Central States Judges Association

Continuing Education Policy

GENERAL RATIONALE

• A review of other professional organizations (both musical and non-musical) supports the idea of "recertification" or "continuing education credits" as a means of keeping membership current with trends and changes in markets. If a surgeon only attended one professional conference every three years, there is a good chance s/he would miss the chance to learn some critical new techniques and potentially harm a patient. In our organization, a judge operating with information from three years ago cannot possibly be able to effectively and authentically evaluate a band using new techniques.
• Teachers, and the education field as a whole, are expected on a regular basis to engage in continuing education. Teachers lose certification if they do not attend workshops, conferences, and special presentations. With CSJA being so closely tied to a clearly educational market, it makes sense to consider implementing a policy like this one.

POLICY PROPOSAL DETAILS

Existing CSJA members (1+ year of completed service)

• Each CSJA member will be expected to complete 2 credits of continuing education every two years in order to continue receiving judging assignments.
• Each full day event would count as 1 full credit (i.e. Fall Seminar from 8 AM to 5 PM). If a member attended a half-day, s/he would receive 0.5 credits.
• Each member will have up to 6 opportunities (2 Spring sessions, 1 Fall session) to satisfy this requirement.
• Additional credits may be obtained by attending re-certification or refresher judging courses offered by the caption heads. Additional credits may be awarded in increments of 0.5 credits at the discretion of the caption heads. This offers the judge who needs to update her/his skills a chance to earn the necessary credits in a practical/applied manner.

Prospective/New CSJA members

• Prospective members must complete their prescribed caption training plus one additional credit during the first year of membership.
• New members are required to obtain at least one credit during the first year of service to the CSJA.
• In addition to completing one credit in the first year of service, new members are expected to write a one page personal reflection (email if possible) at the end of the judging season to be shared exclusively between her/him and the caption head. This type of self-reflection/self-assessment has been shown to be incredibly effective for educators specifically, but can be effective for judges as well.
• New members will be assigned a mentor by the caption heads. The mentor/new judge would meet in person at fall seminar (or the first seminar the new judge attends). The mentor would email the new judge at least 3 times per season to check in and be available for questions, concerns, feedback, etc.
• The veteran CSJA judge who serves as mentor will receive 0.5 continuing education credits upon showing that the requirements for mentorship have been met.

Policy Rationale

• The "mentor-apprentice" model works very nicely in this situation, promoting camaraderie, dialogue, and sharing of techniques and insight between veteran and new judges.
• The idea of the policy is not a punitive or bureaucratic one; it is to promote quality control, creativity, and camaraderie among the judges and motivate judges to attend seminars on a regular basis. Paperwork/reporting would be kept to a minimum (email if possible).

A copy of this policy is available for download here.

Approved by the CSJA Board on August 17, 2007.