The progress test as a structuring initiative for programmatic assessment.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Programmatic Assessment
• Student Evaluation

Background:

• The Progress Test is a standardized, regular assessment for all medical undergraduate students.
• It was implemented across a consortium of schools to integrate assessment into teaching.
• This study reports on four serial applications of the Progress Test and its feedback system.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the outcomes of serial Progress Test applications in medical undergraduate education.
• To assess the impact of the Progress Test on student engagement and feedback mechanisms.
• To explore the utility of the Progress Test in establishing an institutional programmatic assessment.

Main Methods:

• The assessment utilized 120 online items, authored and reviewed by faculty experts.
• Item classification followed National Board of Medical Examiners topics and national health system specialties.
• Item Response Theory, analyzed via the Rasch model, was employed for scoring, accounting for item difficulty.

Main Results:

• Student participation and enrollment in the Progress Test increased across the four test administrations.
• Median scores generally improved between sequential years of education (2nd-1st, 4th-3rd, 5th-4th) from the second test onwards.
• While overall median performance showed a consistent increase, fluctuations were observed between intervals, with the final year showing limited improvement.

Conclusions:

• The Progress Test successfully fostered regular feedback loops among students, faculty, and coordinators.
• It facilitated student and institutional engagement necessary for building a comprehensive programmatic assessment framework.
• The findings support the Progress Test as a valuable tool for structuring and integrating assessment within medical curricula.