Assessment

• Centrally coordinated based on expected outcomes 
  • Clearly delineated graduation outcomes as well as milestones for progression  
  • Central oversite of all assessment in Office of Assessment, Evaluation, Outcomes 
• Emphasis is on assessment for learning with continuous and frequent assessment using multiple methods 
• Trustworthy methods for high-stakes decision-making 
  • Competency committee to review student progress on milestones 
  • Grading committees determine grades using criterion-based grading rather than norm referenced 
• Student assessment data informs program evaluation 

• Assessors – The emphasis will be on high quality feedback utilizing workplace-based assessment and our assessors will receive feedback on their assessment.  
• Learners – Assessment should promote self-regulated learning in the learner and the learner will be an active participant in assessment 
• Coaches – Help students process and understand assessment data and translate it into learning 

• Any single assessment point is flawed – Multiple different assessment methods will be used longitudinally to generate multiple data points about each student.  
  • All assessments will be connected to the Trek outcomes/milestones 
• The multitude of assessment data necessitates a means of displaying and visualizing data – Dashfolio 
  • Data must be granular enough to actually support learner growth (just exam scores is not enough)  
• Work-place based assessment, particularly direct observation is crucial in medical education 
  • Criterion referenced over norm referenced scales 
  • Qualitative data is just as important as quantitative  

The outcomes chosen for the Trek curriculum composed of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) and competencies organized into the core competency domains of the ACGME.  The 13 Core EPA’s for Entering residency drafted by the AAMC are included (CEPAER).  However, rather than creating the cross walk with competencies we opted to simplify things and include additional outcomes that we believe are important at CUSOM and that we want to assess in and of themselves.  By highlighting these areas as outcomes, we hope that it will increase the emphasis on developing those specific skills even though many of them are necessary for entrustment of the core EPA’s.   

The milestones for the Trek curriculum are based on the premise that assessment is about making a claim/judgement about a learner.  Therefore, the milestones represent claims that we want to make about a student’s ability at a specific transition point when the student will obtain increased responsibility.  This model echoes the core EPA language of thinking about what a day 1 resident should be able to do without supervision.  The two key transitions that we have identified are the transition to the core clinical year (Foothills) and the transition to the advanced course work including acting internships (Alpine).