rethinking my late work policy

I’ve never been completely satisfied with any of the late work policies I’ve used. For my first few years teaching, at a large state university, my policy was to deduct one letter grade for each calendar day an assignment was late.



But when I started teaching at community colleges, that policy no longer made sense. Many of my students are working adults who have family commitments and work commitments that must sometimes take priority over school. I don’t think learning is enhanced when a student has to decide between losing a letter grade on a school assignment or being reprimanded by his or her supervisor for missing a deadline.



For a while, my policy was that I would give extensions on a case by case basis, but this policy simply seemed to encourage students to come up with wild tales about why they needed an extension. I was inundated with doctor’s notes, funeral notices, and other pieces of paper that gave me much more information that I wanted or needed. I had students emailing me and calling me about their grandmothers falling down the stairs, their dogs needing emergency surgery, etc., all replete with so many gory and well thought-out details that I could only conclude that the stories were fabricated. I mean, come on—if your grandmother fell down the stairs, would you want to spend ten full minutes on the phone with your English teacher describing what happened with details for each of the five senses?



So I came up with the following policy:

All work must be turned in by the due date unless you have requested an extension at least 24 hours before the due date. Requests for extensions must include the date when work will be submitted and must be submitted to me in writing or by email. Work submitted late without a prior request for an extension will be graded down half a letter grade for each calendar day they are late.



This has been my policy for about three years now and I’ve been very happy with it until this semester. This policy allows for working adults to make mature decisions about their schoolwork. It allows for me to not need to know why the student needs an extension.



Then, the fall semester of 2006 began, and after three years of this policy working like a charm, this policy has been one big stinker. I have no idea why a policy that students used judiciously in the past has suddenly been so abused. In my two comp 1 classes, out of 48 students total, six turned in their midterm portfolios on time. Six. The rest requested extensions of two days to two months. Never had I had a student request more than an extra two weeks, so it never occurred to me to say anything in the policy about the maximum length of an extension.



The worst part is that now I have students who email me twice a week, asking for a two day extension each time. So a student will set their deadline as Nov. 1. On Oct. 31, I get an email moving the extension to Nov. 3. On Nov. 3, I get an email moving the extension to Nov. 5. And so on. So now I have all these extension requests to keep track of.



Actually, that’s not the worst part. The worst part is that I have students who haven’t yet turned in their midterm portfolios—which were originally due October 10—and are now trying to work on final portfolios. Clearly, this late policy is not encouraging learning.



So, for next semester, I will add to my late work policy: “Each student may request one extension of no more than one week during the semester.”

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