Are You a Victim of Incomplete Grade Rumors?
Lists of incomplete grades given for the spring 2005 semester are being distributed this week. There are several hardcore rumors circulating about the incomplete grade process that need to be squelched. You may be shocked to discover the truth to the incomplete grade procedure!
RUMOR #1: ALL students have a year in which to complete their course work.
WRONG! A year is the MAXIMUM amount the college will allow for completion of an incomplete course. The professor is the person who sets the time limit for completion and it can be as short as a day or as long as a year. (If it’s as short as a day it’s hardly worth filling out the paperwork!)
RUMOR #2: An incomplete is a catch all grade when you don’t know what else to give a student or you are waiting for an entire class to complete a project.
WRONG! An incomplete grade is part of a contract with the student. Never should an entire class be graded with an incomplete grade (unless you have a contract for each student!) If you are waiting for the entire class just give R&R a call and tell them your grades will be late.
RUMOR #3: Incomplete grade contracts go to R&R.
WRONG! We don’t even want all these registration forms we have, much you’re your incomplete grade contracts too! Please keep them in your department. If possible we’d like to file some other stuff there too.
RUMOR #4: All incomplete grades AUTOMATICALLY turn to “F”s after a year.
WRONG! WRONG! A THOUSAND TIMES WRONG! This is probably the most persistent incomplete grade policy rumor. Only the professor can grade the student. At the end of the year we will prompt you with a reminder to send us an Academic Grade Change form with the student’s grade. This will probably be the alternate grade listed on the contract but may be something different if the student did part of the work but never completed it all. It’s your call, not ours.
RUMOR #5: It’s okay to leave an incomplete grade floating on a transcript.
WRONG! Not only does it look sloppy, it causes problems with the Graduation Certification process. If a student does not complete a course within the allotted time his “I” must change to a legitimate letter grade. We don’t want any floaters.
RUMOR #6: Students should re-register and re-take a course they did not complete.
WRONG! If a student can only complete a course by retaking it, then he should NOT be given an “I”. An “I” indicates that one or two things are missing and being caught up on by the student. An “I” is not a legitimate alternative to giving the student an “F”. Re-taking the course will mean the course appears twice on their transcript, (once with the ugly unresolved “I” grade) and that the student had to pay for the course twice.
Please check over your “I” lists for the spring semester and make sure each student has a contract on file with your department. We will be prompting you again when the deadline for resolving the incomplete comes at the end of the spring 2006 semester. Students are also receiving letters reminding them they have an incomplete grade that needs resolution.
Deborah Benjamin
Registration and Records
06/30/2005 |