Using FSBPT Tools and Reports for Curriculum Development and Student Remediation for the NPTE.
Purpose
Curriculum development is one of the most challenging aspects of maintaining an effective PT or PTA program, in part because of the lack of solid evidence on which to base changes or decisions about resource allocation. The purpose of this session is to review services and tools provided by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) to provide information to educators about their students’ performance on the National Physical Therapy Examination. The presentation will present an overview of the information and services available, and two educators with experience in program direction will walk through how their programs utilize the information to make evidence-based curriculum decisions.
Methods and/or Description of Project
School reports provided by the FSBPT may be used to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a program and ultimately may be used to improve the pass rates of future students. These tools may also be used to benchmark areas of relative strength and weakness against the national average and similar academic programs.
Student services includes the Practice Examination and Assessment Tool (PEAT) and its various reports. Each PEAT product comes with a Performance Feedback Report which will provide the student with important information during preparation for the NPTE. Academic PEAT also comes with a school report and may be used as an additional resource for informing changes in curricula.
The presenters will illustrate how these tools may be applied to educational settings and to assist in student remediation.
Results/Outcomes
NPTE-based reports may be a powerful resource for elevating the performance of PT and PTA programs, both in improving pass rates and in identifying areas of relative strength and weakness in a program’s curriculum. School reports may be used to benchmark an academic program against national averages. NPTE Performance feedback reports and PEAT performance feedback reports may indicate the student’s current readiness to successfully pass the NPTE as well as identify areas of strength and weakness and can be used to formulate specific examination preparation and remediation efforts.
Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme: Through the Looking Glass: Transforming Physical Therapy Education
This presentation addresses the conference theme, “Using evidence and benchmarks in curricula planning.” Use of the information contained in the various products and services provided by the FSBPT may be beneficial to academic programs as they consider changes in curriculum. It is also beneficial to the students to formulate specific examination preparation and remediation efforts.
References
FSBPT. (2017). Group PEAT Went Academic – PTA form Available! NPTE Quarterly Faculty Newsletter. Volume 13; No. 4 https://www.fsbpt.org/FreeResources/FacultyNewsletter/2016FourthQuarter.aspx#GroupPEAT
FSBPT. (2016). What Students Need to Know: Taking PEAT more than once. NPTE Quarterly Faculty Newsletter. Volume 13; No. 2 https://www.fsbpt.org/FreeResources/FacultyNewsletter/2016SecondQuarter.aspx#NeedtoKnow
Mueller, L., Wang, A., & Zhang, Y. (2015). How well does the PEAT predict success on the NPTE?
https://www.fsbpt.org/Portals/0/Content%20Manager/PDFs/Forum/Forum_Fall2014_PEAT.pdf
American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and National Council
on Measurement in Education. (2014). The standards for educational and psychological testing. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.
Sloas, S. B., Keith, B., & Whitehead, M. T. (2013). Use of a pretest strategy for physical therapist assistant programs to predict success rate on the national physical therapy exam. Journal of Allied Health, 42(2), 79-83.
Cook, JL. (2010). “Can student reflection predict academic success and clinical performance in a physical therapist education program?” UMI 3398450, ProQuest, Ann Arbor, MI
Mohr, T., Ingram, D., Hayes, S., & Du, Z. (2005). Educational Program Characteristics and Pass Rates on the National Physical Therapy Examination. Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 19(1).
Course Objectives
Attendees will be able to identify resources and tools that can inform program development at their institutions and can be used to help remediate candidates who fail the NPTE. Attendees will be able to interpret the results in these services and reports to formulate strengths and weaknesses in student performance and the student’s readiness for success on the NPTE.
Instructional Methods
The presentation will consists of PowerPoint slides, primarily showing screenshots of resources. The presenters will provide a handout with links to key resources and references. Application of the resources will be provided by experienced academicians. There will be time for questions and discussion on the best use of these tools.
Tentative Outline/Schedule
5 min – Introductions and agenda
15 minutes – School reports and how they can be interpreted (Mueller)
20 minutes – Using school reports and other information to inform changes in curricula (Mohr)
15 minutes – Reports and services available to candidates (Woolf)
20 minutes – Using reports and services to remediate students who are not successful on the NPTE (Cook)
15 minutes – Question and Answer period