AEA, Bold or Timid? LEONARD BICKMAN ABSTRACT Credentialing and certification are processes that can help the field of evaluation establish a clearer identity as a profession. They will help AEA further establish its presence as the premier organization in evaluation. Altschuld (this issue) proposes a sensible approach, focus- ing first on credentialing. I argue that we should proceed now. INTRODUCTION I approach the question of certification as one of boldness or timidity, because I believe that the objections to moving forward on certification are based on that dimension and our associated view of our profession and association. Do we see the American Evaluation Association (AEA) as staking a claim for the existence of a profession of evaluation, or do we value the status quo in which others will define who we are as evaluators? The critics of the certification of evaluation are correct in their lists of challenges and problems that must be met in creating and maintaining a certification or credentialing system. However, I do not agree with their conclusion that such a system is not worth pursuing. Let me tell you how I came to this conclusion. In my presidential address dealing with this issue, I tried to make it clear that my support for certification was not based primarily on making the world safe from poor evaluators (Bickman, 1997). I do not think that our profession or most others can show that certification accomplishes that function (Bickman, 1999). It may make good public relations to talk about protecting the public, but that will be very difficult to demonstrate. My support is based instead on a much more utilitarian or instrumental function of certification. Will certification help evaluation as a profession and AEA as an organization? It is my belief that the work that is necessary to establish a clear identity of evaluation will help us as both a profession and as the premier organization of evaluators. Leonard Bickman ● Center for Mental Health Policy, Vanderbilt University, 1207 18th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37212; Tel: (615) 322-8694; Fax: (615) 322-7049; E-mail: Bickman@ibm.net. Leonard Bickman American Journal of Evaluation, Vol. 20, No. 3, 1999, pp. 519 –520. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISSN: 1098-2140 Copyright © 1999 by American Evaluation Association. 519