Assessing the Implementation of Teaching Portfolios in the Academic Medical Center

Summary

Systems for documentation, review, and evaluation of research and publications for purposes of appointment, promotion and tenure review are well established in the academy. Comparable procedures for review and evaluation of educational contributions by faculty, however, are neither widely accepted nor strongly supported by empirical data with regard to their validity, reliability, efficacy, and acceptability. Duke University School of Medicine’s current initiative to develop and assess the use of teaching portfolios incorporates an evaluation component designed to illuminate these issues. Data gathered from group discussions, attitude surveys, observations, and interviews, are used to assess the relative value placed on teaching in the current clinical climate and to inform internal discussions and decisions with regard to documenting and evaluating the educational contributions of clinical faculty. Preliminary data reveal strong support among the academic leadership for development of empirically based, faculty validated methods for assessing the quality of teaching and learning, and explication of standards that accommodate the unique dimensions of clinical teaching. However, the data also reveal extraordinary pressures on clinical faculty to minimize engagement in teaching, an insufficient infrastructure to support appropriate documentation of educational quality, and the emergence of conflicts between the extrinsic economic reward system and the intrinsic valuing of teaching by faculty. Institutional responses to the current economic environment conflict with the fundamental educational mission of the academic medical center, creating significant challenges to faculty who chose academic medicine for its educational focus, and who desire recognition and validation of those activities.