The ICF Portfolio Path in 2027: What ACC and PCC Candidates Need From a Mentor Coach

If you are working toward an International Coaching Federation (ICF) credential on the portfolio path, you know its shape: coach education gathered from more than one place, your logged coaching hours, mentor coaching you arrange yourself, and a recording sent to ICF for a performance evaluation. For new Associate Certified Coach (ACC) and Professional Certified Coach (PCC) portfolio applications from April 1, 2027, that recording goes away, and the evidence of your coaching comes from your mentor coach.

I sit in the other chair. I mentor coaches toward their credentials, and I train the mentor coaches who complete the forms that take the recording’s place. Below are the dates, the forms and what they record, how the mentoring relationship changes, and what to ask a mentor coach before you start. The Master Certified Coach (MCC) credential works differently, and I point out where.

How the ICF Portfolio Path Works

Since November 3, 2025, ICF certification has two application paths for every credential, and the path decides who handles the evaluation of your coaching. On the Level path, your accredited program covers it. On the portfolio path, you submit recordings to ICF, at least until the 2027 change described below.

The Level path is for coaches who completed an entire ICF-accredited program: Level 1 education or Level 2 education for the ACC credential, Level 2 education for PCC, and Level 3 education for MCC. An accredited coach training program, such as our ICF Level 1 program or Level 2 program, puts the education and training, the mentor coaching and the performance evaluation inside one coaching program with ICF accreditation behind it.

The portfolio path is for coaches whose coach education comes from several sources: accredited training, non-accredited courses and continuing coach education (CCE) courses. ICF accepts the same number of training hours on either path, and on the portfolio path you document them yourself. You also arrange your own mentor coaching with a qualified mentor coach and keep a log of your client coaching experience hours.

The hours required for each credential level, from coach education to hours of coaching with clients, are in our complete guide to ICF coaching credentials. The detail for each credential is on our ICF ACC requirements and ICF PCC requirements pages.

Through the end of March 2027, portfolio applicants also send ICF full recordings with transcripts for a performance evaluation. ACC portfolio applicants submit one, evaluated against ACC-level criteria. PCC candidates submit two, scored by trained assessors against the PCC Markers. Both paths also include an ICF exam, which is changing on its own timetable; our page on the ICF Credentialing Exam covers it.

What Changes for ACC and PCC Portfolio Candidates in 2027

ICF’s Mentor Coach Specialization Toolkit, published in April 2026, states the change in one sentence: “Beginning April 1, 2027, ACC and PCC Portfolio candidates will no longer submit performance evaluation recordings and transcripts as part of their credential application.” They submit Competency Review Forms completed by a specialized mentor coach instead, “to validate competent demonstration of coaching skills.”

A specialized mentor coach is one who holds ICF’s Mentor Coach Specialization (MCS). The Toolkit also says that from January 1, 2027, any new mentor coaching hours must be completed with a specialized mentor coach.

The Toolkit describes the move as a transition from the current summative performance evaluation to “a formative appraisal process.” In ICF’s definition, “A formative appraisal is an ongoing check of learning that happens during the learning process, not after it.” The reasons it gives are “fairness, consistency, and a better experience for coach applicants worldwide.”

Two of the dates below are in the published Toolkit. The others come from ICF staff answering questions on a recorded call on August 13, 2026, and have not been published, so the table marks the source of each.

The ICF MCC Credential Keeps Its Performance Evaluation

ICF staff have said the change covers the ACC and PCC portfolio path only. At MCC the performance evaluation remains, including for MCC portfolio applications. New mentor coaching at the MCC level from January 1, 2027 must be with a mentor coach who holds the MCS at that level, and staff said the Session Observation Forms and Competency Review Form are strongly encouraged as preparation but not required for submission. Our ICF MCC requirements page has the rest.

One caution from my side of the table. Some of these changes surprised me, and I think additional changes will be made once people roll it out. Before you apply, check ICF’s current guidance against the dates above.

What Takes the Place of the Recording You Used to Submit

Two ICF forms take the place of the recording. A mentor coach completes a Session Observation Form for each observed or recorded coaching session, and a Competency Review Form brings those observations together into one record of where your coaching stands, competency by competency.

Once a mentor coach has reviewed three recordings from a mentee, they compile all of that into a Competency Review Form, and that is what people on the portfolio path turn in to ICF. It takes the place of turning in a recording to ICF and getting that assessed. For those of us who mentor coaches, that is extremely different.

ICF’s Accreditation Alignment and Compliance Guide sets the minimum for a mentor coaching client: “a minimum of three completed Session Observation Forms and one completed Competency Review form demonstrating at least 67% proficiency in all competency areas.” ICF staff added that the three must come from three different sessions, live or recorded, that there is no maximum, and that the client receives a copy of every form.

The thresholds are printed on the forms. A skill counts as demonstrated when the mentor coach rates it at a competent level in at least one observed session. A competency is met when at least two-thirds (67%) of its skills are demonstrated, counted separately for each competency. There is no “two of three sessions” rule in any ICF document, although you may hear it.

The mentor coach signs the Competency Review Form. They tick one of two boxes, that the coach client has demonstrated proficiency in each competency area or “has not yet demonstrated” it, confirm that “The coach client has reviewed this form, and we discussed the feedback provided in real time,” and sign and date it. Each Session Observation Form carries a mentor coach signature too. You receive the signed form and upload it with your application, and ICF emails the mentor coach to verify the mentor coaching engagement.

ICF staff have described the portfolio audit. You submit only the Competency Review Form. A subset of applicants is asked by email to upload their Session Observation Forms (ICF recommends uploading them up front). The audit checks that dates and markings match across the forms and that the mentor coach’s MCS award date comes before the mentoring. No recordings and no written feedback are collected.

Mentor coaches who want to see the structure can use Tandem’s free forms for each level, which include blank copies of ICF’s templates. They are Tandem’s own tools, so check ICF’s current materials before relying on them.

If You Already Have Mentor Coaching Hours

ICF’s Toolkit covers hours earned before the new requirements took effect. A candidate who applies after April 1, 2027 using those hours “may need to complete additional individual mentor coaching,” enough for a specialized mentor coach to complete a Competency Review Form showing proficiency in at least 67% of the skills across each competency area.

ICF staff were more specific on the August 13 call. Hours from a mentor coach without the MCS still count. Before you apply, you need three Session Observation Forms and one Competency Review Form from an MCS holder, which means a minimum of three more hours. You do not start a new 10 hours of mentor coaching. Someone already mid-process on a portfolio application needs a minimum of one session.

Moving up the ICF credential levels later? Staff said mentor coaching hours carry forward to a higher credential and do not expire if you complete 10 hours of mentor coaching at that higher level, over at least three months, with a mentor coach who holds the MCS at that level. The mentor coaching requirement itself is set out in our page on what ICF requires of mentor coaching.

Mentored at the PCC Level, Applying at the ACC Level

You can be mentored above the level you are applying for. ICF staff have said the mentor coach must hold the MCS at the level they deliver, and 67% has to be met at that level. If it is not met at the higher level, the evaluation is redone at the lower level, and the same recordings can be reused.

That second evaluation needs a mentor coach who holds the MCS at the lower level. A PCC-level MCS holder cannot complete ACC-level forms without also holding the MCS at the ACC level. If you want PCC-level feedback while you apply at the ACC level, ask whether your mentor coach holds the specialization at both levels before you start.

From Assessor to Co-Worker: How the Mentoring Relationship Changes

Before 2026, my typical mentor coaching session was an assessment review. We would assess the recording to see if it passed whatever level the coach was working toward. Then I would meet with the mentee and go over that assessment, competency by competency: where they were meeting the standards, where they weren’t, and what they needed to do to improve.

It was all focused on whether you were passing ACC or not, because it was an assessment. Was there room for development? I’m sure some mentor coaches were probably doing that, but that wasn’t what I was taught, and it wasn’t what we were doing as the mentor coaches in the programs. We were basically assessors.

The relationship that came with it was an assessor or teacher-student kind of thing: I’m here to tell you what you did right and wrong, and you either passed or didn’t pass. The mentor was more like in charge of the future of the coach, because if you didn’t pass, you couldn’t get what you wanted. For the mentee, it was “you hold my life in your hands.”

Now it’s more of a co-working relationship. When we talk about behaviors and I help the coach see them, the relationship is more balanced, and it takes away the nervousness of “I need to be perfect.” The mentee is no longer thinking, “You’re grading me and I have to pass.” It’s “I’m going to bring you the work, and we’re going to talk about what was good and what could be better.” There’s nothing to be afraid of.

I have to keep reminding the mentor coaches I train: you’re not grading them.

The feedback a mentor coach writes up is for the mentee to learn and to have something to refer to. With written behaviors on the form, the mentee has something to go work with, and both sides see it as a partnership.

That changes what good feedback looks like. As I teach people to be mentor coaches, I teach them to talk about behaviors. A quote from the transcript and a timestamp shows where something happened; the feedback also has to say what the coach was actually doing that makes those words meet the competency marker, so coaches see what is underneath their words. I’m truly here to develop you, not just tell you, not just make sure you pass or don’t pass. If you mentor coaches yourself, you can read how mentor coaches are trained at Tandem and whether the Mentor Coach Specialization is worth it for your practice.

Why the Pressure Now Sits With the Coach

The Competency Review Form puts the mentor coach’s signature on a statement about your readiness. Mentor coaches now have to sign, and that puts a lot more burden on the mentor coach to make sure they are mentoring at a high level. As I read ICF’s reason, the point is to hold mentor coaches accountable, so that no one signs that people meet competency when they don’t.

You might expect the pressure to land on the mentor coach, then. I don’t think it does. It has to be pressure on the coach, because the coach is the one who has to develop the skill. As a mentor, I’m helping the coach see where they’re not meeting the level, and we talk about how it would look and what they need to incorporate.

In the end, it’s the coach that has to build the competency. I can’t do that for them.

There is also accountability now where there wasn’t any before. In an accredited school, there was lots of accountability. For those out just in the universe doing mentor coaching, there was zero accountability. The new structure brings it to them too: they review the recordings and give the feedback.

For you as a candidate, that is a reason to want feedback you can use. The person who reviews your recordings now answers for what their form says, and the work of professional coaching at your level is still yours to do.

When the Competency Review Form Says “Not Yet”

A Competency Review Form records what the recordings show. If I’m mentoring someone and I’ve reviewed three of their recordings and they have not shown the competency, I’m still going to give them the Competency Review Form, but it’s going to say that they don’t meet the competency level. On ICF’s form, that is the box that reads “has not yet demonstrated.”

The rule behind that box is the one printed on the form: each skill demonstrated at a competent level in at least one observed session, and at least two-thirds (67%) of the skills in each competency. When a coach falls short, ICF’s Accreditation Alignment and Compliance Guide says “additional mentor coaching sessions, and therefore additional mentor coaching observation forms, may be needed.”

What happens next is something the coach and the mentor coach agree on. In my own practice, I’m not going to review six recordings and do six one-on-one hours of mentor coaching just because the recordings didn’t show the competency; a client can pay for more sessions. If I reviewed three and two of them didn’t show enough competency, we could decide to review two more recordings, and the Competency Review Form would then record the sessions in which each skill was demonstrated.

That is my practice, and other mentor coaches set it up in their own way, so ask about it before you agree to work together. A “not yet” on the form tells you there is more to build, and the Session Observation Forms show you where.

What to Ask a Mentor Coach Before You Start

Outside an accredited program, your mentor coach is the main check on your readiness before ICF sees your portfolio application. That makes the choice worth some care, and I have written separately about what makes a good mentor coach. Take these questions into a first conversation, wherever you are in your credentialing journey:

• Do you hold the MCS at my level, and since when? The audit checks that the award date comes before the mentoring, and ICF staff have said listings for mentor coaches without the MCS roll off ICF’s mentor coach registry after December 31, 2026.
• If I want feedback above my level, do you hold the MCS there too? The mentor coach must hold it at the level they deliver.
• How do you write feedback? Ask to see an example with names removed. Look for feedback that names what you did as a coach and how it aligns with the ICF Core Competencies at your level, beyond a quote and a timestamp.
• What happens if my recordings fall short? More recordings, more sessions or both, and on what terms.
• How will you keep my recordings confidential? Your recordings include your clients, so ask how the mentor coach stores and shares them under the ICF Code of Ethics.

I hope the new structure will raise the quality of coaches, but I don’t know that it’s going to change the coaching profession as a whole. I think it’ll change the profession of mentor coaching, and that change reaches you through the person you choose.

Two questions for yourself before you decide: who will be reviewing your recordings, and what do you want to be able to point to in their written feedback? That feedback shapes your coaching practice long after the application.

Alex Kudinov and I hold the Mentor Coach Specialization at all three levels, and every mentor coach on our team holds it at the level they mentor. If you are on the portfolio path and want to talk through your hours and your timing, start with our mentor coaching for ACC and PCC candidates. My own background is on the Cherie Silas page.

ICF Portfolio Path FAQ