Reassessment and Remediation Policy

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• Purpose

• Background

• Definitions

• Policy

  • Foundations and Integrated Themes Reassessment and Remediation

    • Maximum Pending Second Reassessments

    • Achieving Competency: Progression in the Curriculum

  • Foundations and Integrated Themes Curriculum Remediation and Reassessment Schedule

  • Applied Patient Care Skills Course Reassessment and Remediation

  • Revision

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to define the opportunities available to students to successfully pass exams previously not passed during a course or during remediation of a course within the PharmD curriculum.

Background

The UCSF PharmD curriculum is a rigorous, year-round, three-year program that by design integrates numerous disciplines and gradually builds upon what students learn through coursework that is cumulative and continually reinforced.

Students are responsible for achieving success and demonstrating competency throughout the PharmD curriculum; however, some students face challenges that result in performance that does not meet standards for competency within a course. The School will partner with students experiencing difficulty in the curriculum to provide access to academic support resources and opportunities for students to correct academic deficiencies.

Definitions

• Summative Assessment: A high-stakes assessment designed to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit in comparison to an established standard or benchmark that represents competency as established by the course director(s) and their education team.

• Reassessment: The process of repeating an assessment to demonstrate a level of competency as defined by the initial assessment. A student will be offered up to two additional opportunities according to policy (see below) to demonstrate competency through the following reassessments: Reassessment 1 (R1) and Reassessment 2 (R2).

• Foundations and Integrated Themes: The following courses are referred to in this policy as “Foundations and Integrated Themes.”

  • Foundations Theme Year 1

    • Foundations I (PharmIS 110)

  • Integrated Theme Coursework Year 1:

    • Cardiovascular Science & Therapeutics (PharmIS 111)

    • Respiratory Science & Therapeutics (PharmIS 112)

    • Renal Science & Therapeutics (PharmIS 113)

    • Gastrointestinal Science & Therapeutics (PharmIS 114)

  • Integrated Theme Coursework Year 2:

    • Endocrine Science & Therapeutics (PharmIS 116)

    • Neuroscience & Therapeutics (PharmIS 117)

    • Oncology Science & Therapeutics (PharmIS 118)

    • Infectious Disease Science & Therapeutics (PharmIS 119)

• Applied Patient Care Skills (APCS): Hands on pharmacy practice and communication skills

• Remediation: This is a process, beyond the standard course curriculum, designed to facilitate improvement in knowledge, skills and attitude of the students who are underperforming and bring them to a level of competency expected of students upon successful completion of a course.

• Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE): IPPEs are experiences within community and institutional pharmacy practice settings that involve supervised pharmacy practice and direct patient care experiences.

• Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE): APPEs are experiences within a variety of practice settings designed to enhance and refine student performance in pharmacy practice and direct patient care and to expose students to a variety of career pathways.

• Academic Leave of Absence: A School initiated academic leave of absence from the program of one year as a consequence of one of the following:

  • Not demonstrating mastery of knowledge and/or skills resulting in a “NP” grade in the Integrated Core Curriculum (Foundations, Integrated Theme, or Applied Patient Care Skills).

  • Exceeding the maximum number of allowable R2 reassessments within a Foundations or Integrated Theme.

  • Disciplinary action as a result of academic misconduct.

  • Repeated failures to demonstrate attitudes and behaviors expected from a health professional student (professionalism) as defined by Professionalism Policy.

Policy

Foundations and Integrated Themes Reassessment and Remediation

Maximum Pending Second Reassessments

• A student is eligible for a maximum of one pending second reassessment (R2) exam within each Foundations or Integrated Theme.

  A student with a pending R2 in a Foundations or Integrated Theme course who does not pass a subsequent Foundations or Integrated Theme R1 in the same Foundations or Integrated Theme course will then have two pending R2s from the same course and the following will occur:

  Example: Student has a pending R2 in foundations from summative #1; student does not pass Foundations summative #2 and takes the R1 assessment and does not pass summative #2 R1 student now has a two pending R2s.

  • The student will receive a NO PASS (NP) grade in the R2 associated Foundations or Integrated Theme course and will not continue with any R2 reassessments for the course.

  • In addition to the No Pass grades in the R2 associated Foundations or Integrated Theme course, the student will be dropped from the remaining current quarter courses that have not been completed

  • The student will not progress to the subsequent Integrated Theme and will be placed on academic leave of absence.

  • The student will be reviewed by the Sub-Committee on Student Progress. The student will be subject to the Academic Standing, Academic Notice, and Dismissal Policy and any academic plan or conditions as outlined by the Sub-Committee on Student Progress.

  • The student will re-enter the program the following year during the quarter the theme is offered to repeat and pass the Foundations or Integrated Theme and any courses that were not completed.

  • The student will be subject to the policies and procedures as posted in the Leave of Absence, Withdrawal, and Readmissions Policy.

• A student may only have a total of two pending R2 exams across Foundations or Integrated Themes during each of their first and second years (i.e., no more than two pending R2s at a time across Foundations or Integrated Themes in the P1 year and no more than two pending R2s across Integrated Themes in the P2 year).

  If a student accumulates a third pending R2 during the same year, they will have exceeded the maximum allowable pending R2s and the following will occur:

  Example: A student with has a pending R2 from summative #2 in Foundations I; student has a pending R2 from summative #1 in Cardiovascular Theme. Student then has another pending R2 from summative #2 in Cardiovascular Theme.

  • The student will receive a NO PASS (NP) grade for each R2 associated Foundations and/or Integrated Theme course and will not continue with any R2 reassessments for these courses.

  • In addition to the No Pass grades in each R2 associated Foundations and/or Integrated Theme course, the student will be dropped from the remaining current quarter courses that have not been completed.

  • The student will not progress to the subsequent theme and will be placed on academic leave of absence.

  • The student will be reviewed by the Sub-Committee on Student Progress.

  • The student will be subject to the Academic Standing, Academic Notice, and Dismissal Policy and any academic plan or conditions as outlined by the Sub-Committee on Student Progress.

  • The student will re-enter the program the following year during the quarter of the of the first theme an R2 was received to repeat and pass the Foundations or Integrated Themes and any courses that were not completed.

  • The student will be subject to the policies and procedures as posted in the Leave of Absence, Withdrawal, and Readmissions Policy.

Achieving Competency: Progression in the Curriculum

• If a student achieves competency standards on a R2 reassessment, they will progress in the curriculum and their grade will be updated to a PASS (P). See Foundations and Integrated Themes Curriculum Remediation and Reassessment Schedule for potential impact on the IPPE or APPE schedule.

• If the student does not achieve competency following a R2 exam, the student will receive a grade of NO PASS (NP) in the theme and will not progress in the curriculum and the following will occur:

  • The student will receive a NO PASS (NP) grade in the R2 associated Foundations or Integrated course.

  • If the student has progressed to the subsequent quarter, in addition to the No Pass grade in the R2 associated Foundations or Integrated Theme course, the student will be withdrawn from current quarter courses.

  • If a new quarter has not commenced, the student will not progress to the subsequent theme.

  • In both instances, the student will be placed on academic leave of absence.

  • The student will be reviewed by the Sub-Committee on Student Progress.

  • The student will be subject to the Academic Standing, Academic Notice, and Dismissal Policy and any academic plan or conditions as outlined by the Sub-Committee on Student Progress.

  • The student will re-enter the program the following year during the quarter the theme is offered to repeat and pass any courses that were not completed.

  • The student will be subject to the policies and procedures as posted in the Leave of Absence, Withdrawal, and Readmissions Policy.

• Leave of absence with outstanding reassessments:

  • A student who has a pending R2 reassessment(s) from a past quarter and is approved for a personal or medical leave may opt to participate in the remediation and reassessment for the Foundations or Integrated Theme.

  • A student who has a pending R2 reassessment(s) from a past quarter and is approved for a personal or medical leave may opt out of participating in the remediation and reassessment for the Foundations or Integrated Theme. In this case, the following will occur:

    • The student will receive a NO PASS (NP) grade in the R2 associated Foundations or Integrated course.

    • The student will be reviewed by the Sub-Committee on Student Progress.

    • The student will be subject to the Academic Standing, Academic Notice, and Dismissal Policy and any academic plan or conditions as outlined by the Sub-Committee on Student Progress.

    • The student will re-enter the program the following year during the quarter the theme is offered to repeat and pass the Foundations or Integrated Theme.

    • A student who returns from academic leave of absence and does not pass a Foundations or Integrated Theme will be referred to the Committee on Academic Standards to review a student’s progress in a manner consistent with the UCSF School of Pharmacy Policies and the UCSF Academic Senate Bylaws Appendix VII: 4.0 Step 2: In-Depth Review and Dismissal Action.

Foundations and Integrated Themes Reassessment and Remediation Schedule

In preparation for the R2 assessment, it is the student’s responsibility to work with the faculty responsible for the content they are remediating to prepare a remediation plan. The plan will include six hours of direct interactive work with the faculty as well as the work outside classroom to be dedicated to preparation for the R2 assessment. Students should expect to be remediating over breaks.

P1 Foundations and Integrated Themes Reassessments

• Foundations I and Cardiovascular Science & Therapeutics

  • R2 exams for the first-year Foundations I and the Cardiovascular Science & Therapeutics Foundations Integrated Theme will take place prior to the Respiratory Science and Therapeutics Theme, primarily during the first year Inquiry Immersion period [January].

• Respiratory Science & Therapeutics, Renal Science & Therapeutics and Gastrointestinal Science & Therapeutics Integrated Themes

  • R2 exams for the Respiratory Science & Therapeutics, Renal Science & Therapeutics and Gastrointestinal Science & Therapeutics Integrated Themes will take place during summer break (June-July).

• Students will receive a Y grade if a pending R2 is scheduled after the grading deadline for the theme. The Y grade will be updated to a PASS (P) or NO PASS (NP) depending on the outcome of the assessment.

P2 Reassessments

• All Integrated Themes:

  • R2 exams for second-year Integrated Themes (Endocrine Science & Therapeutics, Neuroscience & Therapeutics, Oncology Science & Therapeutics, Infectious Disease Science & Therapeutics) will take place during the first APPE block immediately following the Discovery Project Research period (May/June).

  • As a result, students will not be eligible to participate in the first APPE block. Therefore, a student with pending R2 exams for second-year Integrated Themes will be delayed entry into APPEs and will have a delayed graduation date.

  • Reassessment exam dates will be established to provide adequate notification to APPE programs and sites in the event a student is not eligible for APPEs.

  • Students will receive a Y grade if a pending R2 is scheduled after the grading deadline for the theme. The Y grade will be updated to a PASS (P) or NO PASS (NP) depending on the outcome of the assessment.

Applied Patient Care Skills Course Reassessment and Remediation

All students must achieve a passing score for each end of theme Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) station. For each APCS (CP 170-176), students are allowed a maximum of two (2) reassessments per station (R1 & R2 per station). Students not passing one or more R1 OSCE stations must satisfactorily complete a remediation plan set forth by the Skills Course Director. The student must complete the reassessment(s) and demonstrate competency in order to pass the course. Students not passing an R1 will receive a Y grade, and those not passing an R2 may receive a NP grade for the course pending the decision of SCSP.

Students receiving a grade of NP in a course will be required to repeat the course as outlined in the academic plan for progression in the curriculum established by the Sub-Committee on Student Progress (SCSP) and/or Committee on Academic Standards (CAS).

A first-year student can have a maximum of three (3) R2 exams in APCS courses CP 170, 171, and 172 and two (2) R2 exams in CP 173 (capstone). If a student passes an R2, it will still count towards the total number of R2s for that year. Upon notification of the third R2, the student will be referred to the SCSP for review and consideration for referral to CAS. If a student does not pass a R2 for an OSCE, the student will be referred to SCSP for review and may receive a NP grade for the course. Students must pass all the APCS courses (CP 170, 171, 172, and 173) to advance to the second year.

A second-year student can have a maximum of two (2) R2 exams (no more than 1 R2 per APCS course) in APCS courses CP 174 and 175 and two (2) R2 exams in CP 176 (capstone). If a student passes an R2, it will still count towards the total number of R2s during the year. Upon notification of the second R2, the student will be referred to the SCSP for review and consideration for referral to CAS. If a student does not pass a R2 for an OSCE, the student will be referred to SCSP for review and may receive a NP grade for the course. Students must pass all the APCS courses (CP 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, and 176) in order to begin APPEs.

R1 & R2 for first-year APCS courses CP 170 and CP 172 will occur immediately following the course according to the assessment calendar. For CP 171, R1 & R2 will occur during the first year Inquiry Immersion period. R1 & R2 for CP 173 will take place during Summer break following the Professional Readiness Week either before or after the concentrated hospital IPPE.

The R1 for second-year APCS courses (CP 174, CP 175, CP 176) will occur immediately following the course according to the assessment calendar. R2 exams will take place during the first APPE block immediately following the Discovery Project Research period. As a result, students will not be eligible to participate in the first APPE block. Reassessment exam dates will be established to provide adequate notification to APPE programs and sites in the event a student is not eligible for APPEs. R2 exams for second-year APCS courses will delay a student’s entry into APPEs and graduation date.

Revision

Approved CEPC 7/16/2018; revised 1/31/2020; revised 7/24/2020; revised July 6, 2021; revised 7/24/22; revised 12/4/24

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