Grading
Grades are an integral part of student records.
Per the Faculty Handbook, faculty are responsible for reporting a grade estimate at the middle of the semester and a final grade at the close of the semester for each student. Only final grades need to be submitted for summer terms. The final grade is the only grade that appears on the student鈥檚 permanent academic record.
Since grades are distributed to students, their advisors and, in some cases, to parents, it is essential that faculty members observe the deadlines established for such grade reports.
Grade submission deadlines are listed on the and the Academic Calendar.
- MIDTERM GRADES
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Midterm grades are entered through , under the 鈥淔aculty and Advisors鈥� section. Students will be able to view midterm grades as soon as they are entered. No Report (NR) and Incomplete (I) grades are not available options for midterm grades.
Remember that midterm grades:
- Are meant to give the student an indication of their progress midway through the semester
- Are provided to some college officials (academic advisors, athletic coaches and administrators) to support them in their work with students
- Provide valuable information to students and are a way to encourage students to seek out additional academic support in a timely manner
We recommend that you assign an appropriate grade for each student based on what they have completed so far in your course. This should prompt them to seek help, complete their work or talk to you about withdrawing from the course.
For first-half semester courses, you need to submit the final grade in both the midterm and final grade columns. The midterm grade field acts as a temporary final grade that allows the student to view their grade immediately. The final grade field for first-half semester classes does not become part of the student's official academic record until the end of the semester, when we roll final grades over onto their records from plus.hope.edu.
- FINAL GRADES
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Entering final grades, accurately and in a timely manner, is extremely important to your students and affects them in a variety of ways. A complete, graded semester is necessary to make informed decisions on academic policies. Incomplete (I), No Report (NR) or late final grades affect students in many ways:
- Academic Probation: Notifications are emailed to students and mailed to parents or guardians shortly after final grades are due.
- SAP (Financial Aid Probation): Inaccurate grades could affect a student鈥檚 financial aid status.
- Graduation: Degrees are posted shortly after final grades are due. Any student with an I, NR or late grade cannot graduate until these are resolved.
- Dean鈥檚 List: The Dean鈥檚 List is sent to Public Affairs and Marketing shortly after final grades are due, and they release the list to students鈥� local newspapers. Any student with I, NR or missing grades is not awarded Dean鈥檚 List until after these grades are resolved, and therefore may miss the opportunity to have their name in the paper.
- Transcripts for graduate school: Students who have applied to graduate school are waiting for their final grades to be posted on their transcripts.
- GRADE CHANGES
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Final grade changes must be submitted through the . Grade changes can only be submitted by the primary instructor of the course.
You can change midterm grades yourself in plus.hope.edu until the end of the semester. A grade change request is not needed for midterm grades because midterm grades are not rolled over onto the student鈥檚 academic record.
- INCOMPLETE/NO REPORT听GRADES
- Incomplete (I) and No Report (NR) grade must be removed within six weeks after the close of the session in which the incomplete was given, or it will become a Failure (F). If your student has been assigned an I or NR grade and will not be able to complete their work within this deadline, email the Registrar's Office to let us know the extension date you wish to assign. Otherwise, the grade will automatically change to a F.
- PASS/FAIL GRADES
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Sophomore, junior and senior students are permitted to request one course per semester to be graded as a Pass (P) or a Failure (F). When discussing pass/fail with your advisees, we recommend keeping in mind the following:
- Students must be degree-seeking and enrolled full time.
- The subject of the course must lie outside the student鈥檚 major or minor field(s), and it cannot be a course that is required for major/minor or general education.
- Professional education courses may not be taken as pass/fail if the student is seeking teacher certification.
- Some graduate and professional schools accept only a certain number of pass/fail courses.
- Credit is earned for P grades, but P grades do not get computed into the cumulative GPA; Failures result in no credit earned and are computed into the GPA as zero quality points.
- Once the course has been changed to pass/fail, it cannot be changed back.
To change a course to pass/fail, the student must first register for the course, then obtain a pass/fail form from the Registrar鈥檚 Office, and have their advisor sign it. Then the form should be returned to the Registrar鈥檚 Office by the pass/fail deadline (same deadline as withdrawing from a course).
The instructor of the course does not need to know the course is being taken as pass/fail. Instructors should continue assigning standard letter grades for work throughout the semester and for the final grade. When the Registrar鈥檚 Office processes final grades, we will assign a P or an F grade to courses that have been designated as pass/fail, based on the grade given by the instructor.
- AUDITING
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We do not recommend that degree-seeking students audit courses; the fee to audit is the same as taking the course for credit, but students will not receive a grade or earn any credit for the course. In addition, an audited course will not transfer to another institution. In place of auditing, we suggest students take the course on a pass/fail basis (see above) so that they may at least earn credit for the course.
However, students may register to take most Hope courses on an audit, non鈥慶redit basis. Exceptions to this rule are courses requiring activity or performance, such as in the arts and kinesiology departments.
To audit a course, students must first register for the course, then obtain instructor and advisor permission and bring it to the Registrar鈥檚 Office. The deadline for changing a course to audit is the same as the drop/add deadline. Once a course is changed to audit, it may not be changed back.