Can a Teacher Change My Final Grade?

The process of changing a final grade can be complicated and may vary from one educational institution to the other. However, each school, college, or university provides rules for exceptional cases where a student’s final grade can be changed.

A teacher can change your final grade in exceptional cases and after being allowed by the institution’s Principal, Dean, or Committee. This process can commence for reasons like mistakes in score calculation, errors during the correction, recovering a lost paper, arbitrary evaluation, etc.

This article will provide more detailed information on when a teacher is allowed to change your final grade, including the legitimate reasons and some legal aspects you need to know.

Table of Contents

When Is a Teacher Allowed To Change Your Final Grade?

Grades are important, and students have the right to appeal an evaluation if they think it is not the right one. This can happen under certain circumstances without violating a teacher’s professional autonomy.

It is essential to distinguish between two moments when you can ask for a grade to be changed:

Before the Grade Is Final

After handing in an essay or finishing an exam, the teacher informs students about their grades. Most educational institutions provide for a short amount of time (usually a week or so) when the grade is not final yet.

During this time, students see their evaluation and possible errors and can contest the grade by talking to their teacher. Make sure to speak politely with your teachers on the matter. This YouTube video goes over a few tips that’ll help you negotiate more successfully with your teachers:

After the Grade Is Final

If, on the other hand, the above time limit has passed, the grades become final, and the process of changing them becomes more complex. This process is regulated by state laws (which may differ substantially) and by school protocols.

For example, according to Texas’ United Educators Association, a teacher’s grade is ‘final and cannot be changed unless it is erroneous, arbitrary, or violates the district’s grading policy.’ Other institutions or organizations establish similar provisions. What all of them have in common is a strict and complex procedure you have to go through if you want to change your final grade.

The change in your final grade is not a decision to be taken only by the teacher or professor who made the evaluation. Some school protocols require the Principal to allow for the change.

On the other hand, most colleges and universities include a professors’ committee that re-evaluates your paper, essay, or exam after you are eligible to appeal your final grade. For instance, Missouri State law provides that an Academic Concerns Committee deals with changes in final grades. In other cases, a college’s dean may be included in the process.

Legal Aspects You Need To Know

Final grades are legal documents. Therefore, amending a grade has legal implications.

Usually, lower educational institutions like middle or high schools regulate grade changes according to state guidelines, especially public schools. Universities and colleges, on the other hand, have their own internally approved policies.

You need to follow the procedure and conditions approved by your school to appeal a final course evaluation. Otherwise, complaining to the Principal, Dean, or any student’s office will not be enough to change your grade.

Reasons Why Your Teacher Could Change Your Final Grade

As mentioned above, changing a final grade is a sporadic occurrence, as students are given a few days to contest their evaluation with the teacher before the grade becomes final. When it happens, final grade changing can occur in specific cases.

Here are the most common reasons why educational institutions would allow a change in your final grade:

There has been a score miscalculation or an error in the grade conversion. This refers to technical errors and is something that can be easily identified. It is one of the cases every educational institution recognizes as justifiable to change a final grade.
If a lost exam or paper has been recovered. In this case, the teacher must present proof (in this case, the exam or essay paper) to the competent body to change the final grade.

There has been an error in the exam/paper correction. This refers to human error. Educators should check the evaluation thoroughly to ensure it is error-free before letting students know their grades, but mistakes can still happen.
There has been an arbitrary correction of the paper or exam. This is one of the most sensitive discussions regarding this topic. As teachers have the autonomy to grade their students, evaluations can sometimes be labeled subjective rather than objective, more so in particular subjects. If this argument is raised, a teacher’s committee may choose to change the grade if they decide that an evaluation is clearly arbitrary.

Different schooling systems, colleges, or universities may add other reasons to change a student’s final grade. For instance, Chicago Public Schools Policies and Rules establish an open list of reasons, providing that there may be other reasons ‘when authorized in writing by the Network Chief or equivalent Network Officer that manages school oversight.’

Other educational institutions (primarily colleges and universities) provide detailed policies regulating plagiarism. One of the consequences of detecting plagiarism after grading is changing the student’s previous grade.

For instance, The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences’ Plagiarism Policy states that the minimum penalty for plagiarism is a zero on the assignment for a first offense and more severe penalties for subsequent violations.

Many other schools have similar approaches toward changing grades. Some institutions even detail their plagiarism and grading policies in extensive catalogs like Hudson Valley Community College Catalog (see Section 7.1 on Plagiarism), etc.

Conclusion

Even though changing a final grade is a complex procedure, it can happen if several criteria are met. The procedure involves a few people other than the teacher who has made the evaluation, like the Principal, the dean, or a committee (especially in colleges and universities).

Usually, there are a limited number of reasons why you are eligible to change your final grade, including technical errors, material mistakes during the correction, and arbitrary evaluation.

Sources

United Educators Association: Can A Grade That I’ve Given Be Changed?.