Teacher Evaluations

All faculty who provide clinical teaching to medical learners are eligible to be evaluated by learners. The tool in use across Temerty Faculty of Medicine since 2021 is the Learner Assessment of Clinical Teachers (LACT) tool. This assessment tool replaces the former Teaching Evaluation Score (TES) tool.

The Learner Assessment of Clinical Teachers or LACT is a quality improvement based assessment of clinical teaching. It differs from previous processes in the following ways:

• It is harmonized across MD and PGME
• It is intended as formative feedback as opposed to high stakes assessment
• It the construct of clinical teaching effectiveness in a manner that is theoretically less biased and more aligned with the factors relevant to clinical teaching

The Temerty Faculty of Medicine (TFOM), through the Data Management & Analytics Advisory Committee (DMAAC), has developed an interactive dashboard for education leaders which allows department leadership to view and monitor individual LACT reports and aggregate teacher performance, based on site, division or program. Currently, consolidated LACT data is reported annually.

Data collected from the LACT is consolidated from both the MD (undergraduate) program and PGME (postgraduate education), and provided back to individual teachers and education leaders to inform teacher performance, both in terms of any teacher supports required or recognition for exceptional performance. It is important to note that the LACT is intended as one of multiple measures used to assess teacher performance, which can include but is not limited to reviews of classroom teaching, participation in education activities such as curriculum development, assessment information, peer review, formal/informal qualitative feedback etc.

The current threshold for generating a LACT report is a minimum of 3 LACT evaluations. As a result, not every teacher will receive a LACT report every year. Every effort is being made to protect the confidentiality of learners and encourage honest and constructive feedback to clinical teachers. LACT is reported in centralized fashion as a medium stakes source of data that can be used for promotion along with other sources of data.

Currently there are three ways that an individual faculty member can obtain their LACT report.

1. Consolidated report generated annually and sent to the faculty member directly either by Temerty Medicine or by their respective site, division or program head.
2. Faculty who teach in the MD program can review their LACT reports on MedSIS (if available)
3. Faculty who teach family medicine residents can review their LACT reports on POWER (if available). It is possible to merge years in POWER which is helpful for faculty members who teach a smaller number of learners per year.

The LACT form is also now available as an "on-demand" form on Elentra for all PGME programs and PG learners.  While completion of the LACT form in MedSIS and POWER (for MD and PGME, respectively) is required at the end of each clinical training unit or rotation, PGME learners also have the option to complete an “on-demand” LACT assessment at any time in Elentra.

The vision for the future is that assessment and evaluation will be harmonized on one platform, rather than the current state of three platforms: MedSIS, Elentra and POWER. At that time, clinical teachers will be able to log in to an online portal to retrieve their own consolidated LACT report, in accordance with reporting threshold guidelines. Online reporting would allow teachers to be able to filter and interact with reports by learner type and/or teaching site.

In general, the validity of comparisons increases with the size of the peer group, as a larger comparable group will likely include a more diverse, representative sample. For this reason, individual teachers within a department are compared to the performance of all clinical teachers in that department, rather than to a subset of teachers based in a particular division or at a particular site.

Site and Division Heads are encouraged to Identify any teachers for whom LACT indicates exceptional performance that can be used in support of (though not exclusively) for teaching awards and promotion. As well, review of LACT scores can be used with faculty during their annual review as a formative exercise.

Learners are strongly advised to report urgent and/or concerning issues using other mechanisms such as TFOM learner mistreatment disclosure and reporting pathway, reaching out to education leaders, mentors, and other support mechanisms. The LACT form has a link directly to the Learner Mistreatment resources.

 Rarely, a faculty member may receive a teaching evaluation that they feel does not appropriately represent the learner-teacher experience. Faculty members may appeal an evaluation for reasons of inaccuracy, unprofessional language, unfair judgment/bias, or mitigating circumstances. Please discuss any concerns with your local education leaders, who may forward the concern to the Vice-Chair Education.

PG and UG program directors, FD leads, and Site and Division Heads can be resources for supporting faculty members. Dr. David Rojas, Director of the Office of Assessment and Evaluation in the MD program, can assist with questions regarding the interpretation and use of LACT. The appeals and challenge process can be discussed with the Vice-Chair Education.