Perceived preparedness of candidates taking the National Athletic Trainers' Association Board of Certification, Inc. entry-level athletic trainer examination

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the low passage rate on the criterion-referenced written section of the NATA BOC Examination by first-time candidates, and in particular the discrepancy in passage rate between candidates who reached certification candidacy via the curriculum against the internship route. Is there an association between self-reported competence and the scores candidates actually receive on the examination? Is there an association between the sponsors' rating of the candidates' competence and the scores the candidates actually receive? What is the degree of correlation between the candidates' self-reported competence level and the sponsors' rating of the candidates' competence? Does the completion of a specific type of athletic training program, curriculum against internship, affect the three correlations stated above? Does the completion of specific course work increase domain scores within specified domains on the written section of the NATA BOC Examination? This investigation utilized two survey instruments to gather information from the first-time certification candidates and their sponsors for the April 2nd, 1995 examination. Subjects were asked to rate the candidates' perceived ability in each of the NATA BOC domains. The ratings of perceived ability were matched with the actual domain scores the candidates received on the written section of the NATA BOC Examination. Information was also obtained on academic course work completed during the candidates' education. Results showed very low, mostly nonsignificant, Pearson product moment correlation coefficients between the candidates' and sponsors' rating of the candidates' perceived mastery and the actual domain scores the candidate received on the examination. Low correlations, all nonsignificant, were also obtained when comparing the candidates' self-evaluation rating with the sponsors' evaluation of the candidates. Low correlations, mostly nonsignificant, were obtained when matching attainment of specific academic course work with candidates' domain scores on specified domains within the examination. Further research is needed to look at the reason why candidates and sponsors for a criterion-referenced mastery testing instrument are unable to define a candidate's mastery of NATA BOC domains in preparation for certification candidacy.