The Re-envisioning the Future of Assessment, Certification, and Examination (ReFACE) Project

What is the ReFACE Project?

The Re-envisioning the Future of Assessment, Certification, and Examination (ReFACE) project is a series of continuous quality improvement processes designed to enhance family medicine certification decisions and ensure the College continues to assess what is valued by the profession.

Why now?

• To implement recommendations that arose from an external review of our certification assessment program
• To ensure our assessments, examinations, and certification decisions are aligned with the family medicine residency training expectations outlined in the Residency Training Profile (RTP)
• To make sure we continue to deliver high-quality virtual exams following the transition caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

Key Deliverables

• Ensuring that assessment approaches align with the comprehensive scope of training as defined by the RTP
• Identifying and developing assessment approaches for newly defined attributes of preparedness and competence
• Providing guidance and support to residency programs and examination content development for assessing the scope of training expectations defined in the RTP
• Designing an approach to assessing procedural skills by family medicine residency programs

• Articulating an examination blueprint that is the basis for creating the test forms used to examine candidates
• Developing examination formats based on best practices that use the most current technology
• Determining an overall certification strategy that may include a wider scope of practice and range of assessment contexts

• Articulating a Goal of Certification statement that aligns with the RTP and the OTP projects’ recommendations
• Creating a Certification Examination in Family Medicine Purpose Statement, further clarifying its role in the certification decision in a competency-based educational world

Project work streams and outputs

1. Impact of the newly defined comprehensive scope of training (RTP) on assessment
   Determine the impact that the comprehensive scope of training outlined in the RTP could and should have at the levels of in-training residency assessment, the certification examination, the certification decision, and on the CFPC’s assessment frameworks.
2. Assessment of newly defined attributes of preparedness
   Integrate the preparedness attribute, defined by the OTP Education Reform Taskforce, into the CFPC’s overall assessment strategy.
3. Assessment map development
   Clarify which aspects of preparedness and components of competence should be assessed through in-training residency assessment, by the written part of the Certification Examination in Family Medicine (short answer management problems (SAMPs)), and/or by the performance part (SOOs) of the examination. This may require incorporating new approaches to our current examination structure and design.
4. Examination blueprint
   Develop a comprehensive examination blueprint that will guide the CFPC in designing examination test forms that are comparable over time, ensure the assessment objectives are appropriately and consistently met from year to year, and inform candidates about what will be tested. An examination blueprint also provides important evidence to support the validity of examination results.
5. Examination evolution and new examination approaches
   Explore and possibly adopt new approaches to examination testing, modernize both the written and performance components of the certification examination, and ensure an examination process that is pandemic-resistant.
6. Supporting program in-training resident assessment
   Collaborate with programs to identify challenges encountered in in-training resident assessment, particularly those that are newly articulated by the OTP and identified through a social accountability lens, and commission work to help family medicine residency programs develop their assessment strategies.
7. Assessment of procedural skills
   Develop an approach to the assessment of procedure skills in family medicine residency programs in collaboration with program and assessment directors.