National Intervener Certification E-Portfolio (NICE)
Home
What is NICE?
NCDB and the Paraprofessional Resource and Research Center (PAR2A Center), with support from the Office of Special Education Programs, are pleased to announce a national certification system for interveners. The National Intervener Certification E-portfolio (NICE) System is an assessment process that interveners can use to submit evidence of their knowledge and skills. The evidence, which consists of digital documentation such as video samples, described pictures, and other documents from the intervener’s training and practice, is evaluated by expert reviewers in the field of deaf-blindness.
The process is aligned with the Council for Exceptional Children's knowledge and skill competencies for interveners published in 2015. An updated version was published in 2022 that has not yet been incorporated into the NICE platform.
Applying for NICE Certification: Policies and Procedures
Portfolios are scored by at least two trained reviewers who are members of the NICE Review Board. All certification determinations are made by the PAR2A Center, which manages portfolio submissions, the NICE Review Board, and scoring.
5 Year Recertification Process
For Interveners
Information for Interveners
If you are a practicing intervener or have participated in intervener training and are serving a student or client who is deaf-blind, the NICE process provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate attainment of knowledge and skills outlined in the Council for Exceptional Children's knowledge and skill competencies for interveners that was published in 2015. [An updated version was published in 2022 that has not yet been incorporated into the NICE platform.]
Using the NICE process, candidates develop and organize evidence from their own training and practice and submit it for independent review. Successful candidates are awarded a national intervener certificate.
Review & Score
NICE Review and Scoring Process
The PAR2A Center, with technical assistance from NCDB, manages the NICE Review Board, whose members sign confidentiality/impartiality agreements to serve in this important role. All reviewers go through a training process and use a scoring rubric to evaluate portfolios.
Each portfolio is scored by two reviewers. Their scores must agree at least 80% of the time for the overall portfolio score to be considered reliable. A third reviewer will be recruited if the initial reviewers’ agreement rate is less than 80%.
NICE receives support and guidance from advisers, who are respected leaders from family, consumer, and professional organizations or universities, and have a deep commitment to the practice of intervention and the field of deaf-blindness. Advisers are responsible for reviewing overall progress data with the PAR2A Center and offering general feedback on the review process. Advisers do not review individual portfolios but agree to participate in reviewer training in order to fully understand the role of the reviewer.
The PAR2A Center is ultimately responsible for determining whether national certificates are awarded to interveners and is responsible for all communication, written or verbal, to interveners regarding their performance and certification.
For Partners
Information for State Deaf-Blind Projects and University Partners
The National Center on Deaf-Blindness, as a federally-funded national technical assistance center, has the responsibility of providing support to any interested state deaf-blind project or university partners who would like to use the NICE system with interveners. The goals of the technical assistance include the following:
- Increased opportunities for interveners to demonstrate attainment of national competencies through certification
- Increased support to state deaf-blind projects and university partners to assist them in developing or expanding networks of trained interveners and mentors
- Increased recognition for the intervener services model and the role of professionals in supporting interveners
Technical assistance is tailored to the needs of the state project or university partner. In addition, state projects and university partners have access to two NICE training modules to host groups of interveners and mentors to learn about the NICE process.
Interested state deaf-blind project or university partners should contact Kristi Probst or read through NCDB Technical Assistance for NICE.
Development
NICE Development Process
NICE was designed using a participatory approach involving practicing interveners, state deaf-blind project personnel, and university experts, who joined forces to design and field test a process that would provide interveners with an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills using digital documentation.
Using the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) knowledge and skill competencies for interveners, cohorts of interveners from diverse training programs documented their practice and offered feedback on the e-portfolio design. During this process, intervener participants received support and mentoring from participating state deaf-blind project partners, university experts, NCDB staff, and others as the system was developed, tested, and revised. Reviewers from the field of deaf-blindness were recruited to test and provide feedback on the scoring system.
Home
What is NICE?
NCDB and the Paraprofessional Resource and Research Center (PAR2A Center), with support from the Office of Special Education Programs, are pleased to announce a national certification system for interveners. The National Intervener Certification E-portfolio (NICE) System is an assessment process that interveners can use to submit evidence of their knowledge and skills. The evidence, which consists of digital documentation such as video samples, described pictures, and other documents from the intervener’s training and practice, is evaluated by expert reviewers in the field of deaf-blindness.
The process is aligned with the Council for Exceptional Children's knowledge and skill competencies for interveners published in 2015. An updated version was published in 2022 that has not yet been incorporated into the NICE platform.
Applying for NICE Certification: Policies and Procedures
Portfolios are scored by at least two trained reviewers who are members of the NICE Review Board. All certification determinations are made by the PAR2A Center, which manages portfolio submissions, the NICE Review Board, and scoring.
5 Year Recertification Process
For Interveners
Information for Interveners
If you are a practicing intervener or have participated in intervener training and are serving a student or client who is deaf-blind, the NICE process provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate attainment of knowledge and skills outlined in the Council for Exceptional Children's knowledge and skill competencies for interveners that was published in 2015. [An updated version was published in 2022 that has not yet been incorporated into the NICE platform.]
Using the NICE process, candidates develop and organize evidence from their own training and practice and submit it for independent review. Successful candidates are awarded a national intervener certificate.
Review & Score
NICE Review and Scoring Process
The PAR2A Center, with technical assistance from NCDB, manages the NICE Review Board, whose members sign confidentiality/impartiality agreements to serve in this important role. All reviewers go through a training process and use a scoring rubric to evaluate portfolios.
Each portfolio is scored by two reviewers. Their scores must agree at least 80% of the time for the overall portfolio score to be considered reliable. A third reviewer will be recruited if the initial reviewers’ agreement rate is less than 80%.
NICE receives support and guidance from advisers, who are respected leaders from family, consumer, and professional organizations or universities, and have a deep commitment to the practice of intervention and the field of deaf-blindness. Advisers are responsible for reviewing overall progress data with the PAR2A Center and offering general feedback on the review process. Advisers do not review individual portfolios but agree to participate in reviewer training in order to fully understand the role of the reviewer.
The PAR2A Center is ultimately responsible for determining whether national certificates are awarded to interveners and is responsible for all communication, written or verbal, to interveners regarding their performance and certification.
For Partners
Information for State Deaf-Blind Projects and University Partners
The National Center on Deaf-Blindness, as a federally-funded national technical assistance center, has the responsibility of providing support to any interested state deaf-blind project or university partners who would like to use the NICE system with interveners. The goals of the technical assistance include the following:
- Increased opportunities for interveners to demonstrate attainment of national competencies through certification
- Increased support to state deaf-blind projects and university partners to assist them in developing or expanding networks of trained interveners and mentors
- Increased recognition for the intervener services model and the role of professionals in supporting interveners
Technical assistance is tailored to the needs of the state project or university partner. In addition, state projects and university partners have access to two NICE training modules to host groups of interveners and mentors to learn about the NICE process.
Interested state deaf-blind project or university partners should contact Kristi Probst or read through NCDB Technical Assistance for NICE.
Development
NICE Development Process
NICE was designed using a participatory approach involving practicing interveners, state deaf-blind project personnel, and university experts, who joined forces to design and field test a process that would provide interveners with an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills using digital documentation.
Using the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) knowledge and skill competencies for interveners, cohorts of interveners from diverse training programs documented their practice and offered feedback on the e-portfolio design. During this process, intervener participants received support and mentoring from participating state deaf-blind project partners, university experts, NCDB staff, and others as the system was developed, tested, and revised. Reviewers from the field of deaf-blindness were recruited to test and provide feedback on the scoring system.