Reporting School Data on the Dental Licensure Examination

Beginning in 2012, candidate performance on the National Board Dental Examination (NBDE) has been reported as pass/fail, and only the failing candidates receive numerical scores for remediation purposes. The Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations recognizes that the numerical scores have been important information to dental schools for curriculum evaluation and that the pass/fail reports do not provide meaningful information to the schools. This article describes the process of evaluating and validating a new model for reporting standardized school-level performance data on the NBDE. Under this new model, schools are able to monitor the overall performance of their students compared to a national cohort.