Student Assessments and Program Evaluation Subcommittee (SAPESC)

1: General

The following Bylaws govern the organization and procedures of the Assessments Committee (SAPESC) at St. George’s University School of Medicine. The SAPESC is a faculty committee responsible for overseeing and ensuring a coherent and coordinated program of assessments aligned with the outcome objectives of the SOM.

2: Authority

The SAPESC is a standing subcommittee of the Curriculum Committee, a delegated committee reporting to the dean of the SGU SOM and has accountability for oversight of a list of activities as outlined in the Charges section.  

3: Reporting 

The Assessments Committee reports to and provides recommendations to the Curriculum Committee. The chair of this subcommittee will serve on the Curriculum Committee as a non-voting member.

4: Charge

The SAPESC is charged with the following responsibilities:

1. Oversee the design, delivery, integration, management, development, evaluation, and overall quality of the assessments within the MD program.
2. Approve and recommend to the dean of the Medical School approval of new and amended assessments for the educational program as a whole (MD Program Objectives).
3. Ensure that the assessments are guided by the principles of transparency, validity, reliability and authenticity.
4. Approve and recommend to the dean of the Medical School all policies relating to assessments and the process of assessment delivery in the curriculum.
5. Review and monitor performance outcomes of assessments, e.g., difficulty indexes, point by serial, credited questions, reliability indexes, score frequency histograms.
6. Review and monitor performance of assessments across sites.
7. Monitor the assessment environment to ensure assessments occur in a secure, environment that gives all students parity in their opportunities.
8. Promote innovations and oversee assessment revisions/reform.
9. Report assessments findings to the Curriculum Committee to inform curricular development.
10. Establish an overall assessments calendar.
11. Charge ad hoc groups as needed.

5. Guiding Principles

1. Governance procedures are consistent with the mission of SGU SOM.
2. The governance process encourages continuous improvement of the assessments used in the MD program.
3. All SOM students have access to an equivalent curriculum designed to align with the MD program objectives, and the learning objectives defined for each course and clerkship.
4. Processes leading to decision-making are based on open discussion, transparency, shared governance, and iterative consensus-building.

6: Membership

1. Expectation of members:  Members are appointed by the dean to ensure broad representation of the SOM, members have the responsibility to function as “members of the whole,” working to optimize the assessments within the curriculum, rather than to represent the interests of a particular constituency.
2. Faculty:  The SAPESC consists of 10 appointed faculty members.
3. Administrators: The SAPESC includes two administrators: an assistant/associate dean of basic sciences and an assistant/associate dean of clinical studies.
4. Terms:  Faculty committee members will serve three-year terms.  Members may serve two consecutive terms.  No person will serve more than two terms.
5. Appointment of faculty members:  Appointment of faculty will be by the dean of the School of Medicine.
6. Resignation: In the event that an elected committee member chooses to step down from the SAPESC prior to the completion of their term, their replacement will be appointed by the dean of the SOM.
7. Possible replacement for absenteeism: Members who miss at least three of the committee meetings in a six-month period (or more than 50% of the meetings held in that time period) may be dismissed from the SAPESC. Their replacement will be appointment by the dean of the SOM.

7: Procedures

1. Meetings:
   1. Meetings of the SAPESC will be called once a month by the chair.
   2. Each committee meeting will be chaired by the Chair.
   3. The SAPESC will meet at least once a month for a minimum of ten months a year.
   4. The Chair of the committee may petition the Curriculum Committee to invite other members of the SGU faculty, support services, staff and students to serve as ex-officio non-voting members or as guests. 
2. Parliamentary authority: The conduct of meetings will be governed by Robert’s Rules of Order.
   1. Recommendations will be passed by 2/3 majority. 
3. Voting 
   1. Voting members: Voting members are the appointed faculty members designated to vote.
   2. Quorum: A quorum will be considered to be half + one or greater of the voting members.

8: Communications, records and approval

1. The chairs of the SAPESC will be responsible for ensuring that administrative staff keep accurate records of all meetings. Minutes of the meetings will be posted on the curriculum Sakai site within two weeks of the meeting.
2. The Chair of the SAPESC will send the minutes of the SAPESC to the Chair of the Curriculum Committee within two weeks of the last SAPESC meeting and summarize any proposals that need Curriculum Committee ratification.
3. All decisions and recommendations made by the SAPESC will be kept in the Curriculum Committee Sakai site, and access to all SAPESC and Curriculum Committee members will be provided.