Appropriate Expertise and Training for Standardized Patient Assessment Examiners

Expertise varies by domain and does not readily transfer from one domain to another. In performance assessment, the application of expertise begins with the selection of the objectives to be assessed. Clarity about the assessment of objectives directs the designers to the most relevant domains of needed expertise. For assessment outcomes to be valid, the context, design, scoring guides, examiners, training, and implementation—all of which imply different areas of expertise—must be considered. Sometimes these areas of expertise may reside in one expert, and sometimes they may be constellated across different experts. The realistic infusion of expertise throughout the assessment is what supports validity.