|
news:
Professors' word
not final in grading
By Jeanne Hoffa
Summer Forty-Niner
Students who believe
they have received an inappropriate final grade from a professor
can appeal the grade, according to University Policy Statement
99-16.
Cal State Long
Beach has a systematic and comprehensive grade appeals process
that often results in a more satisfactory grade for those
willing to seek redress. Grade appeals are handled on a four-tier
process. Instructions and paperwork for filing a formal grade
appeal can be obtained from every department office.
The first step
requires the student to try resolving the discrepancy with
the instructor. Many cases involved mere miscalculations,
clerical errors, misplaced exams, or make-up work, according
to Frank Costa, operations manager for the College of Natural
Sciences and Mathematics. These problems can be resolved at
an informal level.
If the professor
chooses not to change the grade, the student can take the
next step by filing a written statement describing reasons
for the appeal and providing evidence why a new grade is warranted.
Grade appeals committees look for indications of prejudicial,
capricious, or arbitrary grading, according to the policy.
The burden of proof is on the student.
Some cases fall
apart at this point, Costa said, simply because students are
not sure why they feel their grade is unfair. Others are poor
writers who are unable to express themselves coherently. Advisers
can assist with preparation.
Department committees,
comprised of three professors (other than the one who gave
the grade) and one or more students, conduct a hearing to
decide whether the appeal has merit, after which they render
a verdict. The appeals policy states that the appealing student
may attend the meeting.
Cases that get
past the first and second steps are usually resolved at this
point, said William Sinclair, associate dean of the College
of Health and Human Services. His office saw only four or
five cases in the past year.
If the department
committee rejects the appeal, the student can send the appeal
to the dean's office. A college grade appeals committee, made
up of three professors outside of the department and one student,
will review the case and decide whether the appeal has merit.
If that outcome
displeases the student, the appeal can go to the university
level, where the University Grade Appeals Review Committee
reviews the case.
This committee,
consisting of elected faculty members and one student (a legal
requirement) has the final say in how the case is resolved.
However, one student in the past few years took the appeal
a step further and hired a lawyer, Costa said.
Though he forgot
the outcome of that particular case, he stressed that the
administrators and faculty are truly interested in both parties
walking away from the appeals process feeling satisfied with
the outcome. Very few cases go to the University Grade Appeals
Review Committee.
Students can file
an appeal up until the end of the following semester after
they received the grade. Though the case does not have to
be resolved by then, the paperwork needs to be started. Grade
appeals can only affect final grades, not individual test
or project grades. All records are confidential.
The university
has implemented a program aimed at dealing with the high attrition
of poorly performing new students. Academic Advising Center
Director Marilee Samuelson said that any first-semester freshmen
or first-time entering students who receive a grade of U,
which means unauthorized incomplete and calculates in a GPA
as a zero or an F, will automatically be changed to a W, or
a withdrawl.
Costa adds that
there is another program available called academic renewal.
Students who have had a semester at least five years in the
past where they performed poorly - that stands out from their
current academic record, and lowers their GPA so much that
they are ineligible to graduate - can apply to have that semester's
grades not calculated into their final GPA. The grades still
appear on the student's records, as outlined in the CSULB
Catalog, but the GPA will be changed.
|
