VP&S Course and Clerkship Grading, Timeliness and Appeals Policy

Overview/Rationale

Students have the right to receive their grades in a timely manner and also to review and challenge their course or clerkship grade if they feel that the final grade does not accurately reflect their performance in a course or clerkship.

Accreditation Standards

LCME Accreditation Standard:

9.8 Fair and Timely Summative Assessment

11.6 Student access to Educational Records

Stakeholders

Medical students and Faculty

Policy

Grades are issued by the course, clerkship or electiveMedi director based on a review of the student’s achievement of the learning objectives specified for the course using measures of the students’ acquisition of the knowledge, core clinical skills, behaviors, and attitudes. Courses in the Fundamentals curriculum are graded pass or fail. Students are provided with the grading rubric for MCY prior to the start of that phase. Long (>2 weeks) core MCY clerkships are graded using grades of honors, high pass, pass, and fail. Sub-internships and clinical electives in the D&I phase are graded using honors, high pass, pass, and fail. All other courses including the short clerkships in MCY and non-clinical courses in D&I phase are graded pass/fail. Away electives are recorded on the University transcript as pass and fail only.

Timeliness of Grades

Final grades in the Fundamentals and MCY phases are available to students within five weeks of the end of a course or clerkship. Final grades in the D&I phase are due within 28 days of the end of the course or elective.

Grade Appeals

Students who wish to contest a final grade in a course (including preclinical courses, clerkships, electives and scholarly projects) must meet with the course director first. Students have up to two weeks after being notified of their grade to ask for clarification of a grade from the course, clerkship, or elective director. The initial communication from the student must take the form of an email directly to the relevant course/ clerkship/ electives director and state the reasons for reconsideration of their grade. (Step 1)

Course and clerkship directors are required to respond, either in-person or via email, within two weeks of receiving the request by explaining how the grade was determined.

If, after the grade clarification meeting, the student wishes to formally appeal the course/ clerkship grade, the student must notify the associate dean for student affairs, support and services to request that a grade appeal hearing be arranged before the Academic Appeals subcommittee. (Step 2)

Reasons for students to appeal a course/clerkship grade appeal include:

Procedural Errors: Errors in the grading process, such as miscalculations or deviations from the established grading policy
Bias or Discrimination: If a student believes that bias or discrimination influenced their grade (e.g., based on race, gender, or other protected characteristics), they may file an appeal.
Arbitrary or Capricious Grading: Grading appears inconsistent with a student’s performance or doesn’t follow standard evaluation criteria

The appeal request must be made in writing within four weeks of the grade clarification meeting. The associate dean of student affairs, support and services is ex officio and non-voting on the Academic Appeals subcommittee. The student will be invited to appear at the hearing and read a statement and respond to questions. (Step 3) The course/clerkship director is not a member of the Academic Appeals subcommittee and will also be invited to meet with the Academic Appeals subcommittee. There is no further appeal available.