Student-initiated options

1. Pass/No Pass Grading: Students only have until May 21st to request a grade change to P/NP using the Add/Drop form and emailing it to the college’s admissions and records department (emails below). This option is no longer available in WebSmart and cannot be initiated by you, so the student must be the one to make the request. Special Note: If you take a P/NP, you can retake the class

Talking points: while the CSUs are accepting P/NP grades, the UCs are not widely accepting them (so if a student plans to apply to a UC, they may not want to use this option). There are also uncertainties about how P/NP will affect transfer to private and out-of-state universities or how it will affect admissions to graduate and professional schools later down the road. In other words, the P/NP may cause more problems for students than solutions. Students who will likely earn a C in the class may benefit from a P with respect to their GPAs. But when in doubt, students should stay with the letter grade option.

2. Extenuating Circumstances Withdrawal (EW): students can apply for an EW using this form. An EW doesn’t count toward probation or dismissal proceedings, and it won’t count as an attempt in the class. Students have up to one year to apply for an EW for the Spring 2020, regardless of if they pass the class or not.

Talking point: If a student is on federal financial aid, a veteran on GI benefits, or an international student, an EW could bring their unit count below their thresholds and affect their financial aid, GI bill, visa status or other benefits. Since the students have a year to request the EW, they may want to wait until they can talk to a counselor over the summer to see if this option works for them.

Admissions and Records Emails

• canadaadmissions@smccd.edu

Faculty Grading Options

• At this point in the semester, faculty cannot drop a student nor can we change them to a Pass/No Pass. Students must opt into each of these using the forms above.
• A/B/C/D/NP grading: the District Academic Senate has eliminated the F grading option and replaced it with the NP this spring.
• A student who earns below a 60% in the course should be assigned an NP.
• An NP does not count against a student’s GPA, it is not used in probation and dismissal proceedings, and it does not count as an attempt.
• A student who earns a D should be assigned a D (Ds are transferable and the credit can count towards an associate’s degree).
• The NP option should be used for students who “disappeared” this semester.

Letter grading scale: For this semester, the letter grading scale has been modified to A/B/C/D/NP. A student who would have received an ‘F’ grade should be assigned a No Pass (NP) grade. Unlike an ‘F’ grade, a NP grade will not have a negative impact on the student GPA. An NP grade thus minimizes the impact to students receiving financial aid and transferring to 4-year schools, and it will not count against course repetition limits or in probation and dismissal proceedings.

Incomplete: Faculty should work directly with students to assign a grade of ‘Incomplete’ (I). You will need to identify the assignments, projects, exams, etc. the student needs to complete and the current grade they would earn if the work is not completed (reflective of the current grade they are receiving with the missing work). You will be able to change the student’s final grade upon completion and evaluation of the agreed-upon work. Faculty will need to submit an Incomplete grade form to Admissions and Records to assign the incomplete, and then, once the student work is completed, will need to submit a grade change form with the updated grade for each student. Assigning an Incomplete grade is solely the purview of the faculty, and students have up to one year to complete the missing work.