Events that Result in Review by SPC

All fail grades are reviewed by SPC, including fails in blocks, courses, and clerkships. The block, course, or clerkship director who assigned the fail grade submits information about the student’s performance in their curricular component to SPC via the ADSA and/or the SPC chair. 

All students receiving this designation in a thread are reviewed by SPC. The thread director who assigned the designation submits information about the student’s performance in that thread to SPC via the ADSA and/or the SPC chair. 

The ADSA and the registrar receive fail grades on Step 1, Step 2-CK, and Step 2-CS from USMLE and bring them to SPC for review. Additionally, students who have not taken Step 1 within 1 year of completing Foundations Phase will be reviewed. 

The OSCE Medical Director will notify SPC of students who fail to successfully complete Foundations 2 or Patient Care OSCE. 

Evaluator concerns are internal designations. Evaluator concerns are submitted by course and clerkship directors within student evaluations and are reviewed by the ADSA. The ADSA will report evaluator concerns to SPC when the student has additional academic and/or professionalism concerns, or if there is a pattern of evaluator concerns. 

A student who must leave a block, course, or clerkship due to illness or a personal emergency may be granted an “incomplete” by the ADSA. This is not a grade and is intended to be cleared within a short time frame. SPC will review all incompletes and will determine a timeline for the incomplete to be cleared. If the student does not meet the deadline, the incomplete will convert to a Fail. 

A student who must leave a block, course, or clerkship due to illness, personal emergency, or because they have been placed on leave of absence, will receive a grade of “withdrawal” when permitted by the appropriate Foundations Dean or clerkship director. Students are not allowed to withdraw to avoid failing a block, course, or clerkship. A student who does not complete a course and does not have permission to withdraw will be assigned a grade of fail. All course withdrawals are reported to SPC. 

Students must consult with the ADSA and the registrar before petitioning the University to convert their course withdrawal to a hardship withdrawal. 

Issues of unprofessional behavior or conduct, whether within the educational environment or in the community, may be reviewed by SPC for discussion and determination of the appropriate course of action after completion of a misconduct review process. Details of Policy on Professional Conduct and Standards of Conduct and Professional Behavior may be found in the Student Handbook on pages 29-34. 

When an alleged violation of UWSOM’s academic and professionalism standards occurs, the ADSA manages the investigation in accordance with the UWSOM Guidelines for Managing Alleged Violations of Academic and Professionalism Standards. If a violation is confirmed after an informal or formal hearing, SPC will review the report(s) on the matter and will determine appropriate remediation and/or sanction. Review of such findings is part of SPC’s academic review process.