Breastfeeding families rely on the skills and expertise of IBCLCs. Other professionals refer to IBCLCs as they know IBCLCs have the specialised knowledge and clinical experience required to provide skilled lactation care. As an IBCLC, you have worked hard for your credential and earning the IBCLC is a significant achievement. The integrity of the credential and what it represents is of the utmost importance to you, to referring professionals, to families seeking professional lactation care, and to IBLCE.
To maintain the integrity of the IBCLC certification programme, IBLCE follows best practises in certification, and the IBCLC programme has been recognised for over thirty years for its commitment to quality. Just as Baby Friendly accreditation is a highly valued third-party verification of quality, so too is accreditation of the IBCLC certification programme by the NCCA of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence. NCCA accreditation, a highly valued accreditation for many leading healthcare certification programmes, represents a significant accomplishment and signifies a commitment to excellence and best practises in certification.
This accreditation means that the IBCLC certification programme has undergone a rigorous programmatic review focusing on key components of the programme: sound governance and financial practises, management by professional certification staff, broad and representative involvement by subject matter experts (SMEs) in consultation with psychometricians, and a secure examination administration, among others.
Why is examination security so important? The IBCLC is a professional credential and IBCLCs hold a position of great responsibility and significant public trust. IBCLCs are working with infants, children, and families who are relying on their knowledge and expertise. It is critically important that those who hold the credential have truly demonstrated they have the essential specialised knowledge and expertise as represented by the credential.
It is for this reason that certification best practises and accreditation standards are placing increasing emphasis on examination security. This is also of increasing importance for certification programmes testing thousands of individuals each year as well as with the use of Live Remote Proctoring (LRP).
It is for these reasons that IBLCE is making use of enhanced statistical analysis, known as data forensics, as part of the post-examination review process.
Data forensics is the study of statistical patterns within individual test results, within groupings of test results, and across entire testing results. This analysis is performed by statistical professionals after examination administration to minimise the potential for invalid testing results.
If an individual or group of test results shows patterns such that the probability of those results occurring by chance is virtually statistically impossible, as set forth in the IBCLC application, IBLCE reserves the right to cancel these examination scores.
As an accredited certification body, IBLCE works to ensure that the score received on the IBCLC examination is valid and fairly earned. Utilising tools such as data forensics protects the integrity of your hard-earned credential and promotes the health and safety of breastfeeding families.
