Fighting a grade
Does anyone have students who still continue to fight their grade despite a detailed organized rubric? For example I once had a student fight with me that they got a A-. I had marked them lower on the student participation area of the rubric. They were supposed to deliver a lesson plan and engage students in the process. Her response was that it was "ridiculous" that I would expect her to be responsible for other students being engaged in her presentation/lesson. Furthermore when it was her turn to listen to others and engage in their lesson plan she continued to chat with her friends and look at her laptop instead. If my students aren't engaged in my classroom online or face to face I take it that I need to revise my content/curriculum because they cannot learn if they are not engaged.
Dawn,
Sorry you had to deal with that. You had your rubric, your assignment was detailed, you explain participation in your syllabus you stand your ground. I would not continue to fight with the student. Give one detailed answer and if the student finds the grade unacceptable, provide the steps to file a grievance. Students have learned somewhere, if they continue to bully the instructor they will change the grade. It has worked as some time.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I dont necessarily think its a content revision that is in order when students don't appear engaged. It could be a ton of different things, that being one of them. More to the point of the rubric, on day one, I always encourage students to approach me if they feel I made a mistake on their grade. I talk about this quite extensively and let them know that I do make mistakes. Being careful to add that they probably won't "win" the argument (which always draws a laugh) , but I find when I let them know that I have ,on occasion ,had to change a grade due to my mistake or oversight, I think they appreciate that and it tends to make them more at ease when they do approach me about it. That's just been my experience. And of course, I have the rubric out whenever this happens to refer to it.
Gary,
I agree with your strategy. I won't review everything but I will always change a grade if it is my fault. I do have a policy that states students must ask me to look at a great within two weeks of a posted grade. I post every grade but I won't argue a grade that was posted six weeks before and now the student finds the error. This is in my syllabus.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Hello,
What would you do in the future to try to avoid having this situation present again? Do you feel there was any merit to what she was saying? Do you feel that the rubric was presented in advance and the communication was clearly given?
Sharon
Sharon,
You must use your syllabus and your rubrics and hold students (and yourself) to those items. Also, you must follow institutional protocol regarding grade challenges. Those protocols are there to make sure everyone is heard.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dawn,
I will entertain challenges to a grade, but the student is required to provide a chapter and verse justification for that challenge. Once I consider the challenge: If I am unable to resolve the issue to the student's satisfaction, I kick it up to another level of supervision. This is especially important if the challenge is to a standardized test that I did not personally create. On the other hand, if the student has not provided a cogent argument with the required backup material, I simply inform them of same and that I consider the subject closed.
Joe Skeens
Joseph,
Thank you for enforcing procedure. I find that students think rules pertain to everyone but them. I find it so important that a students think about it rationally to make an argument. This is modeled by you by enforcing your syllabus and course rules.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I know exactly what you mean. I've had students dispute their grade because they answered the assignment question but did not provide sufficient amount of information to further explain it. I've also had students dispute taking off for formatting because the information wasn't present in the rubic. This can get really tricky.
Kimberly,
Interesting scenario. We talk about transparency in all of our workplaces but with this situation it really is important. If you hold students to a standard, you have to make it clear. It is tricky.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I have found that a rubric has limited student objections to a grade. It makes it seem to be less subjective...especially on an essay.
John,
That is one of the great advantages of a rubric. Students know what is expected of them.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I find when students are fighting its usually a reflection of on of two things.
A) they did not read the rubric and therefore did not know of the expectation
B) a previous instructor did not apply the rubric as you have.
Communication is key and very delicate in these situations. I have to be very careful not to take what they are saying personally.
Having an objective outside person re-evaluate also helps, if you have one available to you.
Jenn
Jenn,
What a great point! I have had students "sign" the rubric regarding their understanding of the expectations. I think you are so smart having a "go to" person that can help determine best practices.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I have found few students fight their grade despite the rubric. Usually it is not an issue. I find rubrics actually help students understand the assignment/expectations better.
Agnes,
It does remove "some" of the subjectivity to grading which will reduce the argument as it provides expectations for both the instructor and the student.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dawn students always find something wrong when the grade is not 100 percent. I tell student I only grade what you give me and essentially that means they assign their own grade. I implement a lot of scaffolding tools in my course that is geared towards successful assignment completion and I never leave out the rubric. Students who follow the rubric and scaffolding tools never complain. So when a student is disputing their grade I know that they are not doing enough to help in their own success.
Thank you
Kimberley,
You have great strategies. I also try not to say "grading". It seems when I "grade" I am assigning a "grade" and they don't look at the feedback I give them. I try to say evaluation as they earn the information I give them and the feedback is something they need to use to better themselves.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dawn,
I will entertain a grade challenge, but it is so much easier when you have an objective documentation backing you up—such as your rubric.
However, I must say that I would probably agree with her assessment about the “group effort grade†being ridiculous. I have heard the potential positives, and it seems to work with teams for sports or scavenger hunts, but I hate when an academic grade of an individual depends on a group. My kids think likewise. Despite some pros, I simply feel that it is a potentially unjust –and often inaccurate – evaluation measure. Unless you can a priori point out the slackers who benefit from yet drag others down, I would avoid it – UNLESS students ask for it and are willing to accept random group assignments.
However, I applaud you for sticking to your guns at A- -- but this is because of her “chat and laptop choice behavior†during listening time.
Finally, one special case where I have faced “fighting a grade†is that of a grade of zero --- for plagiarized content on a post. I’ve tweaked my approach and wording over the past 2 years and now I get positive responses since I mention that my “plagiarism detection software flagged it†but I then double-checked it to be sure. Also, I always offer a second chance – at least with initial offenses – which are sometimes inadvertent. I feel confident now because I do a 2 column WORD table with side-by-side student vs. potential outside source wording (and reference). It takes a lot of time, however. (I HATE plagiarism)
Two points on this:
#1) I do not tell or show students what parts I found plagiarized (that would only make them more savy at it!). If challenged I asked them to resubmit their post to me with any and all outside source wording/content flagged, and a list of any websites they contribute to as an author. I am wiling to send my findings to a third party (student supervisor) to get an objective opinion if they would like. No takers so far.
#2) My plagiarism detection software is real…sort of. I call it my GAMN software system to detect plagiarism. But you can’t buy it. All “GAMN†stands for is “Google and my Noggin’ “. When I see a suspicious phrase (or copied hyperlinks(!) I simply paste the phrase in the Google Search box with quotation marks on both sides to look for exact occurrences. With a little practice I find original sources easily….and too often!
-John Bohn
