Grade Grievance Procedure
This procedure applies only to courses in which Prof. Grimsley is the primary instructor. That is, it is neither a standard department policy nor applicable to courses in which Prof Grimsley merely conducts guest lectures.
During the Quarter:
Question: Have more than two weeks gone by since the assignment was returned to the class? In that case, the grade is considered permanent. Please note that the date on which you received the graded assignment does not factor into the matter.
Question: Do you wish simply to understand why a grade was assigned, and do not disagree with the grade? Go to Step 1.
Question: Do you disagree with the grade? Go directly to Step 2.
Step 1. Visit the person who grades your work to receive specific feedback on work already done and to review material for work still to be done
Step 2. If you do not agree with the grade you received on a quiz, examination, or outside assignment, write a paragraph (4-5 sentences) explaining why you disagree with the grade.
Step 3. Go to the person who graded it (not Prof. Grimsley unless he graded it). He or she will read your paragraph, reexamine only the part of your work you wish to dispute, and either change the grade or leave it the same. In theory an exam or outside assignment can be revised downward. In practice this is done only in very usually circumstances.
Question: Are you still dissatisfied with the grade? Go to Step 4.
Step 4. Add a paragraph to your grade grievance statement, summarizing fairly the grader's rationale for the grade as it now stands (which may be unchanged or changed insufficiently from the original grade).
Step 5. Add a paragraph explaining why you remain dissatisfied.
Step 6. Take all three paragraphs to Prof. Grimsley, along with the work in question. He will re-grade some or all of it, and his decision is final.
After the Quarter
Question. Read the procedure above. Is it too late to file a grievance concerning the examination or assignment?
Question. Assuming it isn't, go to Step 6, above.
A's For Everyone! by Alicia C. Shepard, a journalist-in-residence at American University in Washington, DC Excerpted from the Washington Post (free registration required) "Why was I given a B as my final grade?" demanded a reporting student via e-mail. "Please respond ASAP, as I have never received a B during my career here at AU and it will surely lower my GPA." I must say I was floored. Where did this kid get the audacity to so boldly challenge a professor? And why did he care so much? Did he really think a prospective employer was going to ask for his GPA? I checked the grades I'd meticulously kept on the electronic blackboard. He'd missed three quizzes and gotten an 85 on two of the three main writing assignments. There was no way he was A material. I let the grade mar his GPA because he hadn't done the required work. . . . John Watson, who teaches journalism ethics and communications law at American, has noticed another phenomenon: Many students, he says, believe that simply working hard -- though not necessarily doing excellent work -- entitles them to an A. "I can't tell you how many times I've heard a student dispute a grade, not on the basis of in-class performance," says Watson, "but on the basis of how hard they tried. I appreciate the effort, and it always produces positive results, but not always the exact results the student wants. We all have different levels of talent." It's a concept that many students (and their parents) have a hard time grasping. Working hard, especially the night before a test or a paper due date, does not necessarily produce good grades. "At the age of 50, if I work extremely hard, I can run a mile in eight minutes," says Watson. "I have students who can jog through a mile in seven minutes and barely sweat. They will always finish before me and that's not fair. Or is it?" |