Policy on Curriculum Review
The Curriculum Review Subcommittee (CRS) conducts a systematic evaluation of all required courses, modules, clerkships, selectives, phases of the curriculum, and the curriculum as a whole on a regularly scheduled basis over a three-year cycle. The CRS reports to the Curriculum Committee, which is responsible for the overall design, management, and evaluation of the McGovern Medical School (MMS) curriculum. The CRS is chaired by two faculty members and is composed of both basic and clinical science faculty and medical student representatives. The CRS facilitates compliance with LCME Element 8.3 (Curricular Design, Review, Revision/Content Monitoring), which requires that the “medical education program objectives, learning objectives, content, and instructional and assessment methods are subject to ongoing monitoring, review, and revision”, and LCME Element 8.4 (Evaluation of Educational Program Objectives), which requires that “a medical school collects and uses a variety of outcome data, including national norms of accomplishment, to demonstrate the extent to which medical students are achieving medical education program objectives and to enhance the quality of the medical education program as a whole.” The curriculum review process is a component of the continuous quality improvement process for the educational program at MMS.
Short Reports:
The Office of Educational Programs creates short reports of each course, module, clerkship, and selective on an annual basis. The short reports are presented in a dashboard format based on data from the preceding academic year as appropriate for the phase of the curriculum, including student end-of-course evaluations (numerical), distribution of instructional methods, student performance on assessments, final grade distribution, compliance with duty hour policies, observation of history and physical examinations, provision of formative feedback, student completion of required experiences, compliance with the policy for timely submission of grades, and compliance with the academic workload policy. The short reports are reviewed by the CRS and presented to the Curriculum Committee for approval. They are utilized by course directors in conjunction with student feedback to create and present course previews during meetings of the Pre-Clerkship Education Subcommittee and Clinical Education Subcommittees, and to make modifications to improve courses for the subsequent year. Medical students have the opportunity and are encouraged to provide additional course feedback during both course previews and presentations of the short reports.
Comprehensive Reviews:
The CRS performs comprehensive reviews of each course, module, clerkship, and selective on a triennial basis. (All courses in one of the three phases of the curriculum are reviewed during the fall semester of each year, with the phase under review rotating annually in a repeating sequence.) The comprehensive reviews are presented in a rubric-based written format, based on a review of the components included in the short reports for the preceding three academic years, with review of additional components as appropriate for the phase of the curriculum, including course learning objectives, mapping of learning objectives and assessments to the educational program objectives, narrative student end-of-course evaluations, faculty teaching quality, availability/sufficiency of resources, comparability data, inpatient/outpatient balance, and interviews with course directors. The comprehensive reviews include recommendations from the CRS to improve the course in subsequent years. The comprehensive reviews are presented by members of the CRS and approved by the Curriculum Committee. Medical students have the opportunity to provide additional course feedback during presentations of the comprehensive reviews. If necessary, the Curriculum Committee may require course directors to submit an action plan to address course areas for improvement as identified in the comprehensive review. The Curriculum Committee is responsible for approving action plans and monitoring for timely completion.
Phase Reviews:
The CRS performs a review of one phase of the curriculum annually during the spring semester, corresponding to the comprehensive reviews performed during the preceding fall semester. The phase reviews are presented in a template-based format with both graphic and narrative descriptions, based on a review of data from throughout the phase during the preceding three academic years. The comprehensive reviews performed in the preceding semester are collated to facilitate comparison of courses and identify themes extending across courses in the phase. The phase reviews include a review of curriculum content placement, curriculum integration, and outcomes as appropriate for the phase including final course grades, performance on the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Customized Assessment Services examinations, NBME Step 1 and Step 2 examinations, NBME clerkship subject examinations, and objective structured clinical examinations. The phase reviews are presented to the Curriculum Committee, where medical students have the opportunity to provide additional feedback on the phase. Based on the identified strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement in the phase reviews, the CRS and phase educational leaders propose action plans, which are approved by the Curriculum Committee. The Curriculum Committee is responsible for monitoring for timely completion of the action plans.
Curriculum as a Whole Reviews:
The CRS performs a review of the curriculum as a whole on a triennial basis during the spring semester, corresponding to the final phase review in the three-year sequence. Comprehensive curriculum review is based on the findings of a curriculum retreat, which includes participation by educational faculty, staff, and medical students. The curriculum retreat reviews data and outcomes from throughout the curriculum to evaluate the completeness of curriculum content, curriculum horizontal and vertical integration, appropriateness of instructional methods, linkage of assessment methods to the educational program objectives, and the extent to which MMS is achieving its educational program objectives and institutional mission. The retreat participants evaluate strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement in the curriculum, and the findings are summarized in a written report. Based on the curriculum as a whole review, the CRS and educational leaders propose action plans, which are approved by the Curriculum Committee. The Curriculum Committee is responsible for monitoring for timely completion of the action plans. The findings of the comprehensive curriculum review are utilized in conjunction with the preceding comprehensive reviews and phase reviews to evaluate and make modifications to the educational program objectives for use in the subsequent three-year cycle.