Ongoing Requirements

Maintaining Your CE

The Credentialed Evaluator (CE) designation is the hallmark of quality for evaluation professionals, demonstrating your expertise and your commitment to high-quality and competent evaluation.

To maintain your designation, you must:

  • Maintain your membership with CES (annual membership fees are required).
  • Pay the annual CE renewal fee (payable with annual membership fees). 
  • Report at least 40 hours of professional learning every three years. 

Professional Learning Requirement

You must report 40 hours of professional learning every three years to maintain the CE designation. Enter these hours under "CE Maintenance" (member login required).

There are three criteria for determining whether learning activities can be counted toward the 40-hour requirement:

  • The learning activity is relevant to the Competencies for Canadian Evaluation Practice. The connection must be indicated by the CE holder when reporting it.
  • The learning activity has a stated or stateable learning purpose.
  • The CE holder has an intentional learning objective in mind for the activity and achieves it.   

Eligible Professional Learning Activities

While not mandatory, we recommend CE holders choose learning activities across all competency domains and favour high-quality, up-to-date activities that, where relevant, are organized, sponsored or led by formally recognized organizations (e.g., CES, AEA, EES, RELAC, IDEAS, IPDET) or institutions (e.g., a university). 

Attendance at plenary, paper, panel and other sessions at professional conferences, such as the CES Annual National Conference or other evaluation societies’ conferences or other conferences with directly related subject matter. 

Attendance at facilitated and structured learning activities undertaken through in-person or online learning workshops, courses or other organized learning events with clear learning goals or outcomes, such as workshops offered by CES Chapters, other professional associations, The Evaluator’s Institute or pre- and post- conferences. This also includes attendance at university or college courses.

Attendance at facilitated and structured learning activities undertaken through in-person and on-line learning events, with clear learning goals or outcomes, such as webinars, or breakfast or lunch sessions.

Research, analysis and preparation of a workshop, seminar, presentation, university/college course, article, book chapter or other writing on evaluation, which includes background reading, determination of appropriate content, development of learning materials, preparation of speaking notes and the drafting of articles or chapters.

Learning that occurs through informal mechanisms determined and/or organized by an individual or group not aimed at the production of tangible outputs (such as training or writing), such as learning circles, journal clubs or independent attentive reading of professional or academic literature.

Guidance for Calculating Hours 

You are not required to submit documentation when you report your professional learning hours. As part of the professionalism that the CE designation signifies, we rely on the integrity of CE holders to submit activities that have genuinely contributed to maintaining or developing their competencies within the framework of the Competencies for Canadian Evaluation Practice and calculate the correct number of hours. 

  • Professional learning hours are accumulated on a three-year basis, beginning the date you earn your CE designation.
  • In order to qualify, the content of the activity must be related to the Competencies for Canadian Evaluation Practice.
  • You cannot “bank” hours and have them apply to the next cycle. Every three-year period, you must accumulate 40 hours within that period.
  • You are encouraged to record all professional learning hours in each cycle even if you have accumulated more than 40.


Termination and Reinstatement 

If you have not entered your 40 hours by the end of the three-year period, you will be notified and be offered a grace period of up to six months to enter your hours. However, this does not extend your subsequent maintenance period; you now have three years less the grace period to accumulate the next 40 hours. 

If you do not maintain your membership with CES, pay the annual designation fee or meet the professional learning requirement within the grace period, your CE designation will expire. You may request reinstatement without having to reapply for the CE within two years of the end of your last CE renewal date as long as you can demonstrate that you have maintained the required competencies. Beyond two years, you must reapply.

For the full policy on termination and reinstatement, please see the in the Professional Designations Program Policies and Operational Guidelines.


Questions?

For more information about maintaining your CE designation, see the Professional Designations Program Credentialed Evaluator Continuing Education Requirements, the Professional Designations Program Policies and Operational Guidelines, or the FAQ section. If you have further questions, contact us.