MEASURING TEACHING - A RELATIVE VALUE SCALE IN TEACHING

Background: The teaching provided by medical school faculty members ha s not to date been measured systematically. To address this shortcomin g, we propose the Relative Value Scale in Teaching (RVST). Description : RVST assigns a relative weight to each teaching activity. Each reach er accrues relative value units (RVUs) for each teaching activity acco rding to the formula, RVU = hours x weight. Total RVUs for each teache r are then summed. Evaluation: Feedback was provided by faculty focus groups, relating the activities of diverse types of teachers to a comm on point of reference, and seeking to attain consensus among the facul ty. Conclusions: RVST provides a quantitative instrument for measuring the reaching activities of faculty. This instrument can be used for s etting teaching expectations; for promotion and tenure decisions; for compensating teachers for reaching; for balancing teaching responsibil ities among the faculty; and for distributing college funds among the departments.