title: Assessment of students' critical-thinking and problem-solving abilities across a 6-year doctor of pharmacy program.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the feasibility of using a validated set of assessment rubrics to assess students' critical-thinking and problem-solving abilities across a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum.
  
  
  METHODS
  Trained faculty assessors used validated rubrics to assess student work samples for critical-thinking and problem-solving abilities. Assessment scores were collected and analyzed to determine student achievement of these 2 ability outcomes across the curriculum. Feasibility of the process was evaluated in terms of time and resources used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred sixty-one samples were assessed for critical thinking, and 159 samples were assessed for problem-solving. Rubric scoring allowed assessors to evaluate four 5- to 7-page work samples per hour. The analysis indicated that overall critical-thinking scores improved over the curriculum. Although low yield for problem-solving samples precluded meaningful data analysis, it was informative for identifying potentially needed curricular improvements.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Use of assessment rubrics for program ability outcomes was deemed authentic and feasible. Problem-solving was identified as a curricular area that may need improving. This assessment method has great potential to inform continuous quality improvement of a PharmD program.
authors.affiliation: St. Louis College of Pharmacy, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Brenda L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Gleason
authors.forename: Claude J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Gaebelein
authors.forename: Gloria R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Grice
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Crannage
authors.forename: Margaret A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Weck
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hurd
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Duncan
mesh_terms: D004512:Education, Pharmacy; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D011340:Problem Solving; D013339:Students, Pharmacy; D013850:Thinking
keywords: VALUE rubrics; ability outcome assessment; critical thinking; problem solving; program assessment