These assessment and evaluation guidelines are endorsed by the College Committee on Assessment and Appraisal as expectations of the faculty and staff who teach and administer courses and clerkships on the Chicago, Rockford, and Peoria campuses. These policies are located online on the UI-COM faculty resource pages (https://comfaculty.uic.edu). They complement and are consistent with the assessment policies and procedures detailed in the Student Academic Policies and Professional Standards and Assessment Policies and Procedures documents, both found at https://medicine.uic.edu/education/educational-policies/.

 

Policy on Narrative Assessment in Phase 1

The College is committed to providing students with individualized narrative assessment, defined as written commentary by a faculty member regarding a student’s academic performance or professional development. During the Phase 1 curriculum such narrative assessment will be provided in each of the longitudinal courses, as follows:

  • At least monthly during the Doctoring and Clinical Skills courses. These assessments may include reviews of case write-ups, feedback on other assignments completed during the course, and the final, summative narrative at the end of each term.
  • At least once within each year of the Medical Colloquia course. This involves assessment of students’ written work, such as the final “Insight Paper” reflections.
  • At least once per term in Synthesis. Professional development faculty group leaders provide narrative feedback (formative only) on one or more written assignments related to professional identity, career development, or wellness.
  • As the curriculum evolves, should any additional Phase 1 courses offer the opportunity for students to have four or more sessions in group of 8 or fewer students with the same instructor at each session, students will receive at least one narrative assessment per course or per term.

Related LCME Standard: 9.5- Narrative Assessment
Other related Standards: 9.7 Formative Assessment and Feedback

Approved by the CCIA 10-02-2024

 

Policy on Narrative Assessment (Phase 2/3 Students)

PURPOSE

This policy ensures that the comprehensive assessments of the medical students’ performance incorporate narrative assessments for each required course.

DEFINITIONS

Narrative assessment: Written comments from faculty that assess student performance and achievement in meeting specific objectives of a course or clerkship, such as professionalism, clinical reasoning. (Element 9.5)

Core Clerkships: A core clerkship is defined as a required phase 2 clinical course.

Clinical Selective: A clinical course that meets a specific requirement for the MD degree completion (i.e., Subinternship, Acute Care Course, or Physician-Assessed Patient-Facing Course).

POLICY

The College is committed to providing students with individualized narrative assessment, defined as written commentary by a faculty member regarding a student’s academic performance or professional development. Such narrative assessment will be provided at the conclusion of each core clerkship or clinical selective.

Author: Office of Educational Affairs

Audience: Faculty, students, staff

Governance: CCIA

Approved by: CCIA  Date: 12/12/2024

LCME Element: 9.5 Narrative Assessment A medical school ensures that a narrative description of a medical student’s performance, including non-cognitive achievement, is included as a component of the assessment in each required course and clerkship of the medical education program whenever teacher-student interaction permits this form of assessment.

Guideline on timeliness of grades in Courses (Phase 1)

Course grades must be submitted to the registrar by six weeks after the last day of the course.

Related LCME Standard: 9.8- Fair and Timely Summative Assessment

Approved by the CCIA 03-03-2021

Guideline on timeliness of grades in core clerkships and electives (Phase 2/3)

Clinical grades must be submitted to the registrar by six weeks after the last day of the clerkship. For core clerkships, this deadline is similar; however, it is expected that clerkship leadership will make every effort to review clinical grades at the department level and submit them to the registrar within four weeks of clerkship end.

Related LCME Standard: 9.8- Fair and Timely Summative Assessment

Approved by the CCIA 03-03-2021

Guideline on Formative Assessment in Courses (Phase 1)

Phase 1 Block and Doctoring and Clinical Skills courses will administer regular formative assessments (quizzes and assignments) during a term. Course directors and/or academic advisors will monitor the student performance on these assessments and will provide outreach to students whose scores indicate a risk for failure of the final summative assessments in these courses.

Related LCME Standard: 9.7- Formative Assessment and Feedback

Approved by the CCIA 03-03-2021

Guideline on Formative Assessment (Phase 2/3)

At approximately the halfway point of any required clerkship four weeks or longer in duration, students are expected to meet with a clinical faculty member or senior resident to review their performance and receive formal feedback. Students whose clinical performance is not meeting expectations must be advised that they are at risk for failure of the clerkship and counseled on steps for improvement.

Related LCME Standard: 9.7-Formative Assessment and Feedback

Approved by the CCIA 03-03-2021

Guideline on Direct Observation of Clinical Skills (Phase 2/3 Students)

The College is committed to observing and providing feedback on students’ clinical skills. For each phase 2 required clerkship, students are expected to be observed by faculty or residents at or above the PGY-2 level performing at least one history and at least one physical or mental status exam, and feedback is expected to be documented.

Related LCME Standard 9.4-Assessment System

Approved by the CCIA 03-03-2021

Guideline on Communication of Objectives, Assessments and Evaluations to Clinical Teaching Faculty
(Phase 2/3)

Clerkship directors within Phases 2 and 3 are responsible ensuring adherence to the objectives, learning experiences and assessment for the learners. The development and modification of objectives and assessments is collectively determined by the clerkships’ education coordinating committee (ECC), which is comprised of clerkship directors/associate directors from each campus.

A given clerkship may assign learners to multiple sites for their clerkship or elective educational experience. It is the expectation of campus clerkship directors to have annual communication with site directors on the goals, objectives and assessment processes, student performance and student satisfaction. Similarly, the clerkship director or site director is responsible for relaying goals, objectives and assessment processes to the whole teaching clinical faculty on an annual basis. If there are changes throughout the year, interval communication at the time of the change is expected.

Approved by the CCIA 03-03-2021