Mar. 3, 2017

In the interest of providing a final decision to programs that are embarking on the substantive change of degree process currently or in the very near future, the Commission, at the request of the Standards Committee, has provided a final decision regarding the Standard specific to the degree offered for master’s level professional AT programs. During the December 2016 conference call meeting, the Commission acted to approve the following language:

Standard: Professional programs result in the granting of a master's degree in Athletic Training. The program must be identified as an academic athletic training degree in institutional academic publications.

Annotation: The CAATE recommends a Master of Athletic Training degree. The degree must appear on the official transcript similar to normal designations for other degrees at the institution. International programs must use language consistent with the host country’s nomenclature and have approval of that language by the CAATE.

Examples of degrees that would be compliant with this Standard would be the Master of Athletic Training (MAT), Master of Science of Athletic Training (MSAT), Master of Science, Major in Athletic Training, or Master of Arts in Athletic Training. The finalized language for this Standard will appear in the next draft of Operational Standards that is released for open comment, although comment on this Standard will not be solicited at that time. As a reminder, the revised Standards, once adopted, would apply to master’s level professional athletic training programs. The specific date of implementation will be determined based upon completion of the development of the final draft of the Standards, but will not occur before the 2019-2020 academic year (i.e. self-studies for 2016-17, 17-18, and 18-19 will use the 2012 Standards). Professional programs still offered at the baccalaureate level will continue to follow the 2012 Standards. Background: During the open comment period for the draft of operational standards that was available from May 2 – July 1, 2016, the Standards Committee had proposed the following language regarding the name of the degree that would be acceptable for professional master’s level programs:

Former Standard: CAATE-accredited professional athletic training programs results in the granting of a Master of Athletic Training (MAT) degree. The program must be identified as an academic athletic training degree in institutional academic publications.

Former Annotation: The degree must appear on the official transcript similar to normal designations for other degrees at the institution. International programs must use language consistent with the host country’s nomenclature and have approval of that language by the CAATE. Programs that cannot meet this standard must provide verification of the process used to make that determination.

The feedback from the open comment on this particular standard was split equally by those in favor of the language or unaffected by the language, and those that felt that the language did not provide opportunity for institutional autonomy in selection of the degree name. The Commission acted to include both forms of feedback into the finalized Standard. The Standards Committee continues to work on the revisions to the rest of the operational standards, which will be released via open comment again this spring. Any questions about the Standards or the development process should be directed to the CAATE office at support@caate.net or 1-844-GO-CAATE. NOTE: This announcement was emailed to all Accredited Program Administrators on February 14, 2017