Than I must have been as smart as Nancy Evans, as I was a club director back in the 1980’s. When I did rejoin the federation back in 1997, the office staff only had the information about my three-year term. The office did not have any information about my past-tournament results. Nancy did offer me to take the local test, because I was a former club director in the 1980’s.
At the time I did take the local test, I did not have the fifty entrants or the three Category D tournaments. Now, I want to thank the former USCF rating manager for letting me cheat. If it was not for the error of Nancy Evans, I would not have become a local director back in 1997. Makes you wonder how many more errors got past the office.
If Tim Just is right, than Nancy Evans let me cheat to become a local director.
No one LET you cheat! How can you know what was in the mind of another? Someone made a human error. How do you know Nancy even made this error? Could it have been some overworked underpaid staff member under her charge? Errors happen.
Now, do you intend to do anything about the fact that you received your Local TD certificate this way?
On August 29th I sent an email to Larry Pond asking to take the test so I could get an extension to my term as Club TD.
Larry sent me the test by email.
A couple days later I mailed in the answer sheet (by snail mail).
Today (September 6th) I checked the MSA site and found that I’m now good until 9/30/2008. Yeehaw!
I don’t yet know how I scored on the test and I guess I’ll be receiving a new ID card. I still intend to take the Local exam as soon as I meet the requirements, but now the pressure is off.
It would be interesting to know (if they tell you) whether you passed the test with a high enough score to have become a Local TD (if you had met the other requirements), or, for that matter, whether the test they gave you was the same one they would have given a Local TD applicant.
Good, I am glad the system worked and was useful so soon after the motion by Mike Nolan was passed by the Delegates.
Bill has a good point that was discussed by Larry Pond and myself but not by the Delegates, TDCC, or Mike Nolan. The Club and Local exams are currently the same (just the version names have been changed and are different). If a Club TD passes the Club exam at a high enough level plus has the TD experience and an established rating, then they should be upgraded. I don’t believe they should be upgraded if they do not have the experience or rating requirements. Yeah, it would be nice to keep track of Club TDs that passed their Club exam at a high enough level to qualify as a Local but don’t have the experience requirements (etc.). Then we could auto shift them to Local when they qualify; however, that would take staff time that I believe is not yet available. Right now I believe that proceedure would be a time intensive manual labor task.
If the results are at 80% or higher, the office can inform the club director what the requirements are still needed to become a local tournament director. The office should not do the manual labor, as it would be checking director after director from time to time. The club director should report the findings, when the requirements are at the level. If the director is only one tournament and five players away, it would give a reason for the director to organize a tournament.
Upgrading someone to Local TD instead of renewing a Club TD certificate if the TD has the experience, a rating and gets a good enough grade on the exam is a great idea in theory.
It assumes that we have sufficient data to track the experience. In most cases, we probably do not.
It also assumes that the Club and Local tests remain the same test.
Jim Bob has been a club TD for 3 years. He has TLA’s for the next 6 months, decides to try to become a Local TD, because he meets all requirements. He fails the test, and a month later, his Club TD license expires.
Does this mean that he can no longer run tournaments until he re-takes the Local TD test in a few months?
The passing grade for the local test is 80%. If the director fails the test, the applicant has to wait two months before asking to take the test again. If the applicant fails the test again, the applicant has to wait six months before asking to take the test a third time. Not sure what the passing grades for the club directors test. It could be 70% or as low as 60%. If the club director fails the test, it should be a wait of two months.
If the director fails the test, than the term expires, the organizer needs to find a replacement.
Well, it seems to me all the TD has to do is take the Club exam. If he failed the Local exam with a score that would have passed him on the Club exam, he can ask that the exam count to extend his Club TD certification.
Now that the tournament validation process checks the status of the chief TD (and the section chief), and since TD/A will not let a non-certified TD log in, it is more important for TDs to renew early (or at least not begin the process the week before their card lapses), especially if that involves passing a test like the Club level now does.
However, the USCF also needs to be reasonable about things, giving TDs some time to take, and if necessary retake, the exam, and extending the TD’s current certification for a few months while the testing is happening, though not indefinitely. If after repeated tries someone still can’t pass the Club exam, perhaps that person shouldn’t be directing any more.
Perhaps it’s also time for TDCC to revisit the one month delay on a retest as well. I suspect that came about mostly to keep from running out of test versions to send someone. I know there have been some TDs who have taken the senior exam four or five times without passing it.
If we had a sufficiently large question bank to implement online testing, I don’t think it would be unreasonable to let a TD take the Club/Local test as frequently as once a week.
And if we went to a Keller Plan, where the test becomes a learning tool as well as a testing tool, the goal is to get the TD to pass the test. How many tries that takes is not as important as (eventually) getting a passing grade.
The MSA records should be up-to-date on TD expiration dates, and a check shows the same number of non-lapsed TDs for each certification level. So, if MSA says you’re a current TD and your USCF membership is current, you’re a TD. (That doesn’t take into account any suspended TDs, that’s one area where we still need to get the computer records in sync with manual records.)
There are currently 185 club TDs, 23 local TDs, 1 senior TD and one ANTD whose TD certification is current but whose USCF membership lapsed more than 4 months ago.
I suppose at some point in time we should assume those people aren’t coming back as USCF members and change their TD expiration dates to match their membership expiration dates.
When a club TD passes the test, inform him (by email or snail-mail) what his passing grade was, and if sufficient to have become a local TD, suggest that he keep track of his future experience and rating history, and when they meet appropriate levels, contact USCF again to have his certification auto-upgraded.
That shouldn’t require too much manual labor at the USCF office.
