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MANY PROGRAMMATIC ROADS TO ROME: A SECONDARY ANALYSIS OF PHYSICAL THERAPY PROGRAM DATA AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH STUDENT PASS RATES ON THE NATIONAL PHYSICAL THERAPY EXAMINATION
O'Hara, Michael Christian
O'Hara, Michael Christian
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2025-08
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Educational Administration
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https://doi.org/10.34944/f9xj-hy58
Abstract
Success on the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE), the licensing examination required to practice physical therapy, has several implications for key stakeholders in physical therapy education. The evolution of physical therapy programs over time has created more options to pursue a physical therapy degree. The purpose of this study was to explore how physical therapy program characteristics have changed over time and which characteristics, whether singly or in combination, impact student performance on the NPTE. This study also investigated which programmatic factors account for physical therapy programs performing better than expected on the NPTE. A secondary analysis of 20 variables using datasets from 2019, 2021, and 2023 from 240 physical therapy programs was conducted. Statistically significant differences in program factors, such as length, enrollment, and graduation rate, and student factors, such as grade point average and the percentage of non-White students, were found across datasets over time. Higher first-time NPTE pass rates were found at public institutions and Carnegie doctoral/research institutions. Higher ultimate pass rates were found at public institutions alone. A decrease in R2 values for first-time pass rate and ultimate pass rate with first-time pass rate as an independent variable was found from 2021 to 2023 using a series of multiple regressions. A residual analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in programmatic factors in over-, near-expected, and under-performing programs. However, the percentage of male students and the percentage of non-White students were statistically significant among residual groups. The results of this study provide recommendations to physical therapy programs to understand better physical therapy resourcing and context for the effect of programmatic factors after the height of COVID-19 on NPTE pass rates and to inform admissions practices.
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