The Massage Pundit

Representatives of the NCBTMB attended my state (NC) massage board’s meeting yesterday; school owners and program directors were invited (and our meetings are open to the public), and it was very informative. 

In what I personally felt was a shocking move, the NCBTMB revealed that they are implementing a new test security measure in limiting the number of times a candidate who fails may retest.  Anyone who fails three times will be required to complete 100 additional hours of education.  Anyone who fails five times must complete 500 additional hours of education.

I have been teaching a preparatory class for passing the NCE for almost a decade.  I’ve taught it a number of times for my state chapter of AMTA, various massage schools, and offer it four times a year at my own facility.  The attendees who attend the class at my place are often people who have already tried and failed the test; sometimes once, sometimes as many as six or seven times.  A woman recently called me who has taken it 15 times and wanted to take it again.

Some of these students are competent and knowledgeable; they are just poor test takers suffering from test anxiety.  Some have quite frankly been ill-prepared by their school for test-taking.  I know of schools that don’t test at all except for a final exam at the end of their program.  I hope the directors of those schools reading this blog will wake up and smell the coffee. Your students not only need to know the information on the test; they just plain need to know how to take a test.  Still others are students who went into massage school with the mistaken idea it was all about rubbing people and didn’t realize the amount of hard science they were going to encounter.

I questioned the Board’ s representative about this new requirement.  They will not be dictating what subject areas the additional education should be in, although the score report from the exam showing what area(s) the deficiency was in will be “recommended.”

I also asked the question if there is any repurcussion for schools who have a consistently low percentage of students passing the exam.  The answer to that is “no.” The average number of first-time test-takers who pass the National Certification Exam is 70%.  A school that gets by with having a pass rate of 35% for three or four years in a row is obviously not doing their job to prepare students to succeed.  I personally think schools should be obligated to reveal their pass rate for the past three or four years in their catalog, on their websites and any other media they use to attract potential students. 

I’m not convinced that requiring further education to take the test is the answer, although I suppose it’s as good a solution as there is.  I certainly believe that education is never wasted.  I just wonder if a student who didn’t “get it” in 500 hours is going to get it in 100 more.  Or 500 more.  500 is the minimum standard for entry-level competency in the Board’s paradigm.  Many states require more.

I do see that this could spur a lot of massage schools to start offering 100-hour remedial programs–to teach students the things they should have learned the first time around.  Ultimately, the burden is on the candidate to study the items that are listed in the content areas of the exam as set forth in the Candidate’s Handbook, whether it was covered in their massage school or not. 

I also wonder if this is partially a tactic to differentiate (in a positive light, of course) the NCE from the MBLEx, which I believe about 17 or 18 states have adopted since its introduction last year.

This development will no doubt be received with mixed reviews.

 Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen