Certified Secondary Culinary Educator®

Application | Requirements | Recommended Study Materials

Application

Certified Secondary Culinary Educator® Application
Please send application and documentation of completed requirements to:
American Culinary Federation
180 Center Place Way
St. Augustine, FL 32095

Requirements

In addition to the requirements listed below, you must provide documentation of three 30-hour courses—one in Nutrition, one in Food Safety and Sanitation, and one in Supervisory Management. If these courses were taken more than five years ago, an eight hour refresher course is required in each topic. These courses are available at Chefcertification.com or any accredited school.

• Minimum Job Experience: Twelve hundred (1200) secondary or postsecondary teaching contact hours are required, plus a 30 hour Basic Food Prep Course. Experience must be within the past 10 years. Employment Documentation Forms
  
  
• Minimum Educational Requirements: Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline plus 120 hours in Education Development* or an Associates Degree in Culinary Arts plus 120 hours in Education Development*. This is in addition to the required three 30-hour courses (Nutrition, Food Safety and Sanitation, and Supervisory Management) and the 8-hour refreshers, if required.
  
  *Education Development: 120 contact hours of college level or ACF approved courses are required in educational development. A minimum of eight hours must be in each of the following specific subject areas:
  • Curriculum Planning & Development (e.g. behavioral objectives, syllabi, lesson plans, etc.)
  • Evaluation & Testing (practical, written, and oral testing, etc.)
  • Teaching Methodology (kitchen laboratory, lecture and non-traditional methods, etc.)
  • Educational Psychology (learning styles, student motivation, etc.)
• Classroom Demonstration Requirement: The applicant must submit a 45 to 60 minute video demonstrating teaching proficiency of the culinary arts in front of a live audience. The video should be submitted in CD-ROM/DVD format only. The completed lesson plan, including assessment, must be submitted with the video. Using the ACF Culinary Competition Manual, Chapter 3, Contemporary Competition Guidelines as the minimum standards, the applicants must demonstrate the following competition category components in their video.
  • Category S/1: Vegetables: demonstrating all basic classical cuts producing a minimum of ½ cup of each designated cut AND
    Choose only one of the following:
  • Category P/1: Hot/Warm Dessert: demonstrating hot/warm dessert of choice
  • Category P/2: Composed Cold Dessert: demonstrating cold dessert of choice
  • Category K/1: Game Hen, Chicken, or Duck: fabrication and preparation
  • Category K/2: Bone-In Pork Loin: fabrication and preparation
  • Category K/3: Bone-In Veal Loin or Rack: fabrication and preparation
  • Category K/4: Bone-In Lamb Loin or Rack: fabrication and preparation
  • Category K/5: Game Birds Pheasant, Quail, Squab, Partridge or Guinea Fowl: fabrication and preparation
  • Category K/6: Bone-In Game Venison or Antelope Loin or Rack: fabrication and preparation
  • Category K/7: Whole Rabbit: fabrication and preparation
  • Category K/8: Live Lobster: fabrication and preparation
  • Category K/9 Fish: fabrication and preparation of 2 to 2 ½ pound fish, round or flat.
• Written Exam: ACF written exams are administered by Comira. The written exam fee is $75. An ACF number is required at time of registration. To request an ACF identification number contact certify@acfchefs.net prior to registration. You can register for the exam by calling (800) 947-4228, option 4, Mon.–Fri. 6 a.m.–5 p.m. Pacific time, Sat. 8 a.m.–noon Pacific time, or you can register 24/7 at the ACF/Comira Online Registration Site. Please note that you must have a credit card to register online. Written exam scores are valid for two years.
  • Candidates have one hour to complete the 100 multiple choice question exam.
  • No support materials other than pens, pencils, and calculators are permitted.
  • A score of seventy percent (70%) or higher is required to pass.
    
• Practical Exam: All levels of ACF certification require candidates to be tested for practical skill proficiency. The CSCE® Practical Exam is three to four hours (based on whether the candidates takes the CCC® or CWPC® exam) and can be taken at any ACF Approved test site. A score of 75% or higher is required to pass. Requirements for Practical Exam are either the CCC® or CWPC® depending on the educator’s area of concentration. Practical exam scores are valid for one year.
  
  To help you prepare for the Practical Exam, review the Practical Exam Candidate Manual.

Recommended Study Materials

The ACF Foundation offers certification training courses and practice certification exams on eCulinary. Courses contain study materials in all major subjects related to the ACF certification exams, including sanitation, nutrition, and supervisory management.

The following books are suggested in preparation for the written and practical exams:

• Foundations of Education, 9th Ed., Ornstein: Houghton Mifflin BUY
• Nutrition for Foodservice and Culinary Professionals, 6th Ed., Drummond, Brefere: John Wiley & Sons BUY
• Food Safety Fundamentals: Essentials of Food Safety & Sanitation, McSwane, Rue, Linton, Williams: Prentice Hall BUY
• Supervision in the Hospitality Industry: Applied Human Resources, 5th Ed., Miller, Walker, Drummond: John Wiley & Sons BUY
• The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking Pastry, 4th Ed., Friberg: John Wiley & Sons BUY
• Escoffier: The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery, John Wiley & Sons BUY