Helping Candidates Succeed with the New RP Credentialing System

A Bit of History

Before any of us had heard of COVID-19, the NAP Commission on Credentialing was holding one of its periodic marathon meetings in Las Vegas. At one meeting, a major part of the agenda was about perfecting the questions on the new RP assessments using sophisticated data analysis. This analysis compared the test results of the Alpha testers (PRP volunteers) and Beta testers (actual candidates). At this meeting, President Allen joined us for a very important and fruitful conversation about how to make this new system the best it could be.

According to the bylaw amendment that created the commission, commissioners are forbidden to do any teaching since the special committee that proposed it found that the accepted standards for credentialing bodies require that they be separate and independent from those who provide education in the knowledge and skills to be recognized by a credential. However, since this new process is radically different from the 1200 question legacy exam, the candidates were often confused about how to prepare for this new system. The data analysis confirmed that asking candidates to teach themselves or find someone to help them was inadequate for many without other options. Conversation between President Darlene Allen and Commission Chair Burke Balch resulted in Commission Vice-chair Gail Knapp resigning from the commission in order to chair a new Special Committee on RP Education. This committee was created by the NAP Board last November. The other members appointed by the board to the special committee are Steve Glanstein, Dave Mezzera, and Mary Remson.

What the Committee Has Been Doing

Since its creation, the committee has held weekly meetings on Zoom, with members writing educational materials between the meetings. After initially agreeing on the format that this education would take, and with support and help from President Allen, the committee decided to produce a complete set of educational materials that cover everything the candidate is required to know for all three steps in the new process. This material would teach the rules that each assessment would test, and it would provide examples of how they are applied.

As of this writing, the committee has completed PowerPoint lessons on the first three parts of step one and is working on part 4. By the time you read this article, many more lessons will have been finished. The committee also created a Lesson Zero that explains the whole new process, and gives hints for being successful as a

candidate. The committee continues to meet weekly on Zoom to review the new lessons created by its members.

How This May Involve You

If you are a candidate or possible candidate for the RP, or if you are a mentor/teacher of members who may wish to become RPs, these lessons are designed for you. The committee is currently making arrangements to present the first lessons on bi-weekly 1 1/2 hour webinars starting the end of March. We expect that they will continue to be offered every other week until the whole assessment process is completed.

We will first present Lesson Zero, and then there will be two lessons on Step One Part 1 (lessons 1a and 1b). A candidate who completes these three lessons should be prepared for the Step One Part 1 quiz. For Step One Part 2, the committee needed three lessons (Lessons 2a, 2b, and 2c). Then there will be sets of lessons for the other parts. That is because some parts require several lessons to cover all the material. The lessons are numbered to indicate which of the assessments they cover.

Since the committee is continuing to write these lessons, we expect that the bi-weekly schedule will be ready as the candidates need them. All the lessons will be initially presented in PowerPoint webinars and will be free of charge for all NAP members. After the presentations have been offered, they will be available to download in PDF format for review. The initial presentation will also be recorded so that anyone who was unable to attend may view them later.

A Final Word

The educational philosophy that underlies these lessons is that the best learning takes place when the learner is actively involved in the process. Therefore, all of the lessons have been created with both didactic material and interactive material. The commission data analysis has shown that the candidates who are most likely to succeed do two things well. First, they read and learn the rules that have been provided for each of the many small assessments that are the core of the new process. Second, they understand the rules well enough that they are able to apply them in simulated real-life situations.

Step one consists of eight parts that are tested using online multiplechoice quizzes. The topics and rules begin with the basics. As the candidate progresses, the topics include more complex rules and applications. Step two consists of writing assignments that cover the kinds of things parliamentarians do outside of meetings. Step three presents a complete simulated meeting for the candidate to serve as the parliamentarian, while two evaluators observe and score their performance.

The members of the special committee believe that this new process uses the most current educational research to give the RP credential the respect that it deserves. We believe that with both knowledge of the rules and the ability to efficiently apply them, the new system will credential future RPs who will be a valuable asset to society and will be able to serve clients extremely well.