Student assessment

This chapter looks at changes in assessing medical students implemented by the eight schools participating in The Robert Wood Foundation's "Preparing Physicians for the Future: Program in Medical Education." The eight schools took a variety of approaches, some working incrementally, others making large, cross-departmental changes. Each school's support for or constraints to change influenced its approach in assessment. The authors describe the ways in which students were assessed within their courses and clerkships. They look at specific forms of assessment, such as self-assessment, feedback, and standardized-patient assessment. For most of the schools, changes in student assessment were controlled by course or clerkship directors and managed by faculty. Often, changes in assessment came after changes in curriculum. Changes were easier to make in the first two years of medical school than in the clinical years. The authors also discuss the integration of assessment within the curriculum, comprehensive performance-based assessments, and situations where change in assessment did not occur. They discuss the politics of change, and offer a summary of the eight schools' assessment experiences and the lessons learned.