/Institutions/University-of-Texas-Rio-Grande-Valley/json/som/policies-local.json

/Institutions/University-of-Texas-Rio-Grande-Valley/json/som/policies.json

EAA050 Fair and Timely Formative and Summative Assessment Policy

Policy Number: EAA050
Policy Title: Fair and Timely Formative and Summative Assessment Policy

A. Purpose

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) School of Medicine (SOM) is committed to excellence in education and to providing students with a comprehensive medical education that will enable their development as knowledgeable, skilled, and compassionate physicians. To meet this commitment and to adhere to LCME standards¹, UTRGV SOM provides both formative and summative assessment including narrative assessment in all required pre-clerkship and clerkship course. The goal of these assessments is to assure that student formative and summative assessments measure outcomes linked to defined curricular learning objectives and that students receive them in a timely manner.

B. Persons Affected

This policy will cover faculty and staff participating in the UTRGV SOM curriculum and involved in formative, narrative, and summative assessment of students across the four years of their undergraduate medical education.

C. Authority and Responsibilities

The Central Curricular Authority Committee (CCAC), the central authority responsible for the overall design, management, and evaluation of the curriculum through appropriate subcommittees, monitors and evaluates the effectiveness of curriculum.

D. Policy

The Office of the Senior Associate Dean for Education and Academic Affairs and the Assistant Dean for Assessment, Evaluation, and Quality Improvement (AE&QI) are responsible for the oversight and administration of formative, narrative, and summative assessments. Together, they assure that students receive timely formative and summative assessments, including narrative assessment in modules and clerkships of at least four or more weeks in duration.

E. Definitions

1. Assessment: The processes employed to make judgements regarding the achievements of students over a course of study.²
2. Formative Assessment and Feedback: The primary purpose of formative assessment is to provide students with useful feedback concerning their strengths and challenges with regard to mastery of the educational learning objectives. Formative assessment takes place during the course of a module, clerkship or course and affords students the opportunity to understand what content, knowledge, skills and/or behaviors they have mastered and where they may have areas for improvement. Formative assessment is not graded.³ Examples of formative assessment include: practice tests with feedback, group assessments with feedback, coaching, mid-course feedback for improvement, etc.
3. Narrative Assessment: The primary purpose of narrative assessment is to provide students with descriptive feedback based on instructors’ observations of students’ knowledge, skills, behaviors (competencies) and non-cognitive achievements as demonstrated over time. Narrative assessments may be formative or graded.
4. Summative Assessment: The primary purpose of summative assessment is to measure what knowledge, skills and/or behaviors students have mastered during and over the course of a module, clerkship or course of instruction. Summative assessment is graded.⁴ Examples of summative assessment include: mid-term exams, final exams, shelf exams, OSCEs, etc.

F. Policy

A centralized system for student assessment operates under the auspice of the Office of the Senior Associate Dean for Education and Academic Affairs and the Assistant Dean for Assessment, Evaluation and Quality Improvement. Formative, narrative and summative assessments are integrated into modules, clerkships and courses. Narrative assessments are provided to students in modules and clerkships that are a minimum of four weeks in length. All summative assessments must be linked to curricular objectives as defined by the UTRGV Educational Program Objectives (EPOs). Students are provided assessment results in a timely manner.

G. Procedure

1. Formative Assessment and Feedback
   All directors for modules, clerkships and courses are required to provide students with formative assessment and feedback early enough during each required module or clerkship that is four or more weeks in length to allow sufficient time for remediation. The types of formative assessment available to students include, but are not limited to; group case activities with feedback (e.g. PBL), coaching feedback, narrative feedback, and other activities directed toward enabling students to identify strengths, challenges, and areas for improvement. Formative assessment activities and feedback opportunities are to be outlined in the syllabus for each module, clerkship or course.
   
   Students enrolled in modules which are greater than four weeks in length will meet a minimum of one time per module with their PBL facilitators to review their academic progress within the module. The goal of these meetings is to provide students with feedback regarding their performance and to identify as early as possible those students who are struggling academically and refer them for academic support services to assure successful completion of the module.
   
   Students enrolled in clerkships that are greater than four weeks in length will meet with the Clerkship Director at the clerkship midpoint to review: 1) their core clinical skills, behaviors, attitudes and overall performance; 2) to assess their progress toward meeting required clinical encounters and procedures; and 3) to review strengths and areas for growth and/or improvement with the goal of successful completion of the clerkship. Clerkship preceptors will receive faculty development to assist them in identifying the struggling student and be provided with information on how to refer struggling students for a meeting with the Clerkship Director at any time during the clerkship.
2. Summative Assessment
   The Assistant Deans for Medical Education Pre-clerkship and Clerkships, in conjunction with the module, clerkship and course directors, have oversight to assure that summative assessments are integral to every module, clerkship and course and that students are provided with the specific educational learning objectives (EPOs) for which they are required to demonstrate mastery. The Assistant Dean for Assessment, Evaluation and Quality Improvement has oversight for the administration of all summative assessments, including evaluating the quality and adequacy of assessment measures. Students receive results from summative examinations within one week of the date of assessment. Students receive their final grades with two weeks of the completion date of the module, and within six weeks of the completion date of the clerkship.
3. Narrative Assessment
   The Assistant Deans for Pre-Clerkship and Clerkships, in conjunction with the module and clerkship directors, have oversight to assure that students receive narrative assessments in all modules and clerkships whenever teacher-student interaction permits this form of assessment. The narrative assessment must include feedback regarding a student’s performance to date in the module or clerkship and be provided during a face-to-face interaction that affords the student the opportunity to respond to the feedback, ask for clarification, and if necessary, develop a plan for improvement going forward. Narrative feedback is descriptive and based on the instructor’s observations of students’ knowledge, skills, behaviors and non-cognitive achievements as demonstrated over time throughout modules and midway through clerkships. The Assistant Deans for Pre-Clerkship and Clerkship have responsibility to assure that narrative assessments are completed and provided to students in a timely manner. Students will receive narrative feedback from their PBL facilitators mid-way through a every module and from their clerkship directors at the midpoint of every clerkship. The Assistant Deans for Medical Education Pre-Clerkship and Clerkship will monitor the timeliness and completion of the narrative assessments in collaboration with the Assistant Dean for Assessment, Evaluation and Quality Improvement, and will follow-up with the PBL facilitators and clerkship directors within one week following the PBL facilitator and clerkship director feedback to assure compliance.

H. Relevant Federal/State Statutes, Board Regents, and/or Coordinating Board Rules

FERPA: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act; 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g and 34 CFR Part 99

UT System Board of Regents Rule 50702: Confidentiality and Security of Education Records Subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)