Grading, Assessment and Review

Please review our full policy in the Catalog.

A student's performance in each course is expressed normally in terms of the following letter grades which have numerical equivalents for computation purposes: A or 4.0; A– or 3.7; B+ or 3.3; B or 3.0; B– or 2.7; C+ or 2.3; C or 2.0; C– or 1.7; D or 1.0; and F or 0. A minimum course grade of D or 1.0 is required before credit may be received for a particular course. Students who do not receive passing grades in required courses must repeat them and earn passing grades. Students may not repeat courses for which they earned passing grades.

To maintain the integrity of the anonymous grading system, students should check with the registrar to determine in what way a particular course instructor wishes to receive a request for grade change before contacting the course instructor directly. If a course instructor changes a grade, a detailed statement of the reasons must be provided to the registrar's office.

Any course for which no grade has been entered must be made up by the end of the next semester or the grade automatically is converted to an F, unless the dean grants an extension. Students on academic probation may not receive “Incomplete” or “In Progress” grades, nor may “I” or “IP” grades be issued if an exam was not taken or is incomplete.

Grade Inquiries

In the course of academic life, a student may wish to request further feedback about a professor's assessment of his/her work. It is the policy of the school to encourage informal discussion and consultation between the student and professor as part and parcel of the professor's obligation of assessment and the educational process.

If, for any reason, a student has concerns about approaching a professor to request a consultation, the student may request the Dean of Student Affairs Office to assist in facilitating a meeting. The school encourages informal processes to respond to student's questions and concerns regarding assessment and grading.

Because judgment regarding standards of evaluation of a student's academic performance is a faculty responsibility, the exercise of that judgment is not subject to a grievance procedure.

If, however, after being furnished the basis for assessment and after thoroughly exhausting the informal consultation review process, a student believes that a faculty member's assessment of his/her work failed to comply materially with the professor's stated policies/requirements of the course; or was the product of a grossly arbitrary grading process, or was the product of systematic discrimination in the award of grades not related to the student's course performance, the student may initiate a grievance with an Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs.

A grievance may be filed no later than 10 business days after the last date on which attempts at informal resolution have failed, but in no event later than September 25, in the case of the immediately preceding spring and summer terms, or February 15, in the case of the immediately preceding fall term. For additional information on Grading, Assessment and Review policy.

Grade Submission

Please find a grade due date spreadsheet by professor in MyWCL.

The WCL Grade Submission policy was approved by the faculty on February 7, 2005.  Unless a request for an extension has been approved by the Office of Academic Affairs, names of instructors whose grades are late will be posted in the Office of the Registrar and online. The Vice Dean and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty & Academic Affairs are compelled by the WCL Grade Submission Policy to assess a $100 per work day fine when grades are late and no waiver was requested, and granted, before the deadline.

Grades are due four weeks after the date of the last exam or paper due date.  Additional days are added to account for the Christmas Day, New Years Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. 

Requests for an extension must be submitted before the date the faculty member’s grades are due.  Penalties will be applied if grades are overdue without requesting an extension prior to the due date.  Accommodated and/or deferred exams submitted later do not factor into computation of due dates for grades.  When total enrollment for all of an instructor’s classes for a term is 105 or more students, he/she receives 1 additional day for grade submission for every 7 students above 105.