Certification Policies

Decisions regarding eligibility for examination, continuing education, violations to DHI’s Code of Ethics, and/or alleged inappropriate exam administration procedures may be appealed to the DHI Certification Council. Appeals will NOT be accepted for the following: (1) exam content validity, (2) exam scores (refer to rescoring policy) and (3) individual exam questions or the exam.

All appeals must be submitted in writing and received by the DHI Certification Council within 30 days of the date the exam was taken OR the exam results were released. The written appeal must identify the precise factual basis and applicable rules or examination policies in violation.

All appeals may be sent through US mail or e-mail to:

ATTN: DHI Certification Council
2001 K Street NW, 3rd Floor North
Washington, DC 20006
E-mail: E-mail: certification@dhi.org

DHI is committed to protecting confidential information related to candidates and certificants. Confidential materials include, but are not limited to: an individual’s application, application status, personal applicant/certificant information, exam items and answers, exam forms, and individual exam scores.

Personal information about an applicant/certificant will only be released to that candidate/certificant if release of the information is authorized in writing by the individual or is required by law. Personal information submitted by candidates/certificants with an application or CEP renewal application is considered confidential. Personal information retained within the candidate/certificant database will be kept confidential.

Examination scores are released only to the examination candidate unless a signed release is provided in writing by the individual or is required by law.

DHI is responsible for establishing and implementing standards of conduct, such as ethical standards and policies and procedures for disciplinary action. Violations of DHI’s Disciplinary Policy is grounds for revocation of certification status, including but not limited to the following:

1. Evidence of non-compliance with the Code of Ethics
2. Evidence of non-compliance with DHI’s Certification Policies
3. Evidence of falsification of any material information
4. Evidence of cheating on DHI’s examination

In the event a certificant or candidate is in violation of this policy, DHI may reprimand or suspend the individual or may revoke certification.

All DHI certification exams (AHC, CDC, and EHC) must be proctored. Proctors are required to hold the certification for the exam they are proctoring. Proctors may not administer the exam for candidates who are employed by the same company, division, or branch as the proctor. In addition, proctors may not administer the exam for candidates who are family members. Exception: National and Micro Schools may be proctored by their staff members.

The DHT and DHC exams are proctored directly through Kryterion. Proctors must administer the exam in the same room as the candidate. Any form of web/online/remote proctoring will not be accepted, unless it is through a Kryterion testing center.

The Examination Certification Proctor Form must be received prior to DHI mailing the exam materials. It is the proctor’s responsibility to manage all exam materials, and read through the Proctor instructions. This includes reporting any exam violations or breach of ethics to DHI. Proctors must distribute and collect all DHI exam materials. At the end of the exam administration, the proctor is responsible for returning all exam materials to the DHI Office.

Failure to abide by the proctoring policy may result in the inability to proctor future DHI examinations.

For computer-based testing (i.e. through Kryterion Global Testing Solutions), the candidate’s responses are electronically scored. Candidates who believe that their exam(s) were not scored correctly may request a rescoring of their responses. Rescore is a manual check of the computer’s scoring, conducted by DHI Certification Staff, to ensure all responses were accurately recorded.

Candidates who take hand-written exams are hand scored by approved DHI exam graders. If a candidate believes that their exam(s) was not scored correctly, they may request a rescoring of their responses. There is a fee associated with a hand scored request. This fee will be refunded if it is determined the candidate’s exam was scored incorrectly.

Individual items and exam content will not be discussed or considered during the rescoring process. All requests for rescoring of exams must be submitted within 30 days following the date the exam results were released.

Candidates are allowed a maximum of two re-takes. Candidates who fail portions of a multi-part exam may be retaken. There is a 30-day waiting period between re-takes. After the third consecutive failure, the candidate must wait one year from the date of testing to retake the whole exam.

All proprietary rights in DHI’s examinations, including copyrights and trademarks, are held by DHI. In order to protect the integrity of the examinations and to ensure the validity of the scores reported, candidates must adhere to strict guidelines regarding proper conduct in handling proprietary examinations.

Any attempt to reproduce all or part of the examinations, including, but not limited to, removing exam materials from the examination room, aiding others by any means in reconstructing any portion of the examinations, selling, distributing, receiving or having unauthorized possession of any portion of the examinations, is strictly prohibited by law.

A candidate can be disqualified from taking or continuing to sit for an examination, or from receiving examination results, if through proctor observation, statistical analysis, and other evidence that the candidate’s score may not be valid or that the candidate was engaged in collaborative, disruptive, or other unacceptable behavior during the registration and/or administration of the examination.

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is the policy of the Door and Hardware Institute (DHI) to accept and process applications for testing, and when deemed appropriate, provide accommodations to qualifying examinees. For examinees testing outside of the United States, DHI will provide testing accommodations in accordance with applicable law.

Upon request, DHI staff will reach out to examinees to coordinate the necessary documentation. Examinees have 30 business days to return the appropriate documentation. Upon receiving the documentation, DHI will review and if approved, Staff will coordinate accommodations with the examinee and testing proctor or proctoring agency involved. Scheduling the testing will not proceed until the approval process has been completed. Examinees will be notified in writing within 14 days of what their eligibility determination will be.

Examples of accommodations that may be granted but are not limited to:

1. Additional time allowed for examination.
2. Person provided to read test items to examinees.
3. Additional break time may be added.
4. Enlarged font.
5. Scribe provided to record responses.
6. Other items considered, dependent on accommodations needed.