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Certified Vocational Evaluator (CVE)

KWVRS Editorial Team. Last updated .

The CVE credential indicates specialized expertise in vocational evaluation, including standardized testing, work sample assessment, situational assessment, and interpretation of aptitudes, interests, and work behaviors for vocational recommendation.

Issued by

Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC)

Requirements

  • Current CRC certification at the time of application
  • Completion of the CVE online course package in vocational evaluation, including each section's learning activities and assessments
  • Successful completion of a capstone vocational evaluation report reviewed and evaluated by the CRCC CVE Advisory Panel
  • 80 hours of continuing education within each five-year renewal period

Admissibility

CVE-supported opinions are accepted when grounded in validated assessment instruments and accepted vocational methodology. The CVE was originally established by the Commission on Certification of Work Adjustment and Vocational Evaluation Specialists (CCWAVES) and has been maintained by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC) since 2009.

Vetting a CVE for your matter

Under the program the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification now administers, the CVE establishes that the holder held a current CRC when applying, completed the commission's online course package in vocational evaluation with its learning activities and assessments, and successfully completed a capstone vocational evaluation report reviewed and evaluated by the commission's CVE Advisory Panel, and that the holder keeps the credential current through continuing education on a five-year cycle. It certifies a narrower and deeper competence than the CRC: the administration and interpretation of standardized tests, work samples and situational assessments, and the translation of aptitudes, interests and work behaviors into vocational recommendations. The credential was established by the former Commission on Certification of Work Adjustment and Vocational Evaluation Specialists and has been maintained by the counselor certification commission since it took the credential over. The commission now titles the program Certified Vocational Evaluation Specialist (CRC-CVE); this page keeps the established name, Certified Vocational Evaluator. The program admits only current CRCs, so every CVE it now awards goes to a CRC; the commission's own page still describes the two as separate certifications that may be held in combination, so counsel confirms rather than assumes that a particular holder currently holds both.

The credential does not establish that the holder writes earning capacity opinions or has testified. Vocational evaluation is a service delivered inside rehabilitation programs, schools and workforce agencies as often as inside litigation, and a CVE can spend a career producing evaluation reports that inform a rehabilitation plan without ever producing one that informs a damages claim. The credential also says nothing about labor market survey or transferable skills analysis; those methods belong to the CRC's scope, and a holder of the CVE alone may or may not practice them. An evaluation report that stops at a profile of aptitudes and interests answers a rehabilitation question, not the question a court asks.

Counsel vetting a CVE asks which instruments the holder uses and whether each is validated for the population and the question in the case; how the holder handles an evaluee whose effort, language or reading level limits testing, and how that limitation is reported; whether the holder's evaluation reports have been used in litigation and examined at deposition; whether the holder also holds the CRC or works alongside a counselor who does; and whether the holder can tie the test results to specific occupations and to a labor market rather than to a general aptitude profile.

The CVE pairs with testimony experience and with the CRC. In a matter where the evaluee's capacities are disputed, a vocational expert who holds both credentials can administer the testing, interpret it, and carry the results through transferable skills analysis and labor market survey to an earning capacity opinion, and defend each step on cross-examination. A CVE without the CRC or a testimony record is best used as the testing arm of an evaluation led by a forensic vocational expert, with the lead expert signing the opinion the testing supports. The comparisons below set the CVE beside the CRC and beside the career counseling and rehabilitation counseling roles counsel sometimes mistake for it.

At KWVRS, standardized testing is one input to a vocational evaluation rather than the whole of it, and an evaluation report states which instruments were used, why they were chosen, and how the results were reconciled with the records, the interview and the treating restrictions. The credential list on each expert's profile shows whether the CVE is held alongside the CRC, which is the pairing the questions above turn on.

Compare

KWVRS experts holding CVE

CVE by state

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the CVE differ from the CRC?

The CRC is broader rehabilitation counseling certification; the CVE is focused specifically on vocational evaluation, including standardized testing and work sample assessment. Many experts hold both credentials.

Is the CVE recognized in federal court testimony?

Yes. CVE-supported vocational opinions, like CRC-supported opinions, have been accepted in federal court when grounded in accepted methodology.

References

  1. CRCC - CVE CertificationOrganization

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