International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction (IBSTPI)

What International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction (IBSTPI) does

IBSTPI (International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction) is a U.S.-incorporated nonprofit standards organization founded in 1982 that develops and validates competency frameworks for professionals in the learning, development, and performance improvement fields. Its core product portfolio consists of four research-validated competency sets covering Instructional Designer, Instructor, Evaluator, and Online Learner competencies, each backed by extensive international practitioner validation (e.g., over 1,000 practitioners across all global regions for the Instructor and Online Learner sets, and over 450 for the Evaluator set). The organization publishes companion volumes through Information Age Publishing, including the 2023 4th edition of "Instructor Competencies: The Standards" and the "Fieldbook of Evaluator Competencies," and in January 2026 launched IBSTPI Insights, a digital publication on EdTechBooks.org that translates standards into practical guidance.

The organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors with international academic representation (University of Florida, Penn State, UNC Charlotte, George Mason, BYU, and others) and operates with a staff of approximately 7 people. IBSTPI does not offer a technology product; its intellectual property consists of copyrighted competency frameworks, performance statements, and the registered IBSTPI® trademark. The 2021 Instructor Competencies update introduced four domains, 19 competencies, and 150 performance statements segmented into core, blended, and online conditions, representing the most comprehensive framework refresh to date.

IBSTPI's business model is built on three streams: (1) tiered licensing of Standards documents — free for personal access to competency frameworks, $15-$20 for personal use of standards, $1,000 for non-profit/educational institution licenses over 5 years, and $1,500 for for-profit/enterprise licenses over 5 years, each including 5 hours of Director consultation and trademark permission; (2) book and publication sales through Information Age Publishing; and (3) emerging professional services tied to standards implementation. Go-to-market is event- and community-led, relying on the Talkin' Competencies webinar series, student competitions (Arizona State, BYU, Florida State, Texas Tech winners), the IBSTPI Insights publication, Delphi studies, and direct e-commerce on its WordPress-based website. Customer segments include educational institutions (primary), corporate training departments, military, and government agencies across at least 12 countries.

Name

International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction (IBSTPI)

Legal name

International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction

Website

https://ibstpi.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1982

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

IBSTPI is a U.S.-based nonprofit standards organization that develops research-validated competency frameworks for instructional designers, instructors, evaluators, and online learners. It serves academic, government, and corporate training sectors globally through tiered institutional licensing, publications, and standards validation services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Standards and Competency Frameworks

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (611430), Business Schools and Computer and Management Training (6114)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Online/Distance Education Quality & Accreditation Bodies (EDADACAK)

Keywords

• Professional competency frameworks
• Instructional design standards
• Training performance standards
• Learning development standards
• Evaluator competency assessment

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Standards Licensing: IBSTPI sells licensed access to their competency standards (Competencies and Performance Statements) through tiered licensing models based on organizational type (Personal, Non-Profit/Institutional, For Profit/Enterprise).
2. Publications Sales: Sale of professional books and publications including Instructor Competencies: The Standards (4th Ed), Instructional Design Competencies: The Standards, Evaluator Competencies, and Online Learner Competencies published through Information Age Publishing.
3. Professional Services: Organizations purchasing institutional licenses receive 5 hours of free consultation by an IBSTPI Director during the first year of implementation of the Standards.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

IBSTPI develops, validates, and licenses research-backed competency standards for instructional designers, instructors, evaluators, online learners, and training managers. It sells these as free Competencies documents and paid Standards documents under tiered licensing (Personal Use, Non-Profit/Institutional, For-Profit/Enterprise), accompanied by professional books and a digital publication (IBSTPI Insights).

Product overview

IBSTPI offers a portfolio of competency frameworks and standards documents for the learning, development, and performance improvement fields. The core offerings include four competency sets (Evaluator, Instructional Design, Instructor, and Online Learner) available as free competency documents and purchasable standards documents with tiered licensing (Personal Use, Non-Profit, For-Profit). Additionally, IBSTPI publishes companion books through the IBSTPI Book Series, including the 2023 Instructor Competencies: The Standards (4th Ed) and the Fieldbook of Evaluator Competencies. In January 2026, IBSTPI launched IBSTPI Insights, a new digital publication hosted on EdTechBooks.org to provide practical guidance. The organization does not offer a technology product but rather professional standards and competency frameworks validated through rigorous international research.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• IBSTPI Insights: A digital publication launched in January 2026 designed to translate IBSTPI's research-backed professional standards into practical, real-world guidance for instructional designers, trainers, and performance improvement professionals.

Products and services

• Evaluator Competencies Free competency framework document defining the competencies needed by those undertaking evaluation efforts in organizational settings, validated globally with practitioners worldwide.
• Evaluator Standards Comprehensive paid standards document for evaluators, available in Personal Use ($15), Non-Profit ($1,000), and For-Profit ($1,500) license tiers, covering evaluation planning, implementation, and management.
• Instructional Design Competencies Free competency framework for instructional designers, covering domains for professional foundations, planning and analysis, design and development, implementation, evaluation, and project management; validated globally.
• Instructional Design Standards Comprehensive paid standards document for instructional designers, available in Personal Use ($15), Non-Profit ($1,000), and For-Profit ($1,500) license tiers, including competencies and performance statements.
• Instructor Competencies Free competency framework for instructors and trainers. The 2021 version covers four domains (Foundation, Design, Facilitation, Evaluation), 19 competencies, and 150 performance statements, with core, blended, and online teaching conditions.
• Instructor Standards Comprehensive paid standards document for instructors, available in Personal Use ($20), Non-Profit ($1,000), and For-Profit ($1,500) license tiers, based on the 2021 Instructor Competencies.
• Online Learner Competencies Free competency framework identifying validated competencies and performance statements for online and blended learning, with 14 competencies and 75 performance statements validated by over 1,000 online users and providers worldwide.
• Online Learner Standards Paid standards document for online learners, available in Personal Use ($15), Non-Profit ($1,000), and For-Profit ($1,500) license tiers.
• Training Manager Competencies Competency framework for training managers updated to reflect current practice complexity, technological advancements, and globalization of the training and performance field.
• Fieldbook of Evaluator Competencies Companion volume providing practical information, tools, and resources to help individuals improve evaluator competencies across four domains: professional foundations, planning and designing evaluation, implementing evaluation, and managing evaluation.
• Instructor Competencies: The Standards (4th Ed) Published 2023 book by Kathy Jackson, Florence Martin, and Albert Ritzhaupt containing the 2021 Instructor Competencies with four domains of performance, 19 competencies, 150 performance statements, and three conditions (core, blended, and online).
• Instructional Design Competencies: The Standards Published 2013 book providing comprehensive competency definitions for instructional designers, validated with feedback from over 1,000 practitioners and scholars worldwide.
• IBSTPI Insights Digital publication launched January 2026 to translate IBSTPI's research-backed professional standards into practical, real-world guidance for instructional designers, trainers, and performance improvement professionals worldwide, hosted on EdTechBooks.org.

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered moderate and core.

• Quality Matters (QM)moderateStrategic or Co-development PartnerFernando Senior (former IBSTPI Director and longest-serving board member) represents Quality Matters in the Latin American and Caribbean region. QM is a quality assurance organization for digital education.
• EdTechBooks.org (Royce Kimmons)coreTechnology or IntegrationRoyce Kimmons (BYU) and his team host the IBSTPI Insights publication on EdTechBooks.org, providing the digital platform for this new practitioner-focused publication launched in January 2026.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Association for Talent Development (ATD): ATD is the largest professional membership association for talent development professionals. It publishes its own competency model (the ATD Competency Model) and offers the Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP), making it the most direct counterpart to IBSTPI's standards and emerging certification strategy.
• Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT): AECT is a professional association that publishes standards for the educational technology and instructional design fields, overlapping with IBSTPI's instructional design and online learner competency frameworks.
• International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI): ISPI is a long-standing professional association advancing performance improvement/HSPI standards and principles, overlapping directly with IBSTPI's training, performance, and instruction mandate.
• Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE): AACE advances knowledge across e-learning, instructional design, and educational technology through standards, conferences, and journals, addressing the same practitioner audience as IBSTPI.
• Learning and Performance Institute (LPI): LPI is a global membership body that issues competencies-based certifications (including the Certified Learning and Performance Professional credential), making it a comparable L&D standards and certification authority.
• Quality Matters (QM): QM is a digital education quality assurance and accreditation body; it is an active IBSTPI partner (Fernando Senior represents it) and operates in the same professional-standards-for-education niche.

Broad incumbents

• Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM): SHRM sets broad HR competency and credentialing standards (SHRM-CP/SCP) used across corporate learning functions, representing a larger incumbent that overlaps with IBSTPI's manager/administrator use cases.
• edX / 2U Professional Education: edX offers professional certificates and microcredentials in instructional design and L&D, making it a scaled incumbent in the certification space IBSTPI is moving into.

Regional players

• European Training Foundation (ETF): ETF develops competency frameworks and quality standards for vocational education and training across EU partner countries, comparable in function to IBSTPI's standards work but regionally scoped to Europe/Central Asia.

Others

• Infoagepub / Information Age Publishing: Information Age Publishing is IBSTPI's distribution partner for its standards books (e.g., Instructor Competencies 4th Ed), functioning as a publishing ecosystem enabler in IBSTPI's go-to-market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/IbstpiB
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ibstpi

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction (IBSTPI)