School of Medicine Division of Evaluation

The School of Medicine is committed to evaluation and providing faculty and administration with timely feedback in order to refine and improve the MD curriculum. The agency which accredits medical school programs in the United States, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), requires such curriculum evaluation.

For example, one of LCME’s requirements is that: “To guide program improvement, medical schools must evaluate the effectiveness of the educational program by documenting the extent to which its objectives have been met.” (ED-46)

The Division of Evaluation in the Office of Medical Education (OME) is responsible for overall evaluation of the Stanford MD curriculum. Our mission is to provide rigorous, independent, and timely information for curricular decision making in the School of Medicine.

Using Data to Inform Decision Making

The Division of Evaluation collects quantitative and qualitative data on curriculum and supporting activities in order to inform decision making at all levels in the School.

Curriculum and Student Evaluations

We review components of the curriculum including Pre-Clerkship; Clerkship; Scholarly Concentration; and Reflections, Research, and Advances in Patient Care (RRAP). In addition, we value student course feedback as being critical to informed decision making. Student course evaluations are also required by LCME.

For example, “In assessing program quality, schools must consider student evaluations of their courses and teachers, and an appropriate variety of outcome measures." (ED-47)

Supporting Activities

We conduct program evaluations and other evaluation-supporting activities including assessing academic advising, student wellness, Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE), proposed new efforts such as Educators-4-CARE, educational techologies (ranging from the CWP to simulations), and teaching and learning. We collect and report on data including: Graduation Questionnaire results, STEP 1 and 2 scores, Residency Directors' Assessment of Stanford PGY-1 Alumni, and long-term Alumni views.

Division of Evaluation staff members fulfill other responsibilities including chairing the Clerkship Evaluation Committee and conducting follow-up site visits to clerkship sites. Our range of primary evaluation activities and responsibilities is presented below: