SoC-TEQ: A teaching-embedded framework to quantify skin of color exposure and quality in dermatology residency training.

What is the educational challenge? Efforts to improve skin-of-color (SoC) education in dermatology have increased, yet standardized methods to evaluate how this content is taught in routine didactic and clinical settings remain limited. What is the proposed solution?We propose the SoC-TEQ Framework (Skin of Color - Teaching Exposure & Quality), a resident-led, low-cost, and reproducible model to support the evaluation and improvement of SoC education in dermatology residency training. The framework draws on the Kirkpatrick model and principles of situated learning. It assesses three domains: Teaching Exposure, which reflects how often SoC content is addressed; the Representational Metric, which captures instructional quality; and Resident Engagement, which reflects learner participation. Individual teaching encounters serve as the unit of analysis, allowing consistent evaluation of SoC incorporation across teaching activities. What are the potential benefits to a wider global audience?A defining feature of SoC-TEQ is its active feedback loop, in which residents identify educational gaps and participate in peer-led remediation. Designed to be scalable across programs with varying resources, the framework enables longitudinal evaluation of SoC instruction and supports data-informed curricular refinement. What are the next steps?Initial next steps include single-program pilots, evaluation of inter-rater reliability, and refinement of exposure benchmarks.