In addition, the University catalog states that students are expected to attend the class periods of the courses for which they register. Although absence alone is not reason for lowering a grade, students are not relieved of the obligation to fulfill course assignments, including those that can only be fulfilled in class. In particular, a student who misses an exam without an excuse may have the course grade lowered. Students who fail to participate (because of absences) in a course in which participation is a factor in evaluation may have the grade lowered (p. 30). Faculty are responsible for preparing the examinations for their courses and determining the grades. Policies concerning the weight given examinations in determining final grades and the kinds of examinations used may vary depending on course content, learning objectives, and preferences of individual faculty. Such information should be clearly communicated to students in the syllabus during the first week of classes.
With certain exceptions, final examinations are given at the conclusion of all undergraduate courses. Changes in location or time from the in-class final examination schedule must be approved by the department chair (or in schools without departments by the collegiate dean). Individual student requests for changes in the final examination process must also be approved by the collegiate dean.
Examinations administered during the final examination period should not exceed two hours and forty-five minutes (except for the Law School). Students should be told at the beginning of the semester if a take-home examination will be used. Such examinations should be distributed at least by the beginning of the last week of classes so that students may coordinate preparation for them with other examinations.
Students should not be required to submit examinations prior to the date of the regularly scheduled examination for the class. Final re-examinations are not permitted (except for the Law School).
At the beginning of every grading period the Registrar distributes a description of the grading procedures and grade definitions. Questions regarding these matters should be addressed to the Registrar.
Faculty are reminded that grades are due no later than 48 hours after the final examination is given. Faculty may not leave for vacation until grades have been submitted and questions concerning grades have been resolved.
Group Work. As more faculty integrate active learning strategies into their course design, issues about grading group work become critical. If you use some form of group work in your course, be sure students know which assignments involve group effort and which are to be done individually. In addition, be clear about evaluation criteria. If students are graded as a group, establish how the grade will be determined. Will each student in the group receive the same grade? How will the instructor distribute the workload in the group assignment to ensure that each student contributes equally? If each student within a group is to receive an individual grade, what are the criteria used to make the assessment? Many group conflicts stem from students’ perceptions that the workload is not evenly distributed. Instructors should design group assignments to ensure that each member participates equally. We recommend that assignment descriptions clearly outline the degree of collaboration expected and how student effort will be evaluated.
Participation. Involving students in the learning process means that students need to come to class prepared to participate. Recognizing that participation is an important course expectation, most course syllabi include participation as a component of the final grade assessment. Too often, however, the criteria used to evaluate participation are not articulated. Since participation often comprises 10% to 20% of a student’s course grade, we recommend that syllabi clearly outline the requirements necessary to receive full participation credit and how those judgements will be made. The most frequent source of student complaints about grading stems from unclear or unstated criteria for assessing a student’s class participation effort.
Written Work. Grading written work is not only time consuming but is often seen as subjective by students. To help counter the issue of subjective grading, faculty may want to (1) provide students with guidelines and examples, if possible, of their expectations for each written assignment, and (2) give students detailed written feedback about what they did well and how they could improve. For more information about grading written assignments contact George Mason University's Writing Across the Curriculum Program located in the English Department (703-993-1160) or the Program in Support of Teaching and Learning (703-993-8773) on the Fairfax Campus.
At the end of each semester, part-time faculty must provide local academic units with a record of each student's grade for each graded assignment, the grading scale used to compute the final grade, and a forwarding address and telephone number . This information will provide a way for local academic units to contact you and to respond in the event that a student initiates a grade challenge. Part-time faculty should retain all final examinations for at least one semester to provide supportive data if a grade is challenged.
Grade challenges in the Law School cannot be entertained if based upon an issue of academic judgement in evaluation, whether of the grading of work or of the content of the work required. Challenges are submitted to the Executive Committee of the Law School. In the other colleges and schools, if the student remains dissatisfied, he or she may appeal the matter to the department chair, dean, or director.
Upon receiving an appeal, the chair should ask the student to return to the faculty member who assigned the grade for further consultation. If a mutually satisfactory agreement is not reached, and the chair believes the student has a legitimate complaint, the student may request that the chair form a committee of three faculty peers of the faculty member who assigned the grade. Grade challenges against chairs should be filed with the senior member of the department.
If the chair believes the student's complaint is not legitimate, no review will be conducted unless the collegiate dean believes the challenge has merit. The instructor or the student may challenge, and have replaced, one of the three members of the committee without giving a reason for the challenge.
The committee will meet separately with the faculty member and the student to explore the full particulars of the case. A non-participating observer of the student's choice may attend the meeting. Every effort will be made to avoid an adversarial relationship.
After the committee has thoroughly reviewed the case, a written recommendation including the reasons for its findings will be given to the chair, with a copy to the faculty member. At this time, the faculty member will have an opportunity to take the recommended action, if any.
If the matter is not resolved at this point, the chair will consider the committee recommendation and make a recommendation to the dean.
If the dean decides that a change of grade is appropriate, and the faculty member refuses to make the change, then the dean may direct the Registrar to do so.
Chairs will not normally accept grade appeals after the end of the semester following the semester in which the grade was recorded.