Improving Summative Assessment Through a Resource-Efficient Faculty Review Process

Monzurul A Roni; Yerko Berrocal; Richard Tapping

doi:10.1007/s40670-022-01631-9

Improving Summative Assessment Through a Resource-Efficient Faculty Review Process

Med Sci Educ. 2022 Sep 13;32(5):979-983. doi: 10.1007/s40670-022-01631-9. eCollection 2022 Oct.

Authors

Monzurul A Roni¹, Yerko Berrocal¹, Richard Tapping¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Health Sciences Education and Pathology, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria, IL 61605 USA.

Abstract

Committee reviews improve the quality of multiple-choice question (MCQ) exams; however, such review processes are typically highly resource-intensive and time-consuming. We report a review process that requires limited faculty time and administrative resources. A small committee reviewed selected items (14-20%) of the final exams of six independent block courses taken by first- and second-year medical students. This process resulted in a significant increase in the item discrimination of reviewed questions in all exams. Our findings support the utility of a review process and may offer health profession educators a more practical and efficient approach for improving the quality of in-house MCQ exams.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-022-01631-9.

Keywords: Assessment; Item analysis; Medical education; Multiple-choice question; Review process.