Review of Academic Performance:
Clerkship Level

Policy 565.30

Policy Statement

The Advancement Committee will review the cumulative academic progress of each medical student at least twice within each curricular segment to ensure that students are meeting both quantitative and qualitative standards in accordance with Policy 560.00 Satisfactory Academic Progress.

Specific to the Clerkship Level of the Curriculum:

  1. Students must satisfactorily complete the requirements of Foundations Level Years One and Two to progress to the Clerkship Level by vote of the Advancement Committee.
  2. Students must pass the End of Clerkship Level (EOC) Clinical Skills Examination (CSE) to graduate. A student failing the CSE after one attempt must retake the exam. A student failing on the second attempt will be referred to the Advancement Committee for formal review. To be eligible to take the EOC CSE, a student must meet one of the following three requirements below:
    1. Complete all clerkship requirements, or
    2. Complete all clerkship clinical requirements other than failing to receive a passing grade on the NBME subject/MCQ exam, or
    3. Have less than a week of clinical work remaining in a six- or seven-week clerkship or two days remaining in a three-and-a-half-week clerkship.
  3. A student failing two or more Clerkships will be dismissed from the Larner College of Medicine for unsatisfactory performance, even if either failure has already been successfully remediated.

All unsatisfactory academic performances in the Clerkship Level will be reviewed by the Advancement Committee at its regularly scheduled meeting, provided that the meeting date is no sooner than seven days from notification of the student of the unsatisfactory performance.

Policy Elaboration

Criteria for advancement in curriculum will include a student’s academic record, including assessments (numerical grades, narrative comments) and completion of requirements).

Any failure to meet Satisfactory Academic progress in the Clerkship Level may result in referral to the Advancement Committee for review. Grounds for referral are outlined below.

Informal Review

An informal review is designed to help students develop a plan to return to Satisfactory Academic Progress before a student is escalated to a level that may be captured in a student’s permanent record. Students are expected to engage in the process actively and professionally, sharing in the goal to return the student to academic success.

The following will prompt an informal review by the Advancement Committee:

  1. Any course grades of Incomplete.
  2. Receiving a grade of fail on two or more separate clerkship medical knowledge multiple choice examination.
  3. Unsatisfactory academic progress despite a passing grade (e.g., referral for identified patterns of concern)

An informal review is appropriate when the Advancement Committee is made aware of concerns regarding a student’s academic progress as indicated above. Students will be notified of the Committee’s concerns in writing and asked to develop and submit a formal academic improvement plan to the Committee, including specific dates and timelines, outlining their plan to return to Satisfactory Academic Progress and the resources they intend to call upon. The Committee will review the student’s complete academic record and proposed written remediation plan. Where the Committee believes the student has created a comprehensive and well thought out remediation plan, the Committee will offer its endorsement and communicate that endorsement to the student in writing. If the Committee does not feel the proposed remediation plan addresses the concerns raised, they will communicate their concerns to the student in writing and ask that the remediation plan be resubmitted.

A student’s failure to respond to the Committee’s informal review notice and submit a remediation plan for endorsement may result in the Committee commencing a formal review of their academic performance. Additionally, failure of a student to successfully remediate to Satisfactory Academic Progress may result in the Committee commencing a formal review.

Procedures for an informal Advancement Committee review are outlined in 565.10 Advancement Committee Procedures and Review of Academic Performance.

Formal Review

The following will prompt a formal review by the Advancement Committee:

  1. Failure to successfully remediate to Satisfactory Academic Progress following Advancement Committee endorsement of a remediation plan
  2. A final grade of Fail for a Clerkship
  3. Subsequent indicators of unsatisfactory progress after previous referral to the Committee (e.g., additional grades of Incomplete and/or Fail)
  4. Failing a second attempt of the End of Clerkship CSE
  5. Unsatisfactory academic progress despite a passing grade (e.g., referral for identified patterns of concern)

In the case of a formal review of academic progress the Advancement Committee may require a student to take certain actions including, but not limited to, remediating/repeating one or more clerkships or the Committee may dismiss the student from the Larner College of Medicine. All procedures and rights stipulated in Policy 565.10 Advancement Committee Procedures and Review of Academic Performance apply to a formal review.

Remediation

Only the Advancement Committee can approve a course remediation plan. Remediation is considered a contract between the Course Director and the student. The remediation plan must include the following, at a minimum:

  1. Requirements the student must fulfill to achieve the course objectives. Clearly stipulated requirements may substitute for a full version of the course.
  2. Explicit dates and/or final deadline for achieving said objectives/requirements.

Students may not remediate two clerkships simultaneously.

A student is not permitted to fail a Clerkship twice; any student who is unsuccessful in a remediation addressing a final grade of fail in a Clerkship will be dismissed from the Larner College of Medicine.

Note that a student may withdraw from a clerkship in accordance with Policy 560.00 Satisfactory Academic Progress (“Course Withdrawals” section).

Applicability of the Policy

Clerkship Level Students

Related Larner College of Medicine Policies

Related University of Vermont Policies

Not Applicable

Related Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) Standard(s)

  • 8.6 Monitoring Completion of Required Clinical Experiences
  • 9.4 Assessment System
  • 9.6 Setting Standards of Achievement
  • 9.9 Student Advancement and Appeal Process

History

  • 5/20/2014 Policy Adopted/Affirmed [Medical Curriculum Committee]
  • 11/18/2014 Policy Revised [Medical Curriculum Committee]
  • 8/17/2015 Policy Revised [Medical Curriculum Committee]
  • 3/21/2017 Policy Revised [Medical Curriculum Committee]
  • 6/20/2017 Policy Revised [Medical Curriculum Committee]
  • 12/19/2017 Policy Revised [Medical Curriculum Committee]
  • 8/20/2019 Gender Neutral Language Edit [Medical Curriculum Committee]
  • 12/17/2019 Reformatted [Medical Curriculum Committee]
  • 8/18/2020 Policy Revised [Medical Curriculum Committee]
  • 2/16/2021 Policy Edited [Medical Curriculum Committee]
  • 1/17/2022 Policy Revised [Medical Curriculum Committee]
  • 9/18/2023 Policy Revised [Medical Curriculum Committee]
  • 11/21/2023 Policy Revised [Medical Curriculum Committee]
  • 12/19/2023 Policy Edit [Medical Curriculum Committee]

Policy Oversight

Assistant Dean of the Clerkship Curriculum; Associate/Assistant Dean for Students

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