[Comparison of school trajectories as a complement in the evaluation of curricula changes]

Analyze the effect of curricular changes introduced at the beginning of the 2004-2005 academic year on the trajectory of students attending the School of Medicine at the UASLP.

We compared the academic trajectories of the first four years of undergraduate studies among a cohort of students (1999-2004) and analyzed the following indicators: dropout, failure, promotion, academic performance, and terminal efficiency. The 1999 cohort started before the curricular change, the 2004 cohort, after.

For the first year of study: the 2004 cohort lost more students (p = 0.003), had higher rates of poor school performance (p < 0.001) and failure (p = 0.006) rates, lower promotion (p = 0.003) rates, and a trend towards a lower dropout rate, but without statistical significance (p = 0.107). It also displayed higher academic performance in the first (p = 0.019), second (p = 0.001), and third (p = 0.001) years. Terminal efficiency at the end of the fourth year was lower for the 2004 cohort (p = 0.024).

The curricular change aggravated dropout, failure, and low promotion problems in the first year and, consequently, had an effect on terminal efficiency. Yet it also helped improve academic performance during the first three years.