Summary for Stakeholders
This document summarizes the strategic priorities, focus areas, and objectives guiding ASBOG's planning efforts. This plan is the result of a year-long collaborative effort involving stakeholders across the ASBOG community. Unlike other strategic plans, ASBOG’s Strategic Planning is intended to serve as a living framework that will be regularly evaluated and refined in response to emerging opportunities, challenges, and stakeholder needs.
Background
The development of this strategic plan followed the Playing to Win (Martin and Lafley) strategic planning framework, which provides a structured approach for defining an organization's aspirations, priorities, and actions. Through a process of stakeholder engagement, discussion, and analysis, ASBOG identified the areas where it can have the greatest impact on the profession and the public it serves.
The planning process resulted in four primary strategic priority areas that guide ASBOG's efforts. Each area had a volunteer lead that assisted in all aspects of brainstorming and goal setting. The four planning areas and the leads are:
Strategic Priority 1
Provide World-Class Examinations
Lead: Josh Goodwin, Examinations Chair
Approach: Deliver high-quality exam content and achieve operational excellence in all aspects of ASBOG examinations.
Strategic Priority 2
Bridging the Gap Between University Instruction & Practice
Lead: Martin Helmke, Professor of Geology, West Chester University
Approach: Offer products and services that enable universities to better align curricula with public practice, while increasing awareness of licensure.
Strategic Priority 3
Establishing Ourselves as an Authority
Lead: Carla Brock, Outreach and Uniform Procedures Chair
Approach: Become an authoritative source of information on the public practice of geology and achieve high visibility throughout the marketplace.
Strategic Priority 4
Licensure Availability & Mobility
Lead: Sandy Schenck, former ASBOG President (2014) and Bylaws Chair
Approach: Understand and overcome barriers that currently exist to licensure availability and mobility by promoting standardization.
Together, these focus areas support ASBOG's mission to promote the competent practice of geology and its vision of building a safer, more productive society by elevating the practice of geology. The objectives and initiatives outlined in this plan provide a roadmap for achieving these priorities while remaining adaptable to future changes in the profession, regulatory landscape, and stakeholder needs.
Strategic Priority 1: Provide World-Class Examinations
Strategic Approach: Deliver high-quality exam content and achieve operational excellence in all aspects of ASBOG examinations.
- Work with member boards to create new models for exam registration allowing candidates a faster, simpler process.
- Evaluate testing vendors to ensure a modern, efficient, and reliable exam delivery experience for candidates and staff.
- Modernize the COE review process to improve efficiency and free up subject matter experts (SMEs) for item writing.
- Significantly increase the number of new exam items produced each year to enhance test security and flexibility.
- Ensure exams cover the full scope of the discipline by remapping items to an expanded knowledge base.
- Modernize and standardize exam figures for a more professional, consistent presentation.
- Revise exam blueprinting processes to better mirror real-world practice and incorporate broader academic input ahead of the next Task Analysis.
- Implement a new scoring model and report scores directly to candidates, reducing current wait times of approximately six weeks to bring ASBOG in line with peer organizations.
- Develop a variety of products that both generate revenue and serve our stakeholders (e.g. study course for the PG exam).
Strategic Priority 2: Bridging the Gap Between University Instruction and Professional Practice
Strategic Approach: Offer products and services that enable and encourage universities to better align their curricula with the public practice of geology, while increasing awareness of licensure through stronger partnerships and expanded outreach.
- Develop a university handbook for faculty covering licensure, curriculum alignment, exam blueprints, and related resources.
- Create end-of-course examinations in hydrogeology and engineering geology, with expansion to additional domains over time.
- Partner with organizations such as AGI to produce guidance on academic advisory boards and proactive curriculum development.
- Develop a white paper on funding strategies to help students take the FG exam.
- Launch a faculty ambassador program, beginning with a pilot group and growing over time, to create direct two-way communication between ASBOG and university programs.
- Modernize CPAT (Curriculum Performance Assessment Tool) to allow faster and easier fulfillment of requests.
- Host a summit bringing together faculty ambassadors and SMEs ahead of the next Task Analysis, expanding academic input into exam blueprint design.
- Work with affiliated societies to pursue grant funding (e.g., an NSF 'ProGeo' grant) supporting exam preparation and related programs.
- Strengthen the relationship with ABET to expand accreditation aligned with the public practice of geology.
- Build a relationship with the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) around curriculum improvement programs and workshops.
- Help departments understand and comply with applicable federal notification requirements related to licensure.
Strategic Priority 3: Establishing Ourselves as an Authority in the Public Practice of Geology
Strategic Approach: Become an authoritative source of information on the public practice of geology and achieve high visibility throughout the marketplace.
- Create a position statement on the regulatory perspective on ethics.
- Develop a white paper with partner organizations (AGI, AIPG) clarifying the distinctions between certificates, certification, and licensure.
- Publish an annual trends report sharing licensure and examination data with stakeholders.
- Conduct a comprehensive review of ASBOG's Model Law and Rules/Regulations, which have not been updated since 2019.
- Develop position statements and guidance documents on educational requirements and exam registration policy.
- Develop marketing materials that clearly explain who ASBOG is, why it exists, and the value of licensure for students, faculty, policymakers, and the public.
- Design and implement a social media communication plan with regular, relevant content.
- Increase awareness of ASBOG among non-traditional stakeholder groups, including international audiences.
- Build a general-public email distribution list and take a more active leadership role in partner organizations.
Strategic Priority 4: Licensure Availability & Mobility
Strategic Approach: Understand and overcome the barriers that currently exist to licensure availability and mobility by actively communicating and promoting standardization.
- Collect baseline data on existing comity and reciprocity agreements among states.
- Assess state board interest in and need for new mobility systems, such as a model-law geologist designation or a centralized records program.
- Increase the number of comity and/or reciprocity agreements between states.
- Conduct a comprehensive review of the Model Law and Model Rules/Regulations.
- Explore an NCEES-style records program to support license portability.
- Create multiple pathways for exam registration, thereby reducing the burden on potential candidates.
- Utilize a small cohort of target states to pilot streamlined, standardized licensure processes that can later be expanded more broadly.