Programmatic Curricular Outcomes Assessment at Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy in the United States and Puerto Rico

Abstract

Objectives. To categorize the manner in which programmatic curricular outcomes assessment is accomplished, identify the types of assessment methodologies used, and identify the persons or groups responsible for assessment. Methods. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to 89 institutions throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. Results. Sixty-eight of 89 surveys (76%) were returned. Forty-one respondents (60%) had a written and approved plan for programmatic curricular outcomes assessment, 18% assessed the entire curriculum, and 57% had partial activities in place. Various standardized and institution-specific assessment instruments were employed. Institutions differed as to whether an individual or a committee had overall responsibility for assessment. Conclusion. To move the assessment process forward, each college and school should identify a person or group to lead the effort. Additional validated assessment instruments might aid programmatic assessment. Future studies should identify the reasons for selecting certain assessment instruments and should attempt to identify the most useful ones.

The Role of Curriculum Committees in Pharmacy Education

“…Kirschenbaum and colleagues found that curriculum committees often had the greatest or second greatest responsibility for conducting assessments, particularly for curriculum maps, review of course materials, and comparisons of outcomes against benchmarks or ACPE standards. 7 The structure of the committees is relatively similar between colleges and schools established prior to and after 1994 in that faculty members comprise the majority of the committees. Schools appear to recruit committee members from available faculty, administration, and student pools, although almost 1 in 3 schools (28%) had no student vote on the committee either because there were no student members or the student members were not given voting privileges.…”

National Trends in the Adoption of Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment for Student Assessment and Remediation

“…9 More recently, Vyas and colleagues determined in 2014 that 50% of S/COPs (52 of 105) had a cumulative assessment program, many of which incorporated use of cumulative exams with about 20% specifically using PCOA. 7 Relatively few responding programs in our study (less than 20%) reported assigning medium or high stakes to individual P3 student performance on the PCOA.…”

“…Similarly, Kirschbaum and colleagues reported that 20% of programs used a high-stakes year-end examination. 9 A 2014 survey related to PCOA use showed that only 6% of respondents were using as high-stakes. 5 Taken collectively, these studies and the volume of literature on student summative evaluations in pharmacy education suggest that some programs are using the PCOA as part of a comprehensive student evaluation process and others may be using it in place of previously developed, school specific year-end examinations for progressions.…”

Use of Reflective Portfolios in Health Sciences Education

“…[20][21][22] In a descriptive study examining programmatic curricular outcomes assessment at schools and colleges of pharmacy in the United States and Puerto Rico, Kirschenbaum, Brown, and Kalis reported that 27 of 68 institutions indicated that they used student portfolios as 1 component of the curricular assessment process. 23 They noted that the literature on the use of student portfolios was scarce and that it was not possible to discern whether portfolios were being used for programmatic curricular outcomes assessment or if these portfolios were standards or competency based, or reflective in nature. The majority of the available literature on the use of student portfolios in pharmacy education exists as meeting poster abstracts, so it is not possible to get a complete picture of their use including whether they involved reflection.…”