Organizations select courses for evaluation in consultation with NCCRS staff. Learning experiences that meet the following criteria may be eligible for evaluation.

1. Formalized learning experiences officially sponsored by the organization requesting the evaluation may be evaluated. Unsupervised on-the-job training that is not evaluated or graded.  Formal learning experiences can take the form of traditional classroom instruction, computer-assisted instruction, online learning, interactive video, correspondence courses, programmed instruction, or examinations for professional certification or licensure.Individualized independent study (contractual learning) cannot be evaluated.
2. Courses taught by vendors and that an organization neither keeps records for nor exercises control over cannot be evaluated; however, if the vendor keeps records on course participants, the vendor may have the courses evaluated.
3. Learning experiences must be at the postsecondary level. Length or intensity alone does not mean that courses are comparable to college-level instruction. Organizations are encouraged to make a preliminary self-assessment by comparing their courses with course descriptions in college catalogs or in consultation with college faculty or other professionals in higher education. Finally, it is up to the evaluation team to determine whether courses are at the college level. NCCRS does not evaluate courses and programs that are exclusively designed for and offered to a K-12 youth audience. 
4. Classroom courses must include a minimum of 15 contact hours (50 minute hours), unless it can be demonstrated that learning outcomes are exceptional in proportion to instructional hours. Otherwise, shorter courses might be grouped with another course (or courses) in the same content area for the purpose of establishing credit recommendations. Conversely, 15 contact hours does not always equate to one semester hour of recommended credit. This is in part because noncollegiate courses often contain material that is very specific to the organization, in contrast to general or theoretical material. While this material may be vital to achieving an organization's training goals, it may not be considered comparable to college instruction. Therefore, the instructional hours that contribute to the credit recommendation may be less than the total number of contact hours in a course.
5. Learning experiences must be taught by instructors with qualifications appropriate for college-level instruction in their subject areas. Instructors may be either employees of the organization or independent consultants hired to teach courses for the organization.
6. Learning experiences must include some means of testing students' mastery of course content (e.g., written exams, reports, oral presentations, skill performance, role plays, supervised laboratory experience, or other assessments). For evaluation instruments other than machine scoreable tests, criteria for grading should be clear. For example, a computer program might be evaluated on efficiency, readability, clarity of documentation; written business communications might be evaluated on clarity of purpose, organization, appropriateness of tone, and conciseness; oral presentations should be evaluated using a checklist that includes points for both delivery and content.
7. Course content must be documented through a detailed syllabus (course outline), textbooks, lesson plans, instructor's manual, student workbooks, completed homework assignments for at least three students. Samples should represent a range of categories:  excellent, average and below average grades (technical courses should show the extent of calculations required of the student), graded exams from the same three students as the homework assignments, examples of any other student work that contribute to the final grade, class rosters, and grade lists. The organization should also indicate how all exams and assignments are weighted to calculate final grades for the course.
8. If the learning experience has been offered in the same form for some time preceding the evaluation, and the organization would like past participants to be able to benefit from the credit recommendations, the team can backdate their recommendations up to five years. The content for past years must be clearly documented through exams, course syllabi, class rosters, student records and, when available, completed student work and instructional materials.

1. All evaluation sessions are supervised by an NCCRS staff member.
2. The initial evaluation session is held at the training site of the sponsoring organization. This is because the initial review process involves not only documentation of courses but also administrative practices. Subsequent review sessions, involving additional courses or revalidation of existing credit recommendations, may occasionally be held in a location other than the sponsoring organization's training site.
3. Appropriate individuals from the sponsoring organization must be present to describe for the review team the process by which the curriculum is developed, evaluated, and revised, and to answer questions that may arise during the review of instructional materials.

In the exercise of their professional judgment, review team members consider the following factors in determining  credit recommendations:

• Learner outcomes to be achieved, the subject matter, level of difficulty, and applicability to a range of postsecondary programs. These factors are of primary importance.
• Distinctive contributions of a noncollegiate learning environment. These include the wealth of practical experience instructors bring to the classroom, the opportunities for immediate application and reinforcement of classroom learning in students' jobs, and the motivational impact created when student performance is a criterion in job promotion or retention.
• Duration and concentration of effort in relationship to the generally accepted practices for determining credit in post-secondary institutions. For learning experiences that are administered in a traditional lecture-discussion format, review teams use a baseline standard of one semester hour of credit for each 15 classroom contact hours, and one semester credit hour for each 30-45 hours (depending on the discipline) of laboratory work. However, credit recommendations made by reviewers are not derived by a simple arithmetic conversion. Learning outcomes, as demonstrated by student work on examinations and other assignments, are the foremost consideration in determining how much credit should be recommended. Credit recommendations might be revised downward if learning outcomes did not support the amount of credit suggested by the number of hours of instruction. Credit recommendations might also be revised downward from the amount suggested by the total instructional hours if a substantial amount of the material contained in the course were considered not comparable or applicable to similiar college-level instruction. Conversely, credit recommendations might be revised upward if one or more factors (e.g., advanced instructional delivery technologies, exceptionally low student-teacher ratio) suggest that course participants may be achieving more than would be typical in the specified instructional hours. Evaluators also consider the factors of pre- and post-course assignments, prior work-related experience, and the reinforcement of the instructional material gained in the subsequent work setting.

Credit recommendations are kept current by the following procedures:

1. NCCRS conducts an Annual Review, during which member organizations are asked to review the descriptions of their learning experiences in the NCCRS Directory, CCRS Online and report any changes in location, length, outcomes, or instructional topics. An indication of a substantive change in a course or program results in an end date being affixed to the credit recommendation. Another evaluation is necessary for the new version to receive credit recommendations.
2. Credit recommendations are valid for up to five years from the date of the review, provided no substantive changes have been made in the course or program. At the end of this five-year period, learning experiences are re-evaluated to determine whether current credit recommendations should continue to apply. If so, credit recommendations are revalidated and new review dates are added to exhibits. 

The revalidation process is similar to the initial evaluation and ensures the continued validity and timeliness of the credit recommendations. Evaluations are conducted with a team of college faculty, who review instructional materials and student completed examinations and any other means to assess student mastery for each learning experience. The team’s findings determine whether previous credit recommendations continue or whether new credit recommendations are warranted. The date when learning experiences were first reviewed (and each subsequent revalidation date) can be found at the end of the course exhibits in the NCCRS Directory, CCRS Online.