A 10-Year Retrospective Case Study of the Relation between Four Summative Assessment Measures in a Graduate SpeechLanguage Pathology Program

Assessment is essential to ensure that quality levels of teaching and learning are maintained in graduate programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD). In this article, we present a ten-year retrospective case study of one CSD master’s program approach to address speech-language pathology program-level summative assessment. We evaluated the strength of the relation between three departmental summative measures (i.e., Grand Rounds [Capstone Course] final grade percentages, Written Comprehensive examinations, Oral Comprehensive examinations) and the national Praxis Examination in Speech-Language Pathology (5331). The strongest correlations were between the Grand Rounds final grade percentages, Written Comprehensive examinations, and the Praxis. The weakest correlations were between the Oral Comprehensive examinations and the other examination types. The study findings demonstrate the concurrent validity of Grand Rounds final grade percentages, Written Comprehensive examinations, and the Praxis. Capstone courses should be considered for their benefit in Praxis preparation, whereas oral comprehensive examinations may better serve as formative rather than summative assessment.