Dear ACAPT Member Institutions,
On June 1, 2019, CAPTE published changes in the Rules of Practice and Procedures. A summary of these changes can be found at http://www.capteonline.org/WhatWeDo/WhatsNew/. You should note that CAPTE has restated Rule 9.8. by essentially reversing the previous decision that required re-entering students to be counted as part of the set class size. At this time, “only new students will now be counted in the CAPTE set class size” and “re-entering students do not count in the set class size.” This is great news for students and academic physical therapy programs. The ACAPT Board would like to acknowledge CAPTE’s efforts in reviewing and changing Rule 9.8.
As you may recall, changes to Rule 9.8 were announced by CAPTE in mid December 2018. In response to initial concerns about the potential impact of this rule change, ACAPT moved swiftly to solicit thoughts and opinions from member institutions. The ACAPT Board of Directors received 40 responses from academic program representatives that expressed a myriad of concerns about the rule change. The Board of Directors then sent a letter to CAPTE on December 20, 2018, asking that the rule be reconsidered. CAPTE Chairperson, Beth Marcoux PT, DPT, Ph.D. responded quickly to the letter and informed the Board that a task force would be developed to examine the rule and make a recommendation to the Commission. Additionally, the Board invited CAPTE representatives to the CSM Round Table meeting on January 22, 2019, to provide CAPTE an opportunity to explain the rule and hear concerns directly from member institutions.
This process and the positive results, highlight the vital role that ACAPT plays in advancing academic physical therapy education and serving as the voice for academic institutions. It also represents the power of our collective efforts as ACAPT members when we work collaboratively with other stakeholders to promote excellence in physical therapy education.
The revised CAPTE 9.8 rule can be found at http://www.capteonline.org/uploadedFiles/CAPTEorg/About_CAPTE/Resources/Accreditation_Handbook/RulesofPracticeandProcedure.pdf