SECTION 55:10-5-4.2. Equivalent education and training standards for Landscape Architects  


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  • (a)   Education and training equivalent requirements for licensing. This is a State of Oklahoma program to lead national and/or international applicants into meeting licensing and training standards through equivalent and/or alternative standards and methods. These paragraphs for education and training will be used to meet these goals. The standard is a five year professional education from an LAAB accredited degree program in landscape architecture and completion of the Board's training standards along with passage of the CLARB examinations or equivalent examinations and examinations required by the Board. Education and training may be gained in a variety of ways. The following paragraphs identify and explains those education and training equivalents and alternatives. A person seeking licensure is required to have five years of professional education credits established below or an LAAB accredited degree in landscape architecture and complete a national and/or international diverse training program or equivalent practical training acceptable to the Board in its sole discretion. Education and training may be gained in a variety of ways. A candidate for licensure must hold an LAAB accredited degree in landscape architecture or meet the alternate education criteria adopted here, unless the candidate had been licensed by a member board or had accumulated at least five years of education credits in accordance with these standards.
    (1)   Experience Description and Education Credits.
    (A)   Education credits allowed toward first professional degree in landscape architecture, or credits toward the first professional degree, where the degree program has been accredited by the Landscape Architectural Accrediting Board (LAAB) not later than two years after termination of enrollment.
    (i)   75% credit allowed first two (2) years
    (ii)   100% credit allowed succeeding years
    (iii)   Five (5) years maximum credit allowed
    (B)   Education credits allowed toward first professional degree in landscape architecture, or credits accredited by LAAB within two (2) years of graduation.
    (i)   75% credit allowed first two (2) years
    (ii)   75% credit allowed succeeding years
    (iii)   Four (4) years maximum credit allowed
    (C)   Education credits allowed toward a foreign bachelor degree in landscape architecture or credits toward that degree accredited by a national or internationally recognized accrediting council or entity acceptable to the Board as equivalent to (a)(1)(A) of this section, in its sole discretion.
    (i)   75% credit allowed first two (2) years
    (ii)   100% credit allowed succeeding years
    (iii)   Five (5) years maximum credit allowed
    (D)   Education credits allowed toward any other pre-professional related bachelor degree or credits toward that degree.
    (i)   Three (3) years maximum credit allowed
    (E)   Education credits allowed for diversified experience directly related to landscape architecture as an employee in the offices of a licensed or credentialed landscape architect
    (i)   50% credit allowed first two (2) years
    (ii)   50% credit allowed succeeding years
    (iii)   Five (5) years maximum credit allowed
    (iv)   100% training credits allowed; no limit
    (F)   Education credits allowed for diversified experience, practicing as a principal, with a verified record of substantial practice, directly related to landscape architecture work.
    (i)   50% credit allowed first two (2) years
    (ii)   50% credit allowed succeeding years
    (iii)   Five (5) years maximum credit allowed
    (iv)   100% training credits allowed; no limit
    (G)   Education credits allowed for diversified experience as an employee of an organization (other than offices of a licensed landscape architect)when the experience is related to landscape architecture work and is under the personal supervision of a licensed landscape architect, architect, civil engineer or credentialed planner in good standing
    (i)   50% credit allowed first two (2) years
    (ii)   50% credit allowed succeeding years
    (iii)   Four (4) years maximum credit allowed
    (iv)   100% training credits allowed; two (2) year maximum limit
    (H)   Education credits allowed for experience as an employee of an organization (other than offices of licensed landscape architects) when the experience is in a foreign country or on a military installation and directly related to landscape architectural work but is not under direct supervision of a licensed engineer, architect, landscape architect or credentialed planner in good standing in the United States or Canada, but rather a foreign credential entity or the military and equates to (a)(1)(E) of this section, by the Board in its sole discretion.
    (i)   50% credit allowed first two (2) years
    (ii)   50% credit allowed succeeding years
    (iii)   Five (5) years maximum credit allowed
    (iv)   100% training credits allowed; no limit.
    (I)   Education credits allowed for experience, other than (a)(1)(E-H) of this section, directly related to on-site building construction, maintenance, or installation operations
    (i)   No education credits allowed
    (ii)   50% training credits allowed; one (1) year maximum limit
    (J)   Education credits allowed for non-diversified experience in landscape architecture under the personal supervision of a licensed landscape architect, architect, engineer or credentialed planner in good standing.
    (i)   No education credits allowed
    (ii)   50% training credits allowed; one (1) year maximum limit
    (K)   Education credits allowed for a Master or Doctoral degree in landscape architecture (except where the degree is the first professional degree) where it is a second accredited professional degree.
    (i)   No education credits allowed
    (ii)   100% training credits allowed; one (1) year maximum limit
    (L)   Education credits allowed for full time teaching or research in an LAAB accredited landscape architect program.
    (i)   No education credits allowed
    (ii)   100% training credits allowed; one (1) year maximum limit
    (M)   Education credits allowed for other education and experience. See (b)(5)(B) of this section.
    (b)   Explanation of requirements.
    (1)   Licensing standards.
    (A)   To be granted licensure, an applicant must:
    (i)   Be at least twenty-one (21) years of age;
    (ii)   Hold a high school diploma or equivalent;
    (iii)   Hold an LAAB accredited degree in landscape architecture or have at least five (5) years of education credits using these standards and the Board's current Rules;
    (iv)   Have at least three (3) years of diversified acceptable training credits;
    (v)   Hold a current registration to practice landscape architecture issued by a CLARB member board or foreign accrediting entity;
    (vi)   Have passed the CLARB Landscape Architect Registration Examination (LARE), the CLARB Uniform National Examination (UNE) or a state administered examination prior to national testing methods; provided such examinations and the grading procedures applied were in accordance with CLARB standards and/or this State's standards current at the time the applicant sat for the examinations or
    (vii)   Have passed an acceptable foreign examination comparable to the United States examinations at the sole discretion of the Board; and
    (viii)   Take and pass an examination on the Oklahoma Act and these Rules and an examination on Oklahoma plant materials.
    (B)   Licensing standard deficiencies.
    (i)   Applicants meeting all the requirements of (b)(1)(A)(i-vi, viii) of this section may nonetheless be granted licensure if the applicant has accumulated ten or more years of excess training credits, earned as described in (b)(2)(A) of this section and has passed an examination given by the Board at their discretion.
    (2)   Examination deficiencies.
    (A)   Some CLARB member boards administered examinations of a shorter duration. Compensation for each one-hour deficiency in duration of an examination may be achieved by one year of excess training credits. Excess training credits may be earned only after initial licensing by accumulating training credits in excess of those required for initial licensing. Applicants who have earned, under (a)(1)(F) of this section, ten or more years of excess training credit (in the manner described in the preceding sentence) and have received their initial license by written examination, regardless of hour duration, are eligible for licensure.
    (B)   The Board may waive deficiencies in the applicant's examination procedure arising from examination transitions, if, in its judgment, such deficiencies are minor in nature or, if substantial, have been adequately compensated for by some equivalent proof of the applicant's competency.
    (C)   The transition rules relating to the implementation of any CLARB examinations will be followed by this Board.
    (3)   Education credits. Education Credits shall be subject to the following conditions:
    (A)   No education credits may be earned prior to graduation from high school
    (B)   Applicants with the degree specified in (a)(1)(A-D) of this section, will be allowed the credit shown in the Maximum Credit Allowed column, regardless of the length of the degree program. Applicants without the degree specified in (a)(1)(A) or (B) of this section, may not accumulate more than three (3) years of education credits in the aggregate from all degree programs.
    (C)   32 Semester credit hours or 48 quarter credit hours are considered to be one (1) year. Fractions of a year of one-half or greater will be considered one-half year, and smaller fractions will not be counted.
    (D)   Foreign education credits will be granted only under classifications in (a)(1)(C-D) of this section, unless the Board determines the degree is equivalent to the LAAB educational requirements. Any cost of translation and evaluation will be borne by the applicant.
    (4)   Training credits.
    (A)   Training credits shall be subjected to the following conditions:
    (i)   No training credits may be earned prior to accumulating three (3) education credits
    (ii)   Every applicant must earn at least one year of training credit under (a)(1)(E-G) of this section, and must earn it after earning five (5) years of education credits
    (iii)   To earn credit under (a)(1)(K) or (L) of this section an applicant's credit hours must be in subjects evaluated by the Board as directly related to landscape architecture. 20 semester credit hours or 30 quarter credit hours of teaching or equivalent time in research will equal one (1) year.
    (iv)   No credit used as an education credit may be used as a training credit
    (v)   Organizations will be considered to be "offices of licensed landscape architects" if:
    (I)   the landscape architectural practice of the organization in which the applicant works is in the charge of a licensed person practicing as a principal and the applicant works under the personal supervision of a licensed landscape architect, architect or engineer; and
    (II)   the organization may engage in construction.
    (vi)   An organization (or affiliate) is engaging in construction if it customarily engages in either of the following activities:
    (I)   undertakes to provide labor and/or material for all or any significant portion of a construction project, whether on lump sum, cost plus or other basis of compensation, or
    (II)   agrees to guarantee to an owner the maximum construction cost for all or any significant portion of a construction project.
    (vii)   A person practices as a "principal" by being:
    (I)   a licensed landscape architect, and
    (II)   the person in charge of the organization's landscape architectural, architectural or engineering practice, either alone or with other licensed architects, landscape architects and/or engineers.
    (viii)   In evaluating training credits prior to licensing, the Board requires the applicant to substantiate training experience by comparing this experience to the training requirements as indicated in these standards and the Board's current Rules.
    (5)   General evaluation criteria.
    (A)   To earn full education and/or training credits under (a)(1)(E-J) of this section, an applicant must work at least 32 hours per week for a minimum period of six (6) consecutive weeks. An applicant may earn one-half the credit specified under (a)(1)(E) of this section, for work of a least 15 hours per week in periods of six (6) or more consecutive weeks; no credit will be given for part-time work in any category other than (a)(1)(E-G) of this section.
    (B)   Other education and training may be substituted for the requirements outlined above, only insofar as the Board considers them to be equivalent to the required qualifications.
    (C)   In evaluation credits, the Board may, prior to licensure, require substantiation of the quality and character of the applicant's experience, notwithstanding the fact that the applicant has complied with the technical education and training requirements set forth above.
[Source: Added at 31 Ok Reg 788, eff 9-13-14; Amended at 37 Ok Reg 1006, eff 9-11-20]