AN ANALYSIS OF BOC EXAM FIRST-ATTEMPT PASS RATES IN ATHLETIC TRAINING PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS

Abstract

When assessing athletic training professional programs (PPs) today, the main goal of the program is to prepare students to join the healthcare profession as certified athletic trainers. The elimination of the internship route-to-certification in 2004, meant in order to sit for the Board of Certification examination (BOC exam), a student had to complete an undergraduate professional program (UPP) or graduate professional program (GPP). Since this change, there has been minimal research looking at the characteristic differences between UPPs and GPPs. There has also been little research comparing BOC exam pass rates between candidates from these two types of PPs. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was 1) to determine how BOC exam first-attempt pass rates compare between UPPs and GPPs; and 2) to determine what personnel differences exist between UPP and GPP’s program directors (PDs), faculty, and athletic training students. We used entire population, 365 PP (338 UPPs and 27 GPPs), to compare BOC exam first-attempt pass rates between UPPs and GPPs. We also collected 3-year aggregated BOC exam first-attempt pass rates for all PP from the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) website. We used the Athletic Training Program and Program Director Survey (ATPPDS) to collect the PP personnel data. 133 program directors (66 females, 67 males; 121 UPPs, 12 GPPs; 36% response rate) from each of the ten NATA districts (districts 1-10 respectively: 5, 13, 22, 28, 15, 6, 6, 9, 22, 7) completed the ATPPDS. The ATPPDS was a web-based survey (Qualtrics.com), comprised of 26 questions (12 multiple choice—select single answer, 2 multiple choice—select all answers that apply, and 12 fill-in answer). Data was collected during two separate, four-week periods allowing more opportunities for the PDs to complete the survey. We predicted there would be a significant difference between UPPs and GPPs for 1) BOC exam first-attempt pass rates; 2) program director characteristics; 3) faculty When assessing athletic training professional programs (PPs) today, the main goal of the program is to prepare students to join the healthcare profession as certified athletic trainers. The elimination of the internship route-to-certification in 2004, meant in order to sit for the Board of Certification examination (BOC exam), a student had to complete an undergraduate professional program (UPP) or graduate professional program (GPP). Since this change, there has been minimal research looking at the characteristic differences between UPPs and GPPs. There has also been little research comparing BOC exam pass rates between candidates from these two types of PPs. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was 1) to determine how BOC exam first-attempt pass rates compare between UPPs and GPPs; and 2) to determine what personnel differences exist between UPP and GPP’s program directors (PDs), faculty, and athletic training students. We used entire population, 365 PP (338 UPPs and 27 GPPs), to compare BOC exam first-attempt pass rates between UPPs and GPPs. We also collected 3-year aggregated BOC exam first-attempt pass rates for all PP from the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) website. We used the Athletic Training Program and Program Director Survey (ATPPDS) to collect the PP personnel data. 133 program directors (66 females, 67 males; 121 UPPs, 12 GPPs; 36% response rate) from each of the ten NATA districts (districts 1-10 respectively: 5, 13, 22, 28, 15, 6, 6, 9, 22, 7) completed the ATPPDS. The ATPPDS was a web-based survey (Qualtrics.com), comprised of 26 questions (12 multiple choice—select single answer, 2 multiple choice—select all answers that apply, and 12 fill-in answer). Data was collected during two separate, four-week periods allowing more opportunities for the PDs to complete the survey. We predicted there would be a significant difference between UPPs and GPPs for 1) BOC exam first-attempt pass rates; 2) program director characteristics; 3) faculty characteristics; and 4) athletic training students characteristics. An independent t-test analysis revealed a statistically significant difference between the UPPs and GPPs’ BOC exam first-attempt pass rates. GPPs had a higher aggregated pass rate (t(38)=-3.88, p=.01). We identified no significant differences for PD characteristics for education-levels (p=.08) and PD route-to- certification (p=.64) between UPPs and GPPs. We found that 60% of the PDs from UPPs had a terminal degree compared to 83% of the PDs from GPPs. The route-to-certification results that fifty-one percent of UPP PDs and 58% of GPP PDs obtained their credential from the internship route-to-certification. We identified no significant difference between UPPs and GPPs in regards to the number of full time faculty, the number of adjunct faculty with no clinical responsibility, and the number of adjunct faculty with clinical responsibility. We identified a significant difference between UPPs and GPPs for the number of athletic training students in the program (t(131)=2.31, p=.02) and graduating cohort average GPA (t(113)=-4.55, p=.01). We identified no significant difference for the graduating cohort size (t(131)=.464, p=.64). When students pass the BOC exam it means they are prepared to enter the profession as entry-level athletic trainers. Based on the single element that GPPs had a larger percentage of students passing the BOC exam on the first-attempt, these students were better prepared to pass the BOC exam and better prepared to enter the profession. This finding should provide support to the current education reform discussions on whether GPPs should be the sole route-to-certification for the athletic training profession.