What is the difference between milestones and evaluations? Why do so many struggle with this?

Let’s start by defining evaluation Evaluate | Definition of Evaluate by Merriam-Webster Simple Definition of evaluate. : to judge the value or condition of (someone or something) in a careful and thoughtful way. evaluate Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary evaluate definition, meaning, what is evaluate: to judge or calculate the quality, importance, amount, or value of something.

Formative vs Summative assessment as described by Formative assessment The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. More specifically, formative assessments: help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work help faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately Formative assessments are generally low stakes, which means that they have low or no point value. Examples of formative assessments include asking students to: draw a concept map in class to represent their understanding of a topic submit one or two sentences identifying the main point of a lecture turn in a research proposal for early feedback Summative assessment The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark. Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value. Examples of summative assessments include: a midterm exam a final project a paper a senior recital Information from summative assessments can be used formatively when students or faculty use it to guide their efforts and activities in subsequent courses.

How do your faculty like to be labelled? Testers? Educators? Evaluators? Learners? Assessors? All of the above?

So what is a milestone? What are Milestones? Simply defined, a milestone is a significant point in development. The Milestones are competency-based developmental outcomes (e.g., knowledge, skills, attitudes, and performance) that can be demonstrated progressively by residents and fellows from the beginning of their education through graduation to the unsupervised practice of their specialties. The Milestones are designed only for use in evaluation of resident physicians in the context of their participation in ACGME-accredited residency or fellowship programs. The Milestones provide a framework for the assessment of the development of the resident or fellow physician in key dimensions of the elements of physician competency in a specialty or subspecialty. They neither represent the entirety of the dimensions of the six domains of physician competency, nor are they designed to be relevant in any other context.

Why milestones? First and foremost, the Milestones are designed to help all residencies and fellowships produce highly competent physicians to meet the 21st century health and health care needs of the public. To this end, the following describes the purposes of the Milestones: For educational (residency/fellowship) programs, the Milestones will: Provide a rich descriptive, developmental framework for Clinical Competency Committees (CCCs) Guide curriculum development of the residency or fellowship Support better assessment practices Enhance opportunities for early identification of struggling residents/fellows For residents/fellows, the Milestones will: Provide more explicit and transparent expectations for performance Support better self-directed assessment and learning Facilitate better feedback for professional development For accreditation, the Milestones will: Allow for continuous monitoring of programs and lengthening of site visit cycles Enhance public accountability – report at a national level on aggregate competency outcomes by specialty Provide a community of practice for evaluation and research, with focus on continuous improvement of graduate medical education