ALEP Eligibility / Application

Eligibility / Application

1. Professional Experience Requirements

At the time of application, the applicant must meet the following professional experience requirements:

Have been employed in the educational facility planning field for the last five years preceding the application;
Have at least five years of total experience as an educational facility planner and a bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited college/university;
Be currently or recently employed for five years prior to application as a paid employee in a firm or sole proprietorship such as a planning organization, architectural firm, engineering firm, construction organization, maintenance organization, or supplier that provides goods or services to educational facilities, OR;
Be currently or recently employed for five years prior to application as a paid employee of a school district, state department, or other governmental entity involved in planning educational facilities;
Attest to uphold the ALEP Standards of Conduct and Ethics
Statement of Ethics
- Maintain exemplary standards of professional conduct.
- Actively model and encourage the integration of ethics into all aspects of planning, designing, building, and maintaining educational facilities.
- Pursue the objectives of the firms/agencies that employ me in ways that are ethical.
- Recognize and discharge my responsibility and that of my employer to uphold all laws and regulations.
- Strive to continually advance my knowledge and achieve higher levels of excellence in educational facility planning.
- Maintain confidentiality of all privileged information, except when doing so becomes an ethical or legal breach of conduct.
- Serve all clients fairly, holding foremost the interests of my employer and its industry or profession, faithfully executing my duties and never using my position for personal gain, and promptly and completely disclosing to all parties any potential and actual conflicts of interest.
Have no felony convictions related to the practice of educational facility planning.

*Internship experience and/or service as a volunteer leader is not applicable toward the professional experience requirement.

2. Submit a Portfolio of your Professional Experience from the Last 5 Years

The goal of the professional portfolio is to thoroughly demonstrate a candidate’s experience and expertise in planning and designing learning environments. Detailed descriptions of the candidate’s roles and responsibilities should be addressed in relationship to the core competencies of an Accredited Learning Environments Planner (ALEP).

Executive Summary
1. Overview of candidate’s education and training
2. Overview of the candidate’s professional experience
3. Explanation of reason(s) in seeking the ALEP designation
4. Testament/s of the work listed in the portfolio is that of the candidate.
List of projects with descriptions of the scope and the candidate’s primary responsibility
1. Identify applicable projects within the last 5 years
2. Include relevant photos
3. Description of the candidate’s primary responsibility is key to the description.
4. Identify the core competencies that were specifically applied and demonstrated in each project.
Address each of the Core Competencies through specific examples from the projects listed.
1. Educational Visioning
2. Community Engagement
3. Educational Facility Pre-Design Planning
4. Design of Learning Environments
5. Educational Facility Implementation/Project Management
6. Assessment of the Learning Environment
7. Ethics/Professionalism

Portfolio Specifications

PDF of no more than 30 pages.
File size should be no more than 15 MB.
File name should be the candidate’s name, ALEP, and year, for example DonnaRobinsonALEP2018
Email the portfolio to [email protected]

3. Documentation of 100 Hours of Continuing Education

Candidates must document 100 hours of broad-based qualifying professional development the last five years preceding the application.

Educational Visioning: Exhibits an understanding of best and next practices related to educational leadership, programming, teaching, learning, planning and facility design – establishing credibility with educators, community members and design professionals while being able to conceive and lead a visioning process. Demonstrates the ability to articulate the impact of learning environments on teaching and learning and uses that ability to facilitate a dialogue to uncover the unique needs and long range goals of an educational institution and its stakeholders – translating that into an actionable written/graphic program of requirements for the designer.
Community Engagement: Leads community-wide research processes through group facilitation, strategic conversations, qualitative and quantitative surveys, along with board and administrative workshops to discover, articulate and communicate a community-based foundational vision that will form the basis of a plan for the design of learning environments. Demonstrates the skill to resolve stakeholder issues while embedding a community's unique vision into the vision for its schools.
Educational Facility Pre-Design Planning: Manages a master planning process that combines educational planning, facilities assessment and utilization, demographic research, capital planning and educational specifications with a community-based vision to establish a plan for learning environments. This includes the ability to translate existing or aspirational instructional models to specific programming and spatial relationships.
Design of Educational Facilities: Acts as a resource to the design team in providing ongoing guidance and support to ensure that the emerging and ultimate design aligns with the established community vision, education goals, future programming, written design standards, best/next practices and education policy.
Educational Facility Implementation, Project Management / Project Delivery: Has a working understanding of how the following areas impact the facility program: regulations and policies; project delivery methodologies; scheduling; preventative maintenance; life-cycle planning; and systems commissioning.
Assessment of the School Facility: The ability to objectively evaluate a learning environment post-occupancy and utilize that data to improve future projects. Implements a plan for educational commissioning that provides guidance on how to use and maximize the learning environment to meet the foundational vision established in the planning phase.
Ethics / Professionalism: Provides leadership and stewardship for the responsible investment of public and private funding into school facilities – while being a known advocate for the importance of the learning environment on a child’s future. They lead and have a record of leading transparent processes that help communities find common ground in developing solutions to complex and sensitive issues – advocating for long term solutions that address the needs of all children and stakeholders including underserved groups.

4. Provide Letters of Recommendation

Three separate letters from clients and/or colleagues who can address the candidate’s skills related to the core competencies. Only one (1) letter may be from a co-worker and/or supervisor within the same school district or firm.
Click here to submit letters of reference via online form

5. Interview with Members of the Commission

Interviews to be held at: TBD

Upon meeting all of the eligibility requirements, all candidates must pass an oral interview in front of a jury composed of at least three members of the ALEP commission. The interview will begin with a brief presentation by the candidate of the candidate’s submitted portfolio of work, followed by discussion. The purpose of the presentation and discussion is to determine whether the candidate’s experience is in alignment with the core competencies of the ALEP designation. All of the questions are intended to demonstrate the candidates’ knowledge and expertise in the practice of educational facility planning.

For questions with the application process, please contact A4LE.