Grading Practices

Grading policies and practices are time-honored traditions in higher education. Most universities and colleges, departments, and programs have policies that suggest or require grading scales (90–100 = A, 80–89 = B, etc.) for graded courses. Similarly, institutions have guidelines on courses such as seminars, internships, qualifying examinations, theses, or dissertations that are graded on a “pass/fail” or “satisfactory/unsatisfactory” basis. In addition, many programs, departments, and colleges require faculty members to adopt specified textbooks, syllabi, or specific language related to assessment and grading. At the same time, many academic units such as education, architecture, law, social work, health, and medicine are guided by external accreditation or licensing organizations that dictate academic standards. In some cases, these external organizations require that particular assignments, assessments, or student experiences ...