INSIGHT A PUBLICATION FROM THE COMMISSION ON ACCREDITATION OF ATHLETIC TRAINING SPRING 2015 EDITION INSIDE THIS ISSUE Communication Regarding Outcomes Standards Self-Study Reminder for Professional and Post- Professional Programs CAATE Presence at ATEC Second Annual CAATE Accreditation Conference Thank You for Your Service Program Administrators: Invitation to Site Visitor Training Call for Review Committee Members Spring Commission meeting Annual Accreditation Fees Annual Report Progress Report Instructions Display Your Accreditation Achievement Proudly The Commission Goes Backstage In Memory of William Bradley Brad Robinson UPDATE ON LEVEL OF THE DEGREE FOR PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS In our continued efforts to inform stakeholders about the progress on examination of the professional degree, we offer the following update: Over the past 18 months, comments on the level of the degree have been taken at every district meeting, the NATA AT Educator s Conference, and through electronic means. The electronic open comment period has now closed and the comments are being compiled and analyzed. It is anticipated that the compiled results will be available to the CAATE sometime in April and will be made publicly available after it has been reviewed by the Commission and shared with the members of the Strategic Alliance. The Commission will also be reviewing a report from the Healthcare Economist consultant contracted by NATA and further reports from the NATA Executive Committee on Education (ECE) as they are completed this spring. Deliberations on the appropriate degree for professional education in Athletic Training are anticipated to occur, among the Strategic Alliance members (i.e. NATA, CAATE, BOC and NATA Research and Education Foundation), prior to the NATA Clinical Symposia and AT Expo in June. It is anticipated that the Strategic Alliance will jointly announce a decision on this issue this summer. POST-PROFESSIONAL SUBSTANTIVE CHANGE OF DEGREE In response to several requests, the CAATE will soon be releasing instructions and process guidelines for a Substantive Change of Degree for Post-Professional Programs. This option will be available for currently accredited, Post-Professional degree programs desiring to transition to a terminal degree, and that are mid-cycle in their accreditation timeline and in good standing (not on probation). Details of this process will be released soon and the process will be completed within eaccreditation under the Substantive Change tab. Additional questions about this process can be addressed to the CAATE office at support@caate.net.
COMMUNICATION REGARDING OUTCOMES STANDARDS Congress, the U.S. Department of Education, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), and the public have all voiced concerns with consumer protection, assurance of quality outcomes in higher education, and transparent reporting of those outcomes. As such, the CAATE is accountable to the public and the federal government to ensure that the programs accredited by the CAATE are achieving suitable minimum outcomes. In accord with these principles, all CAATE accredited programs are required to assess and report program outcomes. For professional programs, Standard 11 requires that the program must meet or exceed a three year aggregate of 70 percent first-time pass rate on the BOC examination. During the first two years under Standard 11, the three year aggregate pass rates included data from years prior to the standard s implementation. As such, the CAATE announced that Programs below the 70% three year-aggregate first time pass rate using 2011-13 and then 2012-2014 cohort data would not be placed on probation, but would continue to be listed as noncompliant with Standard 11. For the 2015 Annual Report period and beyond, all three years in the aggregate pass rate calculation (2013-15 cohorts) will have occurred subsequent to the Standard s implementation and it will have been over 4 years since Standard 11 was officially released to the public. Beginning with review of the 2015 Annual Reports at the Commission s February 2016 meeting, Professional Programs who are non-compliant with the minimum 70% three year aggregate first-time pass rate will be placed on Probation. The accreditation standards serve to promote program quality, and student success, as well as public transparency and accountability. The Commission feels that this step is necessary to help achieve those ends. Should you have any questions or concerns regarding this communication, please do not hesitate to contact the CAATE office. SELF-STUDY REMINDER FOR PROFESSIONAL AND POST-PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS This is a reminder if your program is scheduled for a comprehensive review in 2015-16 that your Self Study is due no later than July 1, 2015. All programs must fill out the following sections in eaccreditation for the self-study to be considered complete: Users Officials Student Directory (Faculty, Clinical Sites, and Preceptors) Self-Study Curriculum Once the program has marked all of the Standards within the Self-Study module ready to submit, the Program Director will submit for signatures. Department Chairs and Deans will have write access to the Self Study prior to providing authorizing signatures, while Provosts and Presidents have read only access. Once all signatures have been obtained the Program Director will then have to option to Submit to CAATE. Submission of the Self-Study to the CAATE automatically triggers the generation of the invoice for Self-Study/Site Visit fee. Site Visit team assignments and review of materials will not begin until the fee has been remitted to the CAATE office. The fee covers the cost of Self-Study review and all associated Site Visit expenses. Questions regarding Self-Study submission and/or Site Visit fees can be directed to the CAATE office or to support@caate.net. 2 WWW.CAATE.NET
CAATE PRESENCE AT ATEC Following this presentation, the Commission provided a short presentation on the process for examining the Professional Degree for Athletic Training, and then held a brief open comment period to allow attendees to express their opinions on this topic. The power point from this presentation is now available on the CAATE website and can be accessed HERE. CAATE President, Mark Laursen, and members of the Commission address attendees of ATEC The members of the Commission were honored to have the opportunity to meet and discuss items of concern and importance with all educational stakeholders at the NATA sponsored Athletic Training Educators Conference from February 27th March 1st, 2015 in Dallas, TX. Commissioners presented information to attendees at the CAATE Update and Open Forum on Friday, February 27th on the following topics: Analytics BOC pass rate and other data garnered from Annual Reports. Public accountability and transparency items impacting accreditation in higher education. CAATE s efforts to provide quality assurance and improvement in its current practices with: eaccreditation ATCAS Accreditation Conference Site Visitor Training Review Team Process CAATE s plan for continued quality assurance in the future. CAATE President, Mark Laursen, and President-Elect, Mark Merrick, also participated in an Open Forum with the Strategic Partners on Sunday March 1st, during which attendees were provided the opportunity to ask questions or address comments to any of the represented leadership. The Commission thanks all of the attendees for their thoughtful participation in both of these events. CAATE Site Visitor Training at ATEC There were 31 new, and 5 returning, Site Visitors attending the two day training held at ATEC on the Site Visit process and an in-depth review of the Standards. Also attending the training as observers were 25 program administrators, including Program Directors and Clinical Education Coordinators. The CAATE Site Visitor Training is open to any program administrators on a space available basis (more information is provided later in this newsletter). Feedback from the training was overwhelmingly positive from both the new Site Visitors and program administrators. Thank you to everyone who participated in these training sessions and helped to make them a success. CAATE INSIGHT Spring Edition 3
SECOND ANNUAL CAATE ACCREDITATION CONFERENCE Last year s inaugural Accreditation Conference was sold out and resulted in overwhelmingly positive feedback. As a result, the Commission is pleased to announce that the conference will be offered again this year! Mark your calendars for October 16th-18th, 2015. The Accreditation Conference will be held at the Hilton Tampa Downtown in beautiful Tampa, FL. All levels of program administration are encouraged to attend, as there will be programming designated for faculty, Clinical Education Coordinators, Program Directors, Department Chairs, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE and Deans, as well as opportunities for breakout sessions to allow program staff to work on their program specific materials with assistance from CAATE Commissioners, volunteers, and staff. The preliminary format is intended to include both plenary sessions and attendee tracks. Plenary sessions will be general sessions for all attendees that address global issues relative to accreditation and education that impact all levels of AT programs. Upon registration, attendees will be asked to designate their track; Professional, Residency, or Post-Professional. Programming for each track will specifically address accreditation topics related to the program type. Registration will begin in July, and more information will be available on the CAATE website as the date approaches. The CAATE extends its gratitude to LaMont Monty Cavanaugh, MD for his service as a Physician member of the Commission. Dr. Cavanaugh represents the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and has been Commissioner for 6 years. He has provided valuable insight regarding the role of the AT in the health care system and is an advocate for athletic training services in health care reform. His thoughtful participation in CAATE meetings will be missed, and the Commission hopes to have the opportunity to work with him in other capacities in the future. Thank you Dr. Cavanagh for your contributions to athletic training education. Thank you! UPDATE eaccreditation REGULARLY INFORMATION This is a reminder to all program personnel to check and update their Officials, Institution Profile, and Students tabs within eaccreditation on a regular basis. The Officials tab contains the information of all program administration and the Institution Profile tab contains all of the pertinent website locations operated by the Program. The CAATE uses this information to communicate accreditation actions and other announcements with Institutions. Most of the fields on these two pages pre-populate the results fields when prospective students and the public search for your program through the CAATE webpage. To ensure accurate contact and website information is available to the public, these pages should be updated frequently. Additionally, as students graduate from your program, it is imperative that the Students tab is updated to reflect their change in status from in progress to graduated, and that each student has been BOC ID matched upon graduation. It is in part from these fields that the CAATE calculates the BOC pass rate, so if data is not accurately represented it may result in errors in calculations that could impact the program. Please direct questions regarding this process to the CAATE office or to support@caate.net. 4 WWW.CAATE.NET
PROGRAM ADMINISTRATORS: INVITATION TO SITE VISITOR TRAINING In an ongoing effort to educate program administrators on the Site Visit and accreditation processes, we are once again inviting administrators to attend our site visitor training. As you may be aware, the CAATE has made concerted efforts to select and train our Site Visitors to assure quality accreditation services. The administrators who attended previous Site Visitor Training indicated that it was a very positive experience and helped them understand both the site visit and accreditation processes. Therefore, we would like to invite program administrators (Program Directors, Chairs, Deans, and Clinical Education Coordinators) who are scheduled to have a Site Visit in next few years to our next Site Visitor Training. Site Visit Training is scheduled for Monday, June 22, 2015 from 5-8 p.m. and Tuesday, June 23, 2015 from 8 a.m. -12 p.m. in St. Louis, Missouri prior to the NATA Annual Meeting & Clinical Symposium. This is a pre-conference workshop that requires registration. The fee for the workshop will be $200 per person. Monday evening s session for the administrators will be in two SEND US YOUR PICTURES sessions. The first session will focus on the administrative part of the Site Visit process and will be held with the Site Visitors. A breakout session will be held for administrators only as an opportunity to discuss strategies for a successful site visit and ask questions. Sessions will include both groups (Site Visitors and Administrators) for a discussion of the CAATE Standards for Accreditation of Athletic Training Programs. Scenarios and cases will be included to illustrate compliance and non-compliance with the Standards. Please RSVP to Ashley ashley@caate.net by May 15, 2015 if you would like to attend. There are limited administrator slots available for this workshop, so the first 20 registrations will be accepted. Payment can be made prior to, or at the time of the workshop. We look forward to seeing you in St. Louis! The CAATE is requesting photos of your educators and students for use on our website, and in various public documents and brochures. Please send appropriate, high resolution photos to julie@caate.net. By submitting photos you release the copyright of the photo to the CAATE for use at their discretion. You must obtain consent for release of the photo from any of the subjects within the photo before submission. Thank you for your help and participation in this matter. SPOTLIGHT ON EDUCATION INFORMATION In an effort to highlight quality in education in Athletic Training, the CAATE would like to accept nominations of programs or individual educators who are promoting or demonstrating best practices in Athletic Training Education. Nominees who are in good standing may receive an article in the next newsletter, or be highlighted on our webpage. Nominations for the Spotlight on Education should include detailed information on how and why the nominees go above and beyond in their educational practices. Nominations and any supporting information should be emailed to julie@caate.net. LIKE US ON FACEBOOK The Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education has a facebook page. Announcements and public news releases are posted to the page, as well as photos and updates of CAATE events and activities. Be sure to Like Us on Facebook to stay current on all of the CAATE happenings. CAATE INSIGHT Spring Edition 5
CALL FOR REVIEW COMMITTEE MEMBERS The CAATE is currently accepting applications for individuals interested in contributing to the advancement of education in athletic training by serving as a member of the CAATE review committee. Review team members will address the responsibilities below for Professional, Post-Professional degree, and Residency Programs. Persons interested in applying to be a member of the Review Committee must have the following qualifications and be willing to fulfill the following responsibilities: Qualifications: 1. Maintain current certification and be in good standing with the Board of Certification (BOC) or be a current licensed health care provider, past commissioner or have evidence of current or past affiliation with the CAATE or a CAATE accredited Program. 2. Demonstrate experience and/or understanding of the educational accreditation and site visit process. 3. Demonstrate leadership abilities. 4. No negative practice sanctions. 5. Complete Site Visitor Training. Duties, Roles, and Responsibilities: 1. Complete CAATE Review Committee Training, and stay current with Committee training responsibilities. 2. Work with Site Visit teams to prepare reports. 3. Complete reviews of Rejoinder, Progress Reports, Requests for Reconsideration, or Annual Reports as assigned. 4. Make recommendations to the CAATE regarding accreditation actions as per the operation procedures of the Commission. Interested parties may submit a letter of interest detailing how they meet the minimum qualifications and their curriculum vitae, including verification of BOC Certification, tojulie at julie@caate.net. SPRING COMMISSION MEETING The CAATE held one of its bi-annual face-to-face meetings in Las Vegas, NV from March 5th-7th, 2015. Items on the agenda included: Accreditation Actions from Substantive change of degree applications, Rejoinders, and Progress Reports at caate.net/accreditation-actions/ Review of Annual Reports Outcomes Standards (see related article on page two in this issue) Requests for Post-professional substantive change of degree materials (see related article on page one in this issue) Discussion of currently available Open Comment responses (ongoing at the time of the meeting), and plan for data analysis. Revisions to the Annual Report review process 6 WWW.CAATE.NET
ANNUAL ACCREDITATION FEES Programs are reminded that Annual Accreditation fees will be invoiced to all accredited programs August 1, 2015. The electronic invoice contains a live link to allow programs to pay electronically. If program personnel must forward the invoice to another party to remit payment, the easiest course would be to forward the electronic invoice to continue to allow for online credit card payment via the link contained in the email. Receipts for payment received will be automatically generated and emailed to the Program Director. The current fee structure for Professional programs is as follows: 2015-16 Accreditation Year $2750 2016-17 Accreditation Year $3000 2017-18 Accreditation Year $3250 The current fee structure for Post-Professional programs is as follows: 2015-16 Accreditation Year $500 2016-17 Accreditation Year $1500 2017-18 Accreditation Year $3250 Payment for Annual Accreditation fee is due 60 days after the date of invoice. Program Directors who have not received an invoice by August 15th, 2015 should contact the CAATE office at 1-844-GO-CAATE or support@caate.net for additional assistance. ANNUAL REPORT PROGRESS REPORT INSTRUCTIONS Progress reports for Annual Reports should be submitted within eaccreditation. The instructions for submission are as follows. 1. Log into e-accreditation 2. Click on Annual Report 3. The Program Director will be able to read Reviewer comments and score (compliant or non-compliant). There may be comments in compliant sections as well as any non-compliant sections of the Annual Report. 4. The Program Director may then upload requested documents for any non-compliant standards via the Review tab. There is a separate upload and Ready for Submission Status in each section. 5. When all cited sections are in the ready for submit status, then a submit button will appear. 6. The Program Director sends the request for approval from the Chair and the Dean by clicking the Submit for signatures button. 7. The Chair and Dean will sign electronically (check box acknowledging the progress report) 8. Once signed by the Chair and the Dean, the Program Director will then be able to submit to the CAATE. 9. The Progress Report may be submitted anytime prior to the specified due date, but will undergo a review process, and then will be acted upon by the Commission during regularly scheduled accreditation meetings. Questions regarding the submission process should be directed to the CAATE office, or submitted electronically to support@caate.net. CAATE INSIGHT Spring Edition 7
DISPLAY YOUR ACCREDITATION ACHIEVEMENT PROUDLY The CAATE appreciates the work and dedication required to obtain accreditation for your Athletic Training Program and the significant achievement it represents. The Commission is pleased to begin offering a complimentary plaque and accreditation certificate to programs as they receive an accreditation award (initial or renewal). Following the receipt of the initial plaque and certificate, the CAATE will continue to provide to each program one included certificate for every new accreditation cycle. Programs have the option to order additional plaques and/or certificates at any time. Programs who received Accreditation for the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 academic years will be contacted by CAATE staff to process their provided certificate and plaques. Programs achieving accreditation in future years (initial or renewal) will be prompted to supply necessary information to process the delivery of their award as they are notified of the Commission s accreditation action. Questions about this process can be directed to julie@caate.net. Professional The Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education Certifies That Name of University has completed a comprehensive accreditation review and demonstrated compliance with the nationally established Standards for Professional Degree Program. The next comprehensive review will occur in academic year 2019-2020 Date of Award President, CAATE THE COMMISSION GOES BACKSTAGE WITH CIRQUE DU SOLEIL PERFORMANCE MEDICINE While in Las Vegas, the Commissioners and staff received a unique opportunity to go back stage with the Performance Medicine staff from Cirque du Soleil during a rehearsal of the Michael Jackson ONE Show. Kerry Gordon, Director of Performance Medicine for Cirque do Soleil, shared some of the unique requirements of the athletic trainers/ therapists in Cirque and what skills and knowledge they look for when hiring staff. The Commissioners were treated to an amazing and creative trampoline act rehearsal. 8 WWW.CAATE.NET
IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM BRADLEY BRAD ROBINSON In sadness for his passing, but with appreciation for his life, the CAATE remembers Brad Robinson for his love of life and commitment to the profession of athletic training. Brad lost his brief and brave battle with cancer on March 15th, 2015 surrounded by his family and loved ones. Brad knew his passion was in athletic training, and later teaching, from a very young age. He graduated from Texas State University, and attended graduate school at West Texas A &M and UT Permian Basin. He worked at Frank Phillip Junior College, St. Edwards University, and Illinois State before returning to Texas to work at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. He was working on obtaining his doctorate degree at the time of his death. Brad s dedicated service to athletic training included volunteering as a CAATE Site Visitor and Review Committee member for the last five years. Those who have worked with Brad have described him as quiet and selfless; always smiling and looking out for others. Brad s presence within the CAATE will be missed, but his legacy will continue in the students and colleagues that he has inspired. In lieu of flowers, Brad s family requests that donations be made either to the family to assist with remaining medical expenses (Robinson Family, 1507 Danridge Road, Cedar Park, TX 78613), or in Brad s name to the Austin Hospice Christopher House. Our thoughts are with Brad s family and loved ones during this sad time. UPCOMING DATES MAY 1 JUNE JUNE 22-23 JUNE 23-26 INTENT TO FILE SUBSTANTIVE CHANGE-LEVEL OF DEGREE FOR 2015-16 DUE THROUGH E-ACCREDITATION ANNUAL REPORTS WILL OPEN RSVP FOR PROGRAM ADMINISTRATORS TO ATTEND SITE VISITOR TRAINING NATA 66TH CLINICAL SYMPOSIA & AT EXPO JULY 1 SELF STUDY IS DUE FOR PROGRAMS WITH 15-16 SITE VISIT AUGUST 1 ANNUAL ACCREDITATION FEES INVOICED AUGUST 1 SUBSTANTIVE CHANGE LEVEL OF DEGREE APPLICATIONS FOR 2015-16 ARE DUE AUGUST 13-15 CAATE COMMISSION MEETING 6850 Austin Center Blvd., Suite 100 Austin, TX 78731 3193 512-733-9700 www.caate.net FOLLOW US: All rights reserved 2015. Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education 4 WWW.CAATE.NET