Addressing Academic Concerns with Your Instructor

SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDRESSING ACADEMIC CONCERNS WITH YOUR INSTRUCTOR:

• Ask your instructor if you can visit them during office hours, or set up a time, outside their office hours, to meet in order to discuss a classroom/grade concern that you have.
• Be able to articulate the specific concern(s) that you have. It might be helpful to write out key points so you can stay on track.
• Students may grieve whatever grade or classroom concern they believe is valid. The most successful grievances, however, are ones in which the student can substantiate errors or discrepancies, such as possible errors in the instructor’s grading, or significant departures from the course syllabus.
• If you believe a grade is incorrect, ask your instructor how they calculated your grade. If possible and applicable, you may want to ask your instructor if they can review the grading rubric with you and explain how your work matched, or didn’t match, the rubric’s expectations.
• Try to remain as calm and objective as possible in the conversation. Being angry, sarcastic or disrespectful is not helpful.
• Depending on the class and the grading criteria, some assignments are graded based on the instructor’s expertise and subjective judgment. You may disagree with the grade they arrived at, but it may not necessarily mean it’s incorrect.
• In some academic programs, missing a desired grade by .5 points is the same as missing it by 50 points. You may ask your instructor if there are alternatives to making up missed points (extra assignments, etc.), but ultimately, grading and the allowance of making up points is the prerogative of the instructor.
• Regardless of the outcome, be sure to thank your instructor for taking the time to discuss this with you.
• If, after trying to resolve a grade/academic dispute, you would still like to pursue an academic complaint, refer to the university’s academic complaint policy (4-02.3 ) and/or you may contact the Student Ombuds for consultation.
• When crafting the wording for a formal complaint, keep in mind that less is oftentimes more. The complaint should succinctly focus on the complaint itself. In general, it is best not to include details of extraneous life circumstances, personal stories, past grades or accomplishments, or speculate on other students’ grades as these tend to detract from the real focus of the complaint.