Grading guidelines and information

Final Grades

As faculty enter final grades through the grading deadline, students will notice that the graded courses will drop off their current term schedule in Arches. The Office of the Registrar cannot answer questions about grades. Please also remember that the college privacy policy does not permit faculty to email grading information to students. If you have a question about a grade, please consult Moodle or contact the faculty member about setting up a meeting to discuss your questions or concerns in person. Please refer to the catalog for additional grading policies. 

Final Transcripts

Students wishing to request a transcript that includes final grades for this term or the posting of a completed degree should mark "hold for final grades" at the time of the request in Arches. Grades will be considered final and available on Arches on the day after grades are due. Requests made before this date will not include final grades from this term. Please be aware that transcript processing takes additional time to process during peak times. See Transcript Information for details.

Finally, candidates for graduation who have additional questions should visit the Graduation Policies page.

Final Grade Submission is done electronically in Arches under the Faculty Overview. Grades are due promptly at the deadline published on the Academic Calendar and communicated through email. Due to the end-of-term processing, the college cannot make arrangements for late grade submissions. Faculty who have an emergency  should contact the Registrar and Associate Dean regarding the situation. See also Missing Grades section below. Attendance and Grading Policies regarding grading and grade submission can be found in the College Catalog and the Faculty Handbook. All grading fields in Arches should have a grade entered. See this link for help with Arches for Grading.

At the time you complete your grading submission, there should be no blank grade fields in Arches.

Consult the grading guide and details see below. 

Arches Times Out after 10 minutes of no activity. This is a security feature recommended by our auditors and helps us with FERPA-compliance. As long as faculty continuously enter grades or save and return to the Final Grading screen every ten minutes, there should not be issues. The Office of the Registrar strongly suggest that faculty have all final grades for a section compete and ready to enter before entering any grades for a particular roster. This will help avoid time-out issues.

No Submit Button on Arches Grading Screen. Once you enter a grade for each student in the required final grading field, the grade will write back to the database. See below regarding verifying grades were submitted. 

Failing Grades: If a student has earned a grade of F (failure) or FA (failure to attend at any point all semester) faculty are required to enter a last date of attendance as you enter the final grade. If you do not enter a Last Date of Attendance before moving on to the next grade, the grade will not be recorded. All students, in all sections must have a final grade entered. Do not leave any grades fields in Arches blank.

Last Date of Attendance: Please do not enter any date in this field in Arches unless you are entering a grade of F (failure) or FA (failure to attend), or if your student has stopped attending prior to the end of the course. Entering a date here will trigger notifications to the student, advisor and financial aid office that the student stopped engaging with your course. 

Withdrawn Students: You may see a student on your grading roster who you believe has withdrawn from the institution. The Financial Aid Office may not have completed all withdrawal processing at the time grades are due. Please enter the earned final grade for the student at the time you enter grades. Their records will be updated when the withdrawal process is finalized. 

Missing Students: Students that have been attending, but do not appear on the grade roster, should be informed by the faculty member about improper registration and to contact the Registrar's Office immediately. Students on the roster who attended at least one class session, but have now disappeared (stopped attending) should be assigned the appropriate grade that has been earned (this could be a failing grade) and a last date of attendance should be entered. Students who have never attended, but still appear on the roster, should have a grade of "FA" (failure to attend) reported. See failing grades above. 

Missing Grades (i.e. grades not posted by the published deadline) will be assigned a grade of "M" for "missing" at the grade deadline and the final audit of graduates will be performed to confirm the completion of all degree requirements. Faculty missing the grade deadline will need to access the Grade Change Request System linked in Arches beginning the day after grades are due. Please be aware that your failure to meet the grading deadline may prohibit students from graduating. Students may NOT graduate with a missing grade on their record. If a faculty member misses the grading deadline, it is expected they will email the students explaining the delay and that grades will show as "M" until resolved.

Grade Changes after you have entered a grade in Arches must be made using the Grade Change Request form. Grade changes (including grade submission for those who do not meet the grade deadline) cannot be entered through the Faculty Overview menu in Arches. Please visit the Grade Change Request System starting the day after grades are due. No grade change requests will be accepted via email attachment, phone or hard copy grade cards. For assistance with the form please contact Christina Klauer christinaklauer@augustana.edu (7277)

Accepting Late Work submitted by the student beyond the end of the term cannot be accepted toward the final grade or used to reevaluate a grade at a later time for a grade change. This policy is defined in the faculty handbook. The end of the term is defined as 6:00 pm on the last day of exam week (last day of J-term) unless another, earlier date is specified by the faculty member in the syllabus. Most faculty will use the published date of their final exam/paper  or presentation as the deadline. Please refer to the faculty handbook and college catalog.

Incomplete Grade Eligibility are appropriate for a student with an emergency situation. Instructors are discouraged from awarding incompletes for student convenience or because a student simply got behind in their work. Faculty should review the Incomplete Guidance document before awarding an incomplete grade. If a situation requires awarding an incomplete, please consult any notices you may have received from the Dean of Students or through Starfish that validate a need for the incomplete and submit the "I" grade electronically. Please share the Incomplete Grade Guide with any student who you have assigned an incomplete grade. After all grades are verified by the Office of the Registrar, faculty will receive an email with a link to a web form requesting information detailing the parameters of the incomplete. Instructors must finalize the "I" grade in the Grade Change Request System in Arches for every "I" grade on their roster once the final grade is determined. Students may submit work to the instructor up to 30-days after the final exam period unless a shorter period is assigned by the faculty member. A final grade is due from instructors one week later. Unresolved incomplete grades will be rolled to a final grade of “F” after 37 days. Students may not graduate with an incomplete (I) grade on their record. Deadlines are published on the Academic Calendar. 

Confirming Grades were submitted is a faculty responsibility. Faculty may always return to the Faculty Overview and Final Grading screens to see the final grades entered for every section they have taught. Due to the volume of grades we will be verifying we are not able to take phone calls or respond to email confirming grades are completed properly, please complete the above process to confirm your grades.

Grade Appeals- please consult the Grades Appeal policy and procedures in the grading section of the catalog. 

updated 12.1.2023 laf