Moving Beyond Comprehensive Exams: Implementing Authentic Assessments to Enhance Doctoral Student Learning

Abstract

This article explores how a Midwestern Christian university’s doctoral program aligns an authentic assessment process of evaluation, in lieu of comprehensive exams, with the university’s tag line to “Shape Lives that Shape the World.” The process of assessing “authentically” comes from the belief that evaluating students on skills they enact outside of the classroom will better reflect what they need to master for their chosen field or vocation. The implementation of the benchmark system of assessments was constructed with intentionality to foster and evaluate growth in six program outcomes, with intellectual ability actualized in a real-world context and to model the values reflected in the Christian faith. Although comprehensive exams, or “comps,” are a staple of many doctoral programs as a way for students to express their understanding of material, synthesize their learning, and apply that learning to their fields of study, literature reviewed on the benefits/challenges of comps reflects a theme questioning the true assessment value of these exams. The authors share examples of how doctoral students have developed/implemented genuine learning experiences that synthesize both the content and skills they learn and practice in their program, while propelling them forward into the field of scholarship. Through these authentic assessments, doctoral students are shaping not only their lives, but also the lives of those they touch through their doctoral work.