Rigorous assessment tools are a crucial part of the learning process.1,2 Assessment is the process of collecting evidence to evaluate the performance of the learner and establish the level of competency. An assessment tool needs to have the context and conditions of assessment, tasks to be administered, and criteria used to judge the performance. A competency-based education framework requires use of assessment methods that can determine residents鈥� acquisition and demonstration of specific competencies.3,4 The concept of competency-based education puts a new emphasis on the importance of rigorous assessment tools and establishing validity of these tools. These assessments can be formative and used for feedback purposes, or they can be summative and used for high-stakes evaluation (Box). Surgical training has relied on such tools. Examples include the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery and the Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery.