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[asst_prof]

It's the end of the semester, and we're all figuring out student grades for the semester.  Invariably, there will be students who are right on the brink of the next highest letter grade.  What criteria do you use to determine whether or not to bump a student up to the next highest letter grade?  Is it attendance, completion of all assignments, student attitude?

[desert rat]

Number 1:  Do I know this student (can I picture his or her face in my mind)?  If no, lower grade.

Number 2:  Do I like this student (i.e., hard worker, tries, comes to class).  If no, lower grade.

Number 3:  Do I know any compelling reason that this student could not perform up to his or her potential?  For instance, a parent died during the semester.  If no, lower grade.

Otherwise, I bump 'em up.

[b]

A few thing that have helped me bump or lower are:

-did the student do generally well in the class except for one occasion (a bad test, simply misunderstood an assignment, turned in sth late one time) and maybe that is causing him/her to be between grades. I would bump. everyone can have a bad day.

-have you already excused certain things (accepted late work without taking off points, excused an absence when the excuse was not so clear, etc), recalculate the grade as if you had taken off points for everythign you were supposed to, and that might put the student in the lower grade.

[Just Ducky]

I first look at attendance and participation.  I don't bump students down, only up.  After attendance/participation, I look to see if there's an assignment or exam that is lowering their grade.  Say student X received a 50% on the first exam, but 90's on the remaining two.  I wouldn't give them an A, but I would bump them up to a B - assuming he/she was in class most of the time.

[avidphotog]

I feel as if I am lenient enough as it is during the semester in terms of how I grade exams (partial credit, etc). So, by the time final grades come around, I am pretty strict with my grade cut offs since anything otherwise would be inflating already inflated grades... and at some point they'd have no meaning.

BUT... in the rare case that I do bump up (e.g., should a 68.9 be considered a "C"), I do two things:

a) look at the students body of work for the semester and see if it is REALLY "C" work. Do I think (s)he really learned what they needed in order to constitute passing this course? [my classes are small enough to where this is typically easy to answer].

b) look at how this would affect the rest of the class. Obviously, to remain fair, ANYONE else between 68 and 70 must now be given the same consideration. This is what usually does it for me. If someone ends up passing due to the bump that I know truly didn't learn what they should have, then sianora to the grade inflation.

So if you've done (a) and (b) and are comfortable with everyones new grade, then bump 'em on up! it's your turn to play Santa.

[anon]

I only round up, rather than bump up. In my department, the 4.0 range is 100-94, so I would round up a 93.5 to a 4.0 but a 93 would always be a 3.5.

[%sig%]

[melba]

In one class, the final is optional. But if they don't take the final, I won't give them a single extra point. However, if they did come for the final I might consider bumping up.

My rule of thumb for bumping up is that I won't just magically change the grade. The points have to add up. So I ask whether I would be willing to add a few points to their participation grade. (And I'll confess my weak point here: if the student has told me at some point in the semester a specific way that he or she found the course to have application to the real world, that's a bonus)

Part of what I look at too, is whether they took all the opportunities I gave them to earn points. If they've missed an assignment, especially considering my fairly lenient late policy, I have no pity. Same for excessive absences.

[Curious Student]

Professors, how do grade class participation if it's 30% of the entire grade? I'm assuming showing up and looking like you're interested is not good enough.

[Mendel]

asst_prof wrote:

> It's the end of the semester, and we're all figuring out
> student grades for the semester.  Invariably, there will be
> students who are right on the brink of the next highest letter
> grade.  What criteria do you use to determine whether or not to
> bump a student up to the next highest letter grade?  Is it
> attendance, completion of all assignments, student attitude?


I never round up or bump up to an "A or A-".  I will bump up for those students who have shown steady progress over the semester.  A student who started the term with a "C" and improved over the term and now sits on the C+/B- border will often get that bump to the "B-".

Steady improvement is what does it for me.

[Delphee]

I give out a few extra credit points as part of class participation--if people aren't there that day, they don't get them.  I take off points for people being late to class.  They add up to a quarter or a third of a grade level.

This bumps up people who are THISCLOSE to the next grade, as long as they attend fairly regularly and don't come in late.  Otherwise, I stick very close to the points.

[tenured and untouchable]

...sort of depends on whether they like 'the back door', if you catch my drift.