Grading Instructions
Four-Week AssessmentsEight-Week Grading and Comments
Spring Senior Grading
Spring (Non-Senior) and Fall Final Grading
Grade Change Requests
Four-Week Instructor Assessments
Please review your Class Lists on IRIS in order to complete four-week assessments.
Assessments are required for all students, but only for graded sections of classes (i.e., not for
labs, lab lectures, etc.)
Log in to , select Class Lists, then select My Courses from the drop-down menu. Choose the
class for which you are submitting assessments by clicking "Grade/Comment" in the ‘Actions’ column on the right.
When the list of students comes up, click the "Required" link in the ‘Assess’ column on the right
for the student for whom you are submitting an assessment. The instructor assessment window
will open.
The first step is clicking one of two radio buttons:
● “This student is currently meeting or exceeding class expectations”
or
● “This student is not yet meeting class expectations”.
If you click the “meeting or exceeding” button, next click “Save” to return to the class list. (You
have the option to add a comment to the student, but comments are not required.) You will
now see "Edit" in place of “Required” for the student whose assessment you just
submitted. Proceed to the next student on the class list.
If you click the “not yet meeting expectations” button, more information is required.
First is a series of checkboxes. Checking at least one of these boxes is required, multiple boxes
may be checked. Beneath that box, you have the option to add a comment to the adviser and
Student Life that is not visible to the student. These comments are not required.
The final step allows you to create a Reed Care Team referral if you have multiple concerns
about this student. A “yes” or “no” response is required.
Click “Save” to return to the class list. You will now see "Edit" in place of “Required” for the
student whose assessment you just submitted. Proceed to the next student on the list.
Assessments may be edited after submission by clicking “Edit” in the ‘Assess’ column.
Assessments are required for theses and independent studies, so please remember to look at
class lists for those courses.
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Eight-Week Grading and Comments
Please review your Class Lists in in order to complete eight-week grading.
Eight-week grades are required for all students, but only for graded sections of classes (i.e., not for labs, lab lectures, etc.) Letter grades of “A-F” are strongly recommended; however, the grade of "S" is allowed when a student's work is "C" level or higher. An 8-week grade of “S” may NOT be assigned to students who are enrolled in an overload and/or on Academic Probation, nor for HUM 110 in the spring semester.
Comments and additional information are NOT required for all students. They are required ONLY for students who are a) doing less than satisfactory work, b) on Academic Probation, or c) enrolled in an overload. Students enrolled in an overload and/or on Academic Probation are designated as such in the ‘Overload/Probation/Auditor’ column of the class list and should already indicate “Required” in the ‘Assess’ column.
PROCESS:
Log in to , select Class Lists, then select My Courses from the drop-down menu. Choose the class to grade by clicking "Grade/Comment" in the ‘Actions’ column on the right.
When the list of students comes up, select the appropriate grade for each student from the drop-down menu in the ‘Mid-term’ column on the right.
If a satisfactory 8-week grade is submitted, the indicator in the ‘Status’ column will switch from “Unfinished” to “Finished”. A “satisfactory grade” is any grade that is “C” or above, including “S”. Additional information is NOT required for students receiving satisfactory 8-week grades; however, if you wish to submit a comment to the student, click “Optional” in the ‘Assess’ column. The instructor comment window will open, write your comment, and click “Save” to return to the class list. You will now see "Edit" in place of “Required” for the student whose comment you just submitted. Proceed to the next student on the class list.
If an unsatisfactory 8-week grade is submitted, the indicator in the ‘Assess’ column will switch from “Optional” to “Required”. An “unsatisfactory grade” is any grade that is “C-” or below (“C” or below for MALS students), including “NC”, “UW”, and “DS”. Additional information is REQUIRED for students receiving unsatisfactory 8-week grades. Click the "Required" link in the ‘Assess’ column on the right for the student for whom you are submitting more information. The instructor comment window will open. First is a series of checkboxes. Checking at least one of these boxes is required, multiple boxes may be checked. Beneath that box, write a comment to the student. Beneath that box, you have the option to add a comment to the adviser and Student Life that is not visible to the student. The final step allows you to create a Reed Care Team referral if you have multiple concerns about this student. A “yes” or “no” response is required. Click “Save” to return to the class list. You will now see "Edit" in place of “Required” in the ‘Assess’ column for the student whose information you just submitted. You will also now see "Finished" in place of “Unfinished” in the ‘Status’ column for that student. Proceed to the next student on the class list.
Your 8-week grades are automatically saved as they are entered. Once all grades and required additional information is entered, record them by clicking the "Record All" button above the class list. You can tell that you are ready to record your 8-week grades when all students in the class have an indicator of “Finished" in the ‘Status’ column. It is possible to record some grades without recording the whole class.
IMPORTANT:
- If a student who is taking your class does not appear in your class list, please notify the Registrar's Office.
- Remember to grade theses (470) and independent studies (481).
- Additional information and comments may be edited after submission by clicking “Edit” in the ‘Assess’ column, while grading is still open.
- It is possible to retract grades that have been recorded, up until the grading period has closed. When a grade is retracted, it is possible to both modify the grade and edit or delete the instructor comment. Simply click on the grade that you wish to retract, and you will receive a message box with information about the process. If a grade may no longer be retracted, you will receive a message directing you to submit a Grade Change request.
- An 8-week grade of "UW" may be submitted in those instances in which the instructor is unable to evaluate a student's performance, e.g., a student who is officially registered but is not attending class. A final grade of “UW” cannot be recorded at the end of the semester unless “UW” has also been recorded as an 8-week grade.
- Students will only see a grade of “S” for classes with letter grades of “C” or higher. If an unsatisfactory 8-week grade is submitted, the student will see the specific grade (e.g. “C-”, “D”, “F”, “NC”, etc.)
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Spring Senior Grading
You must grade the students who are expected to graduate at this time. You may grade your other students as well, if you are ready to do so.
Courses with seniors registered are indicated as "Seniors required" in the Grading status column to the right.
In IRIS, you can open the grading function one of two ways from your list of classes. You can select the "Grade/Comment" link in the "Actions" column to the right. If you already have a specific Class List open, then click the "Grade/Comment" box above the roster.
Grade each student on your class list who is expected to graduate. This population is designated by bold text and red fill around the grading drop-down menu. For thesis you must submit a letter grade. For other classes you may submit a letter grade, or submit a temporary grade of "P" (Pass) or "F" (Fail) from the Temp P/F column.
Your grades are automatically saved when they are entered. Once you are ready to submit grades, click the "Record Grades" button above the class list. You may choose to record just seniors, or everybody. It is possible to record some grades without recording the whole class. Once the "Record Grades" button has been clicked, the grades and comments will be uploaded to the database.
It is now possible to retract grades that have been recorded until the grading period has closed. When a grade is retracted, it is possible to both modify the grade and edit or delete the instructor comment. Simply click on the grade that you wish to retract, and you will receive a message box with information about the process. It is not possible to retract temporary Pass/Fail grades. If a grade may not longer be retracted, you will receive a message to that effect and you will have to submit a Grade Change request.
If you submitted temporary Pass or Fail grades, the drop-down menu in the Final column will remain so you may submit the actual grades at a later time. When a temporary grade has been recorded, a blue tilde mark will appear in the Status column.
Comment forms must be filled out for any student earning a grade of C-, D, F, DIS, UW, No Credit, or INC. Comments are not required for a temporary (P/F) senior F. For MALS students, a comment form is required for the grade C or lower. Comment forms can also be used for students who are doing well. Comments are not required at this time for students who have been on probation or taking an overload.
Please remember that comments are available to students via IRIS, although their access to comments is delayed. They will not see the comments until we have notified advisers of comments recorded for their advisees, so that advisers have time to communicate with advisees. A day or so after advisers are notified, students will be informed that a comment has been recorded for them. Students are not able to see satisfactory grades on their comments, although they will see grades of C-, D, F, Incomplete, UW, DS, and No Credit.
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Spring (Non-Senior) and Fall Final Grading
In IRIS, you can open the grading function one of two ways from your list of classes. You can select the "Grade/Comment" link in the "Actions" column to the right. If you already have the specific class list open, then click the "Grade/Comment" box above the roster.
Grade each student whose name appears on your class list. Your grades are automatically saved when they are entered. Once you are ready to submit grades, click the "Record Grades" button above the class list. It is now possible to record some grades without recording the whole class.
It is now possible to retract grades that have been recorded until the grading period has closed. When a grade is retracted, it is possible to both modify the grade and edit or delete the instructor comment. Simply click on the grade that you wish to retract, and you will receive a message box with information about the process. If a grade may not longer be retracted, you will receive a message to that effect and you will have to submit a Grade Change request.
Comment forms must be filled out for any student earning a grade of C-, D, F, DIS, UW, No Credit, or INC. For MALS students, a comment form is required for the grade C or lower. Comment forms can also be used for students who are doing well. Comments are not required at this time for students who have been on probation or taking an overload.
Please remember that comments are available to students via IRIS, although their access to comments is delayed. They will not see the comments until we have notified advisers of comments recorded for their advisees, so that advisers have time to communicate with advisees. A day or so after advisers are notified, students will be informed that a comment has been recorded for them. Students are not able to see satisfactory grades on their comments, although they will see grades of C-, D, F, Incomplete, UW, DS, and No Credit.
The notation "UW" may be recorded only if it was given at the eight-week grading period. UW signifies that you are unable to grade the student because it appears s/he has unofficially withdrawn.
An incomplete (IN) may be recorded only for reasons of health or extreme emergency and if the work completed up to the point of the incomplete is passing. You must note on the incomplete comment the letter grade the student will earn if the missing work is NOT turned in, and list the work that must be submitted to complete the course. Please note that, effective with Spring 2024, work for an Incomplete must be submitted within four weeks of the end of the semester (students no longer have the whole summer or winter break to complete the work). A grade must be submitted within five weeks of the end of the semester, so a week after the work due date.
At this time the grade of "S" is allowed only as a mid-year progress grade in thesis. The grade of "U" is allowed only as a final grade for an unfinished thesis.
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Grade Change Requests
Grade change requests are now made online, rather than with paper forms.
- Log in to IRIS ()
- Go to Class Lists.
- Select the term.
- Either select the class, or click the "Review grades" link on the right of the class information (in the Actions column). If you selected the class, when the class list opens click the "Review Grades" box above the roster.
- Click on the grade you wish to change; a new dialog box will open.
- Select the new grade from the drop-down menu.
- You must type in a reason for the change of grade. This information will not be included in the comment that is visible to the student and adviser, but will be retained as part of the student's record. This field still requires a response even if it is a resolution of an Incomplete grade
- If the new grade is not a satisfactory grade, a comment about the grade is required. This comment will be available to the student and adviser.
- The General Comments box is optional.
- Click on the "Request grade change" box to submit the request.
Once a grade change request has been submitted, it is not possible to edit or change the request until the change has been processed. If you need to rescind or modify the request, please contact Ben at bradley@reed.edu or 503-777-7295, and he can delete the original request. This will allow you to submit a new request.
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For more information, please contact:
Ben Bradley
bradley@reed.edu
(503) 777-7295
Last updated September 16, 2025