PCOA Administration Continues to Demonstrate Students' Progression of Knowledge through Program Years

July 12, 2011 4:20 PM

Originally published in the June-July 2011 NABP Newsletter

After four annual administrations, the Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment^® (PCOA^®) continues to display consistent data representing the progression of pharmacy students’ knowledge of pharmacy curriculum during the professional years. Measurement of students’ pharmacy knowledge as they advance through these years is evidenced in the overall data and trends gathered from the four consecutive PCOA administrations.

Each administration supported an expected outcome of improved performance as measured by comparative studies between program years. Among repeat test takers, the changes in individual total scaled scores continues to show a significant increase averaging 26 points between consecutive years and averaging 41 points across three administration years.

Overall, the results and trends garnered over the four years directly parallel the mission of the PCOA as an objective uniform tool for assisting schools and colleges of pharmacy with curriculum review and student performance assessment. NABP and key stakeholders originally developed the assessment in response to the need expressed by some of the United States schools and colleges of pharmacy, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, and the US Department of Education for assistance with assessing curriculum and measurement of student performance and growth.

Schools and colleges of pharmacy may customize which program year(s) the PCOA is administered to, giving the schools more control of the type of data they obtain from the assessment. Some schools choose to have students take the PCOA all four years, while other schools find it more beneficial to administer the assessment to students only once during their years at the school. Still others choose the option of administering the PCOA to program year 1 and 3 students, or some other multiyear combination.

More than 10,000 students from 40 schools and colleges of pharmacy, representing nearly one-third of the schools and colleges of pharmacy in the US, have participated in the PCOA since it was first administered in April 2008. Each school is provided score reports with information on student performance. In addition, these reports allow the schools and colleges to track individual scores from year to year and document advancement and progression over time in their program. Along with providing a comparison to national samples, the assessment imparts score data that may be used by the schools and colleges of pharmacy in research and correlational studies with existing assessment results such as Pharmacy College Admission Test scores, academic proficiency, and future North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination^® scores. Additional information on the PCOA is available on the NABP Web site.

Information about the 2012 PCOA administration will be sent to schools and colleges of pharmacy in August.