Credentialing Overview

Purchasing a Passport, being assessed on the Skill Standards and earning Skill Points and experience hours leads to Certificates and Credentials…

Skill Standards

The heart of the WCA credentialing program are the skill standards which are an observable, measurable level of achievement or performance. Rather than using a written test to determine a candidate’s skill level, we feel it’s much more useful to observe someone using a tool, so we’ve written thousands of Skill Standards for hundreds of tools covering a broad spectrum of the woodworking industry.

There are a number of tool categories, with each tool broken down into a number of operations, each of which has two potential testing levels:

Level 1 – Basic woodworking skills – Output oriented

Level 2 – Intermediate to advanced woodworking skills – Setup oriented

Learn more…

Passport

The WCA Passport is your entry into the program and also the representation of your achievements as you advance through the credentialing process.

Cost: $55                  Learn more…

Roles

  • Candidates

    Most participants in the credentialing program enter as Candidates who go on to earn certificates and/or credentials.  Some may move up to serve as Accredited Skill Evaluators.

  • Accredited Skill Evaluator (ASE)

    Evaluators are experienced woodworking professionals or educators who evaluate candidates using the Skill Standards. There are over 190 in North America, and we are recruiting and training more every month.

  • Accredited Chief Evaluator (ACE)

    Has the same responsibilities as any Accredited Skill Evaluator. In addition, the Chiefs supervise the ASE’s in their region and serve as principal training officers for new ASE’s.

Skill Points and Assessment Credits

Skill Points are earned each time a candidate is tested, or assessed, on a tool operation which are accumulated and used to earn a credential. Testing a level 1 earns one point, and testing at level 2 earns an additional one point. Assessment credits are purchased from the WCA and spent each time a candidate is assessed.

One Skill Point uses one assessment credit at a cost of $5 per credit.

Learn more…

Sawblade Certificate

Available to high school students only, no experience requirements + passing grade on Basic Skills Written Test + 10 Skill Points.  Learn more…

Credentials

There are five main levels of credential that can be earned, plus the Sawblade Certificate that is for high school students only.  Learn more…

Green Credential

6 months (800 hours) experience, work or school + 30 Skill points

Blue Credential

1 year (1600 hours) experience, work or school + 60 total Skill Points

Red Credential

2 years experience, 1600 hours, work or school + 1600 additional hours, work only  + 120 total Skill Points + Skill Demonstration

Gold Credential

3 years experience, 1600 hours, work or school + 3200 additional hours, work only  + 180 total Tool Points + Skill Demonstration

Diamond Credential

4 years experience, 1600 hours, work or school + 4800 additional hours, work only  + 240 total Skill Points + Master Project