Presented By: Kathryn Huggett, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
Co-Authors: Dana Dunne, Yale School of Medicine
John Encandela, Yale School of Medicine
Jennifer Gibson, Tulane University School of Medicine
Janet Hafler, Yale School of Medicine
Paul Haidet, Pennsylvania State College of Medicine
Jennifer Meka, University at Buffalo, Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Felise Milan, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Shayna Minosky, Kwantlein Polytechnic University
Christopher Mooney, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Jesse Moore, Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont
Sandra Oza, Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center
Daniel Pratt, University of British Columbia
Sheira Schlair, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Purpose
Student evaluation of teaching assumes that students can assess quality, regardless of their perspectives toward particular styles of teaching. In this project, we sought to understand potential pedagogical perspectives among students using a modified version of a well-validated measure of teachers' educational styles (the TPI, available at www.teachingperspectives.com), and to compare them to perspectives of faculty nominated for teaching excellence. 

Methods
We recruited 642 students from the 2nd- and 4th-year classes at 7 medical schools (Yale, Einstein, U Vermont, Penn State U, SUNY-Buffalo, Tulane, U Rochester) to complete the student-TPI, which directed them to respond to 45 items while thinking of a specific teacher that they found particularly effective in the past 6 months. Student-TPI scores are classified into five teaching perspectives (transmission, apprenticeship, developmental, nurturing, social reform). Individuals can have a combination of perspectives, but most have one dominant perspective. We distributed the teacher version of the TPI to 167 faculty named by the students. We compared student perspectives between 2nd and 4th year students, and to those of faculty. 

Results 
The most common perspective among students was apprenticeship (29%), with nurturing second most common (18%). 4th-year students had proportionately higher apprenticeship, and lower transmission. Apprenticeship (28%) and Nurturing (23%) were most common among clerkship faculty, whereas Nurturing (27%) and Developmental (15%) were common among pre-clerkship faculty. A sizable proportion of students (36%) and faculty (35%) did not demonstrate a dominant perspective. 

Conclusions 
This study provides valuable initial insights on students' perspectives of excellent teaching, how those perspectives evolve over the medical school experience, and what perspectives are prevalent among teachers identified by students as outstanding. Mismatches between students' and teachers' perspectives could be a potential hidden driver of student evaluation data, confounding their ability to reflect teaching effectiveness.