American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2015; 79 (7) Article 94.
VIEWPOINT
Golden Age of Assessment in Pharmacy Education
Lauren Schlesselman, PharmD, Margarita DiVall, PharmD
University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, Storrs, Connecticut
Nearly 10 years ago, during a meeting to establish During the 2015 AACP House of Delegates, the need for
university-wide quantitative learning outcomes and as- stronger assessments and links between licensure and as-
sessment measures, a physics faculty member assured sessment were emphasized through the resolution that
the other committee members that, “If we just drag this AACP lead collaborative efforts to produce evidence-
out long enough it won’t matter anymore (because) this based assessments mapped to current CAPE Outcomes.4
assessment stuff is going away.” In pharmacy education, While some perceive that assessment efforts are en-
“this assessment stuff” is definitely not going away. In tirely driven by accreditation, the overall trend toward
fact, pharmacy assessment has reached its golden age. accountability in higher education, particularly in the
Although for some this golden age may appear to be health professions, has influenced the revision of the
driven by the Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy ACPE Standards in 2007 and in 2016, which involves
Education (CAPE) 2013 Outcomes1 and Accreditation the members of the academy and other stakeholders.
Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) 2016 Stan- These revisions highlight the importance of continuous
dards,2 the inverse is true, as this assessment prosperity quality improvement, engagement of all stakeholders,
has been growing and building within the academy over and the transparency and availability of assessment data.
the past decade. Just over 5 years ago, the American As- Although this is a time of prosperity for assessment,
sociation of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) established we are far from our pinnacle. What else needs to be done?
the Assessment Special Interest Group (SIG) with the First and foremost, despite having only one person
goal of facilitating faculty exchange of ideas and innova- assigned to assessment at most institutions, it is not
tions regarding curricular and programmatic assessment a one-person job. Along with ensuring sufficient admin-
planning and implementation and outcome management. istrative and staff support, schools need to develop cul-
In that short time, the SIG has grown to the third largest in tures of assessment in which all faculty members
AACP. Recognizing that most schools and colleges only appreciate their role in curricular and programmatic
have one designated assessment person, this growth assessment.
shows that AACP members whose primary responsibility Deans and administrators need to provide leadership
is not assessment recognize the need to increase their own in assessment to engage faculty members, staff, students,
assessment knowledge and skills. and stakeholders. Beyond support of an assessment cul-
As another means to increase assessment knowledge ture, part of this leadership requires administrators to en-
and skills, academy members are increasingly attending the courage faculty members to validate their assessment
annual AACP institutes. As far back as the 2007 Assess- instruments to ensure the tools assess what they claim to
ment Institute at Lansdowne, Virginia, and Snowbird, Utah, measure. This leadership also requires that measures be-
institutes have included assessment components regardless yond student perceptions be used to evaluate achievement
of the primary topic. In 2015, AACP Annual Meeting pro- of learning outcomes.
gramming included 20 distinct sessions and mini-sessions Collaboration among similar schools also will serve
on assessment topics, doubling from 2009 and representing to advance assessment. Many schools have formed con-
a quarter of all educational sessions at the meeting.3 sortiums or other collaborative groups, which advance
Educational programming is not the only area in knowledge among members, establish and share practices
which assessment’s golden age is noted; governance for meaningful data collection and use, validate assess-
and initiatives are aiming to establish stronger quality ment tools, and advance scholarly pursuits.
assurance measures through validated tools. The associ- Not only is “this assessment stuff” not going away, it
ation has worked with its membership to develop and is here to stay and flourish. The academy has embraced the
launch curriculum quality surveys that provide national culture of continuous quality improvement and account-
and peer school benchmarks in perceptions of student, ability to prepare our graduates for entry into practice and
faculty, alumni, and preceptors to all member institutions. provision of patient-centered care as members of a health
1
American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2015; 79 (7) Article 94.
care team. Now is the time to join the assessment efforts as leading to the Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Available at https://www.
we move onward and upward during this time of assess- acpe-accredit.org/pdf/Standards2016FINAL.pdf. Accessed July 20,
2015
ment prosperity. Don’t get left behind.
3. AACP & AFPC Annual Meeting Program Guide. Available at
REFERENCES http://www.aacp.org/meetingsandevents/AM/Pages/default.aspx.
1. Medina M, Plaza C, Stowe C, et al. Center for the Advancement of Accessed July 20, 2015
Pharmacy Education (CAPE) Educational Outcomes 2013. Am J 4. AACP Board Resolution on Assessment. Available at http://www.
Pharm Educ. 2013;77(8):Article 162 aacp.org/governance/HOD/Documents/Background%20document%
2. Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. 2016 Accreditation 20for%20Board%20Resolution_April2015.pdf. Accessed July 20,
standards and key elements for the professional program in pharmacy 2015
