More Flimflam

IAll of us here at WUNCRA have been spending a lot of time dissecting NCRA’s “Social Media Response” to their ill-considered approach to test retention.

The flimflam continues:

”It is unusual for a certification body to allow test-taking, from beginning to ultimate passing, to extend as long as three years. And it is to the NCRA tester’s advantage that multiple testing opportunities are offered throughout those three years. For instance, over that time a tester has 24 discrete occasions to take and pass all legs of the RPR, an unusually high number of opportunities in the certification world.”

Using words like “unusual” in this situation is so vague. NCRA decided to change a policy that’s been around for at least 50 years and has now been lopped out of existence because it’s “unusual” to extend testing from beginning to passing for as long as three years? That is absolutely ludicrous! It’s not unusual. The policy has been around for 50 years! What is unusual is not to grandfather the legs that have been banked for MEMBERS that have passed tests under almost onerous circumstances! Why wasn’t the policy forward-looking, if there was going to be a change? This makes no sense!

And since the RPR is the entry level to so many reporting students transitioning from school to work, why just allow 24 discrete opportunities to pass that test in three years? Why not give them 24 discrete opportunities to pass the RPR a year? Why hold anybody back from earning a paycheck for one second? It’s a skill. They can either pass or they can’t. So give these newly minted reporters as many opportunities as possible to get to work as soon as possible! -especially since so many have experienced “icing” * because of the testing scheme that NCRA has chosen to hang its hat on.

NCRA’s next bullet point is self-congratulations about all of the wonderful things that NCRA has done to notify members of this crazy, unnecessary change. They talk about 22 separate individual announcements in the JCR Weekly, print magazine and the website (we’re sure an NCRA employee was tasked with finding and counting all of those announcements). They talk about a one-page chart, a link to the chart, footers about the policy change and the deadline at the bottom of emails since January 2021. They talk about how they posted numerous ads in the publications and on social media. They go on to say that they sent postcards to the tester database from 2000 forward reminding members who have passed legs of tests under the most rigorous of testing protocols that time’s almost up. And, of course, the website even featured a countdown of the retention policy since January 2021.

But NEVER MENTIONED in all the flimflam is the reason for taking away tests from members that were passed under the most rigorous of testing protocols.

Wake Up, NCRA!

Frank N. Sense

*Please see the WUNCRA “icing” blog post from June 1, 2021.