Differential Effects of Two Types of Formative Assessment in Predicting Performance of First-year Medical Students
- 1 May 2006
- journal article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Advances in Health Sciences Education
- Vol. 11 (2), 155-171
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-005-5290-9
Abstract
Formative assessments are systematically designed instructional interventions to assess and provide feedback on students' strengths and weaknesses in the course of teaching and learning. Despite their known benefits to student attitudes and learning, medical school curricula have been slow to integrate such assessments into the curriculum. This study investigates how performance on two different modes of formative assessment relate to each other and to performance on summative assessments in an integrated, medical-school environment. Two types of formative assessment were administered to 146 first-year medical students each week over 8 weeks: a timed, closed-book component to assess factual recall and image recognition, and an un-timed, open-book component to assess higher order reasoning including the ability to identify and access appropriate resources and to integrate and apply knowledge. Analogous summative assessments were administered in the ninth week. Models relating formative and summative assessment performance were tested using Structural Equation Modeling. Two latent variables underlying achievement on formative and summative assessments could be identified; a "formative-assessment factor" and a "summative-assessment factor," with the former predicting the latter. A latent variable underlying achievement on open-book formative assessments was highly predictive of achievement on both open- and closed-book summative assessments, whereas a latent variable underlying closed-book assessments only predicted performance on the closed-book summative assessment. Formative assessments can be used as effective predictive tools of summative performance in medical school. Open-book, un-timed assessments of higher order processes appeared to be better predictors of overall summative performance than closed-book, timed assessments of factual recall and image recognition.Keywords
This publication has 25 references indexed in Scilit:
- A self-directed summative examination in problem-based learning in dentistry: a new approachMedical Teacher, 2004
- Supporting student learning: the use of computer–based formative assessment modulesBritish Journal of Educational Technology, 2002
- Web-based self-assessments in pathology with Questionmark PerceptionPathology, 2002
- Trainers' evaluations of the West Midlands formative assessment package for GP registrar assessmentMedical Teacher, 2000
- Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternativesStructural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 1999
- Student assessmentAcademic Medicine, 1998
- Student perspectives on the role of formative assessment in physiologyMedical Teacher, 1996
- Comparison of “fact-recall” with “higher-order” questions in multiple-choice examinations as predictors of clinical performance of medical studentsAcademic Medicine, 1990
- THE COMPARATIVE EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE‐CHOICE VERSUS SHORT‐ANSWER TESTS ON RETENTIONJournal of Educational Measurement, 1980
- THE STABILITY OF TEACHER BEHAVIOUR IN CONDITIONS OF VARYING CLASS SIZEBritish Journal of Educational Psychology, 1970