Valid assessments will be driven by learning goals at the learner, course, and curriculum levels. Assessments should be appropriately rigorous and based on established standards for performance. Furthermore, consistency in assessment methods within and between courses facilitates student integration of material and is thus recommended wherever possible.  Support for remediation will be included at all levels where possible, and aligns with both competency-based design and cultivation of professional dispositions.

Assessment at any level should be designed around learning goal appropriate Criteria, and support competency development by working within framework such as EPAs and Milestones.

Learner Level Assessment

The assessment strategy at this level gauges individual student competence with core and specific content.  It should include three types of assessment and assess three aspects of these competencies. Achievement of appropriate professional dispositions must also be considered at the level of the individual.

Types of Assessment

– Formative assessments:  Regular, individually low grade-point value, measures of skill / comprehension that inform student and teacher choices for further study and instruction.  These assessments are less formal and help to monitor student progress to prevent large learning gaps only to be discovered at a major exam.  These checkpoints allow for corrective measures to be taken if content is misunderstood or not fully learned.

– Summative assessments: Semi-regular, mid grade-point value, measures of skill / comprehension achievement within a course.  These assessments are formal in nature and are used to measure student success compared to a standard goal or benchmark (i.e. do they pass).

Course Level Assessment

The assessment strategy at this level gauges the effectiveness of a given course in meeting its learning goals.  Assessments should be performed by the CCCE or a similar organization of faculty peers, and review multiple sources of evidence, including aggregated learner-level assessment results.

Curriculum Level Assessment

Assessment strategy at this level gauges the effectiveness of the combined courses within a given year in meeting the learning goals of that year, as well as the ability of each curricular year to prepare students for the next.  It is at this level of assessment that we consider the shifting needs of the profession and recommend appropriate changes to the learning goals of the curriculum.  These changes will require systematic adjustment of learning goals for curricular years and the courses within them