Grade Reform, Law Professors, Law School Deans, Law Schools

Top Law School Finally Commits To Getting Grades In On Time; Will Fine Late-Grading Faculty

Punishing faculty might be the only way to make them do their jobs in a timely fashion...

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COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL — DEAN DAVID SCHIZER — GRADES

Congratulations on finishing your exams. I wanted to write to you about an issue that is important to all of us: the timely submission of grades. I know that not having timely grades can complicate job searches and can impact students in other ways as well. So I wanted to let you know that the faculty and I have been focusing on this issue, and that we voted last Friday to set a hard deadline for grading exams and to impose penalties on faculty who do not meet these deadline. Essentially, starting next academic year, grades will be due on the Friday before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (the Friday before the start of classes) for the fall semester, and on June 15th for the spring semester (except, of course, for graduating students, whose grades are due before graduation). Those few members of the faculty who have a combined total of more than 150 exams to grade will have an extra week. Faculty who do not comply will be included on a list circulated to the faculty and students, and they will also be fined. I realize that there will still be some situations when, for extenuating circumstances, grades will be late, but my hope is those situations will be rare. We realize that the issue is important to you, and we are committed to addressing it. I want to thank those of you who have raised the issue with me. Your suggestions are important to us.

Best,

DS

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