Validating workplace performance assessments in health sciences students: A case study from speech pathology

Valid assessment of" health science students" ability to perform in the real world of workplace practice is critical tor promoting. quality learning and ultimately certitvmg students as fit lo enter the world of professional practice, t tn rent pi act tee in performance assessment in the health sciences field has been hampered by multiple issues tegurdtng assessment content and piocc'ss J vidence lor the validity of scoies derived from assessment tools are usually evuluaied against traditional validity categories w ith reliability ev idence privileged over validity, resulting in the pamdu.vieal effect ol"compromising (he assessment validity and learning processes the assessments seek to pioiriote 1 uithei rnoie, the dominant statistical appioaehcs used to validate scores from these assessing tits lull under the umbrella o! eLc-steal test theon appitwches 1 his paper reports on the successful national development and validation ot measuies deli\ ed fiom an assessment ol Australian speech pathology students∗ pet Soi mance in the \v oik place Validation o! these measuies considered each of Messick's interrelated validity evidence call-got vs and included using ukiuc geneuued ihiuugh Rascti analyses to support score interpreta-tion and iclated action 1 his icseanJi demotisttated that it is possible to develop art assessment of real, complex, oik based pet loi manic of speei h pathoiojn students, [hut generates val td measures without compromising the leiu mug ptoccsscs the assessment seeks to promote lhe piocess descubed provides a model for other health piolession.il odui-at ion progtams to it Kit.