Narrative Assessments for Courses and Clerkships

Authorizing Body:

Curriculum Committee

Date Issued:

July 15, 2019

Last Update:

April 21, 2025

Rationale:

To ensure that a narrative assessment that can be used for formative and summative evaluation of Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine (OUWB) student performance and is inclusive of cognitive and non-cognitive achievement is documented. This should be included as a component of the overall assessment in each required course and clerkship of the medical education program whenever teacher-student interaction meets the minimum specifications described below.

Scope and Applicability:

All students enrolled in the School of Medicine

Standard Practice Guideline:

All courses and clerkships within the OUWB School of Medicine’s M.D. Curriculum that meets the criteria for sufficient teacher-student interaction to permit this form of assessment. Sufficient teacher-student interaction for the purposes of narrative assessment is that which allows for direct observation of consistent individual student behaviors and allows for actionable feedback.

Criteria:

Narrative assessment must be provided at least once in all required courses or clerkships when:

1. The course or clerkship is of at least four (4) weeks duration AND
2. The course or clerkship involves appropriate instructional methods (e.g., SDL and variants, clinical skills, TBL teacher feedback, Embark research) and work-product assessment (e.g., student essays, presentations, clinical performance assessments, peer assessments).

Course/Clerkships less than four (4) weeks' duration are not mandated to provide narrative feedback, but are encouraged to do so if there is sufficient interaction between teacher and student, as determined by the course director.

Narrative Assessment Implementation

For each semester of the curriculum, the Curriculum Committee should identify a minimum number of courses or clerkships which will include summative and narrative assessments that become a permanent part of the student record. Each semester must include at least one (1), ideally three (3) courses or clerkships that provide students with a summative narrative paragraph.

Procedures:

Students must request a verification of Good Academic Standing from the School of Medicine, Office of Records and Registration.

Definitions:

The term “non-cognitive” is defined as those competency domains essential for physicians that are outside of the knowledge domain, specifically interpersonal and communication skills, patient care skills, practice-based learning and improvement, systems-based practice, interprofessional collaboration, professionalism, and personal and professional development.