Faculty Grading

Grades are due 48 hours after a scheduled final exam. If no final exam is given, grades must be submitted on the first day grades are due according to the schedule that is published each semester. If you have students who attended your course, but whose names do not appear on the roster, please send us a memo or email with the student's name, course name and CRN and grade. We will research the student's registrations to see if the grade can be assigned to the student.

To Grade Courses:

• Go to http://sis.rpi.edu and log in 
• Enter your User I.D. (Rensselaer ID Number) and PIN (Personal ID Number)
• On the Main Menu, select Instructors & Advisors Menu 
• Under Course Instructors, select Submit Final Grades 
• From the drop-down box, select the current term and click Submit 
• From the drop-down box, select the first course you wish to grade and Submit the CRN 
• In the Grade column, enter each grade you wish to assign from the drop-down box 
• Print them if you want a copy for you or your departmental office 
• When you are done, click Submit. You’ll see a message at the top of the screen that the grades have saved successfully
• Repeat the same sequence as above until you’ve graded all your courses 
• BE SURE TO GRADE ALL PAGES OF EVERY COURSE.  SOME COURSES ARE MULTIPLE PAGES

W Grades - Do not assign a 'W' grade to a student. A ‘W’ grade is automatically assigned to the student when they drop a class after the drop deadline.

Questions, Problems?? -  email Kimberly Herkert at herkek@rpi.edu, if you have any questions or problems.  Put GRADING ISSUE in the subject line so that we can answer you right away.

No Shows on the Web Roster

“No Shows” on the Grade Roster

Do NOT assign incomplete grades (I) to students who never attended, or stopped attending, your course unless the student asked for the incomplete and you agree to give it.  

Regarding “no shows”:

• If the student ever attended class and submitted any assignment, you are encouraged to assign a grade (e.g. B grade) based on work completed.  
• If the student never attended or stopped attending, the class, in the ‘Percent of Term Attended’ Column, enter the approximate percentage of the term that the student DID attend classes. 
  • If a student NEVER attended, enter no grade for that student, and in the Percent of Term Attended Column, enter 00. 
  • If a student attended for about half the term, enter 50.
• DO NOT use a % sign in the Percent of Term Attended Column as this is a NUMERIC cell. We will research the student's record and assign the appropriate administrative grade or adjust the student's registration.  
• Students who do not have a grade, but have an entry in the percent of term attended, will be assigned a FA (Administrative F) grade by the Registrar’s Office. 
• If a student attended the course all term long, but did not take the Final Exam, please award a final grade based on work completed. If the student missed the exam for a valid reason, they are responsible for initiating a request with the Undergraduate Class Dean to take the final exam after the grade has been awarded.  The Class Dean will coordinate with the Instructor to complete this process.

Posting Grades

Posting Grades - The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1977 (P.L./39-380) specifically prohibits the posting of student grades by name or Social Security Number or releasing grades to unauthorized personnel.  Students can view their grades on SIS within 24 hours of your submitting them.

Thesis and Project grades/No Scheduled Exam/Take-Home Exam/ Final Paper Assigned/Readings-Independent Study Courses

Grades for all these courses are due by 9am on the first day of grading according to the schedule that is published each semester.

Master and Doctoral Thesis/Project registrations are now graded every term, either S (Satisfactory progress) or U (Unsatisfactory progress). The S or U grade reflects a single term's research progress. Please note that students who do not make satisfactory progress and are assigned a U grade will still earn the thesis credit hours for the term and the U grade won't need to be changed when the thesis/project is completed and turned in to the Office of Graduate Education.

Incomplete Grades and Incomplete Grade Authorization Forms

Federal Regulations as they impact “I-Incomplete” grades:

The United States Department of Education policy requires all students meet satisfactory academic progress prior to disbursement of Federal Student Aid. This is a federal eligibility requirement that cannot be waived for any reason. In order for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Office of Financial Aid to determine whether a student is meeting both RPI and Federal Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP), all grades must be finalized. 

Federal laws prohibit the estimation or guessing the impact of a grade or expected grade point average, therefore, all grades must be finalized (posted to the student’s academic record) for audit purposes prior to the eligibility determination and Federal Student Aid disbursement.  The Office of Financial Aid Policy is to treat incomplete (I) grades as failing grades (F) as allowed by program regulations.  Therefore, incomplete grades (I) are not calculated in the student’s completed credits and are assumed to be failing grades when determining their CGPA and GPA.

Incomplete Authorization Forms – If you assign a student an incomplete grade, you and the student agree to the terms of the incomplete on an Incomplete Authorization Form, which is available to you on SIS.  Incomplete Authorization forms are required and are not issued to students.  The faculty instructor is required to return the incomplete Authorization form to the Registrar’s Office with completed information and signatures at time of grading.   After the end of the following semester:

• All I grades that have not been converted to any other grade; will be changed to the anticipated grade listed on the form.
• If no Incomplete Authorization Form has been submitted, then an ‘I’ grade will be changed to an F grade at this time.

Grades Rolling - we will be "rolling" grades to students' records every night.  With the web grading, you will see a Y in the Rolled Column of the web roster if the grade was rolled to the student’s transcript.  Once a grade has been "rolled" to a student's academic history, you cannot change grades on the web via SIS. Instructor can only change the grade by submitting a Change of Grade form submitted to the Registrar that is approved by the Department Head.