First reported implementation of a German-language progress test in an undergraduate dental curriculum: A prospective study.

INTRODUCTION: Progress testing is a special form of longitudinal and feedback-oriented assessment. Even though well established in human medical curricula, this is not the case in dental education. The aim was the prospective development and implementation of the first reported German-language Dental Progress Test (DPT) for the undergraduate dental curriculum at the Medical University of Graz, Austria.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Participation in DPT was compulsory for all dental students in terms 7-12 (years 4-6). Three tests, each consisting of 100 items out of a pool of 375, were administered within 3 consecutive terms in 2016 and 2017. Rasch analyses were used to evaluate the questionnaire and identify misfitting items.

RESULTS: In the item responses, 59.7% were "correct," 27.0% were "false" and 13.3% were answered with "don't know," with similar results at all 3 time points. The assumption of parallel ICC was met (T1: χ2  = 51.071, df = 74, P = .981; T2: χ2  = 57.044, df = 67, P = .802; T3: χ2  = 58.443, df = 72, P = .876) and item difficulties for the thematic fields were similarly distributed across the latent dimensions.

CONCLUSION: The newly introduced DPT is appropriate for testing dental students and is well balanced for the tested target group.