Faculty Handbook

TEACHING

Grades

Grading System, Grade Sheets, and Grade Reporting

The syllabus should contain a detailed explanation of your grading practices, especially your explanation on determining the final grade.  If you will compute the final grade on the basis of a formula involving percentages or points, describe the formula specifically.  Students have a right to hold the instructor to his/her statements in the syllabus con-cerning grading, and they will if they receive a lower grade than they expect.  Thus, it is important for the instructor to think carefully about course policies ahead of time, to ex-press them clearly in the syllabus, and to reinforce them orally  and perhaps on individual assignment sheets as well.  There are ways to retain some flexibility in grading for those cases where a student’s performance can not be fully measured by a mathematical calculation of grades, such as by indicating that other factors, e.g., class participation (if that is not part of the grading formula) and improvement will be considered.

Keep good records of grades, attendance, and other factors used to compute the final grade.  Grade books are available from your staff assistant for this purpose.  Grades shall be assigned to individual students on the basis of the instructor’s judgment of the student’s scholastic achievement.  The grades of A, B, C, D, and F indicate the following qualities of academic performance.

            A (Excellent)       Indicates exceptional achievement

            B (Good)            Indicates extensive achievement

            C (Satisfactory)    Indicates acceptable achievement

            D (Poor)              Indicates only minimal achievement.  The student may be seriously handicapped in carrying a more advanced course for which this course is a prerequisite

            F (Failure)          Indicates inadequate achievement and the need to repeat the course in order to secure credit

For undergraduates, final grades of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, D, and F must all be possible.  The syllabus should indicate the performance levels the instructor expects for a student to achieve each of the nine possible final grades.

Grade                          Grade-Point Values

• A ………………………………….       4.00
• A- …………………………………       3.67
• B+ ………………………………..        3.33
• B  …………………………………       3.00
• B- …………………………………       2.67
• C+ ………………………………..        2.33
• C ………………………………….       2.00
• D ………………………………….       1.00
• F  ………………………………….       0

Faculty report grades through eLion.  Departments provide the required Secure ID.

It is important to gain a sense of the standard of performance that is the Penn State norm.  This knowledge is best achieved by discussing with the unit head and senior faculty members the unit’s standards for success and failure in courses.  On an individual basis, instructors can contact colleagues and ask them to share their tests and their grading so you can gain a better sense of what other faculty members are requiring of students in similar courses.  It is not desirable if two students in two sections of the same course are being asked to achieve different standards and receive different grades for having achieved those standards.  All instructors are encouraged to align their standards with those of their unit’s expectations.

Registration, Drop/Add, Late Drop, and Withdrawal

Registration is a continuous process at Penn State.  Although exceptional circumstances may necessitate the need to process schedule changes after classes begin, students are encouraged to finalize all registration changes prior to the first day of the semester.  Once the semester begins, the process of changing the student’s course schedule is referred to as “dropping/adding” courses.

Students who registered on time and have completed their registration are permitted to add courses during the “drop/add” period.  Students who register late are also permitted to add courses during the “drop/add” period.  Courses may be added and dropped during the first ten calendar days of the semester, or proportional time frames for other than fifteen-week courses.

Courses dropped during the first ten calendar days of the semester are not recorded on the student’s academic record.  Courses dropped after the first ten calendar days and before the end of the twelfth week are considered late drops, and are recorded on the student’s academic record.  There are limitations (baccalaureate degree – 16 credits; associate degree – 10 credits; non-degree – 10 credits) on the number of late drop credits. 

Students may late drop courses before the deadline in person or by using the eLion system.  Dropping courses will likely reduce student’s ability to maintain normal degree progress, possibly delaying graduation.  There are also financial issues to consider when dropping courses.

Students who late drop must receive one of the following grades:

            WF            Indicates the student was failing the course at the time of the late-drop

            WP            Signifies the student was passing

            WN            Indicates the student late-dropped the course before he/she established

                        a passing/failing record

Courses added during the first ten calendar days do not require any special permission.  To add a course that is full requires permission of the instructor; the student must add this course in person.  Courses added after the first ten calendar days require the instructor’s  permission; students must late add courses in person.

Deferred Grades, No Grade, Change of Grade, Change of Major

If, for reasons beyond the student’s control, he/she is prevented from completing a course within the prescribed time, the grade in that course may be deferred with the instructor’s concurrence.  Deferred grades are reported on eLion.

If a student has a good reason to have the final grade deferred in order to complete specific course requirements, the assignment of a temporary grade of “D” is possible (See Senate Policy 48-40).  The student, however, must request the deferral and complete proper paper work prior to final exam week.  Deferred grades must be completed by the end of the sixth week of class of the following semester, whether or not the student is enrolled for the following semester (except summer enrollment). If a student fails to complete all of the required course work by the end of the six-week period, he/she automatically receives a grade of “F.”  If a student completes the required work, you must complete a Change of Grade Form from the Records Office.

Students have six weeks into the next semester to complete the course.  The summer session counts as “next” only if the student enrolls for summer at a Penn State campus.  Otherwise, fall semester would represent the “next” semester in which course work for a spring deferral needs to be completed. 

If students elect to enroll in a course “Pass-Fail,” two other grades may appear on a transcript:

            SA            To signify that a student has passed a course

            UN            To indicate that the student has failed the course

Baccalaureate students may schedule up to 12 credits under the SA/UN grading system.  General Education courses may not be taken under the Pass-Fail option.

The credits from these courses count toward graduation, but the grades are not calculated into the GPA.  Faculty, who never know whether a student is taking a course Pass-Fail, give a letter grade.   The computer will convert the letter grade into an SA/UN format when applicable.

No Grade

No Grade (“NG”) is an option that should be used if all grades are ready to submit to the Registrar, with the exception of those for one or two students.  The instructor needs to return the grade sheet with the “NG” grade entered for the student in question.  The Grade Change Authorization is used to report late grades.  The deadline to assign a final grade to “NG” is four weeks beyond the end of the semester.  If not, the grade reverts to an “F.”  (Senate Policy 48-50)

Change of Grade

Grades are not carved in stone and can be removed with relative ease during the year following the course.  Grades should be changed, however, only if the original grade was given in error (e.g., miscalculation by the instructor, or if a missing paper or test is found)  The instructor may often experience pressure, particularly from those students who “flunk out” of the University.  A grade should never be changed to accommodate a student; such a practice is unfair to the other students in the course.  To change a grade, simply complete a Grade Change Form, available in the Records Office.

Change of Major

A candidate seeing entrance to a major or desiring to change from one college to another, or from one major to another, or from the Division of Undergraduate Studies to a college, may do so provided any enrollment ceilings of the college or major have not been reached and provided the candidate satisfies the minimum academic requirements as outlined in Penn State Advising, policy 37-30 www.psu.edu/advising

Submission of Final Grades

When grades have been determined based on the value system detailed in the syllabus, they are to be assigned and submitted to the Registrar’s Office within forty-eight hours of the final exam. At your discretion, students may provide a stamped, self-addressed envelope to secure their final grades as quickly as possible.  The University no longer mails grade reports to students.  Grades are available by telephone within twenty-four hours after the instructor reports the students’ final course grade to the Registrar’s Office.  Grades can be accessed toll free by touchtone telephone anywhere in the continental United States (1-800-876-0354).  Students who have an Access Account can also get their grades via the computer.  They need to access OASIS through eLion at www.eLion.psu.edu

Students receive their grades by accessing two web sites or by calling a toll free telephone number.  Students may also request the Registrar’s office to mail them a copy of their grade report.  If the instructor wishes, he/she may permit students to provide you will a stamped, addressed envelope to secure their final grades as quickly as possible.

Keep good records of grades, attendance, and other factors used to compute the final grade.  Grade books should be retained, as should final exams and syllabi, for at least one calendar year.

Confidentiality of Student Records

Posting Grades and Keeping Confidentiality.  Student records must be kept confidential as prescribed by Federal Law.  The policy of confidentiality of student records is outlined in Policies and Rules for Students.  Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1978 (FERPA), the University exerts control over what information is included in the student’s record.  The confidentiality requirement includes quiz and exam grades, attendance records, or other methods of evaluating student progress, as well as final grades.  Posting of grades in a public space may be a threat to that confidentiality.  If you do post grades, it must be done with a private code.  Student grades may not be posted by name or undisguised social security numbers.  Furthermore, you may not simply cut off or blacken out the first five digits of the social security number as they appear on your grade roster- the resulting list would still be arranged alphabetically.  Rather, you must assign to the students a private code.

Parent, Guardians, and Other Instructors.  Generally, no information from records, files, and data directly related to a student may be disclosed by any means (including telephone) to individuals or agencies outside the University without the written consent of the student.  Because student grades must be kept confidential, posting them is a threat to that confidentiality.  Test or term papers that include your comments and/or grades should never be left in an unsupervised public place for students to  pick-up.  Penn State students are legally considered to be adults.  Therefore, even though parents, guardians, or spouses may be paying the bills, they are not entitled to information about their children or spouses without the express written consent of the student.  This does not mean, however, that there may not be instructor-student-parent conferences if the student requests such a meeting.  Other instructors are not entitled to know how well a student is doing in one of your courses unless that instructor is also the student’s advisor.  Prior to releasing confidential information to anyone other than the student, you must obtain the student’s permission in writing.