MD Program
Assessment
Our approach to assessment is holistic and ensures that students are assessed, monitored and supported in ways that promote excellence in medical education and contribute to their professional growth. Importantly, the assessments used in our program are integrated across all three years of the MD program and support each student鈥檚 individual developmental trajectory.
We want to engage students in their own learning, promote deliberate practice and provide frequent feedback. The program emphasizes fairness, transparency and responsiveness, with a structured process for identifying and supporting each student鈥檚 academic success.
Progression
We assess students鈥� progression towards:
- The MD program competencies, which are mapped to and .
- Yearly milestones, which outline developmental expectations at the end of each year.
- Entrustable professional activities (EPAs), which are integrated throughout clinical training.
Overall, this framework ensures coherence across assessments, learning outcomes and students鈥� advancement from admission to residency.
Purpose and functions
The MD program of assessment serves to:
- Guide student learning through continuous, timely and actionable feedback.
- Monitor competency development and readiness for residency.
- Ensure fairness and consistency in decision-making for progression.
- Identify at-risk students early and offer targeted support.
- Support career exploration and planning through alignment of assessments with clinical experiences.
Key features
Assessment design
- Assessment provides many low stakes opportunities for students to understand their progress across the program. Assessment takes many forms, including written exams, standardized clinical exams, workplace-based assessments and portfolios. This mix will generate a holistic summary of a student鈥檚 progression towards the MD program competencies and year-level milestones.
- All students are paired with a portfolio coach who will help students navigate learning environments, understand progress, set goals and develop individualized learning plans.
- Online dashboards allow students to track performance, reflect and set goals in real-time.
Feedback and support
- Timely feedback is a core design principle and is scheduled and monitored to occur at a frequency that allows students to guide their own learning.
- Supportive targeted skills development is available through structured learning plans, faculty support and resources such as the Academic Success Team (AST).
Oversight and progression decision-making
- All progression decisions and assessments are grounded in clearly articulated policies, ensuring equity, consistency and transparency of the process.
- The Competency Review Advisory Group (CRAG) is a faculty grading panel that conducts holistic reviews three times during an academic year.
- The UGME Progression and Competency Committee (UPCC) makes all final decisions regarding student progression and remediation.
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