CLARB Council Record/Certification

The CLARB Council Record is a verified history of an individual’s professional development. It contains documentation of an individual's education, experience, examination and licensure history. The Council Record is also the application for CLARB Certification. CLARB Certification is formal recognition that an individual has met or exceeded the national standards as a landscape architect and has CLARB's recommendation to all registration boards that the individual be granted reciprocal registration without further examination.

The Council Record has both a short-term and a long-term benefit for the landscape architect in training. The short-term benefit begins when you apply for the L.A.R.E. Once you have completed the examination process, your Council Record provides the documentation required for licensure. The first transmittal of your record is free to any registration board you choose for initial licensure. Once you are licensed, your Record will be evaluated to determine your eligibility for CLARB Certification.

As a career management tool, the Council Record is used over the long-term to permanently record your professional development as a landscape architect. You may have your Council Record file transmitted to any of CLARB’s member boards in support of your application for licensure, thus eliminating the need to document your professional development redundantly. Maintaining your Council Record also protects against loss of your information and the inability to secure necessary verifications for a registration application if, for example, a previous employer goes out of business.

Compiling your Council Record can be as quick as two weeks or as long as two months, depending on how responsive your references are. Once CLARB receives payment and the notarized affidavit, we will send you your Council Record number and instructions for forwarding your school transcripts. The rest of the work is up to us. We will send the appropriate forms directly to each of your employers and references along with a self-addressed postage-paid envelope and a cover letter explaining the request. We do encourage all applicants to contact their employers and references as well to ensure timely response to the request for information.    

When the requisite verifications are received and you have completed the examination, your file is evaluated and forwarded, with your request, to any registration authority to which you would like to apply for licensure.

The following state/provinces require the CLARB Council Record in order to obtain reciprocal licensure:

• Connecticut


• Indiana (strongly recommended)


• Kansas


• Mississippi


• Nebraska


• North Dakota


• Ohio


• South Dakota


• Tennessee

NOTE: For candidates not licensed by January 1, 2008, any sections of the exam completed prior to 1992 will no longer be accepted for transition credit towards satisfaction of the examination standard for CLARB Certification.