The seventh annual student leadership forum was held at the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners' headquarters on Jan. 22, 2010, with 15 student leaders in attendance as well as NBCE President Dr. Vernon Temple.
Dr. Temple welcomed the students to Greeley, Colo., emphasizing the importance of standardized testing in chiropractic. Prior to the establishment of the NBCE, each state had its own examination process. This led to random exam development and administration procedures, and often-unreliable results. Moreover, these individual exams proved to be costly for each doctor who chose to be licensed in more than one state.
Dr. Temple told attendees: "The ultimate benefit to you is that the NBCE exams are psychometrically sound, which means the exams meet the criteria set forth by national and international testing experts for being reliable assessments of your knowledge and readiness to practice. It also means that you have unprecedented inter-jurisdictional mobility to practice in the U.S. For the general public it means that they can trust a licensed doctor to have a standard base of knowledge."
Dr. Temple also spoke about the important role of student leaders in building unity and transparency within the chiropractic profession. "We believe that the chiropractic profession will grow and strengthen when and if we all focus on uniting our profession, transparent motivation, developing ethical character, and producing sustained and superior results," he said.
The students were introduced to the foundations of testing including the chiropractic practice analysis and the Delphi study; written exam development process and the importance of test committees; the design, development and scoring process for the Part IV practical exam; international activities; examinee services, security, exam administration, and test accommodations.
Dr. Daniel Saint-Germain, president of the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards (FCLB) and an NBCE director, and Ms. Donna M. Liewer, FCLB executive director, also presented a short overview of the federation, including the role of the FCLB in gathering and sharing of information, resources and statistics on the profession and other information.
Other attendees of the leadership forum included:
Student American Chiropractic Association (SACA) Officers:
American Black Chiropractic Association (ABCA) Representatives:
Student International Chiropractors Association (SICA) Representatives:
World Congress of Chiropractic Students (WCCS) Representatives:
Source: National Board of Chiropractic Examiners
When I graduated from chiropractic college in 1981 and started practice, I heard it all, and very little was positive. “You are a quack; you do not know what a subluxation is; you couldn’t get into a real health care program, so you chose the one that is slightly above a mail-order degree; you have no proof that chiropractic works; Are you really licensed?”, and so much more.
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