The first guideline to Tenet 8 of the ICMA Code of Ethics commits members to routinely assess their professional skills and abilities. To help members fulfill this responsibility, ICMA partnered with the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University to develop the Applied Knowledge Assessment and the Performance-Based Assessment. ICMA partnered with CCi Surveys International to develop the Professional Development Planning Assessment. These tools can help users determine their relative management strengths and choose the areas where they want to focus their professional development time.

1) The Applied Knowledge Assessment is made up of several multiple-choice questions that tap your knowledge of local government principles and practices and your ability to apply them to management situations. You work through the assessment at your own speed and receive immediate, confidential scoring and feedback.  To ensure the applicability of the assessment, more than 200 members—representing local government management professionals of all jurisdiction sizes and types, personal demographics, and years of service—validated the instrument.

2) The Performance-Based Assessment is a comprehensive professional development tool in a multi-rater format. It asks respondents to assess and compare your current work behaviors with expectations through a series of questions. After responses are submitted, CCi Surveys provides you with several feedback reports, including a detailed analysis that illustrates any differences between performance and expectations. Recommendations for building on your strengths and what to consider for your professional development plan are also included.

3) The Professional Development Planning Assessment is a new and shorter professional development planning tool in a multi-rater format. The feedback you receive from this planning tool will help you structure a continuing professional development and training program. It asks respondents to assess your current work behaviors through a series of questions. After responses are submitted, CCi Surveys provides you with a summary of your feedback in several different reports.

These three instruments are the only overall management assessment tools developed exclusively for local government managers, and all are based on ICMA's Practices for Effective Local Government Management. These are the practices that ICMA members have agreed are essential to effective management. The practices are the foundation on which members build their own personal programs of professional development, and around which the ICMA University designs its offerings.