National Allied Education and Assessment Program (NAEAP)
The National Education Foundation 20/20 provides a unique opportunity for education professionals (college professors, grade school teachers, and academic administrators) through our National Allied Education and Assessment Program (NAEAP), who have achieved significant formal and informal education, certifications, knowledge through self-study, publications, and executive level professional experience, to obtain a degree equivalency certification in a different field of study by providing a course-by-course college credit equivalency assessment through proctored, in-person competency-based exams. Our assessment is designed to provide participants with an opportunity to demonstrate thorough academic knowledge congruent to a quality American based, accredited college or university.
NAEAP does not provide degree equivalency evaluations for university degrees obtained at foreign higher learning institutions, nor do we assess traditional college courses from programs in America. Our evaluation utilizes the basis of demonstrated competency in a particular field of study through proctored, in-person examinations by qualified professors. If the participant demonstrates competency through subject or course-based testing, NAEAP will provide the participant with a degree equivalency certificate, graded course-by-course transcript, and letter from a qualified professor within the field of study who reviews competency exam scores, course description along with course codes, and research thesis (if required).
Thesis Paper May Be Required Depending on Field of Study.
For some master level equivalency program tracks, the participant will have to complete a master’s thesis before receiving a complete assessment.
Application Process
Applicants who would like to qualify and demonstrate either undergraduate or masters level competency (doctoral level competency test and evaluations are not available) that leads to a degree equivalency certification through intensive proctored examinations in a particular field of study must first send an email request and include their unofficial college transcripts (official transcripts will be needed if you are accepted into the evaluation program), CV, published/nonpublished research, publications, professional development courses, certifications, relevant professional history, self-study material, executive level seminars (CEUs are accepted as well) and a Prior Learning Assessment Portfolio. After review, a program staff person will contact you.
NAEAP may also accept and review the following:
- Standardized testing such as CLEP, TECEP, and DSST (DANTES).
- Evaluations of training and other sponsored learning activities by the American Council on Education (ACE) and the National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS).
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT OpenCourseWare
- Internal Empire State College Professional Learning Evaluations (formerly known as ESC Generics) of selected training, licenses and certificates not evaluated by ACE or NCCRS.
Typically, traditional college courses will not be considered in NAEAP’s degree equivalency evaluation due to our strictly competency-based exam model, but your overall educational background, formal and informal, will be reviewed by a program coordinator for candidate recommendation. Please keep in mind, this is an experimental pilot program with limited capacity. Most applicants will not be approved due to this limitation. The NAEAP plans to expand in 2024 and allow more opportunities for educators.
This program is highly selective and only approves qualified candidates on a case-by-case basis.
All candidates must:
- Possess at minimum an accredited undergraduate and graduate degree that differs in academic discipline from the degree equivalency certificate being sought.
- Be qualified through NAEAP to proctor each course inside of a university classroom close to your locality. (We assist with coordinating the logistics for test taking. Each competency exam is college level, congruent to traditional higher education course codes, and intense. You will be required to study prior to testing dates. Pace yourself through the process. If you do not pass an exam, you will be allowed to retake it 2 additional times within 12 months. If a participant fails 3 competency exams, dismissal from the program is possible. This is assessed on a case-by-case basis. If the professor who proctors your exams has a good-faith basis to believe you are not expertly disciplined and qualified in the field of study you are seeking a degree equivalency certificate in, an inquiry will be made, and another interview may be required before you can move forward in the program.)
- Provide unofficial college transcripts (official transcripts will be needed if you are accepted into the evaluation program), CV, professional development courses, certifications, relevant professional history, self-study material, executive level seminars (CEUs are acceptable), and a comprehensive Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) Portfolio.
- Provide the degree equivalency certificate category you’re interested in testing for (undergraduate or graduate) and the subject matter (academic major) you are interested in testing in. All bachelor and master degree course-to-course equivalency exams must be proctored by a qualified professor. ***Our policy allows for those in the bachelor’s degree equivalency evaluation program to be assessed based on core subject matter competency exams only***
Only applicants who are seeking a full degree equivalency certificate need apply. Presently, we are not accepting program participants who prefer to only test for courses not leading to a degree equivalency certificate.
Exams
NAEAP utilizes multiple competency-based exams to ensure the participant demonstrates true mastery of the content. The modality of each exam largely depends on your desired field of study and the potential uniqueness of the degree equivalency certificate you are seeking. While there is freedom to choose what you would like the subject (academic major) to be, you must be qualified through a demonstrative process and verification that aligns with your subject choice. There are no exceptions to this policy.
How Does It Work?
NAEAP will assist you with developing an exam schedule which will encompass virtually all of the courses that you would take at traditional colleges and universities in that same field of study. There is some flexibility with this, but not much. We are a credible and professional program only interested in providing a high quality non-traditional educational credential to highly qualified candidates.
NAEAP Is Not A Foreign Degree Evaluator
Degree equivalency certification is usually a credit-to-credit assessment of a foreign university degree to ensure the academic integrity of the foreign college degree program meets the standards of accredited American higher education institutions. There is no single law, framework, or rule that holds true in defining a degree across comparative education systems. NAEP differs primarily due to our modality and focus of the program. We only review your formal and informal education, training, professional background, research, etc. to establish the criteria that you meet collegiate level qualifications to test within the framework of traditional college courses.