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PRESIDENT'S LETTER — January 2008
From the desk of Vernon R. Temple, D.C.
NBCE President
Dear Colleague,
The New Year allows us the opportunity to look back at all that we have accomplished but more importantly to look forward.
We cannot look back to 2007 without first remembering the loss of our good friend and Board member Dr. Earl Wiley. His contribution to the NBCE will live on; we cherished the opportunity to have been able to work with him. The legacy left by Dr. Wiley was his impact on the chiropractic community both in his state of Ohio and nationwide.
The NBCE did achieve many goals in 2007 and I will highlight some of the most important of these.
2007 Accomplishments
Testing
The goal in 2007 was to administer exams in a fair and legally defensible manner. During this time, we administered examinations to approximately 12,900 individual candidates at 17 different test sites for written exams and 10 different test sites for the Part IV Practical exam.
The Board funded and initiated reformatting of the Part III Clinical Competency exam for the first time in 20 years. In addition, funding has been allocated to begin redevelopment and upgrading of the Part IV Practical exam after 12 years in its original form. The Physiotherapy exam will also undergo critical evaluation to ensure it addresses current therapeutic and rehabilitation concepts.
As you can see from above, the Board and staff have been very busy at upgrading the examinations to ensure the sound assessment of all examinees and that we are meeting the current psychometric standards in testing.
International Board of Chiropractic Examiners
We continue to see expanding interest in utilization of the International Board of Chiropractic Examiners (IBCE). Through the IBCE work with the Brazilian Chiropractic Association, we administered an exam in Brazil. We also provided assistance for a special exam in Thailand. Our participation in the World Federation of Chiropractic and European Chiropractic Union Joint Congress in Portugal presented several potential opportunities in other countries. New test sites were added in Australia and New Zealand.
NBCE Structure
The entire Board and management staff participated in a board retreat directed by Dan Cain, a consultant for non-profit boards. As a result of this retreat we decided to:
1. Reevaluate and reformat NBCE committee structure into a more productive model.
2. Delineate both board responsibilities and administration staff responsibilities.
3. Streamline communication between the Board and staff.
Staff Development
NBCE staff participated in several technical and administrative educational conferences including the Association of Test Publishers; the Association of Standardized Patient Educators Annual Conference, the American School Counselors Association Trade Show (an exhibit on CCAT) and the National Organization for Competency Assurance as well as meetings of the ACC, ACC/RAC, ABCA, ACA and CCE.
Future Funding of the FCLB
In addition a special NBCE Board committee was named to consider a stable ongoing funding program for the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards. The committee chaired by Dr. Rick Cole includes other Board members as well as an NBCE Delegate. Their charge is to develop and recommend an appropriate permanent funding plan for the FCLB. The committee will present a final plan to the Board of Directors at the May 2008 meeting.
2008 Action Items
We barely turned the calendar page to January 1 before we started thinking of what lies ahead of us.
Testing
The Board is dedicated to moving forward and concentrating on testing, test security and related areas. We must guarantee security in testing to ensure that we meet the needs of the state licensing boards and to maintain our excellence in testing. Fair testing is a benefit to the students, schools and to the profession. We will continue to expand and improve our exam security measures both internally and externally at all test sites.
We look forward to the new Part III format and are implementing a pilot test at several schools to begin the educational process to the state licensing boards, schools and students for a comfortable transition.
The Part IV test department will move forward in redevelopment of the Part IV Practical exam, a three-to four-year process under the direction of Dr. Paul Townsend.
A Board committee will meet with the Associations of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC) to discuss Part IV eligibility standards and to increase communication and understanding of the needs of state licensing boards, schools and students.
Changes at Headquarters
The Board will continue to make facility improvements at our headquarters in Greeley, Colorado. We will review options for increased building capacity as we are quickly running out of storage and work space.
Improving communication by expanding the NBCE Web site is high on our list, along with full implementation of new exam production and printing processes for all written exams.
Job Analysis
The Job Analysis is already off to a jump start. The NBCE hosted Dr. Ray Talke, a recognized expert in collecting data for job and practice analyses, as well as applying the results to the development of test plans and item content. This meeting was one of many that will redesign the survey instrument to keep its content in line with chiropractic as it is practiced in the United States today. This is a critical step as we look forward to developing our next practice analysis to be published in 2010.
Transparency and Accountability
At the NBCE we continue to incorporate transparency and accountability into every activity. An important action item is to continue to develop board policies and procedures that will strengthen this pledge. The Board approved an Ad Hoc committee chaired by Dr. Donna Craft to produce a handbook documenting and strengthening all board policies.
May 2008 Annual Meeting
On January 9, state boards were asked for their designation of delegates and alternate delegates who will participate in the May 2008 Annual Meeting. The deadline for submission of these designations is March 3. If you are a state board member, please check with your board to make sure someone is registered by this date.
One of the very important duties of the delegates and alternates is to read and understand the proposed changes to the NBCE bylaws that will be mailed by March 18. All attendees at the annual meeting will have an opportunity to hear the purposed changes and the rationales for these changes, as well as to participate in discussion of the proposed changes. It is my hope that every bylaws change will balance organizational stability and delegate involvement in the future of the NBCE. In addition to mailing, the proposed changes will be posted to the NBCE Web site as soon as they gain final approval from the Board; I expect this to be no later than the first of April.
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As President of the NBCE I have been honored to work under the direction of a Board that has dedicated itself to chiropractic testing. Testing, delivery, format and security are areas that are rapidly changing; this Board will continue to work diligently in these directions. We will continue to strive to increase communication and collaboration with all of the necessary stakeholders in the chiropractic testing community. Most importantly, we promise to honor our responsibility to maintain the 45-year reputation of the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners.
Thank you for all you do for this great profession!
Vernon R. Temple
NBCE President
National Board of Chiropractic Examiners
901 54th Avenue
Greeley, Colorado 80634
970-356-9100
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