Grading Policy

1. An instructor should generally grade all materials week by week.

   This way the students have week-by-week feedback.

   Also the instructor doesn't get into a grading black hole.

   If you get a little behind sometimes, it's NOT a problem. But don't get a lot behind.

   When you or I have to deal with student grade issues, we need to know what their current grade records are.

2. A student can always make an argument for change in grade on some lab.

   Usually they don't, but if they do, consider it. You may agree with them after some thought.

3. Near the end of the semester, the instructors should inform each student of their grade record. That way students know where they stand and know if they have any items to make up.

4. Lab instructors will assign their own mid-term and final grades. This is done in the intro physics lab courses too.

   The lab instructors have access to the class rosters.

   The registrar will probably send you an email telling you when entering mid-term and final grades is possible.

   Final grades are typically due the Tuesday after finals week. You should check UNLV Calendars and Schedules (or Academic Calendars) for the specific date for each semester.

   Making the final grade deadline should be no problem for the astronomy lab course since we typically finish all activities 1 to 2 weeks ahead of the end of classes.

   ---

   Mid-term grades are NOT part of a students permanent record. They are just to inform the student and his/her advisor about how they are doing.

   So you don't have to agonize over them.

   You do have to be careful with final grades, of course.

   The instructors can consult with me about final grades or other grades if they wish to.

5. There is final grade policy for astronomy lab course:
   1. The class GPA (NOT counting students who have abandoned the class: i.e., who have stopped coming to labs) should ordinarily be in the range 2.7--3.0 (i.e., B- to B average).

      The official class GPA which includes abandoning students will be lower usually.

      There should ordinarily only be 2 to 4 A's per section.

      Usually, don't give D's or F's to non-abandoning students. If a student does nearly all of the items and is trying, usually they deserve a C at least. Of course, if they blow off work or are so weak that a C can't be justified in good conscience, then D's or F's can be given.

      So ordinarily among non-abandoning students, there will be a range of C's, B's, and A's. Note there is nothing wrong with a grade C. It's good passing grade. It's a bit below average, but to have an average, there must be a below.

      Those students who abandon the course usually get F's.

      A student who abandons a course can petition to have the F expunged from their record. If they never attended the course at all, I think that the petition is usually granted.

      If you have an exceptionally strong or weak section, you can go out of the range 2.7--3.0 range for non-abandoning students. It should be a really exceptional section.

      For intro level 1-credit lab courses, this is what I deem to be a fair system. Generous, but NOT inflated beyond modern custom.

   2. We have 2 automatic failure rules that need secret-from-the-student adjustments:
      1. The Syllabus: Evaluation, states a pass on the lab final is required to pass the course.

         The adjustment is that really no one should fail based on the lab final. We just want to scare the students a little.

         So if they fail the lab final or miss it, they just get whatever grade they would have gotten counting the lab final as 10 % of the total grade.

         If they miss the lab final with a valid excuse, then you should try if at all possible to give them a makeup. I can give them a makeup if you are NOT available and I am.

         We should be accommodating. All kinds of things happen to students.

      2. Also the Syllabus: Evaluation, states students must pass 6 labs to pass the course. 60% or higher is deemed a pass.

         This is a lab course intended to learn lab skills, and so really the students should pass at least 6 labs, I think.

         Now, in fact, even without this rule it is really hard to pass the course without passing 6 labs.

         However, one can imagine a case where a student does well enough on the quizzes and less than 6 labs to get a bare pass and then decides to NOT do or just partially do the other labs. Hence this rule.

         The adjustment is that the instructor can override the 6-lab rule if they feel that is a good idea.

         For example, there could be a really good student who for health reasons misses a lot of labs and can't do makeups or take an incomplete. If the student is otherwise passing and the instructor thinks it fitting, the 6-lab rule can be waived.

   3. The final grade is on the 5-point scale (A,B,C,D,F) or the 12-point scale (A,A-,B+,B,B-,C+,C,C-,D+,D,D-,F) as the instructor prefers.

   4. Instructors should be a bit coy about grades with students so as NOT to give any impression that there is a guarantee of any kind.

      That is why in the syllabus it says "Typically, a section GPA will be in the B- to B range."

      That "Typically" allows for untypical cases.

      Now it is true that the Introductory Astronomy Laboratory Exercises (IALE) are set exercises.

      So if a student does them all right, then they 100 %. This is NOT so hard especially as the labs are down in groups.

      So grades just based on IALEs are likely to be very high.

      The quizzes there to spread the students out in grades and give reasonable estimate of individual student achievement.

      The instructors can write their own quizzes if they like. However, all the IALEs have prepared quizzes. If those quizzes are NOT sufficient to spread the students out, I can make them harder.

   5. There is, in fact, a university grading policy: see UNLV grading policy.

      As you can see it is rather minimal.

      Most obviously, it doesn't specify what average is meant---the average of the class, the grade of the typical 18-year-old you keep in your mind, or what?

      This is entirely intentional I think. Different disciplines have different traditions and any rigid system leads to anomalies where students don't get the grade they clearly deserve and leads to people trying to game the system.

      The instructors are simply given a lot of freedom. No one in the administration is likely to question your class GPA as long as it is NOT extreme: e.g., way above 3 or below 2. I've worked at dozens of universities---well it seems that way---and nowhere has anyone given me more guidelines than the always-minimal university policy or questioned my GPAs.

      The fact is that in the war on grade inflation the battle for the C average for a class was lost long ago---students with pitchforks and flaming torches would attack the department if we tried to maintain a C average for a class.

      The expensive prestige colleges have just given up in the war on grade inflation. They give A's to everyone---well something like 50 % of everyone (see Rampell, C. 2014aug11, Washington Post, "A.s for everyone"). But we're NOT Harvard.

      As far as I can tell, for lower division 3-credit science courses a 2.7 GPA (B- average) is typical. I feel one can go a bit higher for 1-credit courses like the astronomy laboratory course.

   6. Incomplete grade I:

      There are definite rules for incompletes: see UNLV grading policy.

      Generally, try to stay away from incompletes. Students have an awful temptation to forget that they have to complete the course and months drag by. So incompletes are a nuisance to both students and instructors.

      But sometimes incompletes have to be given: e.g., a student just can't complete the course work due to illness.

   7. Changing a final grade:

      At the end of the semester, some students can become very desperate for a grade change.

      You should NOT change a grade to satisfy a student need.

      Your grade lines must be drawn independent of student needs.

      If a student can make a valid argument for more points on one or more items and that improves their grade, then that is fine.

      If they can convince you that your grading scheme for all students should be more generous, then that is fine too. But you really have to believe that you should be more generous independent of that individual student's needs. This seldom happens to me.

      Note that the registrar disfavors any change in grading scheme or weighting of items after final grades are submitted. I'm NOT sure about UNLV, but some schools forbid such changes after final grades are submitted. To be definite, I forbid it. Don't do it.

      Of course, if a submitted final grade is just in error, then the error can be corrected within 6 months of the end of the semester or even later with approval by the Faculty Senate: Academic Standards Committee (see Student Records Policies).

      Resources for grade changes: Student Records Policies, Change of Grade Authorization form (which for some reason is NOT at Office of the Registrar: Forms & Policies), Faculty Senate: Academic Standards Committee and Faculty Senate: Student Resources.

Substitute Labs

Having a few substitute labs is a long-standing tradition of the Ast 105.

Lab Duration

For the students to get the requisite educational value, the labs should usually run 2 hours at least.

Most IALEs have enough tasks that if they were all done, they would run at least that long and some much longer. There might be one or two IALEs that are short. For example, Lab 1: Constellations might run short if you CANNOT do observations because of weather.

In order that students get the requisite educational value and to have a uniformity among the sections, the rule is:

Instructors must ensure that a lab period runs 2 hours at least, unless you have finished every doable task in the lab.

If you are doing a substitute lab NOT in the prepared IALEs, it must be roughly equivalent, and so have roughly the same number tasks up to the number that can actually be done in 2.5 or so hours.

The IALEs do have suggestions for tasks to omit and instructors can omit some of those and other tasks as needed in order finish on time. We do NOT want students kept late.

Class Rosters

We do allow students to informally switch sections. But the two section instructors have to OK this. The two section instructors have a joint responsibility for making sure the informally-switched student grades are entered for the section they are formally enrolled in.

If a non-roster student is attending your section without permission, you should determine their status forthwith. If they are in another section, they should be their or informally switch with permission.

If a non-roster student is NOT enrolled, then they should NOT be attending lab, except when they intend to enroll and it's just taking some time.