Assessment in clerkship

General criteria

• The process of assessment must be related to the course and program objectives. Attention should be paid to students’ demonstration of knowledge, clinical and communicative skills, and professional behaviour and attitudes.
   
• The assessment process must conform to University Assessment and Grading Practices Policy (PDF) and MD Program guidelines on grading.

Specific criteria

• In accordance with the Assessment and Grading Practices Policy (PDF) of the University of Toronto, there must be more than one assessment in each clerkship course, with no one assessment worth more than 80 per cent of the final grade in any course. The methods of assessment are at the discretion of the course, but are subject to regular review by the Examination and Student Assessment Committee (ESAC). Changes to the assessment practices in a course must be brought to the attention of the Curriculum Committee, as per the Guidelines and Protocol for Making Curricular Changes (PDF).
   
• There must be a formative, documented, mid-rotation evaluation for all blocks greater than two weeks, in keeping with accreditation requirements and University expectations set out in the Grading Practices Policy.
   
• All courses must provide a formal narrative assessment of each student's performance, in addition to any other forms of assessment, as per the Standards for formative and narrative assessment and feedback (PDF). At minimum, this will include the Supervisor's judgment of the student's performance in attaining the attitudinal objectives of the block. All clerkship courses have a formal professionalism evaluation. Unacceptable professional behaviour alone is sufficient grounds for failure. (See the Guidelines for the Assessment of Student Professionalism, the discussion of professionalism in the MD Program, and the University’s Standards of Professional Practice Behaviour for All Health Professional Students.
   
• Within each course, individual assessments/components will be reported to students using numerical grades; these assessments are never transcripted. Final course grades are reported and transcripted only as Credit/No Credit (CR/NC). (See Standards for the Disclosure of Component Marks and Final Grades to Students (PDF).) Electives are assessed Credit/No Credit.
   
• Individual assessments and component grades are to be made available within four weeks of the assessment, and final grades are to be released within six weeks of the end of the rotation, as per the Standards for the Timely Completion of Student Assessment and Release of Marks (PDF).
   
• The assessment of the student's clinical and professional performance must be reviewed with the student at the end of each course. The student is expected to “sign-off” electronically on MedSIS.. This action signifies that the student has read the performance report, and not that she/he is necessarily in agreement with the evaluation. The student may record any disagreement she/he has with the assessment.

Procedure for review of a component grade or final course grade

A student may request either a review of a component of a course or a review of the final course grade. There are several opportunities available, as described in the MD Program Assessment Rules and Regulations.