The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #68863

Mary Beth Love, PhD¹, Sharon Turner, MPH², and Amanda Goldberg, MPH candidate¹. (1) Health Education, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Ave, HSS 326, San Francisco, CA 94132, (415) 338-2708, love@sfsu.edu, (2) Master's in Public Health, Community Health Education, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, HHS 319, San Francisco, CA 94132-4161

Increasingly the measurement of student achievement in public health professional preparation must focus centrally on goals for students learning not just on the curriculum/course content offered and/or the number of credits students earned. This requires moving away from assessment of students’ performance in individual courses to assessment of students’ ability to integrate the many parts of their education. Student assessment needs to focus on the students’ possession of the intellectual, practical and evaluative judgment and sense of responsibility that should result from earning a degree in public health. A number of innovative assessment strategies to get at this lofty goal will by discuss in this session. To graduate from the MPH at San Francisco State University students must build a culminating portfolio that demonstrates their mastery of the SOPHE/AAHE competencies for public health educators. In addition, they must also demonstrate multicultural competency and develop a professional mission statement. Additionally, pre/post surveys are used to measure students perception of the change in level of mastery for the public health competencies from program entry to graduation. Finally, community adjunct faculty and students participate in an innovative “collaboratory” experience using electronic focus groups where community practitioners assess the skills and competencies of our students in the traditional core competencies (assessment, planning, and evaluation) and students assess their skill development in the area of leadership, teamwork and multicultural competence.

Learning Objectives:

• By the end of the session participants will be able to:
• 1. Identify at least two innovative ways to validate student learning outcomes;
• 2. Understand the use of the public health competencies to structure student assessment.

Related Web page: www.sfsu.edu/~hed

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: San Francisco State University
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.