The mission of the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy is to protect the public by providing service and leadership that promote safe and competent physical therapy practice.
The NPTE Quarterly Faculty Newsletter is published by the Federation (FSBPT) as one mechanism to communicate with educators in PT and PTA programs. This effort to provide ongoing communication includes current information and updates on the NPTE as well as information on other regulatory issues that might impact or be of interest to program educators.
Please share this newsletter with other PT or PTA educators.
Subscription to the newsletter is free. For subscription information or comments, please contact communications@fsbpt.org.
Registration continues for the October 2014 NPTE Workshop for Educators
There is still space available in the October 24-26, 2014 workshop! It will be held at the FSBPT offices in Alexandria, Virginia. For more information or to register, go to www.fsbpt.org, click on Educators and look for “Educators workshops” under More Resources.
Over the past few years, FSBPT has gotten a lot of suggestions about improving the Practice Exam and Assessment Tool (PEAT), the practice exam for the NPTE. One issue students and schools were having was that accessibility was an issue. The previous version of PEAT was only available on Internet Explorer and you could only take PEAT under typical timing conditions. PEAT 3.0 can be accessed on almost any web browser (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer). In addition, we’ve added options for the exam timer, so that examinees who plan to take the NPTE with extra time can select an additional 50% time or double time for their administration. Many students and educators asked us to provide information about how well someone would have to do on PEAT in order to have a good chance to pass the NPTE. After working with our technical advisors to determine the best way to do that, FSBPT is making a retired PT and a retired PTA form available within PEAT. Each of these forms will give candidates an estimated NPTE form based on previously administered items. An additional practice form is available at each level that will also give an estimate NPTE score based on a sophisticated linking process. Some other PEAT enhancements include:
Throughout 2014, schools that purchase 10 or more PEAT subscriptions will be able to buy them at the same prices as the previous version ($72). After 2014, the price for PEAT will go back to a 20% discount off the $99 individual price.
FSBPT volunteers and staff participated in the APTA NEXT Conference & Exposition held earlier this month in Charlotte, NC by staffing a booth in the Exhibit Hall. Information was shared with students and faculty members about the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE), the Practice Examination & Assessment Tool (PEAT), and other NPTE resources. Additionally FSBPT distributed information on aPTitude, the online continuing competence management system; continuing competence activity certification through ProCert; the Practice Review Tool (PRT); physical therapy practice and professional standards; volunteer opportunities and a multitude of regulatory resources. If you missed us at APTA NEXT, please look for our booth at the APTA Combined Sections Meeting in Indianapolis in February 2015!
By 2011, the evidence was clear that some test takers had been sharing NPTE questions and therefore had an unfair advantage when they sat for the NPTE. We validated this discovery through investigations of various group email accounts and forensic psychometrics on thousands of test results. When we discover questions have been compromised, we remove the questions from the item bank and exams. In order to reduce any unfair advantage gained by collecting and sharing items, FSBPT decided to administer the NPTE on fixed dates, minimizing item reuse. As FSBPT was working on how to accommodate the number of candidates who need to test, we gathered input from both program directors and students. We gathered information on the number of graduates predicted, school graduation dates, and even asked students how soon after graduation they thought they would test. This “baseline” research was done in 2012. Additionally, we contacted the physical therapy licensing board administrators to determine what staffing issues they might face when we moved to fixed-date testing, and what provisions might mitigate the administrative burden of fixed-date testing versus continual testing. Working with our test delivery partner, Prometric, we then arrived at a schedule for administering four PT exams and four PTA exams per year. The dates are spaced in a manner that accomplishes the following objectives: dates are a reasonable distance from the graduation dates for most CAPTE-accredited schools, there is time between the PTA and PT administrations allowing for state boards to handle the testing volume, and opportunities for testing are spaced evenly throughout the year. There are also deadlines associated with each test date and over the past two years, we have worked with states to adjust the deadlines to maximize candidates’ ability to get approved for and schedule the NPTE. All of our stakeholder groups believe that advance notice and consistency from year to year is critical when establishing test dates. FSBPT now has a goal of announcing test dates at least 18 months in advance. To see the posted NPTE test dates, including 2015 and 2016 dates, go to our website. SEE 2015 & 2016 DATES.
Not having the right identification can result in being turned away at a Prometric center. No one wants that! Prometric has developed a clear handout to help ensure that your students have the right identification on test day. To quickly review, they will need a primary and secondary piece of identification. Each piece has specific, different requirements. In addition, their first and last name on each piece MUST match the first and last name on their “Authorization to Test” letter that we (FSBPT) issue. Middle name/initial is not required. View and download handout.