Medical Education
Third-Year Clerkship

Grading Policy and Evaluation

Grading Policy

Final grades are determined by several indicators of student performance on the Family Medicine Clerkship: 1) the Preceptor Evaluation; 2) the Didactic and Project Evaluation; 3) the Written Examination; and 4) appropriate and full completion of all assignments/requirements.  The preceptor does not assign the student’s final grade!  Specific criteria for Honors, High Pass, Pass and Fail in Family Medicine are described below (Mechanics of Student Evaluation).

Preceptor Evaluation: The preceptor will complete an objective, competency-based evaluation designed to measure specific knowledge, skills and attitudes.  (Sample provided on pages 21-24.)  Written comments offered by the preceptor will be paraphrased on the final IU SM Clinical Performance Evaluation form.  If a student is evaluated poorly on any area of the preceptor evaluation form, the student’s overall clerkship performance will be reviewed by the clerkship director to determine the appropriate course of action.  Redress may include remediation in specific content, repetition of all or part of the clerkship, or assignment of a grade of “Fail”.

Didactic Project Evaluation: The faculty at the residency program will complete an objective evaluation of the student’s overall performance and participation in didactic day activities, the Breaking Barriers in Healthcare modules, the Family and Community Project and procedure sessions.  If a student is evaluated poorly on any area of the didactic project evaluation form, the student’s overall clerkship performance will be reviewed by the clerkship director to determine the appropriate course of action.  Redress may include remediation in specific content, repetition of all or part of the clerkship, or assignment of a grade of “Fail”

Written Examination: All students will take a comprehensive multiple-choice examination designed to measure knowledge of medical diagnoses and complaints seen in the family physician’s office.  The examination questions will be chosen from a question bank for the Clerkship textbook, Essentials of Family Medicine.  Questions will be selected to focus on the Core Diagnoses (page 14) and evaluate the Clerkship Goals and Objectives (page 2-3).  The examination will be administered in Indianapolis on the final day of the clerkship.

We recognize that not all aspects of Family Medicine will be covered during the four didactic day sessions.  Thus, the student is advised to read the Essentials of Family Medicine and utilize the Point of Care resources.

Students scoring less than Pass (page 19) on the written exam must re-take the exam. In the event that a student fails the re-take, the student will fail the Family Medicine Clerkship.  This will necessitate repeating the Clerkship.  Students who retake the exam may not receive a grade higher than “Pass.”

Evaluation and Competency Comments:  Late or unsatisfactory completion of assignments/requirements may be noted in the Comments section of the student’s final evaluation and on the Competency Evaluation.  Omission of or unsatisfactory participation in Intersession activities may be noted in the student’s Competency Evaluation.

ID9, Professionalism and Role Recognition:  Students are expected to complete assignments on time.  Students exhibiting consistently late or unsatisfactory completion of assignments/requirements may receive an ID9.

The Department of Family Medicine is following the Clerkship Exam Policy approved by the Indiana University School of Medicine Curriculum Council.  The following excerpts have been included for the students’ information.  A complete copy of the policy has been included on the Angel website in the Family Medicine Clerkship Course Link at https://daly.medicine.iu.edu.

Student Irregularities

a.   Student should be informed at the time of the exam and in writing that they are suspected of an irregularity/cheating and will be investigated

i.    Inform student at end of exam

ii.    Student allowed to complete exam with grade pending outcome of investigation.

iii.   Student will receive written notification of investigation; copy will be sent to appropriate Competency Director; copy will be placed into student’s file.

Student Tardiness

a.   If less than 30 minutes late, student may be admitted to exam but will have only the time remaining.

b.   If greater than 30 minutes late, student will need to reschedule examination

i.    If valid excuse, no penalty assigned

ii.    If non-valid excuse, student penalized by having maximum grade on final exam portion of grade be a PASS

iii.   Determination of valid or non-valid is at the discretion of the Clerkship Director

Student Absence

a.   Student with “valid excuse” will be permitted to take exam without penalty to grade

b.   Student with “non-valid” excuse will be penalized by having maximum grade on final exam portion of grade be a PASS.”

Mechanics of Student Evaluation Calculation

The Family Medicine Clerkship grading policy is designed to include both criterion based (competency grading) and normative based (curve grading) information. An acceptable grade distribution for the entire class is 15-20% Honors, 30-50 % High Pass, 40-60 % Pass and less than 3% fail. Three components are utilized to calculate an overall clerkship grade:

1. Preceptor evaluation  (40% of overall score)
2. Didactic / Project evaluation (25% of overall score)
3. Written Exam (35% of overall score)

Each component is scored by the appropriate faculty and points are assigned based on the contents of each evaluation form.

Grade of Honors requires:

·         Overall score percentage in the highest 20% of the rotation

·         Honors scoring on two of three components

·         Completion / Passing all clerkship requirements

Grade of High Pass requires:

·         Overall score percentage in the highest 55% of the rotation

·         High Pass on two of three components

·         Completion / Passing all clerkship requirements

Grade of Pass requires:

Completion / Passing all clerkship requirements

Fail – Repeat Family Medicine Clerkship:  A grade of Fail will be reported for students who score less than Pass on either of the Preceptor Evaluation or Didactic Project Evaluation, or score less than Pass on the written exam twice.  The first time a student fails the written exam, the student will retake the written exam and receive an ID3 (Using Science to Guide Diagnosis, Management, Therapeutics and Prevention).  The maximum final grade after one failure of the written exam is a Pass.

Table 1:  Minimum Percentage for Grade Categories on the Preceptor and Didactic Project Evaluations

Table 2:  Minimum Score Criteria for Grade Categories on the Written Exam

The Department of Family Medicine reserves the right to assign a failing grade for the entire clerkship if a student has performed in an unsatisfactory, unprofessional or unethical manner in terms of behavior with the preceptor, one of his/her patients or the site director.

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