add information on grad student grading

[jeremymanning]

The grading policy for grad student research terms in the lab is currently somewhat opaque. I'd like to clarify and/or further develop a formal grading policy. The options for grad student grades are: HP (high pass), P (pass), LP (low pass), and NC (no credit).

My understanding is that P is intended to be the "default" grade. Receiving a LP or NC can affect academic standing, and therefore should only be used in extreme circumstances (e.g., student is out of touch with the lab for all or most of the term without doing any lab-related work or communicating in any meaningful way). So the real question is how to fairly distinguish between HP and P.

My current heuristic has been:

• If you submit a new grant or paper, or a major revision of a grant/paper, release a major software package (or do a major update of a software package), you get a "HP" for the term
• Otherwise, assuming you're doing something reasonable in the lab, you get the default grade of "P"
• If I have concerns about your current progress in a given term, I'll reach out individually prior to the end of the term (or prior to the start of the subsequent term) so that we could discuss a plan to course correct and avoid a LP or NC. Hopefully this would fix any issues, but if not then I could envision hypothetically assigning a LP or NC.

Open questions:

• My understanding is that HP is intended to highlight terms of "significant achievement" or performance that is substantially above and beyond the norm. If a student earns too many HPs does this dilute the value or meaning of the grade?
• LPs can affect academic standing (e.g., if you receive two LPs then you are automatically put on academic probation, and if you receive three LPs then you are at risk of losing your position in the program). I'm not sure what happens if you get a NC, but it likely also affects academic standing. Use of LPs (and/or NCs) should therefore be limited only to the most extreme circumstances. What would be a fair policy? It seems worth having a discussion.
• I've noticed that some research terms are listed as 1 credit, others as 2 credits, and others as 3 credits. I'm not sure what that means or how (or whether) it should affect grading. Is there any functional significance to the number of credits received in a given term?
• I recently learned that internship terms are still graded as "research terms" even though students aren't actually in the lab during that time. What's a fair policy for grading internship terms?