Friday SLO Talk – Connecting Programmatic Learning Objectives with Practice: Insights from an Analysis of Workforce-Based Assessments

In this Friday SLO Talk, John Moore and Phil Reeves from the National Board of Medical Examiners examine how medical schools assess student performance during real clinical work. Drawing on a multi-institutional study of workplace-based assessments, they analyze millions of evaluation records to explore how clinical competencies are measured in practice. Their findings raise important questions about how assessment systems can more effectively capture meaningful evidence of student performance.

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How can institutions demonstrate that program learning outcomes are actually reflected in the abilities students develop in professional settings? In this Friday SLO Talk, John Moore and Phil Reeves from the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) explore how large-scale analysis of workplace-based assessments can help bridge the gap between written learning objectives and observable performance.

Medical education offers a useful model for understanding how assessment can be closely tied to professional practice. Instead of relying primarily on exams or course grades, many medical schools use workplace-based assessments in which supervising physicians observe students during real clinical activities. These observations document how learners perform essential tasks such as communicating with patients, collaborating with healthcare teams, and making clinical decisions.

Moore and Reeves present findings from an analysis of millions of workplace-based assessment records collected across multiple institutions. By examining this large dataset, their research highlights patterns in how students develop competencies over time and how programs evaluate readiness for professional practice. The findings demonstrate how structured observations in authentic settings can generate meaningful evidence of skill development.

A key theme of the presentation is the idea of programmatic assessment. Rather than relying on a single exam or isolated evaluation, programmatic assessment gathers multiple observations across different contexts, supervisors, and time periods. This approach allows programs to build a richer and more reliable picture of student performance.

For educators working outside of medical education, the implications are significant. Many programs struggle to connect program learning outcomes with concrete evidence of student capability. Workplace-based assessments illustrate how institutions can move beyond abstract outcome statements toward documented demonstrations of competence in real environments.

This session offers valuable insights for faculty, assessment coordinators, and institutional leaders interested in strengthening the connection between learning outcomes, assessment practices, and professional performance. By examining how workplace-based assessments function in medical education, the presenters highlight strategies that can inform more meaningful approaches to assessing student learning across disciplines.