Weber State University   

HPHP - Athletic Training

Assessment Plan

submitted 04/28/08

The WSU Athletic Training Education Program (ATEP) uses several assessment tools to evaluate the quality of individual courses and instructors, the quality of the clinical experiences and clinical affiliations, the satisfaction of the students in the program, the satisfaction of the freshmen observation students, the performance of each student following each clinical rotation, and the satisfaction with the education provided by our graduates and employers of graduates.  We also track our students' pass rate on the Board of Certification (BOC) examination, their job/graduate school placement rate, and the graduation rate.

The following forms are completed by each student towards the end of each academic course.

In each clinical course, students:

1. Must score a minimum of 70% on all oral/practical and written examinations.
   • No student has ever been withheld from progressing in any of the athletic training clinical education courses. On occasion we do have a few students who do not meet the 70% percent score established by the ATEP on the final written examination, however, after remediation by the assigned classroom instructor all students have been successful at passing the final exam with a minimum score of 70%.
2. Must satisfactorily complete every unit in their respective clinical course packet.
   • No student has ever been withheld from progressing in any of the athletic training clinical education courses. On occasion we do have a few students who fall behind on completing the required Athletic Training Clinical Competency and Proficiency units, however, after remediation by the assigned classroom instructor or Approved Clinical Instructor all students have successfully completed Athletic Training Clinical Competency and Proficiency package.

The following forms are completed by each student following each clinical rotation:

1. Athletic Training Approved Clinical Instructor (ACI) Evaluation
   • Approved Clinical Instructor Evaluations are completed at the end of every clinical education rotation by all students. The students complete the ACI Clinical Evaluation Survey. The evaluations are entered into SPSS and are analyzed for trends and differences from previous years, between setting (college, high school, clinics) and gender.
   • The ACI mean ACI Clinical Evaluation Survey score was 4.63 out of 5 ± .48 (n=274) indicting that ATS overall perceived their ACI to be above satisfactory at proving a quality clinical experience between the Fall of 2005 through 2007. From the Fall of 2005- Spring of 2007 to Fall 2005-2007 (spring and fall) the mean ACI Clinical Evaluation Survey scores increased from 4.57 to 4.63, a 2% increase, while the standard deviation decreased from .525 to .48 (9% improvement). The increase in the overall score and decrease in the standard deviation score may be the result of the suggested  recommended improvement strategies provided to ACI/CI at the spring/summer 2007 ACI meeting.  We believe this trend will be maintained or improved during the next year due to limited turnover in our ACIs.
2. Athletic Training Clinical Facility Evaluation
   • Athletic Training Clinical Facility Evaluations are completed at the end of every clinical education rotation by all students. The students complete the Athletic Training Clinical Facility Evaluation. The evaluations are entered into SPSS and are analyzed for trends areas of feasible improvement.
   • In general athletic training students are satisfied with their clinical education affiliations. The variety of clinical education affiliations offered to the athletic training students is considered a strength of the program. Each clinical affiliation certainly has it advantage and disadvantage and many of the requested changes are not practical, nor feasible given the constraints of the facility design or the nature of the setting. Some comments are areas of concern however are realistic and feasible and are the items we will be addressing with the clinical facilities in May at the annual approved clinical instructor meeting. Items such as providing students with a policy and procedure manuals or location of the EAP were identified by the students as an area of concern. We have taken measures such as placing EAP online and have designed a document to collect clinical affiliation site information which will be accessible to all students prior to beginning a clinical rotation at a specific clinical site.
3. Athletic Training Student Self-Evaluation

The following form is completed by each student's ACI following each clinical rotation:

1. Final Clinical Rotation Evaluation (ACI's evaluation of the student)
   • Athletic Training student evaluations are completed at the end of every clinical education rotation by all Approved Clinical Instructors.  The instructors are then required to review these evaluations with each of the students assigned to his/her clinical rotation. The evaluations are level or course specific and address students’ athletic training competency based on current cognitive and psychomotor knowledge, personal attribute again based on students’ level, and commitment to the rotation. Once returned to the classroom instructor these evaluations are used to calculate course grades.

The following form is completed by every student admitted to the Clinical Track of the program during the spring semester:

1. Athletic Training Student Evaluation of the Athletic Training Education Program
   • All athletic training students at the end of the spring semester are required to complete the Athletic Training Student Persistence Survey. It is intended to assess the students’ satisfaction with various aspects of the ATEP. The evaluations are entered into SPSS and are analyzed for trends and differences from previous years, between subscale scores, and gender.
   • The subjects’ mean Athletic Training Student Persistence Survey score for spring 2007 was 72. 96/85 ± 6.32 (n=32) again indicting that overall, students were very satisfied with their education. The 2007 overall score is approximately 1 point lower compared to the results of the 2006 Athletic Training Student Persistence Survey score. However, the ATEP is not concerned at this point in time with minimal decrease. And while a decrease in clinical, personal and commitment satisfaction scores occurred between 2006 and 2007 these decrease is not substantial enough to warrant any program revisions at this time. The changes may be a result of a decreased sample size, graduation of clinical level 4 students (seniors) prior to the administering the Athletic Training Student Persistence Survey, and lack of educational commitment by the studnets. One recommendation made by the ATEP faculty is to administer the Athletic Training Student Persistence Survey at the end of the fall semester rather than during the spring semester to ensure we capture a larger sampling of ATS.
   • A statistical analysis of the data revealed a significant higher order interaction among sex, age, grade with respect to the academic (F_2,18= 4.65, P = .045) subscale score. Sophomore male students older than 24 years of age appear more satisfied with their academic preparation than males of any other age or clinical level. Level 3 (Juniors) female students aged 22-23 appear more satisfied with their academic program compared to level 1 (Freshman) and 2 (Sophomores) students at all ages. A significant high order interaction among sex and age with respect to the commitment (F_2,18= 27.7, P = .042) subscale score was also noted. Females in general appear to have a higher commitment to their education and the athletic training program compared males under 21years of age and between 22-23 years of age. A significant effect between age with respect to advising support with ATS greater than 24 years of age (9.6) demonstrating more satisfaction than ATS aged 22-23 (8.0). However, do to the small sample size caution should be taken when interpreting the results.

The following form is completed by every freshman student at the end of the first fall semester, after the ATEP application deadline (while enrolled in AT 1500 - Introduction to Athletic Training:

1. Athletic Training Student Persistence Survey
   • The Athletic Training Student Persistence Survey is administered at the conclusion of each fall semester to all freshman enrolled in the AT 1500 (Introduction to Athletic Training) course. It is intended to assess the students’ satisfaction with various aspects of the TEP.
   • The students mean Athletic Training Student Persistence Survey score was 72.51/90 ± 11.05 (n=37) indicting that students overall perceived their education to be above satisfactory.  From 2005 to 2007 there has been a 7.5% decrease in the overall Athletic Training Student Persistence Survey score. However, the percent change from 2006 to 2007 is less than one half percent. A trend, which at this point which does not causes any concern for alarm.
   • When comparing the results of the subjects’ satisfaction, 4 out of 5 of the Athletic Training Student Persistence Survey subscales demonstrated an increase in satisfaction from the 2006 to 2007 academic year. The one subscale showing a decrease was commitment to education. This decrease may be the result of almost a quarter of the subjects not meeting the entrance requirements.
   • Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference between age with subjects older than the age of 24 year of age (79.4 ± 7.7) demonstrating a greater satisfaction with their experiences compared to subjects between 22-24(74.4 ± 10.7) and younger than 21 (73.3 ± 11.6).  Thus age may be a contributing factor as to why there has been a steady decrease in the overall Athletic Training Student Persistence Survey score as there has been a steady increase in students under the age of 21. This suggests that maturity and the inability to appropriately self-reflect upon ones experiences will affect ones persistence within the athletic training education program.

Approximately 8-10 months following graduation, we send each graduate the following forms for completion:

1. Athletic Training Alumni Survey
2. Employer Survey of Weber State University Athletic Training Graduates

Additional Outcomes Data:

1. We track our graduate placement data, indicating where our graduates were placed in jobs or graduate school.
2. Each year, we receive a report from the BOC indicating our students' pass rate on the certification examination.
3. We have also begun to track our graduation/attrition rate.

Once a year, we run the statistics on each of these assessment tools to identify trends.  The AT faculty meet to review the statistics and trends to see where we can make improvements to the ATEP.  With these trends in mind, we develop ways to address areas of concern.  We also look to see if previous changes have had the intended impact.

Mission Statement / Student Learning Outcomes / Curriculum Grid / Results of Assessment / Contact Person