The Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) has just released a study that identifies what factors are the most important in predicting the academic success of chiropractic college students.
The CCE study, "Predicting Chiropractic Student Performance," based academic success by two yardsticks: grade-point average (GPA) and test scores on Parts I and II of the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners.
The data was collected from 948 of the 4,170 first-time chiropractic students that matriculated at the 16 chiropractic colleges in the U.S. between Sept. 1, 1992 and Aug. 31, 1993.
The results indicated four significant variables that determine the GPA of chiropractic students: pre-chiropractic cumulative GPA; college degree prior to entering DC program; number of colleges attended prior to admission to chiropractic program; and the average credits taken per term as a pre-chiropractic student.
The GPAs Have It
• The most important determinant of the chiropractic GPA was -- the pre-chiropractic GPA.
• The most important factor in success on the national board exams was -- the GPA in chiropractic college.
The report acknowledges that although a student's GPA and national board test scores are a fair evaluation of a student's academic success, those benchmarks don't tell the entire academic story.
The research was done by a committee of chiropractic educators, administrators, members of the CCE, and statisticians. The report was prepared by Robert Ploutz-Synder,PhD, of the New York Chiropractic College, and James Hulbert,PhD, of Northwestern College of Chiropractic.
