This document serves as a resource for CLARB member boards, offering guidance on evaluating various types of experience in a consistent and defensible manner. It provides recommendations for assessing part-time and full-time experience, international experience, as well as unverified and self-verified experience. This guidance supplements the existing requirements outlined for CLARB Certification and the CLARB Uniform Standard for Landscape Architecture (CLARB Uniform Standard).
Approved by the CLARB Board of Directors December 2024.
Section 1
Direct supervision
a. Definition
A direct supervisor oversees the individual’s work by reviewing, directing and/or monitoring through regular personal contact and/or remote communication.
b. Acceptable supervisory relationships
CLARB recognizes multiple situations where a supervisor can provide direct supervision to an applicant, ensuring flexibility and expanding opportunities for experience to be gained in the regulated practice of landscape architecture. Opportunities to gain experience must include formal and documented relationships between the supervisor and supervisee, including, but not limited to, traditional employment, internships, contract arrangements and other supervised scenarios.
Section 2
Verification of experience
a. Verifier responsibilities
A verifier plays a critical role in the licensure process by confirming an applicant’s professional experience. A verifier completes the verification process through the CLARB Record or other forms accepted by the licensure board, ensuring that the applicant’s experience is properly documented. This information is then shared with licensure boards when an applicant transmits their CLARB Record in support of their licensure application. See Appendix A for examples of the applicant and verifier documentation requirements for the CLARB Record.
b. Qualifications of a verifier
A verifier must be a licensed landscape architect or a licensed professional in a related field, as determined by jurisdictional requirements. The verifier must have provided direct supervision of the applicant as defined in the previous section or as determined by applicable statute or regulations.
c. Diversified experience
A verifier should encourage diversified experience across all regulated practice domains. While no minimum requirements are set, an applicant must obtain experience in all regulated practice domains to qualify for licensure.
d. Legal attestation
The verifier must legally attest to providing direct supervision, as defined above, over the applicant’s work. They must also verify the type of work performed and specify in which regulated practice domain(s) the experience was gained.
e. Regulated domains of practice
The regulated domains of practice that qualify as acceptable experience for landscape architecture licensure are based on the sections of the Landscape Architect Registration Examination (L.A.R.E.) and are defined through the current version of the Job Task Analysis Study conducted by CLARB:
Regulated domains of practice include:
- Inventory, Analysis and Project Management: includes project management, inventory and data collection, stakeholder engagement process, physical analysis, and contextual analysis; and
- Planning and Design: stewardship and design principles, master planning, schematic design, design development; and
- Construction Documentation and Administration: includes construction plans and details, construction specifications and bidding, and construction administration; and
- Grading, Drainage, and Stormwater Management: includes stormwater management, grading and earthwork, and drainage systems.
f. Experience calculations
Practice experience may be earned for every hour worked in the regulated domains of landscape architecture under the direct supervision of a licensed professional. Experience credit may be obtained in either full- or part-time employment.
- A year of full-time experience is defined as 2,080 hours, based on an average of 40 hours per week over 52 weeks.
- The maximum experience credit an applicant can earn in a calendar year is one (1) year (2,080 hours).
- Experience will be documented based on the average hours worked per week.
- This ensures applicants can earn full-time credit but cannot exceed one year’s worth of experience within a single calendar year.
Section 3
International experience
a. Definition of a licensed professional
Experience in the regulated practice of landscape architecture* may be obtained anywhere, provided it is completed under the direct supervision of a licensed professional.
A licensed professional is defined as an individual legally authorized to practice by a governmental agency or credentialing body. CLARB recognizes that regulation varies globally and has identified specific countries that meet the criteria for having licensed professionals qualified to supervise work in the regulated practice of landscape architecture.
b. Criteria for approval of jurisdictions and credentialing bodies
A verifier from approved countries or credentialing bodies are authorized to validate professional experience for an applicant seeking licensure in a CLARB member jurisdiction.
- To qualify as an approved jurisdiction, the following criteria must be met:
- The verifier must be legally recognized to practice by a governmental agency or a credentialing body in the jurisdiction where the experience was gained; or
- The verifier must hold a credential from a credentialing body approved by CLARB that must assess competency through a combination of education, experience and/or assessment.
c. CLARB-approved jurisdictions and credentialing bodies
Approved jurisdictions and credentialing bodies will be listed here.
* Regulated domains of practice: The regulated domains of practice that determine acceptable experience for landscape architecture licensure align with the sections of the Landscape Architect Registration Examination (L.A.R.E.) and are determined by the job task analysis conducted by CLARB.
Section 4
Unverified experience
When an applicant cannot obtain verification of their experience to meet licensure requirements in a jurisdiction, they may submit their experience for review by the appropriate licensure board.
a. Examples of situations
Examples of circumstances when experience may be unverified include, but are not limited to:
- Unavailable supervisor: The applicant’s supervisor is unable or unwilling to confirm the experience.
- Loss of records: The necessary documentation has been lost or is incomplete.
- Business closure: The company from which the experience was gained is no longer in operation.
b. Criteria for review
An applicant must provide the following information to the licensure board to demonstrate the experience they are seeking credit for:
- Explanation of the situation
- Summary: A detailed explanation of why the experience cannot be verified by the supervisor.
- Supervisor details: Include the name and licensure status of the direct supervisor who is unable to verify the experience.
- Jurisdiction: Specify the jurisdiction where the experience was gained.
- Nature of work: Describe the scope of work and include details about the regulated domains of practice covered.
- Work samples: Provide examples of work that demonstrate competencies in the regulated practice domains.
- Attestation: Legally confirm the truth and accuracy of the unverified experience being submitted for review.
- Reference letters: Include supporting letters from clients and/or coworkers that can corroborate the experience.
Section 5
Self-verified experience for reciprocal licensure
An applicant who is unable to verify experience under the direct supervision of a licensed landscape architect or other licensed professional may submit experience as a principal. A principal is defined as a licensed landscape architect in good standing.
An applicant who has eight (8) years of self-verified work experience in the regulated domains of practice as a principal can satisfy the experience requirement for licensure. The eight-year requirement is consistent with the CLARB Model Law and the CLARB Uniform Standard.
It ensures a rigorous evaluation while providing a pathway for a licensed landscape architect who may not have verifiable experience working under the supervision of another licensed professional.
Section 6
Administrative approval for licensure
a. When to use administrative approval
Licensure boards should strongly consider implementing administrative approval for all licensure applicants who clearly meet the requirements established within the CLARB Uniform Standard or the jurisdiction’s specific requirements. This applies to both initial licensure and reciprocal licensure applicants. Only those applicants who fall outside the CLARB Uniform Standard or jurisdictional requirements should be referred to the board for evaluation.
b. Benefits of administrative approval
Adopting an administrative approval process provides significant benefits to the applicant and the licensure board:
- Efficiency: Applicants who meet the established requirements can be licensed promptly, avoiding unnecessary delays.
- Appropriate use of resources: The licensure board's time and expertise are focused on evaluating applicants with complex cases that fall outside established standards, where subject matter expertise is essential.
- Streamlined operations: Delegating straightforward cases to staff for administrative approval reduces the administrative burden on the licensure board and enhances overall workflow.
c. Definition of administrator
To facilitate this process, the licensure board may appoint an executive director to manage administrative functions and other duties as directed by the board, operating under its oversight. Additional staff may be employed in positions deemed necessary to conduct board business effectively and fulfill its responsibilities.
By empowering administrative staff to approve straightforward cases, licensure boards can better fulfill their mission of ensuring public protection while maintaining efficient and effective regulatory processes.
Appendix A
Documentation examples
The following information is collected in the CLARB Record from applicants and verifiers to document and verify an applicant’s experience:
a. Collected from applicants
- Supervisor information
- Name
- Licensure type (e.g. landscape architect, architect, engineer)
- Company
- Contact information (e.g. email, phone, address)
- Experience information
- Nature of work (e.g. landscape architecture, architecture, engineering)
- Weekly hours
- Employment/experience dates
- Skills gained (in the regulated domains of practice)
- Related skills gained (teaching, research, planting design, onsite construction, maintenance or installation)
b. Collected from and/or verified by verifiers
- Supervisor information
- Name
- Licensure type (e.g. landscape architect, architect, engineer)
- Licensure information (e.g. jurisdiction, number, dates)
- Company
- Contact information (e.g. email, phone, address)
- Experience information
- Nature of work (e.g. landscape architecture, architecture, engineering)
- Weekly hours
- Employment/experience dates
- Skills gains (in the regulated domains of practice)
- Related skills gained (teaching, research, planting design, onsite construction, maintenance or installation)
- Explanation of experience (providing details of the applicant’s role, size of projects, etc.)
- Applicant’s technical competence and professional conduct
- Attestation that the information provided is accurate and complete
