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Designing and Implementing a Competency‐Based Formative Progress Assessment System at a Canadian Dental School
Author(s) -
Bergmann HsingChi,
Shuler Charles F.,
Yang Jinli,
Kohler David,
Reynolds Connie,
Best Leandra,
Black Nancy,
Richardson James,
Childs Ruth A.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1930-7837
pISSN - 0022-0337
DOI - 10.21815/jde.018.063
Subject(s) - formative assessment , test (biology) , curriculum , medical education , cognition , class (philosophy) , multiple choice , psychology , medicine , mathematics education , computer science , pedagogy , paleontology , significant difference , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , biology
Progress testing is an innovative formative assessment practice that has been found successful in many educational programs. In progress testing, one exam is given to students at regular intervals as they progress through a curriculum, allowing them to benchmark their increase in knowledge over time. The aim of this study was to assess the first two years of results of a progress testing system implemented in a Canadian dental school. This was the first time in North America a dental school had introduced progress testing. Each test form contains 200 multiple‐choice questions (MCQs) to assess the cognitive knowledge base that a competent dentist should have by the end of the program. All dental students are required to complete the test in three hours. In the first three administrations, three test forms with 86 common items were administered to all DMD students. The total of 383 MCQs spanning nine domains of cognitive knowledge in dentistry were distributed among these three test forms. Each student received a test form different from the previous one in the subsequent two semesters. In the fourth administration, 299 new questions were introduced to create two test forms sharing 101 questions. Each administration occurred at the beginning of a semester. All students received individualized reports comparing their performance with their class median in each of the domains. Aggregated results from each administration were provided to the faculty. Based on analysis of students’ responses to the common items in the first two administrations, progression in all domains was observed. Comparing equated results across the four administrations also showed progress. This experience suggests that introducing a progress testing assessment system for competency‐based dental education has many merits. Challenges and lessons learned with this assessment are discussed.