Grading Guidance

Evaluation Criteria

This section of your syllabus includes a clear description of assessment types - participation, group work, paper, etc.– and provides a breakdown of how you will calculate final grades.

Use this section to:

• Explain how assignments, activities, and projects will be assessed and the criteria you will use.

• Delineate how individual assignments contribute to the final grade.

Communicating Expectations

The following guidelines are recommended for graduate courses:

• If more than 10-15% of the final grade is devoted to “class participation,” your syllabus should include some guidelines as to how you will assess “class participation.”

• If a large percentage of the final grade is devoted to a “course paper,” then your syllabus should indicate what interim assessments or feedback opportunities a student can expect on the paper during the term.

Example 1) Final Paper Expectations

Example 2) Participation Expectations

Grading & Program Requirements

In order to prevent grade inflation, faculty are required to make sure the average grade for their course does not exceed 3.32 (B). At the beginning of the program, students are informed of these requirements.

Please note the following grade scale for the program, as well as the criteria for each grade.

IE Brown EMBA Grade Scale

Grade	GPA Scale	Defined As
A	4	Honors
A-	3.66	Superior Pass
B+	3.33	High Pass
B	3	Pass
B-	2.66	Low Pass
C+	2.33	Unsatisfactory
C	2	Penalization for failure to complete coursework, prolonged class absence or academic behavior.
F	0	Penalization for academic misconduct or dishonesty. Failure to submit final exam or final deliverable.

Save Time– Use the Grade Center

Making use of Campus’ Grade Center will save you time. Unless the faculty and ID have implemented another tracking system, your Grade Center will be set up with:

• designated columns for each assessment. Columns are hidden to students before grading so instructors have to unhide them to show grades to students.

  • How do I grade assignments in Grade Center?

• a hidden total points column to track your students’ grades.

The IE Brown Grading Sheet

The grading sheet is an Excel spreadsheet with your student roster and a grade inflation calculator. The Program Management Team will send you grading sheets for each section (M-1 and M-2).

Grading as You Go

Use the IE Brown grading sheet as a calculator to check grade inflation before releasing grades. All columns are hidden from student view so you may enter grades and use the calculator to make adjustments.

TIP: Before you “unhide” assignment or participation grades, use the Grading Sheet "calculator" to check the grade average (3.32 or below).

👀 See detailed images here.

1. Open Grade Center to assign student scores.

2. Translate the total score into a letter grade.

3. Using your grading sheet “calculator”, type the letter grade in the Final Grade column.

4. If you have grade inflation, you may adjust your grade distribution or threshold to achieve the 3.32 average or below.

5. Update your assignment score in Grade Center and then you may “show” scores to students.

Submit your Final Grades

NOTE: When an average course grade is above the 3.32 (B) level you will be asked to provide justification in light of the criteria and procedures stated in your syllabus for program management to review.

Send your final IE Brown Grading Sheet to the program coordinator, program manager, and academic director two weeks from your final deliverable due date or session end date (whichever is later)

🚩Send a copy of your grading breakdown if you don’t use Grade Center.

Once approved, the program management team will post final grades and notify students; faculty may provide detailed feedback to students directly.

It is extremely important to submit your grading sheet with final course grades on time because the program management team reviews students’ academic performance at the end of each term of the program.

Overall program grades are reported as a GPA and are calculated every academic term by weight averaging the grades across subjects (based on session count). Students are informed about their GPA and the position they hold in the class distribution in terms of percentile rank.