Why Candidates Should Reconsider Re-Submitting a Revised 'Could Not Be Scored' Submission

Candidates who have an opportunity to submit a revised 'Could Not Be Scored' CPLP Work Product in February 2015 should consider their options carefully - including understanding the risk - before deciding to do as such.

What risk?

According to the ATD Certification Institute (ATD CI), candidates are allowed to submit Work Product a MAXIMUM of three (3) times.

After a third unsuccessful submission - candidates are prohibited from submitting again - which means they cannot complete the CPLP certification process.

It's easier to race through these three (3) attempts than you might think.

Start with - the first submission - the one with the 'Could Not Be Scored' status - it's considered the first attempt.

STRIKE ONE

Candidates are allowed to make limited revisions and re-submit the same Work Product again in the next cohort, but that means they first have to decipher what the issue(s) with their submission was.

Candidate Communication from ATD CI re: 'Could Not Be Scored' Work Product Submission

Here's all the input you receive about your 'Could Not Be Scored' submission from ATD CI:

"Incomplete submission.  Work Product is missing required evidence, or Work Product is completely missing narrative content and evidence to address one or more Key Action(s)."

You have to perform "submission forensics" to determine which one - or ones - it is.

Even if the root cause of the status is easy to discover (e.g. the submission is missing a required piece of evidence), there's no guarantee of submission success the second time around. 

You literally have no input (or confidence) as to whether or not - barring the original presenting issue that triggered the 'Could Not Be Scored' status - the remainder of the submission is on track to meet requirements or not.

This is particularly challenging considering the resubmission MUST also meet CURRENT Work Product requirements for the new submission window:

"To that end, you must resubmit your entire Work Product using the updated forms (applicable to the 02/20/2015 cohort)."

Difficult to do, since the CPLP Work Product requirements have changed significantly (including, in some AOEs, how the submission is organized and packaged) between the August 2014 and February 2015 cohorts.

How do you make severely restricted revisions (reference the CPLP Certification Handbook), to a previous submission ("square peg"), and make it align to the new requirements ("round hole") it was was never originally intended to meet?

Seems to me that's like trying to jam a square peg in a round hole and an easy way to gain a FAILED submission -- 

Is it even worth the risk?

STRIKE TWO

In Summary: Candidates risk using up two (2) of their three (3) attempts with the same submission - right off the bat - not only delaying their achievement of the CPLP certification, but also putting an awful lot of pressure on their third - and FINAL - attempt.

Who wants to risk STRIKE THREE? 

So before you consider re-submitting by default, spend the time to do the due diligence to determine if you can:

1. uncover the Critical Flaw(s) that earned the 'Could Not Be Scored' status; 
2. thoroughly understand CURRENT CPLP Work Product requirements; and
3. make the necessary changes within the constraints of what you are allowed - by ATD CI - to change.

Be attentive - and deliberate. 

Don't take shortcuts, seduced by the possibility of short-sighted short term gains only to put your long term goal - CPLP certification success! - at risk.

To your success!

~ trish

1.