Abstract:
Objectives. Our program adopted an abilities-based curriculum and established 12 terminal educational
ability-based outcomes. We developed performance-based assessments to measure students’ ability
to accomplish the program’s outcomes.
Methods. Faculty teams defined expected outcomes and tasks for each of the 12 ability-based outcomes
for the P1 and P2 years in the curriculum. These expected outcomes and tasks then became the
basis for cases used in designing the performance-based assessments. Faculty members drafted 12
cases for each year and the corresponding performance criteria used in grading. All cases were validated
by a national review panel. The cases were then converted into computer-based simulations for
programmatic assessment at the end of the 2003 school year. All P1 and P2 students participated in the
assessments. Two faculty members graded all cases. The interrater reliability between the 2 graders and
the internal consistency of the assessment were measured.
Results. The overall interrater reliabilities for the P1 and P2 years were 0.94 and 0.91, respectively. The
overall internal consistency reliabilities for the P1 and P2 years were 0.86 and 0.80, respectively.
Conclusions. Performance-based assessments produce reliable data that can be used to evaluate an
abilities-based curriculum.
