Academic Standing Policy

ARC-PA 5th ed Standards A3.15a,c,d

Satisfactory academic progress must be evident and demonstrated by students in the program to continue in the program, as described in this handbook. As part of the graduate school, PA students are held to academic standards required by the graduate school. To remain in good academic standing, graduate students must maintain at least a final. course average and cumulative program average of 80%. It is the responsibility of the student to know his/her academic status. Students not in good standing may not hold elected or appointed student leadership positions.

Satisfactory Academic Standing

The status of a student who has satisfactorily met course and clinical requirements and has demonstrated appropriate professional behavior. The student must maintain at least a final course average of 80% in every course, both in the didactic and clinical phases of the program.

Academic Warning

The status of a student whose performance in an academic course or clinical rotation grade places them in jeopardy of falling below the minimum stated standards or who has exhibited inappropriate professional behavior.

• Examples include but are not limited to:
  • Scoring below 75% on three or more remediable assessments in a course.
  • Two (2) occurrences per course of late assignment submissions or failure to complete an assignment.
  • Three (3) professionalism violations per semester.
• NOTE:
  • Any professionalism violation and/or academic violation not defined above must be presented to the APC chair or designee for approval.
  • A student with repeated or egregious academic professionalism violations will be presented to the APC to consider an academic status change.

Academic Probation

The status of a student whose performance in the program has fallen below acceptable academic standards or who has exhibited unacceptable professional behavior.

• Examples include but are not limited to:
  • Students who receive a final course grade of less than 80%.
  • Cumulative program average of less than 80% at the end of any semester.
• NOTE:
  • If a clinical year student is placed on academic probation per the Academic Standing Policy, that student will remain on academic probation for the 2 SCPE blocks following the notification of probation.
  • If the student receives a final weighted average of 80% or above on those 2 SCPE blocks and satisfies any optional criteria by the PA department, the student will return to good academic standing. The optional criteria will be tailored to the specific deficiency that caused the student to receive academic probation.

Dismissal

ARC-PA 5th ed Standards A3.15a,c,d

An action whereby a student is dismissed from the GWU Physician Assistant Studies Program due to failure to adhere to program standards, including but not limited to academic, clinical, and/or professional standards. Dismissal will occur after reviewing the student’s academic and/or professional deficiency by the Academic Progression Committee. The Director makes the final determination. The Dismissal Appeal Policy can be found in Part II, Section 6, page 25 of this handbook.

• Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Cheating,
  • Plagiarism,
  • Conviction of felony,
  • Moral turpitude,
  • Positive drug & alcohol screen/violation of drug & alcohol screen/background check,
  • Course failure,
  • Three (3) final course averages below 80%,
  • Meeting criteria for probation three (3) times (if a student meets criteria for professionalism probation and academic probation in the same semester, this will be counted as two criteria),
  • Significant professional conduct violation(s),
  • Excessive absences that cause a student to miss more than 25% of class per course and lead to the student receiving an @F

Categories 3 and 4 must be disclosed to outside organizations and agencies.