Fieldwork performance, academic grades, and pre-selection criteria of occupational therapy students

To assess the relationship between pre-selection criteria, academic grades, and fieldwork performance, 45 basic master's occupational therapy students who graduated from New York University between October 1974 and October 1977 were selected. The students' undergraduate and occupational therapy records were reviewed for undergraduate grade point averages (GPA), prerequisites, major, occupational therapy grades, and Field Work Performance Report scores (FWPR). The results indicated that undergraduate GPA and occupational therapy GPA correlated with both psychosocial dysfunction and physical disability FWPR scores. However, a student's participation in a Fieldwork I experience was unrelated to the score received on the FWPR for a Fieldwork II experience. Discussion also focused on the limited usefulness of the FWPR as an evaluative tool since the mean scores were very high and its variability was rather low.