Justifying Core Faculty Assessment of Students’ Clinical Performance Using Cognitive Flexibility Theory: A Case Example

Allied health practitioners who are also educators understand their dual responsibility to educate students and to serve as gatekeepers to their profession. They are challenged with selecting and preparing students to practice in a skilled, competent manner. During the formal educational process, the academic and clinical aspects of allied health education are equally important. However, the assessment of the students' clinical skills is usually left to clinical instructors who are not members of the core faculty, and whose clinical skills and expectations may vary widely. While not minimizing the role of clinical faculty in the education of health care professionals, an argument can be made for the increased involvement of core faculty in this process. To accomplish that objective, the Howard University physical therapy faculty developed and implemented a course module with core-faculty assessment of students' clinical performance as its foundation. That course module was an effective educational tool, which may have wider implications and applications in the education of allied health students.