What should you do, and what can you do, if a professor assigns you a grade in violation of your college or university's grading policy? You matriculated at your college or university believing that it would reward you according to the quality of your academic work. But professors are people, too. Professors not only make mistakes in grading. They also sometimes take others' matters into their own hands, wielding grades as punishment, to leverage student concessions, or for other inappropriate purposes.
College and university grading policies generally prohibit professors from grading for any purpose other than to reflect the quality of the graded work. Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Education Law Team if you believe your professor has violated grading policy in assigning you a failing or lowered grade, and your grade may affect your substantial rights and interests. Call 888.535.3686 now to tell us about your case, or complete this contact form.
The Significance of Fair Grading
You'll sometimes hear someone say that school is not about the grades but instead about the learning or experience. Yet you have a lot on the line in your grades. Your academic standing, cumulative grade point average, and academic awards may qualify you for graduate school, professional school, grants, scholarships, and jobs and careers. A single failing or lowered grade may cause you to lose those opportunities, especially in the competitive positions highly academically skilled students often seek. A single failing or lowered grade could cause you to fall off the dean's list or honor roll, fall below the minimum required cumulative grade point average, and even suffer probation, suspension, and school dismissal. You have a lot riding on your grades. Get our help if your professor's violation of grading policy has put you at risk of any of these losses.
Professor Authority to Assign Grades
Colleges and universities generally assign authority to the professor to evaluate the quality of a student's work against academic standards and to assign the grade accordingly. The University of Pennsylvania provides an example grading policy titled “Faculty Authority to Assign Grades and Academic Integrity.” That policy expressly providing
“that it is the obligation and right of faculty members to assign grades for academic work submitted to them by students under their supervision and that faculty members should grade student work, using their best judgment about the quality and propriety of that work, independently of disciplinary procedures.”
Harvard University's grading system is another example, providing that “final authority for the assignment of grades rests with the course head.” Any challenge to a professor's grade must be acknowledged, and find an exception to that authority. If you simply believe that your work was better than your professor evaluated it, then you may not have a case for changing the grade.
Challenging a Professor's Grade as an Impermissible Sanction
While professors generally have the right to assign grades, they may only do so based on the quality of the student's work, not considerations involving discipline. One of the exceptions to the professor's authority to assign a grade is if the professor substitutes a failing or lowered grade for the school's proper disciplinary procedures. Schools generally reserve discipline for the hearing officer, panel, or other official or body trained in disciplinary procedures. The University of Pennsylvania's grading policy once again provides an example, stating, “Only the institution, acting through its formal processes, may discipline a student. Grades are not sanctions, even if they arise from a judgment that a student has violated a norm of academic integrity.” If you believe your professor assigned you a failing or lowered grade as punishment for suspected academic misconduct, then you may have the right to challenge and correct the grade. Let our attorneys help you evaluate your professor's violation of your school's grading policy.
Requesting Professor Grading Violation Correction
If you have concluded that your professor violated your school's grading policy when assigning you a failing or lowered grade, a good first step is to bring the violation to your professor's attention. Your professor may not have realized the violation. The violation may embarrass and chagrin your professor, who may promptly correct the grade with an appropriate request to your school registrar. Or your professor may be able to show you why your grade does not violate school policy. In either case, going to your professor first is generally the best idea. Harvard University's grading system, for example, makes exactly that recommendation: “Both undergraduate and graduate students may request that an instructor review a grade that has been received….”
Requesting Department Chair Review
If your professor declines to change your grade despite your having shown that it violates your school's grading policy, then your next best step may be to speak with your professor's department chair. Schools generally organize their programs into departments. Department chairs often have school authority to review and address academic issues their professors' conduct raises. Your professor's department chair may recognize the violation and prevail on your professor to correct your grade. Or the department chair may have the authority to correct the grade or may take the matter for further review before other school officials for you. The department chair might, in other words, be your ally in a grading dispute with your professor, depending on their relationship.
Harvard University's grading system, for example, makes exactly that recommendation. Harvard's grading policy states that after speaking with your professor, you “may also ask to consult with the Chair of the department or committee offering the course.” Department chairs and department committees are there to ensure that department faculty conform to school policies, including grading policies. That route could prove to be your solution.
Grade Appeals Challenging a Professor's Grading Violation
If your professor has violated your school's grading policy, and your professor and department chair have failed or refused to correct the professor's violation with a grade change, then you need a procedure to bring your challenge before the appropriate school officials. Some schools will treat a professor's grading policy violation as an ordinary grade appeal. The University of Pennsylvania's grading policy, for example, treats a student's challenge of a professor's grading violation, such as when the professor used a grade to punish the student rather than evaluate the student's work, as an appropriate basis for a grade appeal:
“Students who believe that they have been graded unfairly have recourse of appeal through the grade appeal procedures established by each school. … The appeal of a grade given because a faculty member believed that the student violated the norms of academic integrity is, for the purposes of the charter, no different from other grade appeals.”
You may be familiar with your school's grade appeals policy. Those policies can differ markedly from school to school. The University of Iowa, for instance, simply has you take your grade appeal to the professor and then to the department chair, as suggested above. Other schools have more elaborate grade appeals. The University of Nebraska, for instance, offers a Grade Appeals Committee review but requires the student to show specific grounds for the grade appeal.
Getting your grade appeal before a committee may help with correcting your professor's grading policy violation. Your professor may have refused to correct the violation out of embarrassment or obstinance. Your professor's department chair may have been unwilling to confront your professor and hold your professor accountable to the grading policy because of collegial relationships and other common interests. When you take your grading issue before a panel, most of those concerns disappear. Depending on what relationship the panel members may have with your professor, the panel members may be more than willing to correct the grading policy violation. Relationship issues and school politics shouldn't count, but sometimes they do.
Assistance with Grade Appeals
Do not assume that a successful grade appeal requires nothing more than pointing out your professor's error. As just indicated, grade appeal policies may require you to show bias, prejudice, conflict of interest, the use of factors outside the quality of the work, or other grounds for the appeal. A successful grade appeal may also require statements of grading criteria, citations of authority, analysis of your work and the professor's evaluation, and argumentation worthy of an academic presentation. Our attorneys have the skills and experience to help you prepare your best possible grade appeal. If the grade you wish to challenge and overturn may affect your substantial educational rights and interests, get our help for your best chance at a winning appeal.
Other Procedures to Address Professor Grading Violations
Your school's grade appeal policy may leave the decision to your professor and your professor's department chair, neither of whom are willing to help. Or it may leave the decision to a grade appeals panel that won't assume the authority to address a professor's grading violation. If you are unable to obtain relief through these channels, then you may have relief available to you through another administrative channel. Grade appeals may address only narrow measurement issues. They may not address the grading policy violation behind your grade issue.
Fortunately, federal funding regulations require colleges and universities to have a complaint process for students to bring law or policy violations to the institution's attention. Colleges and universities routinely adopt such student complaint processes. The University of Maryland's student complaint process is an example. A complaint to university administrators under such a process may bring fresh eyes to your grading violation matter. It may also bring your grading violation matter before school officials, who better appreciate the regulatory and reputational risks and morale impact, when professors violate policies in ways that mistreat and harm students. Let our attorneys help you prepare a complaint through these administrative channels if your effort to correct a grading violation through a grade appeals process was unavailing.
Alternative Special Relief from Professor Grading Violation
Don't give up simply because you have exhausted all apparent appeal avenues. Colleges and universities generally have orderly procedures for determining common claims and resolving common disputes. But sometimes, those processes do not work. They may fail to recognize the school's larger interests. Colleges and universities staff general counsel offices, retain outside counsel, and staff ombuds offices to address those broader issues and risks. Our attorneys have developed good relationships and reputations with oversight officials at many institutions. We may be able to reach your school's general counsel, ombudsperson, or other oversight official with a presentation showing that the school should correct your professor's grading policy violation. Let us help. Don't give up.
Your Privacy Rights in Your Grades
Remember when discussing your grades with anyone that you have federal law rights to privacy in your grades and academic record. The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, generally requires your school to have your permission to publicly disclose your grades or other academic standing. Don't spread your belief that your professor graded you improperly. Speak only with appropriate school officials, while expecting your professor and other school officials to respect your privacy rights. You may have other grade-related relief if you believe that your professor disclosed your grade to other students, other professors, or publicly without your permission and without authority under FERPA to do so.
Premier Representation for Professor Grading Violations
You should know what you have at stake when determining how to challenge your professor's grading policy violation. You've doubtless invested heavily in your education, which your professor's grading violation has now put at some risk. You should now devote the appropriate time, resources, and effort to correcting that violation, commensurate with your investment risk.
The Lento Law Firm's premier Education Law Team is available nationwide to help you address professor grading policy violations. Our attorneys have helped hundreds of students successfully address all kinds of school issues including grading policy violations. Call 888.535.3686 now to tell us about your case, or complete this contact form.
