"I Contest!" Taking a Critical Lens to Your Grade Appeal Process

As more measures of medical student skills and knowledge move to pass-fail, there is increased focus on clerkship grades and summative comments. Medical educators and administrators strive to ensure grades and comments are accurate, but after reviewing their grades, students may have concerns and wish to appeal. Data from the 2019 CDIM Annual Survey indicates that most clerkship directors believed that grade appeals were constant or increased over the prior three years; since then, many perceive the numbers have increased further. The effect of moving to a two-tiered grading system on grade appeals has not been well studied, but students are likely to increasingly appeal comments in a system where both the pre-clerkship and now Step I is pass-fail. Appeals are stressful and time consuming for educators, clerkship administrators, and students. During this workshop, presenters will describe factors that could contribute to grade appeals, review grade appeal processes from specific institutions, and discuss national recommendations. The audience will work together to brainstorm proactive actions that may decrease the number of appeals and spend the majority of the session performing SWOT analysis of grade appeals processes in participants clerkships and institutions. Participants will leave with a framework for proactively decreasing grade appeals and building a more robust grade appeal process at their institution.