GRADING POLICY
Unless stated otherwise, all grades are considered finalized as of noon on Wednesday of Finals Week. I will provide ample opportunity for you to meet to discuss your grades, but after this time, grades will no longer be up for discussion or clarification.
- Students are responsible for keeping up with their grades and should be diligent with this throughout the entire semester, not just finals week. I reserve the right to leave your grade as recorded for any grade that has been posted for two weeks or more.
- If there are multiple attempts available for an assignment, I will always record the highest score as your official grade. If this is not the case, there has been an error on Blackboard, and you need to let me or your TA know immediately.
- Grades will be available as soon as possible. There are a lot of students in this class and just one or two graders. Please be patient.
- As for final course grades, I follow the general rules for rounding decimals. For decimal places ranging .0 through .4, I will round the grade down. For decimal places ranging .5 through .9, I will round the grade up.
- I do not "give" grades. I assign grades based on student quality of work. To limit subjectivity in grading, I use rubrics for all written assignments and apply the same rules across the board. For instance, if a paper length requirement is 3-4 pages, that means a full 3 pages; even a line short will be deemed short and receive the associated deduction. I have to draw the line somewhere and apply the rule for everyone in the class in order to remain fair in grading.
- You will not be graded on your opinion. You will be graded on how well (e.g., thoroughly, accurately, appropriately, properly) you address the prompt/answer the questions and back up your statements with legitimate material. I am not here to tell you what you should think; I am here to encourage you to think for yourselves.
- Grades are NOT negotiable. This means that the grade you receive will not be changed, curved, etc., unless I make a calculation mistake.