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Thread: State Practical Exam

  1. #1
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    State Practical Exam

    I have read with great intrest Harry's thoughts concerning a national practical exam. Harry mentions he lost his notes from the NCSORB meeting in California last year I also wonder if he was paying attention to what was being discussed? He is correct in that there are ego's involved but I am afraid he lays that blame at the wrong door step. He is correct in that Virginia has been leading the way in attempting to convince twenty one independant states in accepting one exam. He states that I feel we do things differently in Virginia, when in fact that was the question I asked all the states that have declared that they did not feel that a regional or national practical exam was necessary including the great state of Mass.. The only state that I am aware of that has a legally defensable exam is N.Y.. The question that Harry neglects to mention or discuss is what makes an exam legally defenseable. Harry states that we all do the same things in every state but what proof does he have of that statement, Has he worked in your state, in your office, in the office down the street from you, for every national chain or doctors office? There is a process in which you determine what is the standard of practice in a profession. When that profession is governed by a state law, not a federal law. Each state must determine what is the actual standard of practice in their state, and after completeing that task you could then compare the results of all the states and determine if you have one standard of practice nationaly. The process is to gather a group of subject matter experts and creat a job analsys that would be mailed out to a predetermined number of regulants you then take the results of the job analsys and create a task analsys and again mail those to a large percentage of your regulant body to determine what are the critical tasks in your profession. A critical task is determined by how important that task is to creating a pair of glasses and how often is that task done. An example would be taking a PD, very important in making a pair of spectacles and required for every pair so you would naturally have this on an exam and give it a high point value, but how about a ptosis crutch certainly for the saftey of the customer you better know how to fit one but how often are they actually fit, not very often so should they be required on an exam? I could go on forever about this topic because I have done my homework and I don't believe I completely understand it all, so I keep an open mind and continue to ask questions. As for the commonwealth of Mass. practical exam I believe ten people took the exam Mr Ferguson created and only five passed I have been told by Russ Tolar that only 39% of the people who took it in North Carolina passed it. Is this a fair exam? Are the tasks covered on the exam appropriate? Ussually when an exam has such a low pass rate you question content. But since no one but N.Y. has surveyed their regulants to determine what are critical tasks who Knows?

    As for the Law suit issue State Board members are generaly not sued indivually but state boards may and are sued. So if you feel that the exam you took was not fair or represenitive of the profesion, you can take legal action against that board. The board is then required to defend its actions and it should have a better defense then " I thought it was a good exam"

    Jon Bright
    jbright075@aol.com
    work phone 434-296-8774
    Chairman Virginia State Board for Opticians
    Chairman N.C.S.O.R.B.

  2. #2
    Forever Liz's Dad Steve Machol's Avatar
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    Thanks Jon but it wasn't necessary to double-post. You already posted this in this thread:

    http://www.optiboard.com/forums/show...0650#post30650


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