Abstract
Monitoring the quality of complicated and dynamic curriculums like those found in most health science schools is a timeconsuming and arduous task. It would be helpful to have a mechanism to monitor various aspects of the curriculum. This article describes a procedure derivedfrom classical test theory for analyzing course grades and reports the results of its use to assess third year clerkships at a large Midwestern medical school. Comparisons of the results from these three classes of students with those obtained by a thorough review of the third-year courses by the medical curriculum committee, found the experimentalprocedure to be sensitive to a large range of characteristics and changes in the courses. It was concluded that, with proper care exercised, the procedure showedpromise as asupplement to student course evaluations as a means of identifying courses in need of assistance and/or evaluating the effects of curriculum change.
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