You are responsible for keeping complete written records of your students’ work. While individual instructors develop their own systems for keeping these records, here are some basic guidelines.
- Keep written records of your students’ performance in a consistent format. While formats for recording student performance vary among individual teachers, either paper or electronic gradebooks are acceptable methods of keeping records. Avoid using Google Sheets to keep your student records. If you prefer to store an electronic gradebook in the cloud—one that is separate from the gradebook in your course management system—create a spreadsheet and save it in CyBox.
- To help interpret your records after the semester is over, include a brief legend to explain any shorthand marking systems in your records.
- Keep your records for each class at least three calendar years before you destroy them. (Student requests for grade appeals are usually honored only until midterm of the next semester, though you may need to recover the grade information at a later date if there is a question about the student’s records.)
- If you are leaving the department, you must leave your student records from the previous semester with the ISUComm Foundation Courses Secretary.
Since records of student performance are confidential (see the section on “Student Records” in the Iowa State University Catalog), requests for records should be honored only when made by persons who have a legitimate “need to know.” Any instructor who has reason to believe that a request for information about a student’s performance is inappropriate should contact the Director of ISUComm Foundation Courses immediately. See Confidentiality of Student Records of this Guide for more information on confidentiality. For additional information on confidentiality, download the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) information sheet.