NBOE and Rubber Duck Design

The National Board of Education has been discussed a number of times at DegreeInfo, often in the context of provision of Liberian Accreditation upon payment of a $50,000 fee. For a while, NBOE (now calling itself NBE) had stopped dealing in Liberian credentials.

That seems to have changed: the site now states that

But not only has the NB(O)E business model changed, their seal has too: rather than this one, the site now shows this one.

Here's another one of those things they'll never thank DegreeInfo for spotting. Underneath the seal on the NBE site is a link to Rubber Duck Designs which will print and sell foil NBE seals for $297.20 per 1000, $499 per 3000, and $646 per 5000. Rubber Duck Designs is in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a long way from Monrovia.

It would be unfortunate if an unscrupulous individual were to buy a box of NBE seals from Rubber Duck and begin printing their own Liberian accreditations, wouldn't it?

G

 

Why a duck??? The gods have a funny sense of humor.

 

Same site makes the St. Regis seals (including St. Regis School of Law) -- scroll down in page below.

http://www6.mailordercentral.com/rubberduckdesign/products.asp?dept=1044

 

Just like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers?"

In the film Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, partially-formed aliens assuming human shape are found to be growing in large pods.

We may have something like that here, but with degree-granting entities. Take a look at the seals on that page in oxpecker's post:

• International Education Ministry Accreditation Association
• Interfaith Education Ministries
• Benjamin Franklin High School
• Monroe High School
• South Valley High School
• Trinity Christian High School
• National Board of Education
• SRU School of Law
• SRU School of Music
• SRU School of Business
• SRU School of Art
• SRU School of Religion
• SRU Graduate School of Education

A number of these (the high schools) appear to be new (or at least new to me), perhaps not yet out of their pods.

The "International Education Ministry Accreditation Association" (IEMAA) seal can be found in the pages of Southwest International University along with the image of a letter which identifies IEMAA as a division of Interfaith Education Ministries. The IEM home page (besides pitching the SRU-Branford get-your-pigeon-a-degree program) also sports a Rubber Duck Designs seal, complete with a link back to the Rubber Duck site.

IEMAA accreditation is a LOT less expensive than NB(O)E accreditaion: " Accreditation Certificate is $500 US. Payment for Certificate is due with the receipt of your application."

G

 

Since I didn't see any designs of rubber ducks, am I forced to conclude that these designs are done by a rubber duck?

 

rubber duck

Oooh, what an excellent avatar that would make for this forum!

If only we were allowed to use avatars . . .

Hmm, seriously, though, moderators, why are avatars not allowed in this forum?

Cheers,
Adrienne

P.S. And how could I add a jpeg file into my sig line? I've got a lovely duck waiting . . .

 

more from Rubber Duck Designs

There's also a Rubber Duck foil seal for the unwonderful Redding University, apparently a relative of Suffield, and described in this DegreeInfo thread.

Other seals:
James Monroe University
Branford Preparatory High School
Liberty Prep
Mission Prep
Robertstown
Saint Regis
Suffield
association of international education assessors
Universal Life Church (Instant ordination: see http://www.ulc.org/catalog/.)

So it looks like the SRU crowd does its business with Rubber Duck Designs.

Here's a bit of surrealism in everyday life: Rubber Duck Design also has a seal for... the Board of Commissioners of Gwinnett County, Georgia.

G

 

Rubber Ducks eaten by carp

It seems that the entire Rubber Duck Designs product line has been removed from display on the web. The link under the seal on the NB(O)E site has been removed.

They didn't even say "thank you."

G

 

Hopefully someone saved a snapshot!

 

Re: Rubber Ducks eaten by carp

That's interesting.

The changes on Rubber Duck's site seem coordinated with the changes on the NB(O)E page.

Was Rubber Duck Designs reading Degreeinfo? If SRU informed them, what would have motivated them to make their changes in a matter of hours on a Sunday?

It makes me wonder if somebody at Rubber Duck might be a little more involved than just selling SRU their cool new seals.

 

connection to ACAC

"Academic Credential Assessment Corporation" (ACAC), a credential evaluator that appears to have close ties to Saint Regis, has been described here.

The file names on the Rubber Duck Designs site for three (now unavailable) images of foil shields were ACAC1-SETN.jpg, ACAC2-SETN.jpg, and ACAC3-SETN.jpg. Is the choice of file names just a coincidence, or might there be a connection with Academic Credential Assessment Corporation?

Appended is an image of the three shields contained in those files. The first shows a gold seal containing the word "RECOGNITION". Compare this with the (identical) shield on the ACAC "recognition" page. The other two shields are for the "Association of International Education Assessors" (an unknown [to me] credential evaluator?) and James Monroe University.

It seems that the choice of file names is not a coincidence after all, and that we can look forward to the unveiling of a new credential assessor at some future time.

G

 

Washington International University now has the same little sticker "celebrating" their 10th anniversary.

 

Wait a sec. Gods are allowed. Buddha is allowed. Why not avatars? Dunt seem right.

 

Watching the defectives

The National Board of Education has gussied up its site: new graphics and layout. Well, maybe they're reusing some of the graphics.

If you remember the slide show on the Robertstown University site (which seems to be off the air right now), you'll recognize this banner image from the NBE site, in particular the fellow wearing the dark-framed glasses.

G

 

So you'll know just when to display the appropriate avatar:

http://www.avatara.org/aat.html

(Too bad it's not updated!)