NCCA Accreditation

What are the goals of accreditation?

The answer is two-fold:

One critical goal of accreditation is to provide the general public with reasonable assurance that the personal trainer they employ is deemed competent and professional by a reputable, accredited, certifying organization.
IHRSA (International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association) is a membership organization that has approximately 4500 clubs in its membership. IHRSA carries a lot of clout in the fitness industry and has issued a “recommendation” that all clubs in their association only hire Personal Trainers who are certified by an NCCA accredited certifying agency as of January 1st, 2006 . Although this is only a recommendation it carries strong (positive) implications for the fitness industry as a whole. The IHRSA recommendation brings urgency to the need for attaining accreditation. However, the need for industry wide professional standards and standardized practices is of greater importance and is only addressed in part by achieving NCCA Accreditation.

Who and what is NCCA (National Commission for Certifying Agencies)?

The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) is the accreditation body of the National Organization for Credentialing Agencies (NOCA). NOCA, established in 1977, is the leader in setting quality standards for credentialing organizations. Through its annual conference, regional seminars, and publications, NOCA serves its membership as a clearinghouse for information on the latest trends and issues of concern to practitioners and organizations focused on certification, licensure, and human resource development. Certification programs may apply and be accredited by the NCCA if they demonstrate compliance with each of the 21, rigorous accreditation standards. The standards are designed to assure that the certifying agency can accurately and fairly measure a certificant’s professional competence through standardized testing. NCCA's Standards exceed the requirements set forth by the American Psychological Association and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The accreditation process is extensive and may take as much as 12 – 48 months from start to finish. Most organizations who seek NCCA accreditation must undergo significant, time-consuming organizational restructuring to comply with the NCCA Governance standards. The psychometric analyses needed to construct and validate a standardized certification exam take several months. Once the application has been submitted it must go through a thorough peer review process and approval by the board of directors, which also can take several months.

Why is NATIONAL AEROBICS & FITNESS TRAINERS ASSOCIATION pursuing NCCA accreditation?

NAFTA is and always has been wholly committed to providing the public with a product (hands-on training and certification) that is valid, reliable and fair. NCCA accreditation is one avenue to provide the public with that assurance and NCCA is recognized industry wide as the gold standard in certification accreditation.

When will NATIONAL AEROBICS & FITNESS TRAINERS ASSOCIATION be accredited?

NCCA does not accredit an organization; it accredits an individual certification program offered by an organization. NAFTA’s Primary Group Instructor and Personal Trainer Certification are currently in the application process.

Why should I take a NATIONAL AEROBICS & FITNESS TRAINERS ASSOCIATION exam versus other certification exams?

As mentioned earlier, NAFTA is wholly committed to providing the public with a superior product. Over the past 13 years NAFTA has provided over 65,000 fitness professionals with hands-on training, individualized attention, superior customer service and well designed certification exams. NAFTA has been the industry leader in training fitness professionals how to teach safe and effective exercise at our nationwide workshops. Now is the opportunity for all Fitness Certification Agencies to provide certification exams that are statistically valid and psychometrically sound. NAFTA is committed to that end.

Other certification organizations may have lead the charge in achieving NCCA accreditation or may have more extensive advertising budgets, which by the way you (the consumer) ultimately pay for, but that doesn’t eclipse NAFTA’s contribution to the fitness industry since 1977. Our mission statement is actually the best way to answer the question – Why NAFTA.

NATIONAL AEROBICS & FITNESS TRAINERS ASSOCIATION is an education and training organization for fitness professionals and is dedicated to offering cost effective certification programs and continuing education that teach concepts and theories of health and fitness. We emphasize practical application of these concepts as they relate to fitness leadership. We believe it is important to offer education, hands-on training and certification to all who are interested and in this way help improve the quality of fitness instruction to the public.