GRADING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
The Pediatric Junior Clerkship uses a 10-point grading scale to determine your final letter grade.
 | A = 90-100 |
| B = 80-89 |
| C = 70-79 |
| F = 0-69 |
There will NOT be a curve in this course this year!!
The average grade in this course is a "B".
Determination of
Final Pediatric Clerkship Grade 
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Subjective/Clinical |
40% |
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10% |
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P/F* |
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10% |
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10% |
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5% | ||
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5% |
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P/F* |
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P/F* |
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Objective/Academic |
60% |
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2% |
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5% |
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4% | ||
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4% |
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10% |
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10% | ||
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25% |
*If the P/F assignments are not satisfactorily completed ("Pass") by the last day of your clerkship, your final grade will be decreased by 5% for each incomplete assignment.
Failure to complete all clerkship assignments by the end of the rotation, will result in a reduction of the overall grade for the clerkship by 5 percent.
Click on
each to see the criteria/form used for grading.
Each student must have satisfactory performance in ALL of the 3 core measures (Knowledge, Skills and Professionalism) to receive a passing grade for the course.
Scores of 1 (out of 5) or multiple scores of 2 (out of 5) in areas of behavior and professionalism are subject to reporting to the Committee on Student Professionalism at the discretion of the Pediatric Education Committee.
Continued unsatisfactory performance or scores of 1’s in any area of the clinical evaluation (Knowledge, Skills or Professionalism) may result in failure of the course and is at the discretion of the Pediatric Education Committee.
If any portion of the clerkship (inpatient wards, outpatient clinics, newborn nursery/subspecialty clinics) is not completed satisfactorily, your performance will be reviewed by the Pediatric Education Committee. This committee will outline specific remediation requirements on a case-by-case basis. You will receive a grade of “I” (incomplete) until remediation is satisfactorily completed.
If a student fails either the clinical or academic portions of the clerkship, then he/she will receive an “F” for the clerkship and be referred to the Junior Medical Student Promotions Committee.
A. General Outpatient Pediatric Clinic
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10% of your total clinical/subjective grade in this course will be earned from your performance in the outpatient clinic.
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| 2% of your academic/objective grade will come from a test on the assigned reading (Case Files, the supplemental pages from Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics, car seats and 2008 Immunizations. | ||||||||
| 5% of your academic/objective grade will come from your Seminar presentation given the 2nd Tuesday of your clinic portion of the clerkship. |
B. Newborn Nursery
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10% of your total clinical/subjective grade in this course will be earned from your clinical performance in the newborn nursery.
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| 4% of your academic/objective grade will be earned from you performance on your Observed Physical Examination in the newborn nursery. This exam will be observed by Dr. D. Bienvenu or Ms. Julian, NNP, during the 2nd week of the newborn nursery portion of the clerkship. | ||||||||||
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C. Pediatric Ward
| 20% of your total clinical grade in this course will be earned from your
performance on the Pediatric Ward.
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| 10% of your academic/objective grade will come from a quiz on the assigned cases from Case Files and the Sickle Cell article while on the Pediatric ward. |
D. Journal Club and EBM Conference
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10% of your academic/objective grade will be derived from your participation in Journal Club and EBM Conference on Wednesday afternoons. |
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"Fail" on this evaluation will require remediation. |
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"Fail" even after remediation will result in referral to the Pediatric Education Committee and notification of Dr. Platt. |
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You are expected to actively participate in all discussions and teaching sessions. |
E. Final Exam
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25% of your academic/objective grade will be derived from your raw score on the National Board of Medical Examiners subject exam in Pediatrics and will be given on the last Friday of the Pediatric Block. |
| You will have 2 hours to complete this 100-question test. |
If a student is absent for the final exam due to illness, injury, etc. he/she is required to call 675-7536 and leave a message AND submit a valid doctor's excuse to the Clerkship Director immediately upon returning to school. A make-up exam will be arranged through the Clerkship Director.
The lowest passing score for the Pediatrics Subject Exam is a raw score of 57 (National Mean - 2 SD). Any student scoring below 57 will be reported to Dr. Platt's office and must repeat the examination. The student will receive a "C" in the course if (s)he passes the exam on the second attempt.
If the student fails to score 57 or above on the repeat exam, the matter will be referred to the Junior Medical Student Promotions Committee.
F. Course Letter Grade
A 10-point grading scale will be used to determine your final letter grade.
| A = 90-100 |
| B = 80-89 |
| C = 70-79 |
| F = 0-69 |
The average grade in this course is a "B".
Method of Feedback
Also, Grade Book will be updated periodically by the course director. Each student can track his/her progress by reviewing Grade Book.
However, if a student is not “on task” or is doing poorly in the course, a formal meeting between the student and course directors will occur. A course of action will be discussed and implemented to rectify the problem, if at all possible.
Dr. Cedotal, or her designee, will review your progress with you (one-on-one) at the end of the 1st week in the PACC/Access as needed or as requested by the student.
Attendings on the ward will review your progress with you at the end of the 2nd week on the Pediatric ward. You will also receive daily feedback on rounds.
Dr. D. Bienvenu or Ms. Julian will review your progress with you frequently during your Nursery rotation.
Ward attendings and residents will document the student's clinical skills on the clinical evaluation form in My Evaluations. The form is standardized for all junior clinical clerkships at LSUHSC -Shreveport . The Clinical Evaluation Form includes three general areas for evaluation: knowledge, skills and professionalism. Students will be assigned a numerical score ranging from 1 to 5. The grades, associated percent scores and a brief description of the criteria used to assign scores are shown in the table below:
| 5 | 100 | A+ - Best student on my service in the last 2 years – performs at the level of my junior residents |
| 4 | 90 | A - Excellent performance – exceeds expectations – clearly better than average |
| 3 | 80 | B - Solid performance - meets my expectations of a junior student’s performance |
| 2 | 70 | C - Marginal performance - meets minimum competency but requires improvement |
| 1 | <70 | F - Failure - performance is unacceptable |
Students MUST obtain an average score of at least 2 in each category (knowledge, skills and professionalism) in all portions of the rotation. If this requirement is not met, the student will be required to repeat that portion of the rotation OR the student may receive a grade of F (Failure) for the clerkship depending upon the reason for failure to meet minimum competency.
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Clinical scores will be mathematically transformed to a number which can be assigned a letter grade. Conversion of scores will be performed as follows: scores received for all areas (knowledge, skills and professionalism) will be averaged to obtain a number between 1 and 5, called the Averaged Clinical Score or ACS. | ||||||
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The converted score will be calculated from the ACS as follows:
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Thus, an ACS of 1 results in a grade of 60, an ACS of 2 results in a grade of 70 etc. When the ACS is not a whole number, the fractional component will be interpolated using the formula. | ||||||
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The grades obtained will be interpreted by the usual scale (A = 90 to 100, B = 80 to 89, C = 70 to 79, and F = < 70). | ||||||
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Note about MyEvaluations.com grading:
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Availability of Counseling/Tutoring
If the student should have any difficulty, either physically or emotionally, then the director of the clerkship will meet with the student on an individual basis and attempt to accommodate the student or resolve the issue, if possible. If this is not possible then Dr. Platt, Dean of Student Affairs, will be consulted and a plan will be devised to assist the student in the successful completion of the block. Special assistance on an individual basis should accomplish this. This could mean assistance in a physical manner with special adaptations if the student is physically handicapped. Also if the student is emotionally handicapped, frequent monitoring of the student along with conferences with the student and if necessary his physician will occur. Of course, the Pediatrics Education Committee will be kept abreast of all issues and will have to be in agreement.