ABSTRACT
Progress Testing has been applied in Brazil for more than ten years. It is a tool for longitudinal evaluation of students’ knowledge across levels of training. The test situates the student in his evolutionary teaching-learning process and allows the institution to diagnose its deficiencies throughout the curricular structure. It can be used to evaluate curricular changes and specific assessments of disciplines or teaching modules. From the experience of a consortium of schools, the Brazilian Association of Medical Education (ABEM) proposed a project that aimed to encourage schools throughout the country to adopt Progress Testing as one of its evaluation tools. We report on the strategy adopted to establish interinstitutional evaluation nuclei with Progress Testing, as well as the results of the first national exam, administered by 58 schools to 23,065 students. The implantation of cross-institutional Progress Testing triggered collaborative processes among the schools involved. Schools have begun a collaborative process not only for the Progress Testing, but also for the exchange of information. The project served as the beginning of a movement for medical schools in all regions of the country to adopt Progress Testing as an assessment tool with the potential to reorient medical training by providing information regarding institutional and individual performances.
ProgressTesting; Assessment of Learning; Student Evaluation; Medical Schools
