Grade Complaints Ahoy
I haven't posted anything new here all week, but I do have a thing up on RateYourStudents--if you're not familliar, click the link on the right side of your screen. September 5. It's my third RYS item.
I've gotten a grade complaint from one of my summer classes. The student hasn't actually spoken to me about it: she wrote to me asking how she "could do better" in the next class. I told her, and pointed out that since she hadn't passed mine, she wouldn't be taking the next class in the sequence until she took the other class again. She replied by asking to come in and meet with me on a day that the campus wasn't even open, and for copies of her final exam and final assignment. I left the work with the secretary for her to pick up; a week later, the secretary decided she probably wasn't coming in for it, and gave it back to me. Naturally, the next day, Student came in for the stuff. Secretary (a wonderful person, BTW, without whom the college would not function) told me; I left the work with her again. When the student finally came in for it she met with Dean of Students and claimed I had made a mistake in her grade (not true) and then said she would bring in a doctor's note to prove that her two-weeks-late paper should have been excused.
And that's where it stands now. I informed Dean of Students that I would change Student's grade if she (DoS) told me to, as it was not a hill I was willing to die on. This is actually a good strategy (I think) with DoS, because, while I could tell she wanted me to change it, she knows better than to try to make a teacher change a grade--if the other faculty found out about it, she'd have a serious staff-relations problem on her hands. So now we're waiting to find out if Student ever actually brings in the Doctor's note.
My argument against changing the grade is, A, the student is not ready for the next class anyway. Sometimes students can squeak a pass even though they aren't actually prepared, and if she had passed, she'd have been one of those. In this case the numbers, as they often do, jibe with my holistic evaluation of her performance. If she did seem prepared for the next class, I'd be more willing to hear about juggling the numbers. And B, introducing new evidence to change grades at this late a date--almost a month after the end of the semester in question--is not a precedent I want to set. What do others think about this second point? Does anyone accept excuse notes after final grades are in?
I've gotten a grade complaint from one of my summer classes. The student hasn't actually spoken to me about it: she wrote to me asking how she "could do better" in the next class. I told her, and pointed out that since she hadn't passed mine, she wouldn't be taking the next class in the sequence until she took the other class again. She replied by asking to come in and meet with me on a day that the campus wasn't even open, and for copies of her final exam and final assignment. I left the work with the secretary for her to pick up; a week later, the secretary decided she probably wasn't coming in for it, and gave it back to me. Naturally, the next day, Student came in for the stuff. Secretary (a wonderful person, BTW, without whom the college would not function) told me; I left the work with her again. When the student finally came in for it she met with Dean of Students and claimed I had made a mistake in her grade (not true) and then said she would bring in a doctor's note to prove that her two-weeks-late paper should have been excused.
And that's where it stands now. I informed Dean of Students that I would change Student's grade if she (DoS) told me to, as it was not a hill I was willing to die on. This is actually a good strategy (I think) with DoS, because, while I could tell she wanted me to change it, she knows better than to try to make a teacher change a grade--if the other faculty found out about it, she'd have a serious staff-relations problem on her hands. So now we're waiting to find out if Student ever actually brings in the Doctor's note.
My argument against changing the grade is, A, the student is not ready for the next class anyway. Sometimes students can squeak a pass even though they aren't actually prepared, and if she had passed, she'd have been one of those. In this case the numbers, as they often do, jibe with my holistic evaluation of her performance. If she did seem prepared for the next class, I'd be more willing to hear about juggling the numbers. And B, introducing new evidence to change grades at this late a date--almost a month after the end of the semester in question--is not a precedent I want to set. What do others think about this second point? Does anyone accept excuse notes after final grades are in?
posted by ProfessorDog at 10:47 PM
6 Comments:
NO. And it's not just me - it's my program coordinator (although NOT my spineless department chair.) She says NO grade changes unless they are due to calculation errors. In my next life, I want to come back as a college instructor with immunity - and I'll be able to say things like, "You failed because you did NO WORK and your sorry-ass little doctor's note won't fix that."
I feel a sneeze coming on--- ahhh, ahhhh, BULLSHIT!!
Hmmm. I feel better now.
I have dealt with pressure from administrators who wanted me to change a grade. I told them that if they wanted to do it, they could--- over my written protest, of course.
How do you contribute to RYS?
Lauren: you contribute to RYS by sending them an email. if they like it, they publish it. I'm not sure how picky they are--they've used everything I've sent in, but I am Made of Awesome, so that might not be representative.
Made of Awesome, I like that!
I am still dealing with a fool-ass student whose hard average in the class was a 40. This fool ass took my class Spring of 05. I was just a lowly TA then. And he's STILL GIVING US PROBLEMS! For some reason the fact that he has ADHD, to him, means immunity from failing. Even though he got double time and a private place to take the exam (that's what I thought the concession was), he got low 30s. Tell me, professordog, how can he possibly believe he deserves to pass?!
Lauren: He believes he deserves to pass, because being held accountable for his own work is a new experience for him. That's not to say no one has ever tried before, but if anyone has, he convinced himself that the teacher was being un-faayyyyyeeeer! It's not at all unusual for students with LD accomodation letters to believe that their letter means that they should and will pass, no matter what. I don't doubt that his ADHD made it harder for him to learn the material in your class; what he doesn't get is that the school's job is to accomodate him enough for it to be *possible* for him to succeed, but that actually succeeding--learning the material and demonstrating his knowledge on tests--is *his* job. He may have a harder time doing that than a student without ADHD, but he still has to do it.
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