Development of a Clinical Performance Assessment Tool for an Occupational Therapy Teaching Clinic

Health professional education is experiencing increased accountability from higher education and professional accrediting bodies to produce professionals who are prepared to meet the demands of the complex, fast-paced, ever changing health-care environment. Using competency-based assessment methods to evaluate a student’s performance can assist to decrease the gap between education and practice and ease the critical transition from the classroom to the clinic. A variety of assessment methods that use a Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) framework to assess student performance and competency can be found throughout the health professions literature. Because of the lack of literature about the assessment of student performance in occupational therapy education, and because of the inability to find an appropriate assessment tool for the on-site teaching clinics in the author’s program, the author developed a new assessment tool to measure student competency and performance in the clinical education setting. This paper discusses each phase of development; the professional literature used; and the reasoning for domain, item, and scoring selection. The final assessment includes a 5-point rating scale to score 42 items in six domains in order to assess student performance and competency during an occupational therapy teaching clinical education experience

Identifying Instructional Methods for Development of Clinical Reasoning in Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Education: A Mixed Methods Design

Occupational therapy education must teach using contemporary and evidence-based practices that yield graduates with clinical reasoning skills to successfully practice in dynamic and challenging environments. Researchers used a mixed-methods research design to identify the most frequently used and valued instructional methods for developing clinical reasoning with entry-level occupational therapy students. Researchers recruited full-time educators teaching in entry-level occupational therapy programs throughout the United States. Ninety-two occupational therapy educators completed the survey for the quantitative portion of the study. Subsequently, six occupational therapy educators participated in an interview for the qualitative portion of the study. Participants most frequently used laboratory experiences and least frequently used rotating chair discussion for developing clinical reasoning. Participants perceived experiential learning as the most valuable and rotating chair discussion as the least valuable instructional method for developing clinical reasoning. The three themes of the educator, the student, and the environment emerged from the qualitative data. Outcomes suggest occupational therapy educators must embrace the role of facilitator and continue to explore a variety of effective instructional methods. In order to achieve this role, occupational therapy educators need to engage in personal and professional development. Researchers provide additional strategies for developing the clinical reasoning skills required for successful occupational therapy practice

Letter from Mary Henderson Eskildson Whitney, Brooklyn, New York, to Anne Whitney, Belmont, Massachusetts, 1894 October 1

https://repository.wellesley.edu/whitney_correspondence/2428/thumbnail.jp

Letter from Mary Henderson Eskildson Whitney, Brooklyn, New York, to Sarah Whitney, Belmont, Massachusetts, 1900 June 30

https://repository.wellesley.edu/whitney_correspondence/2429/thumbnail.jp

Letter from Mary Henderson Eskildson Whitney, Brooklyn, New York, to Anne Whitney, Boston, Massachusetts, 1906 May 23

https://repository.wellesley.edu/whitney_correspondence/2430/thumbnail.jp

Using Integrated Data to Understand Early Childhood Risks and Access to Quality Early Childhood Education

These slides were presented at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San Antonio, Texas. The session was titled Data-Driven Decision Making: Not the Usual Contexts.https://repository.upenn.edu/pennchild_presentations/1000/thumbnail.jp

The Use of Integrated Data to Inform Quality Pre-K Expansion in Philadelphia

This research brief describes how integrated administrative data from the City of Philadelphia\u27s CARES data system were used to inform the expansion of pre-k services in the City of Philadelphia. It provides a model for other states and municipalities seeking to use integrated data to inform policy-making, particularly for young children and their families.https://repository.upenn.edu/pennchild_briefs/1000/thumbnail.jp

Problems in Classroom Engagement: Validation of an Assessment for District-wide use in the Early Primary Grades

Research Findings: The aim of this study was to provide an initial investigation into the psychometric properties of the Problems in Classroom Engagement Scale (PCES). The PCES was designed and tested for district-wide use as part of the report card system for a large urban school district. The PCES was administered to all first, second, and third grade students in the district. Factor analytic examination revealed a bifactor structure as the best fit to the data. The bifactor structure reflected a general factor of Problems in Behavioral Engagement and two key group factors: Problems in Social Engagement and Problems in Academic Engagement. These factors were found to be reliable within and across grades and demonstrated convergent and divergent relations with academic and behavioral outcomes. Practice or Policy: Findings provide initial evidence to support the routine use of PCES in a large, urban setting. As such, use of the PCES can help in fostering district-wide attention to students’ early behavioral, social, and academic engagement difficulties

Student Involvement in Flipped Classroom Course Design

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine changes in content knowledge, clinical reasoning, and metacognition with occupational therapy students involved in course design (collaborative participants), with participants engaged in flipped classroom model only (course participants), and to compare results between the collaborative and course participants. Forty-three occupational therapy students participated in this study. Researchers administered three pre- and post-test questionnaires and completed three focus groups. Results demonstrated both groups experienced growth in active learning and clinical reasoning and changed their perception of student involvement. The collaborative participants demonstrated additional benefits of development of relationships, increased accountability, and improved metacognitive learning