Medical Education
Dear School of Medicine Faculty and Students,
 
 
The Committee on Curriculum and Educational Policy passed a new Equity in Learning and Assessment in the Medical School Learning Environment policy on October 6, 2020. 
 
The goal of this policy is to promote equity in assessment of student performance and mitigate the risk of discriminatory and racialized assessment practices. This policy builds on years of research by UCSF faculty and students and was developed in conjunction with members of the Student National Medical Association.

If you have any comments or input regarding this policy, please email bridges@ucsf.edu.
Background
Prior research at UCSF revealed population group differences in assessed performance of students in core clerkships and selection to the AOA honor medical society. These differences favored students from backgrounds not-under-represented in medicine. Similar findings arising at other medical schools reinforce the concern about structural factors creating inequity in learning and assessment. As a result of these findings and other concerns with clerkship grading, UCSF Medical Education embarked on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion champion training for faculty in 2016, eliminated honors grades in core clerkships in 2019, and suspended the AOA chapter at the institution in 2020.

Need for Educational Flexibility During Times of Racial and Social Political Unrest:
The events of the past six months have reinforced that in addition to existing structural factors that can create inequity, public events can occur that have the potential to disrupt learning for a large number of students and interfere with their ability to participate actively in the curriculum and assessments. These events may be traumatic for learners and often disproportionately affect some groups. These exigent circumstances require educational flexibility while still ensuring that learners satisfy course and clerkship requirements and achieve expected milestones for each curricular phase and for graduation in order to be prepared for physician practice. 
New Policy Expectations to Maintain Equity in Learning and Assessment
  • High intensity teachers must complete training in diversity, equity and inclusion.*
  • Assessment data review will occur regularly for the purpose of ensuring equity in assessment and identifying inequities that can then be addressed.
  • In the context of exigent circumstances that create a disruption to learning for a large number of students, the School will implement the School of Medicine Protocol: Response to Racial and Other Social Political Trauma.
  • Students who believe that the assessment of their performance was negatively affected by bias should report this concern using one of the existing mechanisms for immediate action, including contacting a course or clerkship director, using the confidential/anonymous SAFE reporting system, or contacting the Associate Dean for Students. 

*For the purposes of this policy, high-intensity teachers (defined as those with ≥10% funded medical education roles), clerkship and site directors, other faculty with education leadership roles, and members of clerkship grading committees will complete Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion training. All faculty also complete required campus-level Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training when it is available. . 
Procedures in Response to Racial and Other Social Political Trauma
In the event of a major event that disrupts students’ learning, the School will arrange for students to delay pre-clerkship or clerkship didactic learning sessions, assessment activities, and examinations, without penalty. This delay is activated through the School of Medicine Protocol: Response to Racial and Other Social Political Trauma. Clerkship students continue clinical activities in service to their patients unless otherwise arranged with the clerkship director. Students must satisfy course and clerkship requirements at a later date to be determined by the student and course or clerkship director.
 
The student is not penalized for approved delayed deadlines or absences and these are not used to determine course or clerkship grades or described in the summary evaluation content for the MSPE.

For more details about the procedures the school has established to implement this policy, please read the new policy in its entirety.
Thank you for your efforts to make UCSF an equitable, welcoming environment where learners of all backgrounds can thrive.
Sincerely,

Karen Hauer, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Associate Dean for Competency and Assessment