Creating an Advanced Certification Exam

Hello, Everyone.

I'm Elizabeth Langston and I am the Director of Exam Development for NCBTMB. The development of the new Advanced Certification Credential is such an exciting project and I'm honored to be working on this initiative, which will positively affect the entire profession. 

Since we've announced that we are creating an advanced certification, we've been deluged with questions, comments and feedback from people across the massage industry. The direction for the exam has not yet been determined – that will be discussed through the input of the profession as we analyze the responses from the Needs Assessment Survey. However, you can see that we are committed to making an advanced certification a reality. 

One of the questions I’ve been seeing a lot is “Why? What makes you think we need or want an advanced certification?” The desire for such an advanced certification has been verified through various projects and studies over the past twelve years (based on information gathered from peer groups, past Job Task Analyses, Task Force reports in Board minutes and other empirical evidence.) In 2009, after review of these past efforts and confident that the desire for such a credential was evident, NCBTMB's Board of Directors decided to proceed with the creation of an advanced certification credential and exam. And here we are.

Because the understanding of "advanced" varies by practitioner, the Needs Assessment Survey was designed to determine the type of advanced exam the majority of stakeholders think is needed. We’re reviewing the survey responses now to see what has risen as the primary industry definition of "advanced". Whatever that is, we are planning to make sure the results are made available on NCBTMB's website, on this blog and via other communications, so that everyone can see how the profession as a whole responded to the questions presented.

The Advanced Certification Task Force will use these results as a base to guide the development of the exam – starting with defining the eligibility criteria and drafting the Job Task Analysis survey.  

In the weeks to come, I hope to use this blog as a way to interact with everyone out there, answer questions, kick things around, and provide a place for people to share ideas and, well, even just sound off in general. 

We are here and we are listening! 

Liz

Comments

[Jennifer Bennekemper]

I think the idea of advanced certification is great! Since this would be a voluntary certification, I think it is a great idea. It's really going to come down to what content is tested on the A.C. I'm sure there will be lot of debate about what modalities, how much A&P and etc should be tested. I look forward to seeing what the board will come up with, and I hope to some day be at the point where I am considering advanced certification!

[Laura Allen]

I applaud this effort to keep everyone informed and hope you will update it frequently. I posted it on my FB page and other networks.

[jonathan]

This will definitely move us in the right direction.

[jonathan]

Just like other allied health professions have a certification or registry exam, so should we. This will distinguish ourselves from entry-level and place us in an advance position based on education and/or experience.

[Carl]

Absolutely for this!
I think a much stronger test in the area of Musculoskeletal Anatomy is important. It's good to know the function of a kidney, but it's our responsibility as Massage Therapists to know and understand the function of the muscles.
I see far too many MTs that frankly have no idea wha they are working on!

[Danielle]

I love the idea behind the Advanced cert and I definitely agree that there should be more emphasis on industry related topics (muscles and their functions, modalitites, etc.) on the test. Because yes, there are way too many MT's that don't know Rectus Femoris from Rectus Abdominis and have no place in the Massage industry. I also feel that this cert will cast a more positive light on MT's and pull up those of us who take our career seriously, to a more respected level. I just wish that these certifications were given more light in the public eye.

[jonathan]

Maybe with this advanced MT exam, we would be allowed to receive college credit from the American Council on Education. This would really open up the doors in pursuing our careers further.

[Julie Onofrio]

An advanced certification in what exactly? I am going to love to see how you are going to incorporate all of the different techniques and methods to come up with a general exam that will be ADVANCED. What is advanced? What research exactly are you referring to that says that we need one? Was it done before or after the MBLeX?

Things are changing with the creation of that exam. Do we really need one now? For what purpose would it really serve?

I think advanced certification is really too little too late. Will this help massage therapists get jobs or get more clients?

[Emmanuel Bistas]

In my consulting days, I always advised my clients to first determine if existing processes and systems can be utilized to meet business needs before spending considerable time, effort, and money building new ones. I would make the same suggestion here too.

Can some of the existing processes or certification products meet the need at hand? And what is exactly that need?

Are we looking for a way to obtain recognition by other healthcare professionals, including the ability to bill health insurance directly? Are we looking for a way to show specialization? Are we looking for a way to distinguish those who are merely licensed from those who have ‘advanced’ knowledge? Or is it something else?

Interviewing all the stakeholders, performing a feasibility study, and then establishing what tool will be used as an advanced credential (should it be only an exam or perhaps a process that includes an exam – perhaps a hands-on component?) would take a well-trained consulting team months to do; yet, it has been announced that a beta-version of an exam would be available in April 2010. Is there a way to slow this down a bit, back-track, and follow a methodology?

An obvious (to me) approach to start the discussion on an advanced credential is to see if the NCE (even using its current, entry-level content) can be used as one. I think it can be done.

[Lisa Marie Kemerait, LMBT #960]

I am on the fence with this one. As a licensed massage therapist for over 20 years I see there is discrepency in our profession. I know of newly graduated/licensed individuals who are promoting themselves with a hefty list of credentials. Some believe it is good to list every modality covered in initial schooling. While other practitioners believe their work will stand on its own and list only certified CE programs. I recognize this to be a hardship and confusing for the general public to discern between a novice or a therapist with advanced training and experience.

My question is, will this additional test and certification really help the public to understand more about our profession and choose a knowledgable therapist? I thought that is what licensing was supposed to do. Not to mention the national cert!

I believe we need to take time to review the objectives of this proposed action. What are they? It frustrates me when the idea is being put out there and we are being told it is pretty much a done deal without any specifics to convey of what will be included and how the outcome will affect us as a whole.

My experience has been that people tune out when it gets confusing.

[ron schroeder]

I believe your efforts are much needed in a profession where there is little distinction between those with basic training, satisfying only the state requirements for certification, and those with advanced training leading to certification in a specialty such as Neuromuscular Therapy. Insurance companies are still not making any differentiation between the two, naming all of us as merely as 'massage therapists'. I think it is necessary to make this distinction, both to advance our status with medical professionals and to better inform the public as to what therapies are available and which therapists may best suit their needs. An advanced certification testing program could provide this important distinction. Thanks for your efforts!

[Joan Cole]

I want to second what Julie Onofrio wrote. An advanced certification in WHAT, exactly? I have yet to be convinced that the certifications already in existence actually serve a purpose beyond enriching the certifying body. Clients just don't seem terribly interested. And I'm not sure that's a bad thing - I went through the "paper MCSE" phase in the IT field, where people jumped through hoops to get paper certifications that had no real correlation to be able to do the hands-on work, and it was just another thing to sift resumes by. Please convince me that an advanced certification will be something other than another way to bleed another couple hundred bucks out of me with nothing new arriving in income to replace it.

[NCBTMB]

Hi!

I've tried to answer some of the questions posted by Julie, Joan and Emmanuel in my next post. Please check it out!

Liz

[jonathan]

Well, lets see it in a different perspective. If you where working making $36,000 per year and would receive a 25 cent raise, that would turn out to be a $480 difference pay raise per year. I think you get my point. So maybe, an advanced MT exam would be justifiable.

[David Lauterstein]

Open Letter and Call to Action for the Massage Therapy Field

8 Reasons Why National Certification Board should NOT Proceed with Advanced Certification Exam

by David Lauterstein, Co-Director, Lauterstein-Conway Massage School in Austin


Dear Fellow Bodyworkers, Massage Educators and Affiliated Industry Members,

After reading this email, if you are in agreement, please email this letter to everyone you know who cares about the massage field, the NCBTMB and other key people, organizations and massage magazines.

The more I think about the NCBTMB’s proposed Advanced Certification Exam, the more I believe it is very much ill-conceived. With the MBLEx (Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards’ exam) now having cut into NCBTMB's market, the proposed advanced certification exam seems to be more necessitated as an income stream for NCBTMB, than as a mandated credential. One organization's bottom line should not rule the decisions made affecting our whole field – especially if those decisions will have a negative effect on the field as a whole.

1. From the response I’ve gotten from everyone except NCBTMB, I believe I’m in the majority in believing that the proposed Advanced Certification exam and credential proposed by NCBTMB is not a good idea at this time. The majority of therapists are not nationally certified and the majority of advanced therapists certainly are not nationally certified. And I believe the NCBTMB surveys in 1997 and onward did not include the majority of practitioners. Many teachers and school owners have serious reservations about the flawed psychometrics on which NCBTMB is claiming to base their decisions.

2. I never received the initial survey in 1997 or any others - was it completed only by Nationally Certified therapists? If the primary school owners in the U.S. were not consulted, who else was left out of the surveying process?

3. NCBTMB should not be the arbiter of who is advanced and who is not. Their track record of problematic service and self-interest is a source of discredit and suspicion with most of the therapists I talk with. That they should be trusted to handle this well is presumptuous.

4. Requiring to be certified as advanced that one be already Nationally Certified, arbitrarily, dramatically and unnaturally limits who can qualify for advanced certification to people who are currently Nationally Certified.

5. If we end up with a group of advanced practitioners who are not eligible - due to the arbitrary requirement of National Certification - vs. a group who are eligible - NCB would be putting a dysfunctional division in our field. A split between advanced practitioners not recognized by NCB and those who are will be divisive and deleterious to our field.

6. NCBTMB has not demonstrated thorough research nor industry backing for how to define the advanced knowledge an advanced practitioner should have. The emphasis of the proposed exam apparently would be orthopedic massage. While I appreciate orthopedic massage specialists, the majority of advanced practitioners practice holistically, that is they have excellent skills to resolve physical problems, while also utilizing advanced skills to prevent disease and to augment the health of their clients. Advanced Massage therapists largely are complementary health-care practitioners, not just allopathic disease-treatment specialists. Any advanced exam should reflect that fact.

7. There is basically no way in such exams to demonstrate practical skills. Qualifying someone as advanced without any way to demonstrate advanced skill level is problematic to say the least.

8. Who is considered advanced may be more appropriately decided by the individual organizations that oversee and/or train the specialties in our field - such as the Rolf Institute, AOBTA, Feldenkrais Guild, and other education institutions or organizations that can responsibly verify advanced skill levels. Only they can look closely enough at the individual practitioners to genuinely assess whether their knowledge and skills are advanced.

* * *

In sum, NCBTMB is proposing to make a bad decision which would affect the whole field, apparently on the basis of their own needs as an organization and the opinions of a minority whom they have preferred to survey. Additionally, to do this at the expense of the field which supports them is extremely unfortunate. We must all do what we can to prevent this.

I again encourage you to respond by emailing everyone you know who practices or is involved in the massage field, the NCBTMB and other key people, organizations and massage magazines.


I love our field, as I know you all do. And I am protective of its highest aspirations which I do believe we all want to see respected in the decisions made affecting our field.


Sincerely,

David Lauterstein
Co-Director
Lauterstein-Conway Massage School
4701-B Burnet Road
Austin, TX 78756
DavidL@TLCschool.com
http://www.tlcschool.com/
512.374.9222 ext. 20

[Leslie Saxton]

First, I have to applaud all of those who commented before me. What was needed was open communication about this topic of advanced credentialing and we have it. That is a great start. We definitely have to get together on the terminology. I have to admit that there seems to be some confusion about what advanced certification is and which certifying body gets to decide on how to offer it to the public (massage therapists and their clients). I am for advanced certification because it should help the therapist in private practice that will be meeting with physical therapists, doctors and other health practitioners for referral work. And, let us face it, most massage therapists still maintain a private practice while working for employers. We therapists need to find out how to take advantage of the "advancements" so that we may pass on the benefits to our clients who will pay us for the good results we bring into their lives!

[Mike Hinkle]

Ok, finally I see some positive input about advanced certification, it is the first. But it is basically over a two day period and four comments are from the same person. This does not prove support, compared to the negative that is there. I agree we need open communication and a whole lot more of it, before this test.

Is Leslie's point - the point for NCB's Advanced Certification? By creating this test... is NCB knocking therapists, who don't attain this status, out and are they then going to be on the outside with physical therapists, doctors and other health practitioners for referral work?

[Laura Allen]

The NCB is not a law-making body; it's a certification body. I don't think they have to power to knock anyone out of getting referrals. Health care practitioners who refer to others usually do so based on personal experience, reputation, or proximity. There isn't going to be any law that a doctor must refer to a therapist who has advanced certification, although some physicians might make a personal choice to do that.

[Allen]

Happy Holidays Liz!

Reading all of the posts, I feel your pain... I do JTA and test writing for the military, and all of the above comments bring a definite flashback to the work I’ve been doing over the past several years...

From what I have gone through, I have this to offer as advice... If the data you are gathering is strictly from NCBTMB members, it will not become an “Industry Standard”. As those people who complain have pointed out, “Who did you get this data from, and who says they were right?” We had to run many surveys, workgroups and the final step was a service wide validation of the product in order for it to become an accepted standard. If this is strictly an “In House” NCBTMB product, you can expect to see people ignore it, or worse, go to your competitors.

Reach out to the entire massage community... Your members... Your competitors members... Independents... Otherwise, you are only defining what your company thinks people should do, and not what the Industry is actually doing...

Realistically, your company and all other companies should rally together to create the “National Standards” on advanced certifications, and then each company can build products that meet those standards. There’s nothing wrong with having two slightly different training products for the same subject as long as they meet the Industry Agreed Standards. If you do this all by yourself (speaking from a company perspective), you are really just trying to blow your own horn... (i.e. “Look at this training my company made that meets my company’s standards! I know it’s good because the people who made it say it’s good!!!”)

Take this opportunity to help the entire Massage Industry. Get the other companies to help... In the end, EVERYONE will benefit...

Best of Luck to you! I know this is a pain in the backside project!

Allen

[Naomi]

I thought when I took the national exam years back and put the NCTMB initials behind my name that I was considered an advanced practitioner... How many more exams will it ultimely required?

[Bootsy]

Let's all be real. Bottom line is that a few people sit at the top of the massage pyramid making money off creating new rules, regulations, or potential "advancements". The real peopele are subjected and charged for all the extra changes and let's not forget fees and charges. It's sad to watch a profession of healing and meditation become subject to the same politics as everything else in this world. The people who are nothing more than educational left brainers and lack the true ability of healing thru touch are running the show. Just like government, they do more harm than good for the little guys.

[Cindy]

I. How can you objectify or judge what may be a Divine talent
from ones pure Spirit without violating their Civil and Human Rights?

Would Jesus pass?

[Dr David Sandler Phd ND Phd HD NCTMB]

you are oppening up a can of rotten worms..MD DO ND DC have one certification they do not go higher.If you want to improve on massage therapists the correct way, do what the medical profession did over the last 100 years,make more education to get into the schools and increase the hours like going from 600 hours to 1000 hours,and leave the national certification as it is.just make it harder to get there.An advanced certification exam is looking like a money scam to bilk massage therapists.It could even cause loss of employment,your boss may want only that...After that lets have advanced 2,advanced 3 and so forth keep making thing go higher.

[Debbie]

yes, I think certification is great and advanced certification is even better but bottom line, employers just care the LMT's are licensed in the particular state when the business is because that is required by law. In general, they do not care that you are NCBTMB certified or advanced certified. Now that MBLEX came into the picture, and many new therapists are taking that exam and not becoming a NCBTMB member, NCBTMB is loosing money and of course that is the need to create and advanced certification. Advanced certifcation wasn't needed before MBLEX was created. I've been in the industry for eight years and not one employer asked me if I am NCBTMB certified or my salary isn't any different from someone who is not NCBTMB certified. I think NCBTMB is great and has really helped shaped the massage profession. I wish advanced certifcation would make a difference, but lets be honest, it's a business and all about money.

[Marjorie]

Hi I just read some of the comments pertaining this issue. I am not for an Advance Certification. I am already certified by NCBTMB and I am very proud of that. How many certification can we have and hold? I haven't seen any difference in income earning by holding the present certification. What has brought me is a guideline for my continuos education, which I value tremendously. We are also State Certified and having and Advance Certification will cost again money (to the practitioner) and confusion to the public.
I hope you don't decide in these hard times to implement yet an "other" certification process.
Thank you