Department Overview
Testing and Evaluation Services supports student and curricular assessment needs using innovative tools that effectively measure student knowledge and give students a voice to enhance the quality of their education. To navigate the rest of the report, please use the links below.
Signature Programs and Services
TES collaborates with academic program faculty members to design assessment delivery methods that best support the needs of their courses and curriculum. This includes using innovative tools and assessment methodology to support the latest analytical approaches.
The testing and evaluation team manages the entire assessment delivery process t o allow faculty to focus on their other responsibilities. The team creates high-stakes assessments, communicates details to students and provides exam-related technical support in a comfortable and secure testing environment. The y also score the assessments, provide statistical summary reports and work with faculty to conduct rescores.
Staff manages item banks for academic programs, including creating and/or importing exam items and reviewing items for consistent wording, format and punctuation, according to each academic program’s guidelines. The team updates items as needed based on a program’s details and manages historical performance statistics for all items in the bank.
TES creates specialized student performance reports that correlate faculty teaching and student success while guiding students’ studies and their preparation for future assessments. The team’s longitudinal student assessment reports show category-based performance over an extended period to help students identify areas of strength and weakness, and also possible gaps in curriculum delivery.
Team members administer the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Achievement Test at the end of each TCOM core clerkship rotation to assess student performance in each clinical subject. Staff also administers PA PASSDAY end-of rotation exams to support the PA program’s assessment of clinical knowledge, and coordinates these exams at HSC, as well as multiple remote sites in Texas and ad-hoc sites around the country.
The team collaborates with each academic program to design effective course and faculty evaluations. Staff members compile and review these items and deliver the evaluations to all students at the end of each course. Evaluation results are reported to faculty and key stakeholders. TES also provides faculty evaluation data for promotion and tenure purposes.
TES ensures that each student’s unique accommodation needs are supported in an exam delivery platform and the general assessment environment as specified by the ODA accommodation letter .
Office Highlights
Collaborative Initiative
TCOM Medical Practice – Clinical Communication Partnership Clinical Communication implemented performance assessments in ExamSoft. This provides students with performance reports and grader comments on key elements of clinical encounters, including humanistic aspects of the patient-physician relationship. This also provides detailed data to track progress across the term and analyses to ensure consistency across graders (reliability).
New Initiative
Menstrual Products Availability for High-Stakes Assessments
In fall 2021, students inquired about access to menstrual products during high-stakes exams. The restrooms on campus did not provide menstrual products. The TES team identified a way to meet this need and support students. The team successfully launched this practice in March 2022 and is currently providing menstrual products to students during high-stakes assessments proctored by the TES team. This alleviates one potential stressor for students during an already potential stressful time.
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