Penn State Policies Related to Teaching

Table of Contents

34-83 Change in Class Meeting Time (Revised: 4/23/2013)

42-23 Credit Requirements by Types of Instruction (Revised: 9/10/2013)

42-27 Class Attendance

43-00 Syllabus (Revised: 9/10/2013)

Suggested Statement on Disability Accommodation

44-10 General Examination Policy

44-20 Final Examination Policy (Revised: 9/10/2013)

44-25 Conflict Final Examinations

44-30 Non-Final Examinations

44-35 Conflict of Non-Final Examinations

44-40 Proctoring of Examinations

47-20 Basis for Grades (Revised: 9/10/2013)

47-40 Grading System (Revised: 3/16/10)

47-60 Definition of Grades

47-70 Online Student Progress Report (Revised: 4/29/14)

47-80 Repeating Courses

48-20 Failure to Complete a Course (Revised: 3/16/2010)

48-30 Corrected Grades

48-40 Deferred Grades (Revised: 4/29/2014)

49-20 Academic Integrity

Suggested Statement on Academic Dishonesty for Use on Syllabi

54-00 Academic Warning, Drop Action, and Reinstatement

54-20 Academic Warning

54-50 Academic Drop

Last updated on August 14, 2015

34-83 Change in Class Meeting Time(Revised:4/23/2013)

No instructor has the right to change the regular scheduled meeting day and time for a class or to allow students to attend other sections of the same course without the consent of the dean of the college or the campus executive officer in which the course is taught, except when a student is directed to change from one section of a course to another section of the course by the instructor's department head.

42-23 Credit Requirements by Types of Instruction(Revised: 9/10/2013)

Course credit by instruction may be achieved by a variety of educational experiences that allow the student to work toward mastery of the course objectives. There are, however, some common minimum requirements that must be established and these should be consistent for all credit earned by instruction regardless of delivery method. With the acknowledged goal of educational excellence, more than the minimum established here may be required for mastery of course objectives.

The course must be in the charge of a qualified member of the University’s instructional staff, and formal evaluation of the student’s achievement must be included in the course.
For the typical student, a total of forty (40) hours of work planned and arranged by the University faculty is required to gain 1 credit.

The distribution of time between class activities and outside preparation may vary from course to course and examples of this division of time for sample types of instruction are detailed below. This is intended to include all forms of educational experiences in courses, which may include in- person, electronic, or pre-recorded content delivered through resident, on-line, or hybrid instruction.

Lecture, Discussion, Seminar, or Recitation.A combination of formal and informal instruction may occur and when combined with outside preparation must sum to the minimum of 40 hours of work per credit hour. The typical distribution of time is approximately one-third instruction and two-thirds outside preparation.

Laboratory Courses.The distribution of time may vary from twenty-five (25) to forty (40) hours of laboratory instruction per credit with sufficient additional outside preparation.

Undergraduate theses, projects, service learning, individualized instruction, and other forms of educational experience through courses.At least forty (40) hours of work are required per credit with varying amounts of individual instruction and may include courses delivered off-campus at locations either domestic or abroad.

Student Teaching and Internships.At least forty (40) hours of work are required per credit. Prior written approval of the appropriate University faculty is required for subsequent granting of credit.

42-27 Class Attendance

The faculty, staff, and other resources of the University are furnished for the education of students who attend the University. A class schedule is provided for students and faculty so that a reasonably orderly arrangement for instruction is facilitated. The fact that classes are scheduled is evidence that the faculty believes class instruction is important. Therefore, class attendance is important for the benefit of students.

Accordingly, it is the policy of the University that class attendance by students be encouraged and that all instructors organize and conduct their courses with this policy in mind. A student should attend every class for which the student is scheduled and should be held responsible for all work covered in the courses taken. In each case, the instructor should decide when the class absence constitutes a danger to the student’s scholastic attainment and should make this fact known to the student at once. A student whose irregular attendance causes him or her, in the judgment of the instructor, to become deficient scholastically, may run the risk of receiving a failing grade or receiving a lower grade than the student might have secured had the student been in regular attendance.

Instructors should provide, within reason, opportunity to make up work for students who miss class for regularly scheduled, University-approved curricular and extracurricular activities (such as Martin Luther King Day of Service, field trips, debate trips, choir trips, and athletic contests). However, if such scheduled trips are considered by the instructor to be hurting the student’s scholastic performance, the instructor should present such evidence for necessary action to the head of the department in which the course is offered and to the dean of the college in which the student is enrolled or to the Division of Undergraduate Studies if the student is enrolled in that division.

Instructors also should provide, within reason, opportunity to make up work for students who miss classes for other legitimate but unavoidable reasons. Legitimate, unavoidable reasons are those such as illness, injury, family emergency, or religious observance. If an evaluative event will be missed due to an unavoidable absence, the student should contact the instructor as soon as the unavoidable absence is known to discuss ways to make up the work. An instructor might not consider an unavoidable absence legitimate if the student does not contact the instructor before the evaluative event. Students will be held responsible for using only legitimate, unavoidable reasons for requesting a make-up in the event of a missed class or evaluative event. Requests for missing class or an evaluative event due to reasons that are based on false claims may be considered violations of the policy on Academic Integrity (Policy 49-20).

43-00 Syllabus (Revised: 9/10/2013)

A written (paper or electronic form) syllabus must be distributed to students in each course on or before the first class meeting. In addition to course content and expectations, the syllabus must include contact information for all course instructors, the course examination policy, grade breakdown by assessment type and percentage, required course materials, and the academic integrity policy for the course, and information on procedures related to academic adjustments identified by the Office of Disability Services. Changes to the syllabus shall also be given to the student in written (paper or electronic) form.

Suggested Statement on Disability Accommodation

Penn State welcomes students with disabilities into the University's educational programs. Every Penn State campus has an office for students with disabilities. The Office for Disability Services (ODS) Web site provides contact information for every Penn State campus: For further information, please visit the Office for Disability Services Web site:
In order to receive consideration for reasonable accommodations, you must contact the appropriate disability services office at the campus where you are officially enrolled, participate in an intake interview, and provide documentation: If the documentation supports your request for reasonable accommodations, your campus’s disability services office will provide you with an accommodation letter. Please share this letter with your instructors and discuss the accommodations with them as early in your courses as possible. You must follow this process for every semester that you request accommodations.

Ms. Stacey Walbridge is the Disability Services Coordinator at Penn State Behrend. She may be reached by email . For more information about disabilities and learning differences at Penn State Behrend, please visit

44-10 General Examination Policy

Periodic examination of student accomplishments is essential for both teaching/learning and evaluation purposes. Examinations may include traditional written examinations, whether in-class or take-home; oral examinations; term papers; laboratory or project reports; or studio projects. The faculty teaching and coordinating a course are responsible for both the method and substance of examinations used in each course, including the final examination or other integrating evaluative instrument.

In the case of multiple-section courses, the faculty teaching the various sections will determine the examination policy for the course (e.g., common examinations), subject to any restrictions determined by the entire faculty of the section, department, or division offering the course.

Written notification of the examination procedures (including the instructor’s final examination policy) to be used in each section of each course must be made available to the students in the section during the first ten calendar days of a semester or its equivalent.

44-20 Final Examination Policy (Revised: 9/10/2013)

Cumulative final examinations are valuable for University credit courses because they can fulfill two important academic objectives; student integration of instructional material and end-of-semester evaluation of student achievement. However, valid means other than the final examination exist for accomplishing these objectives (e.g., term paper, final project report, take-home examinations, etc.). Course instructors should determine which of these methods is most appropriate and effective in each undergraduate (including 400-level) credit course taught. Regardless of which type of activity is chosen, care must be taken not to interfere unduly with the full complement of scheduled instruction of the student.

To provide for student integration of instructional material, end-of-semester evaluation of student performance, and instruction extending to the end of the scheduled period, course instructors shall:

Determine a method of providing for meaningful integration of course topics and evaluation of student performance.
Offer a full schedule of instruction (e.g., fifteen weeks in a fifteen-week semester).
Schedule no examinations during the last week of classes. (Quizzes and narrowly limited tests in support of classroom instruction worth no more than ten percent of the semester grade may be given during the last week of classes.)
Schedule any end-of-semester examinations worth more than ten percent of the course grade during the final examination period. Examinations will be scheduled in this period by the University registrar at University Park or the academic affairs officer at other locations (or their designee) based on the notices filed under Section 44-10. (Conflict final examinations are covered under Section 44-25.)
Where end-of-semester examinations are not administered, require the submission of any alternative integrative and evaluational means worth more than ten percent of the course grade (e.g., term paper, final project report, take-home examinations, or studio projects) no earlier than the first day of the final examination period.
A study day period shall be scheduled by the University registrar at University Park or the academic affairs officer at other locations (or their designee). For full-semester courses held during the 15 week Fall and Spring semesters, the current standard practice of having two study days (the Saturday and Sunday before finals week) will continue to be required. For courses offered in other instructional periods which are less than a full 15 week semester (such as Summer sessions, Maymester, half-semester courses, etc.) there shall be at least one study day scheduled, after the last day of formal instruction and before the final exam.

Exceptions to the provisions of this policy may be granted only for educational reasons and only as recommended by the faculty of the program offering the course and approved by the appropriate dean or chancellor.

44-25 Conflict Final Examinations

Direct Conflict. A direct final examination conflict occurs when two or more final examinations are scheduled at the same time. A student in this situation is required to file a conflict examination request. A conflict examination will then be scheduled at a different time.
Overload Conflict. An overload conflict is defined as three or more final examinations scheduled on any one calendar day or in three consecutive examination periods. A student in this situation may either file a conflict examination request, in which case a conflict examination will be scheduled on a different day, or elect to take the examinations as originally scheduled.

44-30 Non-Final Examinations

Evening Examinations. The holding of evening examinations in courses not normally scheduled in the evening shall be permitted only when all the following conditions are fulfilled:

Consent of the dean of the college in which the course is taught is obtained.
Not more than four such examinations are scheduled in any one semester in any course.
The evening examinations are scheduled in advance with the University registrar at University Park or the academic affairs officer at other locations and announced to the students during the first week of the semester.

44-35 Conflict of Non-Final Examinations

Evening Conflict. In the case of conflict between an evening examination or quiz and other scheduled University approved activities, or in the case of more than one evening examination in any one evening, each student is permitted to make up the examination without penalty.
Non-Evening Conflict. In the case of conflict between a non-evening examination or previously announced quiz and participating in scheduled University-approved activities, the student is permitted to make up the examination or quiz without penalty. (University-approved activities are covered under Section 42-27.)

44-40 Proctoring of Examinations

In order to protect the great majority of honest students from improper actions by a small minority who would otherwise be tempted to dishonesty, all examinations must be adequately proctored. A formal honor system under the supervision of an honor council is considered one form of adequate proctoring.

47-20 Basis for Grades (Revised: 9/10/2013)

Grades shall be assigned to individual students on the basis of the instructor’s judgment of the student’s scholastic achievement as set forth in Section 47-60. The instructor should provide written (paper or electronic form) notification of the basis for grades to students on or before the first class meeting. Any changes in that basis should likewise be presented to students in writing.

For grade assignments related to cases of academic dishonesty, refer to Section 49-20 (sanction on grades) and G-9 academic integrity procedures.

47-40 Grading System (Revised: 3/16/10)

Grades for undergraduate and graduate students shall be reported by the following letters: A, A-, B, B+, B-, C+, C, D, or F. In addition the symbols of SA and UN may be recorded on the student’s transcript in accordance with Section 49-60. Courses that do not carry credit shall be graded P if passed and F if failed. The symbols of W, WN, R, DF, AU, and S also may be recorded in place of grades in accord with Section 42-50.2; 48-40; 48-80; and 49-40.

XF grade–see 49-20 for assignment, designates a disciplinary sanction assigned due to academic misconduct.

47-60 Definition of Grades

For undergraduates and graduates the grades of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, D, and F indicate a gradation in quality from Excellent to Failure and are assigned the following grade-point equivalents:

Grade / Grade-Point Equivalent
A / 4.00
A- / 3.67
B+ / 3.33
B / 3.00
B- / 2.67
C+ / 2.33
C / 2.00
D / 1.00
F / 0

47-70 Online Student Progress Report (Revised: 4/29/14)

Between the start of the third week and the end of the sixth week of classes during both fall and spring semesters, each instructor shall evaluate the performance of each:

non-transfer degree candidates who are enrolled in their first or second semester (summers not included)
degree-seeking provisional students, and
nondegree regular students who have earned 27 or fewer credits. If any such student has a grade of less than C, the instructor will record that information. The student and his/her adviser will be notified that the performance is unsatisfactory.

47-80 Repeating Courses

A student may repeat a course in which a grade of D or F was received. A course in which a grade of C or better was obtained also may be repeated if written evidence of consultation is obtained from the student’s adviser and a copy is submitted to the Office of the University Registrar. Any course repeated under this policy may be counted no more than once as a graduation requirement. Under this policy both grades are included in the computation of the grade-point average.

48-20 Failure to Complete a Course (Revised: 3/16/2010)

When a student officially drops a course within the course drop period, no symbol or grade of any kind is to be reported.
When a student officially drops a course after the course drop period, a symbol of WN, according to the policies of Sections 34-89, is to be reported.
When a student registers for a course but ceases to attend class without officially dropping the course, the student is to be given a grade of F in the course.
When a student officially withdraws from the University in accordance with Section 56-30, the symbol W shall be reported for each course, unless an accusation of academic dishonesty has been made against the withdrawing student. In such a case, Section 49-20 supersedes the assignment of the symbol W in that course.
A symbol of W shall be recorded for unsatisfactory attendance in an audited course in accordance with Section 48-80.

48-30 Corrected Grades

A corrected grade may be submitted by the instructor for a course taken in a previous semester to correct a mistake made in calculating or recording a grade for a particular student. Each student is responsible for checking the semester grade report for accuracy immediately upon receipt and for informing the instructor of any course in which the student suspects an error has been made in grading. Each instructor is responsible for checking the semester grade list on e-Lion after grades have been recorded for a previous semester.

If an error in calculating or recording a grade is brought to an instructor’s attention, the instructor may request a grade change authorization form to correct the error. This form must be signed by the instructor. No grade change can be made more than one year after the end of the semester in which the course was taken.