Grade Appeal, anybody successful. Anybody unsuccessful? Here's mines in progress.. **DRAMA WARNING**

Student Lounge College Life
1

This grade appeal I’m going through is a pretty dramatic mess. First off my professor has been treating me like crap in his class all throughout the semester. He has told me that if I didn’t like “the way he taught” (aka harassing me), then I should have dropped out in the first month. This man told me that I should’ve dropped out! And I had an A in his class.

He has also admitted that he doesn’t care about the other students… Including me of course. I literally have these two big things on recording, I also have on recording that he felt that he treated me so badly that I will connect the material I learned in the class to him whenever I have to use it in the real world.

This is what my professor and the chairperson is talking about:

Okay, so. We had a group presentation to do which is on the syllabus and its a 5% weight, he AND the chairperson decided to remove it and reallocated the % to the 3rd and 4th exam to make back up to 100%.

—Whatever they decided to do with that is not my problem-----

This is what I received for the extra credit: A guideline sheet saying that I would receive 5% of my final grade. My problem is that instead of my professor grading me the way the guideline sheet says, he decided to add 5% onto my final exam grade, which has a 20% weight. He said in the email that him and his supervisor were AFRAID (actual word) to do that because the final exam is 20% weight, I think that they were hoping that I wouldn’t think back to the guideline sheet that I did it for.

This is suspicious.
****My professor has been having contact with the chairperson before the grade appeal, after I told her I wanted the appeal, and during the appeal process, so my professors original reasoning switched up from, “not good enough” in his original email to mimicking the chairperson. How do I know this? Because I’m in the middle of the appeal process and he took a snip from the email and I see the dates and who they email was sent to. I’m guessing that he slipped a little bit, but not too much because he made sure to keep out any emails he sent to her with words.

They’re trying to say that the group presentation, and the extra credit oral presentation guideline is the same thing. The chairperson said in the email that THERE IS NO SUCH THING as 5% of the final grade and that I received the maximum grade. You see, it says it on the guideline paper. As far as I know but the guideline paper is like apart of the syllabus, so not only is my professor changing the grading criteria after I already finished my paper but they are both aren’t acknowledging that it even exist.

In both of their explanations that was sent to me and the dean, they both left out the guideline sheet. They left out the ONLY thing of relevance.

I also have a history with the chairperson too, because I reached out to her for help for her to tell the professor to treat me equally and with respect. She didn’t do anything to help…

Also in the appeal they told even more lies, which can easily be destroyed by facts. They’re treating my grade like a freakin game.

This would not only change the outcome in my class but also on my GPA , making it an A. So yeah… I’m pretty pissed they decided to rain on my parade. What do you think?

2

Did he do the same thing for everybody or just you? If it’s everybody then it’s all in your head boss.

3

Looks like you have too much history! I’m guessing you impact negatively on the climate in the classroom. That is just based on what you have written here. Was your work outstanding in the class? If not, then an A would not be appropriate.

4

Nah, lostaccount. I was very quiet in class and the professor picked on me. I understand what you’re trying to say, people seem to assume that just because he’s a professor that means he is a nice sweet angel. And that, I as a student have to be loud, disrespectful, and saying unnecessary things. I guess its because a lot of people can’t empathize with being discriminated against, it is really not that hard if you just try to put yourself in another persons shoes.

I am indeed very close to an A and the extra credit assignment should have picked me up to an A. As you can already see… The chairperson and the professor is now treating the guidelines and its grading criteria like it doesnt exist, they decided to give me anything they felt like (added 5% onto the final exam grade)… Consequently kept me in the B’s.

An A is appropriate because that is what I worked for, did you read the whole thing?

5

terrapin45- Do what for everybody else? The extra credit? It all started with me asking for me, and then he sent it to everybody. I was the only student to actually do it though.

If you’re talking about his bad attitude, I got fed up when I asked about the participation grade that he got rid of. He told us that we should see a change in our grade because he added the weigh on to all of the sections… I told him that there was no change and then he said “We’ll talk about this at the end of class.”

when the end of class came he asked, “So you guys want to know about your participation grade?”
I said, “Yes”
Then he said " I wasnt talking to you, I was talking to them"
The he proceeds to point blindly in the back of class, I wanted to get up and leave but it was my grade.

Thats when I tried to talk to him after class about how I felt that is when he yelled at me, and I tried to contact the chairperson-- She didn’t do anything even though she was supposed to.

6

If I’m reading what happened correctly, your professor had a grading rubric in the class syllabus and is not adhering to it. He changed the grading rubric during the class and this resulted in a lower grade than you would have gotten under the original rubric.

You talked to the professor and did not receive any satisfaction, so you went to the chairperson, who also did not assist you in resolving the issue.

Every school has a well documented official grade dispute policy. Likely, the next step is to take your case to the college dean or Vice President of student or academic affairs. Read the policy and decide if it is worth it to you.

Bring the official class syllabus and all the paper trail needed to prove your case (exams, graded homework, etc).
Leave out any accusations of “bad attitudes” toward you. It’s difficult to prove a charge of “malice” and far easier to show that the original contract (the grading rubric) was changed.

7

Your post is not written in a way that facilitates understanding of the situation. Learning to communicate clearly is an important goal. I’m skeptical of the veracity of reports by students who claim to have mastered material at an “A” level but whose posts are poorly written. I could not understand what you wrote so I had to infer.

"Nah, lostaccount. I was very quiet in class and the professor picked on me. I understand what you’re trying to say, people seem to assume that just because he’s a professor that means he is a nice sweet angel. "

If participation contributes to the grade, and if you failed to contribute, you probably fell short of “A” level participation. Why would you or anyone expect a professor to be a “nice sweet angel”. Being sweet and compliant isn’t the ticket to scholarship. Being quiet in a class that places value on contributions/participation isn’t the ticket to an “A”.

8

Honestly I would just move on. In a certain class I had 89.6 and the professor was suppose to change a test score to a higher percentage. I naturally assumed he did since he never updated his grade book. Bad move on my part and I ended with that course with a B. In hindsight I should have kept up with it, oh well.

There’s a right way to go about this and a wrong way. I think you chose the path of most resistance unfortunately. Will you have this professor again? If so, then it may be better to diffuse the tension and not let him get the best of you. I doubt you will receive an A in this course.

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Yomama12- “He changed the grading rubric during the class and this resulted in a lower grade than you would have gotten under the original rubric.”

He doesn’t have the extra credit activity on the syllabus, but he made a guideline and gave it to me. What I’ve been told is that the guideline is the same thing as the syllabus.

Plus, he did not change the grading criteria during class but he changed it when I already turned my presentation in.
The dean already told me that he was supposed to adhere to it.

Lostaccount- Idk what your getting at, but my post are pretty simple if you try to read, stop assuming, and understand. Your problem is that youre reading, but you dont agree, so therefore you dont understand. Then you come at me with confused post and assumptions. This is my last reply to you.

FluentinCarbs- I have also been screwed over in a previous class, she put a D on my paper when I only got 1 out of 10 questions wrong. I talked her up to a C but I should have reported her. I told myself that that would NEVER happen again.

The path of the least resistance is not always right, its just easy. I would not be having him in the future, I made sure of that. I’m making a grade appeal and this is left up to the committee, not him.

10

Well good luck, it’s something that I wouldn’t spend my time on. But if you have the time/energy to focus on this and it will bug you, then go for it. Is she a professor in your major? I guess I would assume so, since you took another class with her. I’m thinking out loud to avoid being “that student”

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@lintlicker you should definitely spend time on this. Good luck buddy!

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FluentinCarbs- Lol no way! The other class I’m talking about was an act class (different professors), I’m actually sad a little bit because I heard people RAVE about art classes and I missed out on the experience. But every time I feel down I think about the fact that she couldn’t even draw a straight line.

13

Ah ok well then I hope it works out and try not to dwell on it for too long! You won’t really think about your GPA when its all done and over with. Of course this assuming you aren’t losing any scholarships or are in jeopardy of academic probation. I know GPA pains, seeing a 3.86 drop to a 3.3 because of chemistry was a pain. If you have a 3.0 and above you are ok!

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@LintLicker, I’m with @lostaccount here. I find your posts confusing and I’d posit that your main issue is a lack of communication with your professor.

A hypothetical post from the perspective of the professor:

I have a student in one of my classes with whom I’m having difficulty. Originally my syllabus for the course listed 4 tests, a class participation grade, and a group project. The last was weighted at 5% of the final grade. This student asked for a more specific rubric for the project, and knowing the difficulty we’ve had with miscommunication in the past, I wrote up a set of guidelines for her.

Later, for reasons I won’t go into here, I decided to cancel the group project, and with the consent of my department chair I reapportioned the points from that project to the final two test, making the announcement in class. A couple of days later the student in question handed in her written portion of the cancelled group project and is now demanding credit for it. She seems to think it was some sort of extra credit project created especially for her.

Even if I did give extra credit (and I don’t) any points would be added to the grade, not a percentage of it. Otherwise a mediocre grade on an extra credit assignment could drag down a student’s grade in the class. I also wouldn’t offer one student an opportunity to boost her grade that I didn’t offer the whole class.

I find this student frustrating. When she complained about how I was teaching the class I told her she should have dropped the class if she was so dissatisfied. She’s now using this statement as evidence that I’m “harassing her.” All semester I’ve been trying to get her to engage in the class discussion but it’s just not working and she seems resentful of my efforts. She’s also accusing me of colluding with my department head because I’ve spoken with her about this situation. Of course I’ve consulted her. It would have been irresponsible of me not to when a student seems to be having severe interpersonal difficulties with me.

For some reason this student has it in for me and she seems to be the litigious type. She’s gone over my head to the Chair, who backs me up, and the Dean, who while admitting the syllabus should be followed as closely as possible, doesn’t see a breach of protocol here. I even suspect my student was recording me on her phone the last time we spoke. Weird.

This is not the first time a professor has had a run-in with this student. Last semester she complained to the Chair when a colleague gave her a D on an assignment. According to my colleague, while only one answer on the assignment was technically incorrect, absolutely none of the answers showed the depth or reasoning one would expect from a college paper. She gave her a pity D instead of an F because she did turn in the paper and she thought she made a good-faith effort even if what she produced was severely lacking. Later she even changed it to a C when the student begged her for a better grade.

How should I handle this student?

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Sue22- The whole thing is no, and is not what happened. You too, are making tons of assumptions. The professor would lose the grade appeal very fast.
And the last bit is none of this professors business.

16

If the professor would lose the grade appeal very quickly, why are you complaining here? You should have the results you want very shortly.

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Sue22- I’m talking about your story there. It was really entertaining though. And why am I complaining? Because that is the point of my thread is to get different opinions, and listen to peoples stories.

Now, I see that you decided to put yourself in the professors shoes. If you were a professor, and a student were bringing a case to you, you’ll lose. And you would need to pray that that student doesn’t bring a civil litigation against you.

18

Take heed of the drama warning guys!

19

Good luck, I suspect you’ll need it.

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Sue22- All I need is facts.