Grade and Course Concerns

Concerns about Your PWR Course

In general, if you have concerns about your academic progress or classroom experience in your PWR course, you should first discuss them with your instructor. Many misunderstandings can be resolved during an instructor-student meeting.  If your conversation with your instructor does not help to resolve the issue, or if you feel uncomfortable discussing your concerns directly with your instructor, you should make an appointment with the PWR Associate Director, Christine Alfano, to talk about your PWR experience.

Concerns about the Evaluation of Your Work

If you decide to request the re-evaluation of a grade you received on work for a PWR class, follow the steps indicated below. Please note that you should not delay starting this process if you have concerns about your grade; should you need to proceed to the third step of the process, you must do so within 30 days of when the grade was issued.

First Step: Instructor Grade Re-evaluation

You should direct all requests to discuss the evaluation of your work to the instructor of record for the course, since it is the instructor’s sole purview and responsibility to evaluate student work and assign grades. If you wish to question a grade you have received on an individual assignment or for the class as a whole, please write to your instructor explaining your concerns and requesting a meeting to discuss your concerns.  In preparation for this meeting, be sure to review the instructor’s feedback and the assignment guidelines as well as the syllabus. If you wish, you can contact the PWR Associate Director, Christine Alfano, for help with the request to discuss the evaluation of your work. 

Second Step: Informal Resolution Process

If you are unable to resolve a grade or other concern with your instructor, you should proceed to the informal resolution process, which involves discussing your concerns directly with the PWR Associate Director, Christine Alfano (alfano@stanford.edu). The Associate Director will set up separate meetings with you and with the instructor; you may be asked to provide supporting materials to inform the conversation. Note that this process does not involve a re-reading or re-evaluation of student work; it instead addresses concerns about fairness of grading in line with class and requirement policies, evaluation rubrics, etc.

Third Step: Formal Academic Grievance Procedure

If you cannot resolve your concerns about your class or how your work was evaluated through the processes outlined above, you should file a formal Academic Grievance “no later than 30 days after the adverse decision occurred or should reasonably have been discovered,” as stated in the University’s Academic Grievance Procedure. When doing so, be sure to follow the procedures outlined on the Academic Grievance Procedure page, sending the grievance to the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE), the administrative unit in which PWR resides; the PWR Associate Director can provide you with the appropriate contact information, should you need to take this step. 

Delay in filing a grievance (beyond the 30-day window) will constitute grounds for rejection of the grievance.   Please note that, per University Policy, “Reevaluation of student academic work by another party is not part of a grievance review.”