Relationship between academic achievement and clinical performance in a physical therapy education program

This study was performed to ascertain whether a relationship exists between physical therapy students' preprofessional academic achievement and their academic or clinical performance while attending professional school. A comparison was also made between professional academic achievement and clinical performance. The records of three classes of graduates (N = 65) were examined in relation to preprofessional grade point average, professional grade point average, and clinical performance. Pearson product-moment correlations showed no significant relationship between preprofessional and professional academic achievement or preprofessional academic achievement and clinical performance. The correlation between professional academic achievement and clinical performance was higher, but did not reach statistical significance. This study did find that preprofessional and professional grade point averages were related. The authors urge further study of current admission criteria and their relationship to clinical performance.