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Normandale Community College Policies and Procedures

3.9.1 Grading Procedure

Related MinnState Board Policy: None

Related MinnState Board Procedure: None

Purpose: To establish fair and consistent procedures for grading students’ coursework.

Part 1: Grade. Each class taken for academic credit will be assigned a final grade by the faculty who delivers the instruction.

Subpart A. Valid Grades. The following grades are valid for Normandale Community College. Normandale does not use +/- grading symbols (i.e. grade shading).

A Superior achievement of course requirements; 4 grade points per credit.
B Above average achievement of course requirements; 3 grade points per credit.
C Average achievement of course requirements; 2 grade points per credit.
D Below average achievement of course requirements; 1 grade point per credit.
F Failure. Student did not meet minimum course requirements; 0 grade points per credit (included in GPA).
NA Never attended. This grade is assigned as a result of faculty last date of attendance reporting. Excluded from GPA. Counts as credits attempted/not completed.
NW Never officially withdrew. This grade is assigned to a student who did not officially withdraw from the course but stopped attending a face to face class or participating in an online class prior the withdrawal deadline. Assigned as a result of faculty last date of attendance reporting. Excluded from GPA. Counts as credits attempted/not completed.
I Incomplete. A temporary grade issued when the instructor has reasonable expectation that the student can complete unfinished course requirements; 0 grade points per credit; excluded from GPA but considered during the evaluation of Satisfactory Academic Progress completion rate requirements. If work is not made up, the Incomplete will automatically change to an F at the end of the subsequent semester.
P Pass. Indicates successful achievement of requirements with a minimum grade of C; 0 grade points per credit; excluded from GPA but considered during the evaluation of Satisfactory Academic Progress completion rate requirements. May be used only in courses numbered below 1000 and other select courses as approved by the College’s meet and confer process.
NC No Credit. Indicates inadequate achievement of requirements; 0 grade points per credit; excluded from GPA but considered during the evaluation of Satisfactory Academic Progress completion rate requirements. May be used only in courses numbered below 1000 and other select courses as approved by the College’s meet and confer process.
AU Audit. 0 grade points per credit; excluded from GPA. Audited courses are not given college credit, are not eligible for financial aid or VA benefits and cannot be used to satisfy graduation requirements.
W Withdrawal after the first five days of the semester up to the 80th percent point of the semester (this time period is adjusted for the summer session and for classes that do not meet the full length of the term); 0 grade points per credit; excluded from GPA but considered during the evaluation of Satisfactory Academic Progress completion rate requirements. A grade of W cannot be assigned by faculty but may be assigned by College administration as a result of the student’s failure to pay tuition, failure to attend classes, failure to meet course prerequisites, failure to meet the standards of satisfactory academic progress, violations of the code of conduct and other situations. Once a student is withdrawn from a course, the student is no longer allowed to attend or participate in that course.
Z Class in progress or no grade reported; 0 grade points per credit; excluded from GPA but considered during the evaluation of Satisfactory Academic Progress completion rate requirements.

Subpart B. Exceptions to faculty submitting grades. Certain circumstances may permit the registrar, a college administrator or a designee to submit final grades.

  1. The registrar shall assign final grades in the following circumstances:
    1. when faculty grade entry results in error or omission and the documentation in the registrar’s possession reflects a final grade.
    2. when faculty report a student’s last date of attendance past the course withdrawal deadline and a grade of NW has been assigned. The registrar will change the grade to F for courses graded A-F or NC for courses graded Pass/No Credit.
    3. when an Incomplete grade has not been assigned an alternate final grade by the end of the term that follows the term in which the Incomplete grade was assigned.
    4. when approving a student’s appeal for a late course withdrawal.
  2. College administration grade submission.
    1. Student Affairs deans, Academic Affairs division deans, the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost; The Vice President of Student Affairs and the President may assign a final grade as described in Part 2 Subpart A.
    2. The division dean and academic vice president may also assign a final grade as a result of a student complaint or grievance or when acting on the instructor’s behalf.
    3. The Dean of Student Services may assign a grade of W or F as a sanction for violations of the Student Code of Conduct.
  3. In the absence of the instructor of record, a designee may be assigned to submit final grades.

Subpart C. Grade changes. Faculty and others, as described in Subpart B.1-3, may submit a grade change when a student’s initial grade has changed. Faculty will submit grade changes by the grade change form in Faculty eServices or by the Instructor Permission eForm.

Subpart D. Grade deadline. The final grading deadline for each term will be determined by the registrar and communicated to faculty and administration. Faculty will be given, at minimum, two business days following the last day of finals week to submit grades. During summer terms, faculty will be allowed a minimum of two business days after the session end date to submit grades. Final grade reporting is completed in Minnesota State eServices. Faculty must submit a copy of their grade book to the Records Office for permanent archiving.

Subpart E. Exception to grade deadline. The following circumstances allow for the temporary or permanent assignment of grades prior to course completion.

  1. Student or college-initiated withdrawal. After the drop period ends and prior to the withdrawal deadline (80% point of the term or course), a student may withdraw from a class. A final grade of W will be assigned. Normandale administration may also assign a grade of W as described in Part 1 Subpart A.
  2. Last date of attendance reporting. Faculty are required to report students’ non-attendance as soon as they are reasonably certain the student has not or has stopped attending or participating in their classes.
    1. Never attended.
      1. Classes that begin the first week of the term*: Beginning the fourth business day that follows the first meeting through the end of the 9th business day of the term, faculty will report students who have never attended their face to face class and who have not participated in their online class.
      2. Classes that begin after the first week of the term: During the week that follows the class begin date, faculty will report students who have never attended their face to face class and who have not participated in their online class.
      *Holidays and late student registration may prevent faculty from determining a student’s intent to participate before the financial aid disbursement date. In such cases, faculty will report non-attendance at the end of the week that follows the financial aid disbursement date.
    2. Last date of attendance.
    3. After a student misses two weeks of class, faculty shall report the student’s last date of attendance.
    4. A last date of attendance shall not be reported for students who attend past the course withdrawal deadline. Such students should be issued a final grade.
    5. Grades. Default grades of NA or NC are assigned for students who have never attended and NW or NC for students who attended at least one day. Students may visit the Records Office to change their NA, NW or NC grades to W through the end of the withdrawal period. The last date of attendance as reported by faculty will not change with the grade change.

Part 2: Grading options. Each course will be assigned a default grading option, approved by the college via the meet and confer process. Students can elect any valid grading option at the time of course registration through the course withdrawal deadline, by either utilizing the eServices registration tool or visiting Student Services.

Subpart A. All courses in the Normandale curriculum can be graded on an A-F grading scale.

Subpart B. Pass/No Credit grading option. All courses numbered below 1000 can be graded on a Pass/No Credit basis, an A-F basis or as an audit. The default grading option for all courses is A-F unless otherwise specified in the course’s catalog description.

Subpart C. Audit grading option. All courses in the Normandale curriculum can be audited. The fee for such a course is the same as for credit.

Part 3: Repeated courses.

Subpart A. Courses repeatable for credit. When the catalog description indicates a course is repeatable for credit, the student will receive credit and grades for each instance of the course up to its designated maximum. Once the maximum is reached, the college will count the credits and the highest earned grades in credit and GPA totals.

Subpart B. Courses not repeatable for credit.

  1. When a course can be taken only once for credit, all instances of the course will remain on the student’s transcript, but only the credit and highest grade earned will be calculated in the student’s GPA and credit totals.
    1. For purposes of course repeats, grades are considered in the following order: A, B, C, P, D, NC, NA/NW, F.
    2. The college may count the more recent attempt of a course when that attempt is required to satisfy a subsequent course’s prerequisite.
  2. For determining a student’s credit completion rate for Satisfactory Academic Progress, all attempts are counted as credits attempted, but only one successful attempt will count as credits earned.

Procedure History:

Department Owner: Records and Retention

Date and Subject of Revisions:

5/6/2020:

Part 1 Subpart A: Renamed FN and FW to NA and NW; redefined their meaning. Added grade shading, the Minnesota State definition of plus/minus grades.

Part 1 Subpart B.1: Updated the reasons the registrar will change grades.

Part 1 Subpart B.2: Clarified who can change grades and in what circumstances.

Part 1 Subpart C: Redefined the methods by which grade changes are submitted.

Part 1 Subpart D: Changed MnSCU to Minnesota State.

Part 1 Subpart E.1: Changed FN and FW to NA and NW respectively.

Part 1 Subpart E.2: Defined process for reporting last date of attendance. Changed FN and FW to NA and NW respectively.

Part 2: Changed Records Office to Student Services.

Part 2: Added new subpart A to include A-F grading option; changed former subpart A to B, former subpart B to C.

Part 3 Subpart B: Separated into two parts to clarify treatment of repeated courses. Changed FN and FW to NA and NW respectively.

Next Review Date: 5/12/2023