Background & Objective : Assessing students’ grades in their courses and in national comprehensive exams may help us in the assessment of educational status of different departments indirectly. In this study, the internal consistency of medical students’ scores in Kerman University of Medical Sciences was assessed.
Methods : In a historical cohort study, students’ grades and other information for entrance years between 1995 and 2003 were extracted from the central admission office and 10 indicators for educational achievement were defined for each student. Having used Cronbach's alpha and linear regression, we checked the internal consistency of scores. Also, we used factorial analysis and related graphs (Dendrogram) to evaluate the consistency between factors of students’ educational achievement.
Results : Females were more successful in all series of students except for national comprehensive exams. Although internal consistency in males’ scores was more than females’, males’ scores in specific courses of basic sciences were more related to the scores of their basic sciences comprehensive exams. In addition, internal consistency in males’ scores was more than females’ especially in clinical courses. Higher age at entering university could cause a decrease in educational success. Students’ grades in various courses had slight consistency with national comprehensive exams. Moreover, the internal consistency of scores during clerkship and internship were significantly lower than the other phases.
Conclusion : Lower consistency of scores in clinical courses may imply lower validity of these scores. Unlike higher educational success in females, it seems that stability in males’ scores was greater in most indicators.
Keywords: Educational achievement, Internal consistency, Educational success evaluation, Medical student of Kerman University of Medical Sciences
