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[junebugs]

I just got a call from a committee about some grades I submitted for a class. The lack of respect I've gotten in my year of teaching at this place really floors me. I worked relatively hard for this class, and I kept my class assignments to a minimum in order to give the students a breather and to expect a higher level of quality from them. But several students didn't respect me as a teacher and didn't work for the class at all. In order to make sure most students did okay gradewise I gave them one of the easiest finals I've ever given. I had three truth/false sections in the final. Now they've complained about their grades, and the committee is actually taking them seriously. I had several students who didn't even attempt to complete the truth/false questions. Even if they hadn't read the material, they had a 50/50 chance of getting the answers correct, and they didn't try to improve their grades by working out those answers. To make matters worse, the committee has told me that my response to them is needed urgently. They urgently  needed all of the exams a couple weeks ago. I was told this was the policy in cases of grade disputes, but when I read the faculty handbook, there was no mention of this policy. I did it anyways to avoid trouble. I received a call today from a member of the committee who would like me to call her today about the grades. I have other courses I'm teaching over the summer, and this was adjunct work, so I'm no longer being paid for the course. "Adjunct" is code for walk over me.

[larryc]

Do you want to work there again? Do you need a letter of reference from anyone there? If so, pick up the phone. It is only a few minutes of your time.

If not, it would be delicious to send them a simple reply: "I am no longer employed by your institution. Please contact the department chair."

[junebugs]

Even if they gave me a letter of recommendation, I doubt it would be useful. The chair's emails to me were consistently difficult to read due to the number of grammatical and spelling mistakes. I wrote him once about the class and he responded with a comment about the weather. It wasn't a sly comment apparently, because I mentioned the weather remark to him later, and he had no idea what I was talking about. It was really just a comment about the weather.

[larryc]

Then tell them you don't work there anymore but that the chair will be happy to help.

[zharkov]

I kept my class assignments to a minimum in order to give the students a breather and to expect a higher level of quality from them. ....

You probably know now, that in retrospect, that this isn't a great teaching approach.  The idea is to give assignments that enable students to meet course outcomes, and generally speaking, skimping on assignments isn't a way to do that.

That said, I think you need to talk to the committee person to find out exactly what the issue is.  Forget the stuff about easy assignments, respect, and the easy final. Bringing up these things makes you sound defensive.  Focus only on the issues that she brings up. I expect that the school has a process for grade appeals, and this committee member is simply following the process (that is, talking to the instructor).

BTW, it would be in favor if you can point out that -- in the grades or just the final -- you have a good mix of grades.  A decent number of As and Bs in a test is one way to silence the complainers who got Ds and Fs.

[walker]

Quit.

Seriously, that level of disrespect is not worth it for an adjunct job, and you can adjuncy anywhere.

You're not going to be paid for all of the time you spend filling out documents and responding to the school's silly "committee"

Stand by your grades. If they pester you anymore, then quit and let them handle it.

[marcus_welby]

Students often know that you are a part-time instructor or an adjunct and will try to push you further than they would a full-time professor.

That said, there are often a few complaints about grades during or at the end of semesters in any case.  The best way to manage them is to deal with students directly if they approach you.  Explain the grade by way of a conversation or an e-mail.

If students push the matter on to the chair or go over your head to the chair themselves, write an e-mail to your chair explaining each contentious grade and attaching an excel sheet with the marks breakdown.  One column on the sheet could be "comments" (rarely attended class, submitted an incomplete final exam, left mid-term exam early, comprehension difficulties, essay was one week late, etc.).

Put the ball in the chair's court.  Tell him/her, if he/she wishes to adjust a grade, that he/she should feel free to do so, because the term is over.  Indicate that in your view that the grades awarded represented a fair assessment of the students performance.

The students should also be informed of the formal appeal process (pay a fee, a re-read by another instructor, grade is changed or remains the same). 

It is not uncommon for an occasional grade to be adjusted without formal appeal by the department chair or course director, with the agreement of the original instructor, but if it is more frequent than that then I would follow the advice above and get out of that department.  You don't want to be a doormat.

[dark_globe]

Larry gave nearly the correct answer. I've italicized the corrected passage below:

"Then tell those bastards you don't work there anymore but that the chair will be happy to help."

[larryc]

I endorse Dark Globe's correction! On the other hand:

Put the ball in the chair's court.  Tell him/her, if he/she wishes to adjust a grade, that he/she should feel free to do so, because the term is over.  Indicate that in your view that the grades awarded represented a fair assessment of the students performance.

You could tell the chair that if he feels the grade should be adjusted he should write a brief memo to that effect (block paragraphs, one inch margins, no more than 2 pages) and you will consider his appeal.

[junebugs]

I'm struck by the differences in expectations between myself as an adjunct and other professionals. I called a doctor's office for the price of a procedure and the nurse told me it depended on my problem so the doctor would have to see me. The consult was $200. I had already done research on this procedure so I didn't have a question for the doctor besides the price. When I did see the doctor I asked him the price. He said the prices were fixed and quickly left so the nurse could tell me the fixed price. It didn't depend on my problem at all, and the nurse coud have told the price over the phone two weeks prior. I had to pay the doctor $200 in order to have his nurse quote me a fixed price of a procedure. That's all. Yet as an adjunct I'm expected to drop everything to follow up on my classes I've finished teaching. My hours of follow-up time are worthless. I'm not being paid for the follow-ups, yet five minutes of the doctor's time cost me $200.  And I don't see how my employers can appeal to my higher calling, since adjuncts are paid poorly to begin with out of financial necessity not because low adjunct pay is the "right thing to do." 

[zharkov]

I'm struck by the differences in expectations between myself as an adjunct and other professionals. I called a doctor's office for the price of a procedure and the nurse told me it depended on my problem so the doctor would have to see me. The consult was $200. I had already done research on this procedure so I didn't have a question for the doctor besides the price. When I did see the doctor I asked him the price. He said the prices were fixed and quickly left so the nurse could tell me the fixed price. It didn't depend on my problem at all, and the nurse coud have told the price over the phone two weeks prior. I had to pay the doctor $200 in order to have his nurse quote me a fixed price of a procedure. That's all. Yet as an adjunct I'm expected to drop everything to follow up on my classes I've finished teaching. My hours of follow-up time are worthless. I'm not being paid for the follow-ups, yet five minutes of the doctor's time cost me $200.  And I don't see how my employers can appeal to my higher calling, since adjuncts are paid poorly to begin with out of financial necessity not because low adjunct pay is the "right thing to do." 

If all the school is asking for is 10 minutes on the phone, just do it.  IMHO, you seem to be wasting a lot of emotional energy for a 10 minute phone call.

If they want more than 10 minutes on the phone, tell them your consulting rate is $200/day or fraction thereof.  (Naturally, you should check your contract about how must support you are expected to provide after the term ends.)

[anthroid]

Actually....I'm having trouble with the OP.  There is a poster called "junebug" but here we have "junebugs."  I'm wondering if this actually happened, to be honest.  The doctor story also doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

My radar is going off, but maybe I'm just in a bad mood...

[_touchedbyanoodle_]

I'm not sure this really happened, and my advice comes with a chip on its shoulder, but here it is anyway:

You were an adjunct for that college, right? You're not teaching for them anymore? Assuming you already turned in your grade book, you need not be accessible to that college any longer, period. It's the amount of volunteer work that adjuncts do that makes colleges willing to rely on them. In the event that your refusal to do any volunteer work for your previous employer may encourage them in any way, shape, or form to reconsider their dependency on and treatment of adjuncts, you should simply cut them off.

Ten minutes or not, they're still asking for volunteer work. Say no. Tell them your temporary contract is up and the grade appeal is a matter to be handled by those currently on the pay roll.

TBAN

[theatremom]

You were an adjunct for that college, right? You're not teaching for them anymore? Assuming you already turned in your grade book, you need not be accessible to that college any longer, period. It's the amount of volunteer work that adjuncts do that makes colleges willing to rely on them. In the event that your refusal to do any volunteer work for your previous employer may encourage them in any way, shape, or form to reconsider their dependency on and treatment of adjuncts, you should simply cut them off.

Ten minutes or not, they're still asking for volunteer work. Say no. Tell them your temporary contract is up and the grade appeal is a matter to be handled by those currently on the pay roll.

TBAN

This is the best advice you've been given so far....and trust me, all the advice you've been given is good. I am an adjunct, and my understanding (with both schools I work for) is that, once the semester is over and my grades/gradebooks are submitted to the department secretary, my work for the school is over until the start of the new semester. Why in world would they need to speak with you, anyway? They've got a copy of your syllabus, they've got your grades and your records.......why do they need to meet with you?

I've done exactly what LarryC suggested before: I've told a school that I am not currently under contract and that they'll have to contact my department head for information concerning student grades. It was a simple, two or three sentence e-mail, I cc'd it to my dept. head, and left it at that. Never heard from anyone in administration again, and still taught there for a few more semesters.

[mj_romo]

Grades are slow.  I know on a couple of the campuses where I teach, they're not released until a week before the next term begins.  Therefore, students don't get to appeal them until that point. 

No matter that you are no longer with the school, you gave the grade and have an obligation to explain/justify that grade.  It may piss you off to have to do so, but sometimes that's part of being a teacher.

I was told this was the policy in cases of grade disputes, but when I read the faculty handbook, there was no mention of this policy.

Double-check with the department.  I've found that there's a general faculty handbook, and that each department has additional or other procedures for handling disputes like this.

Finally, I wouldn't blow them off.  It's 10 minutes of your time now that could help you later.  On all of the job apps I've done, I've been asked for phone numbers for the last 3 or 4 dept. chairs I've worked for.  And chairs remember stuff like this - by blowing this dept. off, you may be in for a snarky recommendation later.  I've always given just a little extra so that my chairs remember me as someone who's willing to do that, and then they speak well of me when they get called. (Which finally got me a one-year contract - it's just a year, but it's a start for t-t positions.)