8.8 Academic Grading Policy

Purpose and Scope

The determination of the final grade is the prerogative of the responsible block, course, or clerkship director and should be based on established criteria that are congruent at all sites offering the block, course, or clerkship. For each grade level, criteria are established by the leadership responsible for the block, course, or clerkship and should be outlined in the syllabus, on the relevant website, or through other materials distributed to the student. The philosophy underpinning the determination of grades is criterion-referenced assessment, such that if a student achieves the criteria specified, the student receives that grade. This means that all or none of the students could achieve a given grade.

Each block, course, or clerkship is expected to have an established process for gathering information, such as test scores, formative and summative comments, and notation of performance or professional conduct concerns, if applicable. The block, course, or clerkship director has overall responsibility for ensuring that assessments of students are submitted on time by all faculty, teaching assistants, residents, etc., who are designated to teach and assess the students prior to the final grade being determined.

The Associate and Assistant Deans for Curriculum work in collaboration with block, course, thread, and clerkship directors, as well as regional deans, to oversee compliance across all courses.

Policy Statement

Assignment of Grades

The assignment of grades is the prerogative of the block, course, and clerkship directors, who are responsible for the final assessment of the student’s performance. No grade-point average is assigned under the School of Medicine grading system.

In order to receive the MD degree, students must receive a grade of pass or higher in all courses for which they register for in the medical school curriculum that are required for graduation.

Students must receive a grade of pass or higher in all courses and curriculum components used to fulfill requirements for the MD degree. Students must also pass the minimum number of weeks credit for each curriculum component required for graduation. In the event that a student fails a course or component that is required for the MD degree, the student must either successfully complete the same course or successfully complete a different course that meets the same graduation requirement (e.g., remediation course).

Foundations Phase

Students must demonstrate competency of thread content in the Foundations Phase. The competency designation indicates that the student completed all thread requirements at or above the minimum standards of performance. This designation does not appear on the student’s official transcript; however, for students that need to remediate threads, the remediation course will be on the transcript and the initial deficiency will be noted on the MSPE.

Clinical Phases

The grading criteria for achieving each grade level will be specified in the course syllabus or website. Qualification for Honors may require additional criteria or coursework, such as completion of a paper, which is subject to determination by the department responsible for the clerkship. If completion of additional criteria or coursework is required for achievement of an Honors grade, all requirements must be completed and submitted by no later than the last day of the course.

Final grade forms for clerkships contain assessments of clinical and professional development; these are termed Evaluator Concerns. Students with a pattern of receiving Evaluator Concerns across clerkships may be reviewed by Student Progress Committee.

Grade Submission

All grades and evaluations must be submitted to the School of Medicine’s Registrar’s Office within the required timeline:

  • Foundations Phase: Grades are posted to Canvas and submitted to the UW Registrar’s Office no later than 5 PM Pacific Time on the Tuesday following the last day of the quarter, as per the UW Academic Calendar. If the block/course ends after this deadline, grades should be posted as soon as possible.
  • Clinical Phases: Clerkship grades are to be reported to the student within four weeks and never more than six weeks after the end of the clerkship, as per LCME standards.

 

If a student requests and is granted an Incomplete designation for a course, the Incomplete should be submitted on the above timeline.

Requirements, Procedures and Guidelines

Required Clerkships

The following are requirements for grading of required clerkships:

  • Required clerkships must use a weighted grading system where various assessment components are given a percentage weight towards the final grade (e.g., Clinical assessment 80%, NBME exam 20%).
  • The maximum percentage weight that an exam can contribute to the final grade is 50%.
  • Clerkships cannot use an exam score threshold to determine who can receive a final grade of Honors.

Definitions

Grading Practices

The grading practices for the MD degree program are described in UW policy SGP 110 Grades, Honors, and Scholarship.

Failing Grades

A Fail grade indicates that a student has not achieved the minimum standards of performance in a course. Fail grades appear on the student’s official transcript and Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE). Students that fail courses are reviewed by the Student Progress Committee as per their policies, principles, and guidelines.

Incomplete Designation

The Incomplete designation is not a grade, but a temporary designation. This designation may only be granted under specific circumstances, as outlined in the policies below:

Grade Appeals

Students have the ability to appeal their grades and/or evaluative comments as per the Academic Grievance and Appeal Policy.

Related Policies

Effective: Current
Last updated: October 06, 2025
Policy Contact: UW School of Medicine, Curriculum Office, somgov@uw.edu; Education Quality Improvement Office, eqi@uw.edu