Purpose: The evaluation of clinical performance is a critically important issue in PA education, yet the validity of clinical evaluation tools utilized by PA programs has not been systematically analyzed in the literature. Studies of medical students and residents have raised questions about the validity of several evaluative mechanisms. This study investigated the extent to which scores on preceptor evaluations, objective examinations, and patient management problems (PMP) correlated with a variety of measurements of performance in the clinical and didactic curriculum. Methods: The individual components of each evaluative tool were separated by the competency they were designed to measure. Competencies included in this analysis were: medical knowledge base, history-taking ability, physical examination skills, diagnostic ability, plan for treatment, and various personal attributes evaluated by the preceptor. Results: The preceptor evaluation of student knowledge did not correlate with grades in the didactic curriculum or clinical-year objective examination scores. The end-of-rotation objective examinations significantly correlated with the end-of-program final examination (p<0.05) and several course grades from the didactic year. The preceptor evaluation of history-taking did not correlate with the PMP history score. The physical examination scores from the preceptor evaluation and the PMP weakly correlated (p<0.01). The differential diagnosis scores from the preceptor evaluation and the PMP did not correlate, nor did the scores on treatment plans. The preceptor evaluation of patient rapport negatively correlated with scores from the didactic curriculum (p<0.05) and the end-of-program final examination (P<0.05). Conclusions: This study raises questions about the validity of various measurement tools utilized by PA programs to evaluate clinical performance. Further correlative studies are needed to determine the extent to which existing clinical evaluation tools actually measure the competencies they were designed to measure. (Perspective on Physician Assistant Education 1999;10(4):185‐193)