GRADE APPEALS

WHAT IS A GRADE APPEAL?

A grade appeal is your opportunity to appeal the final grade in a specific course.

GROUNDS FOR REASSESSMENT

At Cape Breton University, the only grounds for application for reassessment are that the student believes that the grading criteria were inconsistently applied to that individual student, whether through error, carelessness, or discrimination.

You may NOT appeal a grade if the nature and standard of evaluation was too onerous (i.e., the instructor is marking too hard).

APPLY FOR THE REASSESSMENT OF FINAL GRADES

If you are unhappy with a final grade, the first step you should take is to contact your course instructor for possible resolution. If you are unable to resolve the situation with your professor or are unable to reach them, you can reach out to the department chair.

Stage 1:

Students submit the following documents (by email and/or in person) to the department chair within fourteen (14) days of the start of the following academic term:

• A letter stating specifically which assignments are being requested to be reassessed and the specifics of why the student believes the original grade was unfair

• The assignments must be included if they have been returned to the student.

Stage 2:

• The department chair will first request the instructor who issued the mark to review the materials submitted along with the final examination.

• If the result of this preliminary review does not change the final grade, the student may request a formal reassessment.

• This request must be accompanied by a payment of $25, which will be refunded if the grade is raised.

Stage 3:

• The chair will then empanel two faculty members, one selected by the instructor and the other by the student requesting the reassessment; both members of the panel shall have expertise in the discipline of the assignments being reassessed.

• The panel will review the written work by the student in question; the panel will endeavour to utilize the same criteria originally used to grade the other students in the class, to the extent that it is possible to do so.

• If the two members cannot agree on a mark, the average of the two re-assessments will be assigned.

• The department chair will submit the decision of the panel to the Registrar to record the revised grade. The panel's decision may be appealed to Cape Breton University's Appeals Committee.

If the grade being reassessed is that of the chair, then the department vice-chair preferably, or the secretary of the department executive, shall carry out the duties as specified in this section.