On Jan. 9, 2017, National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) issued a statement responding to an announcement made by the recently constituted American Board of Architecture (ABA).
The ABA was founded in 2014 and describes itself as an accrediting body. ABA recently asserted that it is “writing new licensing exams and reforming state board [sic] of examiners to ensure qualified, unbiased public representation in law-making bodies.” ABA hopes to address what it describes as “corruption” and “fairness” issues stemming from current architectural licensing practices. NCARB requires a degree from a NAAB-accredited program to satisfy the education requirement for certification.
According to NCARB’s statement, “only state and jurisdictional governments have the authority to form, or reform, their boards. Regarding examination, all U.S. jurisdictions use the Architect Registration Examination® (ARE®) as produced by NCARB; some jurisdictions overlay additional examination components.”