Grades and Grading - Guidelines for Instructors

Contents

• Forms
• Official CGU Grades and Grade Point Values
• Deadlines for Submission of Grades
• Audited Courses
• Incomplete Grades
• Grade Pending
• Students Missing from Grade Rosters
• Students on Rosters But Who Never Attended
• Grade Changes
• Grades for Non-CGU students--5C, CST, and KGI
• Questions

Forms

• Incomplete Grade Submission and Student Contract for Course Completion
• Grade Change/Submission Petition
• Request for Extension of Incomplete Grade

Official CGU Grades and Grade Point Values

Claremont Graduate University (CGU) uses the following grades for the evaluation of student performance.  Only those grades in the shaded area of the table may be assigned or changes by instructors.

Audited courses require a grade from the instructor.

W (Withdrawn) is assigned when students drop a course after the Add/Drop deadline for the semester.  W may not be assigned by instructors.

Y (Unreported Evaluation) is an administrative notation and cannot be assigned by instructors.

Note that CGU does not use P/F (Pass/Fail).  The appropriate grades are S (Satisfactory) or U (Unsatisfactory).

Unless a course is specifically coded to be offered as graded only or S/U grade only, instructors may make their own determinations for assigning grades.  Agreements may be made directly with the student and no specific notification to the Registrar's Office is required.  Instructors are encouraged to comply with student requests for S/U grading unless a course is required to provide a letter grade.

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Deadlines for Submission of Grades

Deadlines for grades are listed in the right sidebar of this web page.

Instructors are expected to submit grades for students enrolled in their courses by the semester deadline published in the Academic Calendar.  Faculty are encouraged to submit grades online through the faculty portal.  Paper grade rosters should be submitted to the Registrar's Office no later than the semester deadline for grade submission.

NOTE: Faculty who wish to submit grades online should contact the Help Desk for assistance.  Some training for access to the faculty portal is required.

5C Students.  Please note that if you have undergraduate students enrolled in your courses, 5C deadline dates apply.  These are generally different deadlines than for CGU.  The 5C deadlines have been established to facilitate reviews of student satisfactory academic progress well before the beginning of each semester, in particular in January following the Fall semester.  At the end of the Spring semester, grades for 5C graduating seniors are often due early as part of clearing 5C seniors for graduation.  

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Audited Courses

Courses for which a student was enrolled on an audit basis must be graded.  If the student completed the course successfully, AU (Audit) is assigned.  If the student did not complete the course, or if the student abandoned the course without formally dropping the course, a grade of U (Unsatisfactory) should be assigned.

Instructors should not leave the grade field for audited courses blank on grade rosters.  If no grade is supplied, these grades will eventually default to Y (Unreported Evaluation) and may be interpreted as having been completed successfully.

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Incomplete Grades

If unusual or extenuating circumstances prevent a student from completing work in a course, the instructor may assign an Incomplete (I) grade.  As with other grades, instructors may submit I grades through the faculty portal or on a paper roster just like any other grade.  When an I grade is submitted in this manner, the system assigns the standard defaults listed below.

Time.  A new grade must be submitted by the last business day of the semester one year later.  Note that this means the instructor must submit a new grade, not that the student needs to submit work to the instructor.  Instructors identify their own timeframes to receive work, allowing for reporting of a new grade to the Registrar's Office.

Grade.  If no grade is received before the expiration of the Incomplete grade, the Incomplete grade lapses to a U (Unsatisfactory) grade.

Instructor may assign shorter periods of time for the student to submit new work and/or may identify a different default grade.  To do so, the instructor completes and submits an Incomplete Grade Submission and Student Contract for Course Completion form to the Registrar's Office.

Instructors must follow the procedure below to submit variations to the defaults for Incomplete grades.

• Enter I (Incomplete) on the grade roster, whether electronic or paper.
• Download and print the Incomplete Grade Submission and Student Contract for Course Completion form.
• Together with your student, agree upon a date for submission of outstanding work and record this date on the form.  This date should be no longer than one year from the end of the term in which the Incomplete grade is given.
• Determine an alternate grade for the student--the grade the student would receive if no other work is submitted.  Enter the alternate grade on the form.  If you do not enter an alternate grade, the default grade is U (Unsatisfactory).
• In the space provided, outline the outstanding work which the student is required to submit.  Specify the due date for work to be submitted, in the appropriate field.  Note that this is different from the expiration date of the Incomplete, which is the date before which you must submit a new grade.
• Have the student sign the form and give a copy of this form to the student.
• Forward the original document to the Registrar's Office.  Forms that do not change the expiration date or specify an alternate grade do not need to be submitted to the Registrar's Office.

After the Incomplete grade is recorded, if a student requires more time to complete work, a Request for Extension of Incomplete must be filed by the student with the Registrar's Office.  Requests for Extensions are accepted ONLY if the grade on the course is still I (Incomplete).

After the student completes and submits the outstanding work to you, evaluate the work and submit a new grade using the Grade Change/Submission Petition.  Note that no explanation for the grade change is required when the grade being changed is either I (Incomplete) or GP (Grade Pending).

If work is not completed or if no grade is reported to the Registrar's Office by the expiration date, the Incomplete grade defaults to the alternate grade provided by the instructor on the Incomplete Grade Submission form.  If no alternate grade was recorded, the default grade is U (Unsatisfactory).

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Grade Pending

Instructors who are unable to submit grades by the semester deadline may submit a Grade Pending (GP) notation on their rosters to ensure more time for evaluating student performance.  When ready to submit a grade, the instructor uses the Grade Change/Submission Petition form.  Note that no explanation for the grade change is required when the grade being changed is either GP (Grade Pending) or I (Incomplete).

If a grade is not provided before the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) review for following semester, the student is assigned a Y (Unreported Evaluation) grade.  The Y grade does not impact the student's GPA; however, courses for which the student is assigned a Y grade cannot be used to fulfill degree or other requirements.

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Students Missing from Grade Rosters

If a student's name is missing from a grade roster, enrollment may have been delayed or never processed accurately.  Follow up is required by the Registrar's Office.

• Electronic Grading.  Student names cannot be added to an electronic grade roster.  Send an e-mail to the registrar indicating the name of the student, institutional affiliation, and the grade to be assigned.
• Paper Rosters.  Add the student's name to the grade roster.  Be sure to include the student's institution and the grade.

Students on Roster But Who Never Attended

Students are responsible for the accuracy of their class schedules and for complying with Add/Drop procedures.  Instructors must assign a U (Unsatisfactory) grade for any student who did not attend or participate in the course.

• Electronic Grading.  Assign a U grade and send an e-mail to the registrar indicating that the student never attended the class.
• Paper Rosters.  Assign a U grade and add the notation "Never attended" next to the grade.

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Grade Changes

Grade changes are expected if the student was originally assigned an I (Incomplete) or GP (Grade Pending) grade.  Grades for these students may be submitted using the Grade Change/Submission Petition form.  No explanation for the grade change is required when the grade being changed is either I or GP.

Once grades have been submitted or if a permanent grade or enrollment notation has already been recorded, changes should be made only in the most exceptional circumstances, such as to correct a reporting error.  Instructors who wish to submit a change of grade for a student must complete the Grade Change/Submission Petition form and provide a full explaination or reason for the change.

Once a permanent grade has been recorded for a student's performance in a course, instructors are not required to accept additional work from a student for evaluation.  If you agree to re-evaluate a student's performance for a potential grade change, however, you may NOT consider academic work or performance in any subsequent course or for any other instructor.

In addition, the following guidelines apply to grade changes.

• Requests to change a permanent grade back to a temporary grade--such as to I or GP--are not accepted.
• A GP notation may be replaced by I (Incomplete), provided the grade has not lapsed to Y (Unreported Evaluation).
• Once a student has graduated and left the University, the student's transcript is considered closed and grade changes are no longer accepted.

Except for changes made to I and GP, all grade changes are noted on the student's transcript with a note indicating the original grade and the date of the grade change.

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CGU grade rosters include all properly enrolled students from the undergraduate colleges (5C), the Claremont School of Theology (CST), and the Keck Graduate Institute (KGI).  If these students do not appear on your grade roster, or if you have trouble submitting grades, contact the Registrar's Office at student.records@cgu.edu. 

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Questions

Instructors who have questions about grading and/or grading policies should contact their program coordinators or the CGU registrar at cliff.ramirez@cgu.edu.  If you contact the CGU registrar, please provide the following information to ensure that your request receives an accurate response.

• Identify yourself as an instructor.
• Provide the course catalog number of your course and the applicable semester.
• Give full names of individuals--and their ID numbers, if available--when referencing students.

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 Rev 6/12