Ingram, D, Ayerdi, M, Kuriadom, R; University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN. Debbie-Ingram@utc.edu.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the clinical education grading systems adopted by accredited physical therapy (PT) programs in the United States and the level of faculty satisfaction. BACKGROUND: Educational healthcare programs utilize a variety of means to assess student clinical performance. However, there is little information in the literature regarding grading for clinical education experiences in PT programs. SUBJECTS: One hundred thirty five of the 185 (73%) Academic Coordinators of Clinical Education (ACCE) of CAPTE accredited PT programs participated in the study. METHOD: The authors developed a survey instrument that included program demographic information, clinical performance assessment instrument utilized, grading system for clinical experiences, and faculty satisfaction with the grading system. To increase validity, a panel of clinical education experts reviewed the survey instrument and provided feedback. ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics were generated from the data. Comparisons were conducted utilizing independent variables of type of clinical grading system used, degree awarded, and funding source. Differences were determined in regards to faculty and ACCE satisfaction with the grading method. RESULTS: Eighty seven percent of the master’s degree programs and 77% of doctorate programs use the pass/fail grading system. Only five of the 135 PT programs that responded use a combination of pass/fail and letter/numeric grades. 94% of ACCE’s and 97% of PT faculty are at least satisfied with their current grading systems. Nearly 92% of PT programs use the CPI to assess student clinical performance. Almost half (47%) of the programs surveyed feel that the assessment tool is useful for identifying both students with high risk performance and exceptionally good performance. 73% of programs feel that the tool is useful mainly for assessing high risk performance students. CONCLUSIONS: The overwhelming majority of PT programs use a pass/fail grading system for determining clinical education experience grades. Nearly all ACCE’s and PT faculty are satisfied with their current grading system. FUNDING SOURCE: None.

Reprint Information
Requests for reprints should be directed to the corresponding author of the article. Students and other academic customers may receive permission to reprint copyrighted material from Physical Therapy by contacting the Copyright Clearance Center Inc, 222 Rosewood Dr, Danvers, MA 01923. Similar inquiries by all others should be made to the APTA Editorial Office, Attn: Physical Therapy.