[CAUT] Retesting

[Porritt, David]

Israel:

If continuing education were required for maintaining RPT status, taking a class and answering some questions would no longer be a gold star but a professional enhancement.  The problem - as I saw it - with the Passport program was that not doing it had no consequences.  So, when I took a class and the instructor was too busy chatting with a friend to be able to sign my form I just left.  If I had needed that signature to maintain my credentials, I'd have waited.  

dp

David M. Porritt, RPT
dporritt at smu.edu



-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Israel Stein
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 1:25 AM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: [CAUT] Retesting


> Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:48 -0400 "Ed  Sutton" <ed440 at mindspring.com> wrote: 
>
> I do not assume that there is a necessary linkage between continuing education credits and recertification exams. 
> The RPT certification and recertification is/would be a category in itself.
> Continuing education credits as a voluntary demonstration of efforts to expand and maintain lifelong learning can be another category.
> The Passport to Exellence program had no bearing on RPT status.
> Ed
>   
Ed,

The starting point of this discussion was an attempt to find ways to 
enhance the RPT certification so that it would have more credibility and 
visibility in institutional hiring. The above is just a "feel good" 
idea, that might spark some initial interest, but will very likely peter 
out - because there are no real incentives or enhancements involved.  
The Passport to Excellence program  petered out - partly because of 
administrative problems, and mostly due to lack of interest.  Personally 
I find the  idea of handing out "gold stars" to adults (whatever shape 
or form they might take) in a continuing-education-for-its-own-sake 
scheme pretty - well - insulting. And it probably is not a very good 
motivator - it wasn't for testing, when the RPT program amounted to 
nothing more than a big "gold star", and it won't be with continuing 
education either. This is the sort of thing that denigrates rather than 
enhances our professional standing. These sort of internal "beauty 
contest" tests and quizzes might massage some egos, but they won't do 
much to improve our professional standing (or, I suspect, the pursuit of 
continuing education among our members).

Continuing education requirements for maintaining the RPT certification 
can have a major positive effect on its credibility and marketability. 
Without this sort of tie-in -well, frankly speaking, there are more 
advantageous ways of using the resources and energies of this 
organization than developing and maintaining an administrative apparatus 
whose sole purpose is to hand out "gold stars".

Israel Stein