ACRA’s Board of Directors has approved a set of principles the organization believes should guide any changes to the Secretary of the Interior Professional Qualification Standards.
The Standards describe in terms of academic attainment, training, and experience minimum professional qualifications for a number of historic preservation disciplines. The Standards, which address the fields of History, Archaeology, Architectural History, Architecture, and Historic Architecture, were last updated in 1983. In recent years, the Interior Department has discussed the possibility of making changes.
The Standards are of critical importance to the cultural resource management (CRM) industry, as they delineate the minimum qualifications required for many of the undertakings upon which such firms work and may impact hiring decisions these firms make. Although there is a diversity of opinion within the industry about the Standards, there is little doubt that the American Cultural Resources Association (ACRA), as the voice of the CRM industry in the United States, needs to have a voice on changes to the Standards.
Last Spring, the ACRA Board authorized the formation of a Task Force to explore how ACRA can best represent its member firms in any future debate about, or proposed changes to, the Professional Qualifications Standards. The 23 members of the Task Force developed the proposed principles last summer, and after soliciting feedback from ACRA members, presented them to the Board last week.
The ACRA principles are below:
- The status quo is not an option.
The current version of the Secretary of the Interior Professional Qualifications Standards (“Standards”) is 40 years old. Enormous changes have occurred in the cultural resource management (CRM) industry since then, and it is time for the Standards to be updated. Taking no action is not a viable option.
- Professional standards are necessary to maintain excellence in preservation.
The Department of the Interior needs to continue to require professional standards for all CRM practitioners. ACRA opposes eliminating Standards entirely. In addition, the Standards should ensure that practitioners do not take on work (or are asked to take on tasks) they are not qualified to do, such as tasks related to another cultural resources field.
- The Standards need to provide clarity and consistency.
The Standards need to provide consistency between agencies and clarity of implementation for agencies, practitioners and stakeholders.
- Practical experience needs to be a part of the Standards.
Practical experience, including with relevant cultural resources laws and regulations, matters as much as academic qualifications. The Standards need to include practical experience as a requirement for each discipline and clearly define the types and amount of experience required.
- The Standards need to recognize alternate pathways to qualification.
The Standards need to allow for multiple pathways towards becoming qualified and should recognize the value of alternative routes towards qualifications. The Secretary should consider innovative solutions, which would allow emerging professionals to meet the Standards, or introduce “steps” within the framework that would provide a clear pathway with corresponding milestones and responsibilities.
- The Standards need to promote diversity and inclusion.
The Standards need to recognize and reflect the diversity of practice areas and expertise in the CRM industry and ensure that traditionally underrepresented groups have avenues towards being qualified. This is particularly important for members of descendant communities.
- The Standards need to recognize contemporary concepts of heritage.
The Standards, to the greatest extent possible, need to ensure that practitioners understand and are sensitive to contemporary concepts of heritage, including those of cultures whose values may be different from their own, and for whom heritage may be described in more than physical terms.
- The full spectrum of CRM fields needs to be recognized in the Standards.
As the CRM industry has evolved over the last 40 years, the Standards need to recognize other fields that are involved, such as ethnographers, historic preservationists, historical archaeologists, bioarchaeologists, geoarchaeologists, cultural landscape architects, and cultural anthropologists, for which currently there are no standards.
- The Interior Department needs to ensure broad consultation on any changes to the Standards.
The Secretary needs to ensure that any proposed changes to the Standards are accompanied by a robust public consultation process that includes all stakeholders, including but not limited to the CRM industry; preservation practitioners; federal, state and local government agencies; national preservation professional, trade and advocacy organizations; Tribes; descendant communities; and the general public.
There is no timeline for when the Interior Department will propose changes to the Standards – or even if they will. ACRA will use the principles to engage with Interior and other stakeholders to ensure that any changes, should they be proposed, are consistent with ACRA’s values and positions.