Clerkship director "wrecking" evals

[NotAProgDirector]

I just finished a clerkship in X. I did very well, and received top marks from my clinical faculty across the board. Part of the evaluation for the clerkship is a shelf exam. The shelf exam was on a Friday, and it just so happened that a set of required lectures were scheduled the day before. As I was panicking about the shelf, I opted to stay in the library and study instead of attend the required lecture. I ended up honoring the shelf exam and clinical criteria set forth in the "grading policies" section of our school's student handbook.

Unfortunately The lecture happened to be given by the clerkship director, and when she discovered I wasn't in attendance, she went ballistic. She manually changed the grading submitted by 7 clinical instructors from near-perfection to slam me in any category that she felt relevant. She also entered comments in the free response section that seemed to be made intentionally as damning as possible. Things like "terrible educational attitude", and "not fit for clinical duties", going out of her way to encourage that this feedback be used in the dean's letter. Keep in mind that this person has never observed me clinically, or even met me. I've approached deans for feedback, but their only input is that it's "her clerkship". I don't know what to do. I poured my heart and soul into this rotation, everyone I worked with knew this and graded accordingly, and now I have this one person who somehow has the power to throw everything out the window, including the stated grading criteria, in favor of whatever evaluation she sees fit.

I'm not really sure that to do at this point. My s.o encourages me to "lawyer up" as she thinks this represents defamation or breach of contract of some sort. There is no mention in either the student handbook or the grading criteria for the clerkship of this type of situation, and the things she wrote are both out of context and completely misquoted.

What should I do?

Not going to a required part of your rotation because you've decided that your time is better spent elsewhere is unacceptable. You took study time that others couldn't take (because they were at the lectures). It is totally reasonable for your clerkship director to be upset, and for that to be reflected in your grade.

It is not acceptable for your CD to edit evaluations, and/or selectively misquote them to change the tenor of your evaluations. That's simply mean and petty.

So, what to do?

I think your best plan to ask for a meeting with the clerkship director ASAP. At that meeting, you will apologize profusely and repeatedly. You will state that it will not happen again, and that you have learned your lesson. If you came to me with this, I would ask you "So what do you think would be a reasonable outcome to this situation?". And your answer would be...? (I am happy to tell you what I think, but only after you state what you think).

There is another choice: to contest it. If the CD summary doesn't match your evaluations, you might be able to appeal this. Depend on what type of structure your school has, and what the rules state. This is an irreversible decision. You may make things much, much worse.

We'll see what others chime in with.

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[Siggy]

I think your best plan to ask for a meeting with the clerkship director ASAP. At that meeting, you will apologize profusely and repeatedly. You will state that it will not happen again, and that you have learned your lesson. If you came to me with this, I would ask you "So what do you think would be a reasonable outcome to this situation?". And your answer would be...? (I am happy to tell you what I think, but only after you state what you think).

There is another choice: to contest it. If the CD summary doesn't match your evaluations, you might be able to appeal this. Depend on what type of structure your school has, and what the rules state. This is an irreversible decision. You may make things much, much worse.

We'll see what others chime in with.

I would also advise you to read your clerkship manual prior to going and talking to the clerkship director. My school's manual makes it very clear that we cannot contact preceptors over grades once the grade has been submitted. "Grade grubbing" at my school results in an automatic failure and referral to the Student Performance Committee. An official challenge through the clinical education department is the only route to appeal a clinical evaluation grade.