were evaluated inaccurately and/or
There were extenuating circumstances that did not allow for a fair assessment of a candidate’s testing/rating performance

Process

When ACTFL’s Certification Program receives a request to appeal a certification or recertification decision, an ACTFL Certification Appeals Committee is formed to consider the request. The committee is made up of ACTFL staff, master testers, and certified ACTFL workshop facilitators.

The Committee will re-examine materials that were submitted for certification and may review the process through which certification occurred. To be successful, the appeal must demonstrate that certification materials were evaluated inaccurately and/or that there were extenuating circumstances that did not allow for a fair assessment of a candidate’s testing/rating performance.

The ACTFL Certification Appeals Committee will not review any other material except for what was originally submitted in addition to the materials outlined below.

Steps for Appealing

A written appeal must be submitted within 30 days of the date a candidate receives the results of their certification process. No requests for reconsideration will be accepted after 30 days.
The appeal should be submitted as a single combined PDF document which includes:
- A Completed ACTFL Certification Certification Appeals Process form
- All feedback provided by the Certification Mentor
The completed application should be emailed to the Quality Assurance email that corresponds to the candidate’s certification process.
ACTFL’s Quality Assurance Program will inform the certification candidate of the results of the committee within 60 days of receipt of the appeals request.

Appeals Process Results

The ACTFL Certification Appeals Committee can recommend full certification, limited certification, recertification, or they may not recommend certification.
The ACTFL Certification Appeals Committee may also suggest continuation of the certification process by recommending additional rounds of testing/rating.
ACTFL does not facilitate an appeal process for LTI employment of Testers and Raters. The above applies only to the ACTFL certification Process.
All decisions by the Appeals Committee are final.

Resources by Topic

Tester & Rater Certification Appeals Process