Is the Required Core Curriculum mandatory?

Yes, the Required Core Curriculum is mandatory. Contrary to what many people believe, the Required Core Curriculum is not a list of required courses. The Core Curriculum establishes required appraisal modules with specific classroom hours of coverage that must be successfully completed for each appraiser classification level.

It should be noted, however, that it is not required that a course have the same or similar name as the module in the Core Curriculum. In addition, a course need not be the exact number of hours listed for each specific module. Any combination of courses could be used to meet the required hours for each Required Core Curriculum.

Is Guide Note 1 on the Required Core Curriculum also mandatory?

Are educational providers expected to develop new classes with revised titles and content to conform to the new curriculum?

While some educational providers are developing courses to conform to the Core Curriculum for ease of understanding by students and review by state regulators, courses do not have to be developed with revised titles and content to conform to the Core Curriculum. Course titles are not the important factor. The important Factor is how the course subject matter and hours relate to the Required Core Curriculum. An existing course could easily meet the Required Core Curriculum. The use of the matrix (see below) will assist educators, state regulators and students to analyze and understand how the course hours of any course fit into the overall requirements of the Required Core Curriculum.

What is the course matrix?

The course matrix is a spreadsheet that is designed to track the modules contained in Required Core Curriculum and the subtopics contained in Guide Note 1 by state credential level. The matrix permits the provider, state regulator or student to list the hours of education of a particular course and allocate the course hours to specific modules and subtopics.

Is it required that course providers develop the courses exactly into fifteen-hour segments, or can the topic hours differ as long as the total length of time is fifteen hours or greater?

Course providers do not need to develop courses to conform to the exact length of the modules (15, 30, 60 hours) contained in the Required Core Curriculum. Some providers will develop courses that meet the exact time and title requirements. Some providers will use an “integrated” method where a course may contain hours in one or more Required Core Curriculum topic module areas. For example a thirty-hour course could contain twenty hours of Basic Appraisal Principles and ten hours of Basic Appraisal Procedures for a total class time of thirty hours. This would mean the student would still have to take ten hours in basic Appraisal Principles and twenty hours in Basic Appraisal Procedures to fulfill the Required Core Curriculum module area. As is currently the case, all qualifying education courses must be at least fifteen hours in length and have an examination.

No, the sequence is not required. Depending on the provider and how its educational program is structured, the courses may be progressive. Other providers will incorporate multiple subtopics into each course as a means of expanding learning to more than one subtopic area in any one course. Either way is acceptable.

The Appraisal Foundation is dedicating significant resources over the next couple of years to ensure that the new requirements are fully understood. Seminars, publications and speaking engagements will be available to explain the new requirements. A concerted effort by the Foundation, educational providers, and state appraiser regulators will be necessary to be successful. In many cases, educational providers will be the first contacts for individuals attempting to enter the appraisal profession.

The AQB will continue to allow distance education delivery for Qualifying and Continuing Education, provided that the courses meet the criteria for distance education adopted by the AQB. Educational providers and students should also contact the state in which they are seeking approval of their courses, as distance education requirements vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

How will the states award classroom hour credit for courses not conforming precisely to the Required Core Curriculum?

Courses will have to be reviewed, as they are today, for a determination as to course subject matter and hours that can be granted towards qualifying education. The new

Criteria will take this process one step further. The reviewer will need to determine what Required Core Curriculum module(s) the course applies to and allocate the appropriate hours. This process will require some additional time, but we encourage the states to require educational providers to complete the course matrix or provide a timed outline that could be used to determine hour allocations.

A student tracking manual was developed by The Appraisal Foundation to assist students in maintaining an orderly record of education, experience and other requirements. This manual can be downloaded from www.appraisalfoundation.org. The manual contains information and worksheets that can assist the student in tracking education hours by Core Curriculum and by subtopics as well as help organize and compile other information which the student will need as they progress and apply for certification.

The Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria contains lists of college-level courses that applicants may take in lieu of an Associate’s degree for the Certified Residential classification, and a Bachelor’s degree for the Certified General classification (see section lll.B. under the Qualifying Education requirements). Do I have to complete all of the courses in the list(s), or may I simply choose courses from among the list to satisfy the 2 1 (or 30) semester credit hour requirements?

The Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria requires Qualifying Education courses to be a minimum of 15 hours in length. If I successfully complete a 15-hour course (and pass the required closed-book final examination) but my state appraiser regulatory agency deems that only 10 hours of the course are eligible towards the qualifying education requirements, is the course no longer valid because at least 15 hours did not “qualify”?

Since the course was a minimum of 15 hours in length and students were required to pass a closed-book final examination, the course meets the basic requirements for a Qualifying Education course offering under the Criteria.