Innovative Assessment of Trainee Competencies: Looking Forward

1. Innovative Assessment of Trainee Competencies: Looking Forward Catherine L Grus, PhD Deputy Executive Director APA Education Directorate

2. A Shift in Education and Training • Interest in a competency-based approach to education and training at a national level and across the health professions has flourished • Health service psychology has embraced this shift toward an emphasis on the acquisition and maintenance of competence • Criterion-based conceptualization and assessment of learning outcomes

3. Stakeholders Fostering the Shift • Educational programs are expected to produce competence • Programs are accredited based in part on program outcomes and training in key competency domains • Professional credentialing bodies are expected to certify individuals as competent • Consumers demand it • Public accountability is a fundamental value of a profession

4. Shifts in Assessment Past Less fidelity(degree to which assessment represents actual performance) Less patient input Summative assessments more common Focus on trainee performance CE = competence Future Authentic assessments Patient involvement Systematic use of formative assessment Use of assessment data for quality improvement Maintenance of competence

5. Six Promising Practices in the Assessment of Competence

6. Promising Practices in the Assessment of Competence • 1. Routine use of formative assessments • Fosters learning • Infuse into the education and training experience • Offer clear and behaviorally based feedback • Be timely • Provide on an ongoing basis

7. Promising Practices in the Assessment of Competence 2. Expand the types of methods used: competence evaluation rating form or …..

8. Promising Practices in the Assessment of Competence 3. Use of performance-based methods • Authentic evaluations: real world tasks, [high] fidelity • Standardized patients, Objective Structured Clinical Examination [OSCE], Simulations, Vignettes • Feasibility?

9. Promising Practices in the Assessment of Competence 4. Employ a range of perspectives: (multi-informant) “360” • Peer assessment • Self-assessment • Supervisor assessment • Patient/client

10. Promising Practices in the Assessment of Competence 5. Employ a range of methods • Direct observation • Portfolio of clinical and\or research work • Simulations • Competency Evaluation Rating Form

11. Promising Practices in the Assessment of Competence 6. Develop life long self-assessment skills • To guide goals for learning and development of action steps • Training is necessary as the least accurate self-assessments are those of professionals who are least skilled and/or most confident (Davis et al., 2006)

12. Is the Shift Here to Stay? • Focus on accountability in the U.S. • Recommendations from the ASPPB Competency Assessment Task Force • Proposed CoA Standards for Accreditation • Resource: Kaslow, N.J., Grus, C.L., Campbell, L.F., Fouad, N.A., Hatcher, R.L., Rodolfa, E.R. (2009). Competency assessment toolkit for professional psychology. Training and Education in Professional Psychology. Vol 3(4, Suppl), Nov 2009, S27-S45. doi: 10.1037/a0015833

13. Thank you Email: cgrus@apa.org