April 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 46

do inspect and maintain playgrounds,
sell or install playground equipment, or
specify what goes into a play area, then
you would benefit greatly from taking the
course. We focus on recognizing hazards on playgrounds as well as managing risk on playgrounds. The knowledge
gained from taking the exam is very beneficial. People taking the class typically
say they will never look at a playground
the same way again. "
And as Nunes sums it up, " We need to
get the movement going again and show
the relevance of certification to stakeholders such as city managers and HR
professionals. They need to understand
the benefit of having properly credentialed associates. In the 1990s it seemed
there was a little more of a push by the
state and national associations to make
certification more prevalent. "

Taking Certification to the Next Levels
Parks and recreation leaders active in

enhancing professionalism in the field
seem eager to see the development of
certification at the management and executive levels;
" There is a lot of misunderstanding
about the CPRP; it is designed to be an
entry level certification, " Geden says.
" Entry level says you have a full complement of entry level knowledge and
what it takes to be a solid, entry level
professional. So it is important that we
pursue more advanced levels. Certification was a definite plus for the industry when it first came about, but we
didn't continue with the momentum as
we should have. "
Nunes also believes some time might
have been lost recently, possibly because
of the complex transition to centralization.
" There is a big opportunity now to create
higher level certification to demonstrate
that there is a growth process within our
profession, " Nunes says. " It's a real opportunity to work with decision makers

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so they can understand the value of certification. We need to show that certification is not a stagnant process, that it is a
growth process for the profession. "
There are similar concerns in the
CPSI program. " After an initial audit
has been done to determine if a playground is compliant with guidelines,
there should be an action plan to bring
it up to compliance or to maintain standards. That process takes more insight
than is available through the CPSI training, " Kalousek says.
NRPA is going through the process
of determining whether or not to have
an " auditor level " playground safety
certification. " But we're not there yet, "
Kalousek says.
Other issues must be dealt with,
Kalousek says. This includes, " an uneven dispersal of inspectors. Of the 50
states, some don't have the population or
wherewithal to have inspectors. While a
state like New Jersey will have a lot, because of various laws and dense population, states like Wyoming and Louisiana
will have few or none. "
Aside from advanced certification,
another goal is to create specialty credentials. In fact, it is not unusual to hold
two certifications-one general and one
specialized. Nunes said his assistant director and his aquatic superintendent
holds dual certifications while he holds
only the NPRP " because I'm more of a
generalist. "

Accrediting the Certification
From its beginning, NRPA's certification
program has used the guidelines established by the Institute for Credentialing
Excellence. Last fall, a presentation was
made at the National Certification Board
meeting to make members aware of the
need to secure approval by NCCA, the
body within ICE that accredits certification processes, Carter explains.
That approval, once earned, would
bring NRPA's certification to the next level
of its own-and mark a greater level of professionalism for the entire association. 
Harvey Chipkin is a freelance writer

based in Bloomfield, New Jersey.

April 2010 - Parks & Recreation

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