A new method for quality control of multiple-choice tests was developed with the assumption that there are two classes of items-beneficial and nonbeneficial-to evaluate students' ability. The information function is applied to distinguish these two classes. Of 316 items on multiple-choice tests at Tokai Medical School in 1993, 224 (70.9%) were beneficial and 92 (19.1%) were nonbeneficial. Between these classes, the averages of passing percentage and the discrimination index were significantly different. The percentage of beneficial items varies with the form of items, whereas the average discrimination index does not.

We investigated the effects of evaluation of education by medical students using the minutes paper, which was developed by Professor Yasuoka, also of Tokai University. The minutes paper consists of 3 questions with 10 gradedchoices and of 8 questions with 2 graded choices. One of the 3 questions with 10 graded choices asks a general impression of a lecture. Every faculty member at the Tokai University School of Medicine should be evaluated once a year by students using the minutes paper. A total of 202 faculty members were evaluated in 1999 or in 2000, and 73 of these faculty members were evaluated in both 1999 and 2000. The faculty members were divided into 3 groups (low grade, moderate grade, and high grade) on the basis of their grades in 1999. In 2000, the low-grade group achieved higher evaluation scores, whereas the moderate-and high-grade groups did not. These results suggest that our evaluation system with minutes papers was effective for improving teaching faculty members with low grades.