Culinary Arts

The Culinary Arts Assessment and Certification are:

• driven by industry standards and requirements;
• based on relevant content standards and consistent with the National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences Education and the National Career Clusters Initiative;
• appropriate to validate achievement of culinary arts competencies;
• useful in a broad range of education and employment settings, such as secondary and post-secondary education and employer-based human resource and staff development programs; and
• advantaged to utilize a gold-standard, computer-based testing platform format that provides for valid and reliable competency measurement, and a reporting mechanism for data-driven program improvement, accountability, and individual remediation and acceleration.

The Culinary Arts Assessment and Certification are:

• driven by industry standards and requirements;
• based on relevant content standards and consistent with the National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences Education and the National Career Clusters Initiative;
• appropriate to validate achievement of culinary arts competencies;
• useful in a broad range of education and employment settings, such as secondary and post-secondary education and employer-based human resource and staff development programs; and
• advantaged to utilize a gold-standard, computer-based testing platform format that provides for valid and reliable competency measurement, and a reporting mechanism for data-driven program improvement, accountability, and individual remediation and acceleration.

The Culinary Arts assessment and certification address a skill set necessary for success in the culinary industry. This assessment and certification will facilitate employment in early career ladder positions and promote continuing education at the post-secondary level preparing for careers associated with:

• restaurants,
• institutional food service,
• hospitality and catering, and
• food and beverage operations.

Once the assessment is submitted, results are immediately available to the test candidate. The results provide an overall percentage score, a breakdown of scores corresponding to domains, and the indication whether pre-professional certification was achieved. The national cut score for pre-professional certification eligibility is established annually by AAFCS. Scores can be used to demonstrate competency, pinpoint weaknesses or gaps in performance, improve programs and curricula, and demonstrate accountability to stakeholders. Through articulation agreements, scores may be used as the basis for advanced placement and/or credit-by-exam at post-secondary institutions. Thus, local and state entities have latitude for independently establishing passing or qualifying scores for other purposes.

Pre-Professional Certification Score:  Click here for the list of current certification scores