5.1.6 CHANGING GRADES
An Instructor of Record may change a mark once it has been reported to the Registrar’s Office only if (1) the change is made within one year of the date of the original grade and (2) only in the case the original grade was in error. Reports of all such grade changes shall be sent to the Registrar’s Office with a copy to the dean of the college in which the instructor is assigned. For situations in which both the course and Instructor of Record are homed outside of a college, the Dean is the officer appointed by the Provost, with concurrence of the Senate, to act as the responsible Dean of the course. The Instructor of Record may also recommend to his/her department chair the changing of a grade for any reason other than an error, and the grade shall be changed if the department chair approves. In every such approval, a report of the grade change shall be sent to the Registrar’s Office by the department chair with a copy to the Instructor of Record and dean of the college involved. There shall be only one grade change per student per course pursuant to this rule. No grade may be changed after the student has graduated from the University except in the case of the error provided for above. [US: 5/2/2022]
- * The Instructor of Record for the course is authorized to make the final decision to change a grade in cases of an error (e.g., miscalculation of the grade, or errant entry of the wrong grade). In other cases, an instructor of record is authorized to initiate and make a grade change only if the department chair agrees to the change. (The department chair's role in this case is only to agree or not to the change, not to make the change independent of the Instructor of Record.) [SREC: 4/14/2006]
- * If a change is made to an originally submitted grade that is not a change authorized under SR 5.1.6, that action does not prevent the Instructor of Record from correcting that improperly changed grade to the originally submitted grade, and this correction does not count as the one allowed grade change under SR 5.1.6. If, on the other hand, the Instructor of Record (and, if necessary under SR 5.1.6, the department chair) changes the improperly changed grade to a grade other than the one originally submitted, then this change does count as the one allowed grade change under SR 5.1.6. [SREC: 9/22/11]
- * Pursuant to 6.5.1.3, when a grade change may be warranted but the Instructor of Record is no longer available, the UAB would ascertain whether the present grade ought be changed and if possible determine and direct the appropriate specific grade. [SREC: 3/10/2021]
However, in the case of a violation of student academic rights, the University Appeals Board may change a grade to P or W or, if such a determination can be made, to an appropriate letter grade. (See SR 6.5.1.2.) (See SR 5.1.2.2 for the procedures for recording and changing an I grade.) [SREC: 11/20/87]
Graduate and professional schools may have individual rules on this matter so long as they are not inconsistent with these rules.
- * It is a violation of SR 5.1.5 and SR 5.1.6 for a department chair (or any other administrator) to change the Instructor of Record to a different person after the final course grades have been formally submitted to the Registrar, for any reason, including so that the new Instructor of Record can then change any of the final course grades. A department chair (or any other administrator) is authorized to change a final course grade without the concurrence of the Instructor of Record who entered that grade only when the chair is changing the temporary transcript notation of (1) ‘course in progress’ or (2) ‘missing grade’ to a final grade (SR 5.1.5). Under SR 5.1.6, if a student claims that a change of an already submitted final course grade is warranted, and the Instructor of Record who entered that grade is unwilling to change it, then the proper resolution is for the student to lodge a grade appeal with the University Appeals Board. [SREC: 8/21/2014]