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ATD Blog

CPLP Journey Taught Me That Determination Defeats Dilemmas

Tuesday, August 18, 2015
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I first heard about the Association for Talent Development and its Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) program in 2005, during my first year as a doctoral student, while looking for material for my literature review. The program intrigued me, and I decided at the time that I would one day come back and try to obtain the CPLP certification.

In 2008, I graduated with a PhD in educational leadership and passed the Texas principal certification test. It was one of the proudest days of my life. I was on top of the world, the more so because the road to my doctorate had been anything but straight and smooth. It was many years—and many dilemmas—in the making. As it later turned out, the road to my CPLP certification would be equally rough, but now that I have it, I’m proud to have persevered and prevailed.

My Long Journey Begins

Ever since I was in grade school, I knew that I wanted to teach. While other kids my age were always eager to escape school for their summer breaks, I spent mine in my parents’ garage, pretending to be a teacher! That was my life plan, but then life happened: I married early and quickly had four daughters. I assumed that was the end of my plan to someday attend college—that is, until it became obvious to me that a divorce was in my near future, and that I would need to make some big changes quickly in order to support my family as a single parent.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you know that you have no other choice. While working and solo-parenting full time, I also managed to attend school full time and graduate with a BS in mathematics in four years. While attending school, I had been working as a teacher’s aide, but armed with my new college degree, I became a high school math teacher. I still had to get certified as a teacher by the state, however, which meant passing a two-part test: one part on teaching, the other on math. I passed the teaching part on my first try, but I kept missing the math portion by one point!

Feeling embarrassed and pressured, I went to study groups and got one-on-one tutoring, but still was not successful. It was then that I realized that it might be a good idea to develop a plan B, so while I was teaching, I also started sending out my resume.

A New Endeavor

At the end of the summer, just before I was to go back and teach, I got a call from a NASA contractor. I started working at Johnson Space Center as a station robotics instructor. Soon I became a certified senior robotics instructor, training astronauts to assemble the space station using a robotic arm, and training engineers on how to be trainers. Then the shuttle blew up.

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We were told that training was going to be slow for about two years, so we used that time to redevelop lessons and to get employees certified. During that time, I also went back to school during the weekends to obtain my master’s degree in education.

Then, just a few months after completing my master’s degree, I started my doctorate in educational leadership. Training at NASA was beginning to ramp back up—I was training shuttle and station astronauts again—but I still managed to complete my doctorate in exactly three years and become a manager of operational engineers and subject matter experts. Then the shuttle program ended.

My company lost its contract for the space station, dissolved, and the majority of its employees were laid off. The few remaining employees, like myself, were hired by the company that had won the station contract. I was reassigned to robotics.

Unexpected Twists 

In 2013, a job opening in a talent development department within a school district became available. I thought it was the perfect job for me. They didn’t. I’ve always believed that if you lose, don’t lose the lesson, so after being told I didn’t get the job, I asked for some feedback. The hiring manager suggested I look into the CPLP. CPLP? Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that. I thought the CPLP might be the certification I needed to complement my educational background and advance my professional goals.

 I went to the ATD website and read everything I could about the CPLP program. I became an ATD member and registered for the CPLP. I purchased the Learning System (the official study guide for the CPLP). Once again, I was on that merry-go-round of working days and studying at night, but I’d been there before, and I knew I could do it. 

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I studied by myself. I thought the material was easy for me to understand because of my formal studies in education, but then I took the Knowledge Exam and failed. Immediately, the self-doubt and negative thoughts that I’d had when I took my teacher certification exam years before came rushing back, telling me that even though I knew the material, I just wasn’t good at test-taking. But after a month of feeling depressed, I pushed those negative thoughts aside and resolved to try again. 

Now that I knew how the test was set up, I studied differently: still by myself, but more focused on areas in which I knew I had strengths, and which were scored at a higher percentage. I was a math major, remember, so I put that training to good use: I played the averages! The second time I took the test, I passed—thank God I didn’t give up! 

Putting together the Work Product was almost like writing another doctoral dissertation. Using the area of expertise key action list and the scoring rubrics appendix as my guides, I read and reread everything pertaining to the Work Product and made sure everything was covered. My goal was to have it finished two months before it was due and I met that goal. I made copies of everything before mailing, marked the week I would get the notification on my calendar, and then settled in to wait. After a couple of months, I got the email stating that I had passed! 

Happy Ending 

Attaining the CPLP validated my childhood dreams. I know I have a gift for teaching, so professionally, I finally feel as if I really belong. I don’t know what will happen with my new CPLP certification, but I know when the next opportunity knocks, I’ll be ready. 

Learn more about the CPLP Certification. 

About the Author

Yolanda E. Smith is a senior robotics trainer with more than 16 years of experience in training and development. During those 16 years, she worked her way up to training manager at NASA, overseeing the Extravehicular Mobility Unit subject matter expert engineers. Yolanda currently works for Stinger Ghaffarian Technology on a contract with the Johnson Space Center in Houston. She has a wealth of experience collaborating with international stakeholders to design, develop, and deliver performance-based training given in a dynamic skills trainer simulator. Yolanda holds a bachelor of science degree in mathematics, a master of education degree in educational administration, and a doctor of philosophy degree in educational leadership. Additionally, she has a principal certification from the Texas State Board of Education, as well the Certified Professional in Learning and Performance certification. 

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