Policy Statement
All faculty and staff in the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy (SoP) are committed to student success, and therefore have a strong desire for all students to perform well academically. In rare and specific circumstances, academic remediation may be the optimal strategy to employ in order to ensure students achieve competency in required course material and to minimize the disruption of their progress through the PharmD curriculum.
Remediation is defined as a way of addressing unsatisfactory performance in the overall course (final letter grade of F) and is an opportunity for students to demonstrate improvement and satisfactory performance in course content without having to repeat the course. Remediation is a privilege given to students with regular course attendance and participation, and is predicated upon active and complete cooperation with any warnings or interventions.
Academic remediation is not intended to allow students to progress through the curriculum without adequate knowledge of required course material. It also is not a means to allow students to enroll in courses without demonstrating competency in prerequisite material. The SOP recognizes that remediation may not be appropriate for students who have performed unsatisfactorily in multiple content areas within a course or multiple courses within a semester. This policy is intended to promote communication about student progress among the student, faculty, and advisor, and is intended to promote transparency and clarify procedures to address substandard performance. By having a clear and consistent remediation policy, the SOP can ensure all students’ progression through the PharmD program appropriately reflects adequate competence and proficiency.
This policy is intended to comply with Standard 17.1 of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education’s (ACPE) Standards 2016 on student progression and unsatisfactory performance in the PharmD curriculum.
Restrictions
The Remediation Policy applies to all required didactic PharmD courses not including elective courses.
Students with a final letter grade of “D” or better are not eligible to use remediation in an attempt to improve their grade in a course.
Students may remediate only one course during their enrollment in the PharmD program.
If a student in the BS in Pharmacology and Toxicology program is enrolled in a course required of PharmD students, the student must be offered course remediation under the same circumstances and standards as a PharmD student.
Procedures
The course coordinator is the final arbiter of course grades.
Remediation is applicable to students who would have typically earned an “F” in the course. Only students who are otherwise in good academic standing are eligible for remediation. PharmD students intermediate fail “IF” grade will be used as a temporary placeholder grade used when course-level deficiencies can be remediated in place of repeating the entire course. Pharmacology and Toxicology students will receive an initial grade of F as campus does not allow “IF” grades for undergraduate students. Course coordinators are empowered to issue “IF” grades as appropriate for the circumstances but must do so uniformly to all students in their course. Suggested thresholds for a grade of “IF “ are:
- A final course score that is between 2 to 2.5 Standard Deviations (SD) below the mean for the class as a whole.
- Two or more midterm/exam scores that are each between 2 to 2.5 SDs below the mean for the class as a whole
Other considerations include:
- When issuing the “IF” grade, the course coordinator shall establish the remediation plan, including the assessment method, benchmark for successful remediation, and a timeframe for completion.
- The assessment method used in the remediation plan may differ from the assessment method used in the course (e.g., oral vs. written exam). The remediation assessment method is at the discretion of the course coordinator, but the method (eg. written vs verbal) must be applied uniformly to all remediated students in the course. (Exceptions may exist for students with accommodations.) If remediation is based upon specific areas of deficiency, it is understood that questions posed to one student may differ from another student.
- The timing of the remediation assessment is at the discretion of the course coordinator.
- The remediation plan must be completed within the academic year in which the student took the course. For first or second-year courses, this allows remediation to occur up to the start of the subsequent fall semester.
- The remediation plan for a third-year course must be in place no later than the end of Block 1 and completed by the end of Block 2 of the APPEs.
- The course coordinator must submit a written remediation plan to the student, the student’s advisor, and the chair(s) of the Student Promotion and Academic Review Committee. This must be done no later than 7 business days after semester grades are submitted, but would ideally be done sooner, even before the end of the instructional period.
- Students must indicate in writing that they accept or reject the proposed remediation plan. The remediation plan is then filed by the student’s advisor in PharmD Remediation Box folder.
- Students who reject the offer of remediation will retain their initial assessment scores and will earn their original failing grade of “F” for the course. Students who earn an “F” in any required PharmD course are required to repeat the course according to the Student Promotion Policy and Procedures.
- A student has only one attempt (typically a re-examination) to remediate per course.
- If upon re-examination the student’s performance still falls below a minimally acceptable level, a permanent grade of “F” will be issued.
- If the student successfully meets remediation expectations, the course coordinator will change the final course grade to “D.” No grade higher than a “D” can be earned with remediation.
- All students who are issued an “IF” grade, regardless of the outcome of their remediation attempt, will be required to meet with the Student Promotion and Academic Review Committee (SPARC). Any student who earns a D or F in a course is issued a Must Obtain Permission To Continue (MOPTC) academic action and must appear before SPARC to be considered for continued enrollment in the school.
Responsibility Checklists
Student
- Communicate with course coordinator about eligibility for remediation and to establish plans for remediation activities
- Meet with the Student Promotion and Academic Review Committee (SPARC) to request permission to continue in the program
- Meet with advisor during subsequent semesters to review academic progress
- Seek assistance in future course content that builds upon remediated material
- Maintain all standards for continuation set by SPARC in order to return to good academic standing
Advisor
- Verify the student’s eligibility for a remediation attempt
- Monitor final course grades for “IF” grades and remediation attempts
- Retain copy of written remediation plan agreed upon by course coordinator and student and remediation outcomes
- Meet with students who received “IF” grades to discuss their progress in the PharmD program
- Share trends in remediation attempts with the Assessment Committee and Student Promotion and Academic Review Committee
Course Instructors
- Include information about the course remediation policy in the course syllabus
- Develop the remediation plan (typically a re-examination) and distribute it to the student, copying the class advisor
- Confirm with IIT that the student has access to the course material
- Coordinate the administration and grading of the remediation assessment
- Submit an official grade change from “IF” to “D” if the student passes the remediation assessment, or “F” if the student does not pass the assessment
- Inform the Vice-chair of SPARC (Rebecca Beebe) of the student’s grade change
Assistant Dean of Assessment and Academic Planning
- Maintain Outcome Tracker records to provide information on student’s previous performance when requested
- Monitor the progression of students who were granted remediation
- Communicate progression trends to the Assessment and Curriculum Committees
Assessment, Curriculum, Student Promotion and Academic Review Committees
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the Early Warning and Intervention and Remediation Policies
Approved by Assessment Committee May 30, 2018.
Revised and Approved May 17, 2022.