| Let’s
Discuss Your Assessment Strategy (What’s That? You Don’t
Have One?)
by Steven B. Just
Recently I co-presented with Greg Sapnar, Associate
Director of Metrics and Adaptation at Bristol-Myers Squibb,
at the 2007 Society of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers
(SPBT) Conference. We had the benefit of an audience response
system in the room so we polled the audience on a few topics:
- 73% answered yes to the
question “Do you have
positive or negative consequences related to test results?”
- 59% answered yes to
the question “Do you certify your representatives
on their required job knowledge?”
- 56% answered no and
11% answered unsure to the question “Do you have a
formal system of remediation for students who fail a test?”
- 61% answered no to the
question “Do you retest knowledge periodically?”
- Everyone in the room
had a fixed passing test score for all their tests (the
average was around 83%)
- 17% “had no clue”
how passing scores were set
Admittedly, this was a small, non-scientific
survey but these results are unfortunately typical of what
I find when I speak on assessment topics. I say “unfortunately”
because these results are symptomatic of a serious underlying
problem: Trainers test, but they don’t have a broader
assessment strategy within which they do their testing. And,
when testing is “high stakes” (i.e. testing with
consequences) -- as it has become in many corporations --
the company is opening itself up to potential legal consequences
if it does not have a documented process.
In a series of articles over the next few weeks
we will be discussing how to set up an assessment strategy,
what its elements are and how to ensure that test results
are valid and defensible. You will understand why it’s
a problem when:
- 73% of respondents have
consequences related to test results but only 33% have a
formal system of remediation
- 59% of respondents
certify their sales representatives but 100% of respondents
do not have a scientific process for determining threshold
levels of knowledge
- 100% of respondents
had the same passing score for every test they administered
- 17% percent of respondents
had “no clue” how passing scores were set
- 61% of respondents assume
that knowledge acquisition is “permanent”
(Next time: What
Are the Elements of an Assessment Strategy?)
|
