In
March
of 2001, the Academic Standards Committee disscussed the following
concerns regarding Calvin College's (former) incomplete policy:
1.)
Uniform interpretation of an Incomplete. Currently, faculty members
allow students to take an incomplete for a wide range of outstanding
coursework. On one end of the spectrum, faculty members assign a grade
of incomplete only if the student has a minimal amount of work to
do, e.g. take a final exam, and/or complete one paper. On the other
end, faculty members assign a grade of incomplete for a student who
appears to have stopped attending a class (sometimes even very early
in the semester). As a result, both faculty and students are confused
about the appropriate use of an incomplete (rather than a grade of
W, N, or F), and faculty find little support to deny a student's request
for an incomplete. We hope to provide a uniform interpretation of
an incomplete and a set of guidelines for appropriate use of the incomplete
grade.
2.)
Incomplete due dates. The current deadline for finishing an incomplete
is December 1 for incompletes from the spring semester and May 1 for
incompletes from the fall semester. This appears to be too much time
for the student to have to complete the work. Some students get behind
in the new semester's work and find themselves needing to ask for
additional incompletes. Other students delay completing the work for
their incomplete because the deadline seems so far in the future.
If we limit the amount of work for which a student can take an incomplete,
we can set a more helpful deadline, one prior to midterm week.
3.)
Responsibility for initiating an incomplete. Presently, our policy
on incompletes does not stipulate who has the responsibility for arranging
for a grade of incomplete. Some students believe that they can expect
faculty to assign an automatic incomplete if they fail to turn in
a paper or to take the final exam. Some faculty believe that they
ought to assign an incomplete with or without a student's request.
If students were given more responsibility to contract with a professor
for an incomplete, they may begin to view that grade as a privilege
in extenuating circumstances rather than a right for work not finished
on time. And professors would no longer feel a sense of obligation
when assigning incompletes.
In
April of 2001, Faculty Senate discussed and approved the following Incomplete
Policy to address the above concerns - this will begin during the 2001
Fall semester:
1.)
That the grade of incomplete only be used where it is reasonable to
expect a student to complete the work within a six week time period
from the beginning of the following semester. The deadline for
incompletes incurred in the first semester or interim will be March
15 of the second semester. The deadline for incompletes incurred in
the second semester or in the summer will be October 15 of the following
fall semester. The registrar's office will remind the professor who
has assigned the incomplete and the student who has received it regarding
the deadline and will expect the student to follow up with the professor.
If the work is not completed by that time, the student will receive
a grade of an N for the course. It will remain possible for a professor
to request an extension or make a late change of grade but this option
should be used only in exceptional situations.
2.)
Normally, it will be the student's responsibility to approach the
professor with a request for an incomplete. The professor will
then work out a contract with the student. Please see the sample contract
below. We urge professors to keep a copy of this contract for good
record keeping purposes. (Good record keeping is essential if the
professor giving the incomplete will not be the person to supervise
the completion of the work.) The Registrar's Office will send blank
contracts to each department and will make contracts available to
students.
3.)
Professors will not use an Incomplete when an N is the more appropriate
grade. Normally, a student should have completed at least 75%
of the course work in order to contract for a grade of Incomplete.
Students who have missed more than 25% of the coursework should normally
receive a grade of F and be encouraged to repeat the course.
Incomplete
Contractt
