History of the formation of ACAPT

In 1942, the “Physical Therapy Schools Section” was formed within the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), and within that Section, the “Council of Physical Therapy School Directors” was developed to bring school directors together.

• The Council voted to dissolve in 1973, and at the time, program directors shifted their efforts to form the Academic Administrator’s Special Interest Group (AASIG) within the APTA Education Section (now known as the APTA Academy of Education).
• Members of the AASIG formed a task force that worked in 2008-2009 to develop a recommendation for the formation of a Council of Physical Therapy Academic Programs.
• The APTA was petitioned in 2009 to form the Academic Council, which resulted in a motion by the APTA Board, co-sponsored by the Education Section, to form a workgroup that would explore the conceptual details and a potential structure that would represent physical therapist education programs.
• In 2013, two motions were presented and approved by the House of Delegates (RC 2-13 and RC 3-13) that established ACAPT as a component of the APTA with its own set of bylaws.
• ACAPT was incorporated as a 501(c)(6) nonstock corporation in the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2014. 
• In 2023, ACAPT signed an affiliation agreement with APTA affirming ACAPT as an Institutional Group of APTA, which was also a bylaws amendment approved by ACAPT's members.