STUDENT ASSESSMENT

This chapter looks at changes in assessing medical students implemente d 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 increment ally, others making large, cross-departmental changes. Each school's s upport for or constraints to change influenced its approach in assessm ent. The authors describe the ways in which students were assessed wit hin their courses and clerkships. They look at specific forms of asses sment, such as self-assessment, feed-back, and standardized-patient as sessment. For most of the schools, changes in student assessment were controlled by course or clerkship directors and managed by faculty. Of ten, changes in assessment came after changes in curriculum. Changes w ere easier to make in the first two years of medical school than in th e clinical years. The authors also discuss the integration of assessme nt 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' ass essment experiences and the lessons learned.