According to the “Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area” published by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (Helsinki, Finland 2005) “Students should be assessed using published criteria, regulations and procedures which are applied consistently.” The EAQAHE further states that “In addition, students should be clearly informed about the assessment strategy being used for their programme, what examinations or other assessment methods they will be subject to, what will be expected of them, and the criteria that will be applied to the assessment of their performance.“

To assess as objective and complete as possible the performance of a trainee and as competences as such may not be observed, the SASSO assessment and grading system was based on the principle ‘only assess what you observed’. SASSO converts observations into a score. A norm-referenced assessment based on the profile of a starting professional is combined with a comparative evaluation based on the results of the trainees of the same curriculum.

Initially SASSO was meant to assess speech therapy trainees working with different patients, with tasks on different levels of complexity evolving from observing and participating to almost independent work. They deal with different coaches and tutors. SASSO was adapted for other health care trainees. SASSO may be used to assess all trainees working in authentic situations in different settings.

An essential part of SASSO is a spreadsheet tool developed to quantify the performance and taking into consideration the results of peers. The tool converts marked data into a raw score, an ECTS grade and a local grade: a descriptive trainee assessment is converted in a proposal for a mark or a grade in an objectified way.

Before starting traineeship, students are informed about their tasks and the assessment system. All the information and a student’s version of the tool are available on the electronic learning environment.

The first step in SASSO is to observe the trainee and register the observations. The second step is crucial: the assessor and the trainee come to an agreement concerning the observations. Then the tutor transfers the remarks to the assessment form. The items on this form contain all aspects of the traineeship to be evaluated and are presented in a Likert scale with levels of performance. The marked information is manually keyed in into the spreadsheet tool wherein the relative importance of the grouped items is fix. In a meeting, the tutors may adjust the marks only according to earlier made agreements or when strong evidence makes it necessary. The tutors confirm and present the student’s marks to the board of examiners. Based on the proposed marks the board of examiners deliberates and awards marks and / or grades.

SASSO fulfils highly the guidelines published by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education.

Publications:
Simoens, L. (2005). Assessment van stagecompetenties: andere beoordelaar, zelfde score. In: Delta – Tijdschrift voor Hoger Onderwijs, 1, 43-48
Simoens L (2006). Assessing Trainees. How to objectively convert an assessment into an ECTS grade? In: Löfgren K (ed.) ECTS and Assessment in Higher Education. Conference Proceedings. Umeå: Umeå University, EM no 57, 117-123

SASSO is a Dutch acronym for: “Systeem voor Assessment en Scoring van Stagiairs in Opleiding”