Evaluating Student Progress for Undergraduates

Faculty are urged to submit a Faculty Academic Alert Form (available on MySLC) to the Office of the Dean. This permits the Office Dean of Studies about any student whose attendance is irregular or whose work reflects academic difficulty. This permits the Office of the Dean of Studies to connect students with resources. The office may request progress reports on any student who is on probation or who seems to be experiencing academic difficulty.

Students receive written narratives, called evaluations, from each of their teachers at the end of each semester. Evaluations are a detailed written assessment of student work in each course which provide students feedback on their strengths and areas for improvement. Evaluations submitted electronically are available for students to view or print through MySLC. Faculty also submit letter grades for all courses, which are posted to the official transcript by the Office of the Registrar. Grades can be viewed by the deans of the college, the deans of studies, the student, and their don. They are used along with evaluations by the Committee on Student Work in assessing a student’s academic progress.

Grades for yearlong courses are submitted in June. A student planning to leave a yearlong course at midyear should discuss their plans with the instructor within the first two weeks of December to ensure that sufficient work has been accomplished before the end of the first semester to pass the class. The teacher will then submit a grade and final evaluation for the fall semester to the Office of the Registrar.

All work is due by the last day of classes unless the student has asked for and been granted an official incomplete by the teacher. The form to be used by students is the Incomplete Request Form, which is available on MySLC and in the Office of the Dean of Studies. Students are responsible for requesting an incomplete from faculty who determine whether the student is eligible. An incomplete may be awarded only if the student has already done substantial passing work in the course and the teacher judges the reasons for granting incomplete status to be valid, e.g., illness, serious personal crisis, accident, extenuating academic circumstances. Faculty members are under no obligation to grant incompletes unless they feel they are warranted. Students on academic probation must receive approval by the Office of the Dean of Studies prior to making a request for an incomplete. An incomplete is not necessary in the fall of a yearlong class or if a teacher agrees to an extension which allows the evaluation to be submitted by the required deadline. For fall semester incompletes, all work must be turned in by January 15, and for yearlong or spring semester courses, all work must be turned in by June 30. If there are exceptional circumstances that warrant an extension of these deadlines, the teacher must gain approval from the Office of the Dean of Studies. Faculty are asked to notify the Registrar’s Office if the work is not submitted by the due date.

Grades and evaluations for fall semester incompletes are due in the Office of the Registrar by February 15; grades and evaluations for spring incompletes are due by August 1. If the faculty member does not submit a new grade, the grade listed on the faculty incomplete form will be posted on the transcript.

Students who wish to contest the course grade assigned must notify the course instructor and the Office of the Dean of Studies within the calendar year following the semester in which the grade was earned. Additional or revised work cannot be handed in after a course is over in order to pass a course or to improve the grade, but the teacher may be asked to re-evaluate the work that was submitted during the semester if the student believes the work was undervalued. If the faculty decides to amend the grade, they must notify the registrar of the grade change, and the change must be approved by the Office of the Dean of Studies before it can be posted.

At the end of each semester, some faculty require students to submit a worksheet for their course.

Worksheet forms are available on MySLC. The worksheet is a synthesis of the work accomplished for class and conference, and should include readings, fieldwork, field trips, concerts, plays, movies, and lectures attended that are relevant to the course material. Careful preparation of the worksheet serves to pull together, organize, and review the semester’s work. Worksheets can be important for transfer and graduate school purposes, and copies should be kept for personal reference.

Students are urged to write a course appraisal at the completion of every single-semester or yearlong course. These evaluate the contribution of the teacher to the student’s education and to Sarah Lawrence The appraisals are read by the provost and are available to the Advisory Committee. Faculty do not read their appraisals until their own student evaluations have been submitted to the Office of the Registrar.