Handling Grade Disputes A Guide

Handling Grade Disputes A Guide via Pexels.com 1. Gather all of the facts. Grade disputes are pretty serious accusations, so before you begin the process of filing one, make sure you have all of your ducks in a row. The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to  document everything. Youll want to have a copy of the syllabus for the course, the breakdown of grades, any email correspondence youve had with your professor, etc. If you have an in-person conversation with a professor about your grades, its smart to send a follow-up email to create a paper trail with an overview of the conversation summarized in the body of the email. Youll need this for when you walk into a committee meeting regarding your final grade! 2. Make sure you have legitimate documentation. Dont think you can show up to a grade dispute hearing (and yes, thats probably what theyll call it) without proper documentation. Print off emails, rubrics, directions, feedback, and any other information you might have that a committee would find helpful. Organize all the information you have in a timeline, labeled, color-coded, however you want to handle it. The more legible and easier to interpret you make your case, the more likely the outcome will land in your favor. As the student in the situation, you need to have all the documentation thats out there in order to make your case clear. 3. Avoid blindsiding your professor. Its completely unprofessional to file an official grade dispute with a professor without talking to them first. Once you file something with the university, it creates a paper trail and ignites a whole process for how to deal with the complaint. There are many times that this whole process can be avoided, as most professors will deal with the dispute privately, in-person, with you. This will save you  both  a ton of time at the end of the semester. Theyll likely want to keep an officially filed grade dispute off their record, and its much easier to smooth over if you havent gotten administrators involved. 4. Your peers grades  do not hold any weight.   You  cannot  argue that you deserve a higher grade because so-and-so wrote a crappy paper and got an A. Dont plan on using any information you have from your peers in the actual grade dispute. Professors cannot discuss the grades or performance of your peers due to FERPA, the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act. They cannot discuss any of your peers grades with you, so that does not qualify as grounds for a grade dispute. Dont plan on using this information in a hearing. via Pexels.com 5. Too many grade disputes makes for an irresponsible student. If you get in the habit of disputing your grades too often, your reputation isnt going to be too great. I would recommend saving actual grade disputes for times when you know you deserve  at least  a letter-grade higher. A few points arent going to make much of a difference, and filing an official grade dispute is going to be  a lot  of effort for just a few points. Try not to become so obsessed with your grades that you forget the bigger picture what have you learned? How can you do better next time? The difference between an A and an A- on your final transcript might not be worth the hoops you have to jump through in order to successfully complete a grade dispute. 6. Get advice from peers/mentors/advisors. By no means does this mean you should trash talk the professor whos nit-picking your papers. Instead, Im suggesting you discuss a possible grade dispute with people you trust like an advisor, mentor, or trusted peer. There are several ways to go about ensuring you handle a grade dispute in a professional manner. Instead of trying to navigate new waters by yourself, look for some direction with advice from someone you trust. 7. Dont feel guilty about filing a grade dispute. You are paying for this education and its likely that youve taken out  a lot  of student loans to finance it yourself. If youre border-lining between an A and a B and you think youve been unfairly graded, its time to dispute it with the professor. You absolutely have every right to a conversation with your professor about the way theyve graded your assignments. Professors have to be able to back up their thinking and grading process just like you would have to defend yourself if you were accused of plagiarizing a paper. 8. Anticipate having to give a statement. Before you walk into a grade dispute hearing, I suggest you practice giving a statement about the problem at hand. Theres nothing more unprofessional than listening to a student say um five hundred times in a two-paragraph statement. Write up a draft of what youre going to say. Practice it in front of your roommate. Make sure you list all the important points, and you leave out anything thats worthless. The committee listening to your dispute will be much more willing to listen if you show up with your crap together. Disputing grades can be intimidating for college students. And in the scenario where its a student against a faculty member,  you are the weaker team.  You have to prove yourself beyond reasonable doubt. You have to show up with everything in line, documented, and organized. Provide explanation for everything and look like a professional. Though grade disputes can be a long process, itll be worth it in the end.