Policy on Submitting Grades for Undergraduate Medical Students

     

4.1.1 Reported grades - Grades for M1-M3 students are reported as H,P,F, U, I or as “temporary” (M3 only). For the purpose of class rank determination, final scores for M1-M3 courses are reported and rounded by 0.5 pts to the nearest whole point.

4.1.2 Transmission of grades - With the exception of Final Clerkship Reports, which are securely transmitted on the EValue platform, grade reports identified by student are transmitted to the Associate Registrar on a thumb drive or as paper copies; regular email is not used.

Final course scores and grades are computed centrally by the Evaluation and Assessment Coordinator, who maintains the course grade books for the Division of Medical Education.

 

4.2.1 Modules - At the conclusion of the module, a draft spreadsheet of all assessments contributing to grade is prepared by the Coordinator for final review and approval by the Module Director. This Excel spreadsheet includes final course scores rounded by 0.5 pts to the nearest whole number, in addition to a student’s average biweekly exam score, from which final course grades are determined. Pending approval by the Module Director, the Coordinator prepares the final report of course scores and grades, which is signed and dated by the course director and submitted by the Coordinator to the Associate Registrar. Marks for attitude/professionalism are not submitted to the Associate Registrar but noted instead in the mid-course and final course reports provided to each student. In addition, the Associate Dean for Medical Education & Student Affairs and the Assistant Dean for Medical Education in Assessment & Evaluation are notified of any student receiving a deficient grade (U, F) or deficient mark in professionalism/attitude (M, U).

4.2.1.1 The Associate Registrar uploads the course grades and archives a copy of the

scores for the purpose of determining class rank. Once the grades are received by the Associate Registrar, they are released to students and included in an individualized Final Module Report, which is transmitted by the Evaluation and Assessment Coordinator to each student’s Sakai drop box.

4.2.2 OSCEs - For OSCEs 1-5, the Director of Clinical Skills calculates the final score on the basis of formulated subscores factored into the earnable total score for each tested station (4 stations for OSCEs 1-4, eight stations for OSCE 5). OSCE scores are entered into a final grade sheet prepared by the Clinical Skills Specialist, which includes the roster of student scores for each component case, the total combined % correct OSCE score, and the designation of grades of H,P,U or F. After the spreadsheet is reviewed, signed and dated by the Director, it is transmitted to the Evaluation and Assessment Coordinator, who archives a copy in the Division of Medical Education and in turn submits the form to the Associate Registrar. 

4.2.2.1 The Associate Registrar uploads OSCE grades and archives the scores for the purpose of class rank determination. Scores are uploaded in an individualized OSCE Report into students’ dropboxes by the Evaluation and Assessment Coordinator.

4.3.1 The Clerkship Director and Coordinator are responsible for computing the student’s final rotation score and grade. After the conclusion of each rotation, student grades are submitted in EValue by the Clerkship Director as a component of the Final Clerkship Report. Entered into the Report are the final rotation grade, final rotation score, clerkship grading formula of subscored categories, and the student’s subscores. The form also captures NBME shelf exam results, including the equated %correct raw score received directly from the NBME, academic quarter of test date, national percentile and adjusted NBME score toward grade. Finally, the director verifies if all non-grade clerkship requirements have been made and provides a narrative summary of the student’s performance on rotation.

4.3.1.1 To compute final rotation scores and grades, a dual verification process is used.

Both the NBME and final CBE subscores toward grade are independently determined by the clerkship coordinator and centrally by COM Coordinator of Evaluations & Assessments. The two subscores determined by each party must match in order for the Clerkship Director and Coordinator to proceed toward final grade calculation.

4.3.1.2 The Active Learning subscore and any other subscores pertinent to the clerkship grade are determined by the Clerkship Director/Coordinator.

4.3.1.3 The final clerkship score is calculated from the component subscores by the Clerkship Director/Coordinator, who completes the Final Clerkship Report.

4.3.1.4 The Clerkship Director “submits” through EValue the completed Final Clerkship Report to the Associate Registrar.

4.3.1.5 Once reviewed, only the Associate Registrar “releases” the Final Clerkship Report to students’ individual EValue portals.

4.3.2 Under no circumstances should the Review and Release option be used by the Clerkship Director/Coordinator for disseminating the Final Clerkship Report. Only the Associate Registrar can release this information to the student.

 

4.4.1 Directors of electives and the required Transition to Residency course are provided with a standard M4 grading form by the Supervisor of COM Clinical Education. The form designates the student course code and title, block number and course dates, and a list of checkboxes pertaining to 12 possible criteria for grading, depending on the nature of course. In addition, a required narrative comment section is completed along with the designation of H/P/F for overall performance. The grader returns the confidential form to the Supervisor who checks the documents for completion. The Supervisor delivers the completed forms to the Associate Registrar, who officially uploads the grades and notifies the students of their updated transcript. For atypical rotations, e.g. foreign travel, these forms are completed by the faculty supervisor on site, who delivers them to the Supervisor at his or her earliest opportunity within the required time-to-grade window.

4.4.2 Completed M4 course grade forms for students are delivered to the Associate Registrar by the Supervisor of COM Clinical education. The Registrar uploads the scores and is responsible for notifying students of their updated transcript. Official release of grades is the responsibility of the Associate Registrar, not the course preceptor or Supervisor of COM Clinical Education.

 

4.5.1 Modules - Students who score <60% correct on a customized NBME exam will receive an Unsatisfactory grade for a module, which is entered as “U” on the roster of submitted grades. Pending a successful retake of the exam, the Associate Registrar is notified by the NBME score report and changes the student’s temporary grade of U to a final grade of “P” with a numeric score of 70, the lowest passing score. If a second module miniboard is failed and remediated the designation of "UP" appears in the student transcript. Resubmission of a revised grade sheet by the Evaluation and Assessment Coordinator is not required.

4.5.2 OSCEs - Provided that a student passes an OSCE with an overall score of ≥70%, a “U” grade will be assigned by the Clinical Skills Director if the student scores <70% on one or more stations. Pending successful remediation of a failed station(s), a revised grade report is submitted by the Clinical Skills Director to the Assessment and Evaluation Coordinator, who archives the results for the Division of Medical Education and submits the revised report to the Associate Registrar.

4.5.3 Clerkships - In the event that a student’s national percentile score on the NBME shelf exam is below the 8th %tile, the box for “temporary grade” is checked in the submitted Final Clerkship Report. In addition, the report submitted for the student in need of remediation should indicate the student’s actual raw NBME score (question 4) and tabulated national percentile (question 6). A “0” score is entered for the NBME rotation subscore (question 3), the final rotation score (question 2) and transformed NBME score (question 7) until the exam is retaken.

4.5.3.1 Pending a successful retake of the shelf exam, the Evaluation Specialist is notified by the Registrar or the Clerkship Director to reopen the EValue link to the student’s Final Clerkship Report so the Clerkship Director/Coordinator can submit a revised version. The revised report will indicate the permanent final grade of Pass, a final adjusted NBME score of 65 (question 3), the raw NBME %correct score for the re-take (question 4), the academic quarter during which the original exam was taken (question 5), the national percentile for the re-take based on the academic quarter when the exam was first taken (question 6), and a transformed NBME score of 65 (question 7), which is the default transformed/adjusted score for any successful shelf exam re-take. The Clerkship Director will then “submit” the revised EValue Final Clerkship Report to the Associate Registrar, who converts the temporary student grade to “P” if the failed miniboard was the student’s first on clerkship, or a “UP” for all subsequent rotation miniboard fails by student.