Student & Academic Policies

ACADEMIC STANDING, PROBATION, AND DISMISSAL

• Students must earn final course grades of C or higher and a final cumulative GPA of 3.00 in order to be awarded a degree. Grades of C- or lower will not be accepted as fulfilling degree requirements.
• Students are considered to be in Good Academic Standing if they are achieving Satisfactory Academic Progress toward the degree requirements of their program and have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher.
• The University Registrar will place students enrolled in a graduate degree program on Academic Probation when, after attempting and receiving credit in at least 9 credit hours of coursework, their cumulative GPA falls below 3.00 or when students fail to receive credit in at least two-thirds of the courses they attempt. The Registrar will inform the students of their probationary status in writing. This notification will inform the students that they cannot receive an Incomplete grade while they are on Academic Probation status.
• If at any point while a student is on Academic Probation status, it becomes mathematically impossible to raise his or her cumulative GPA to 3.00 within the allotted 12 credits from the onset of Academic Probation, the student will be academically dismissed. Additionally, if a graduate student is not on probation and their GPA drops such that it is mathematically impossible to return to a cumulative GPA to 3.00 within 12 credits, then the student will be academically dismissed.
• If the Program Director or Associate Dean of an academic unit determines that a student is not making Satisfactory Academic Progress for any academic reason, the Dean or Dean’s designee may decide either to issue an Academic Warning or place the student on Academic Probation. The Dean may also academically dismiss the student without Academic Probation or Warning. The academic unit must notify the Registrar of the decision to apply a sanction. The Registrar will notify each student of the decision and the reason for the decision. In the case of an Academic Probation notice, the Registrar must inform the student, in writing, of the period for the warning or probation and of the conditions that must be met for the student to regain Satisfactory Academic Progress status. Students who are on an Academic Warning status for one semester may be subject to Academic Probation or be academically dismissed in subsequent semesters if the terms of the Academic Warning are not fulfilled.
• Academic Dismissals are permanently recorded on the transcript. Academic Warnings and Academic Probation are not.

 

 Please refer to the Graduate Academic Regulations for additional information about GPA and grade requirements, academic probation, and academic dismissal.

 

 

COURSE RETAKES

 

 

Students in the Urban Teachers MAT program who need to retake one course may do so in the summer of that academic year. It may not be possible to retake more than one course in an academic year due to district requirements and state level standards. Students who need to retake more than one course in one academic year would need to receive approval to do so by the Urban Teachers Program Liaison. The cost of replacing unsatisfactory course grades will be at the student’s own expense. Students would be billed the per credit tuition rate. Grades for each attempt are shown on the transcript and are used to compute the overall GPA, but only credits for one passed course are included in the credits required for the graduate degree.

 

Please refer to the Graduate Academic Regulations for additional information about course repetition.

 

 

SYLLABUS & GRADING POLICIES

As graduate students, Urban Teachers participants enrolled in the master’s program at the American University School of Education are responsible for understanding and adhering to the policies, requirements, and expectations listed in course syllabi including, but not limited to, grading policies, coursework attendance, coursework participation, penalties for late work, requests for assignment extensions, assignment re-submission, and incomplete coursework.

 

The grading scale and the grade calculations used in the graduate GPA are equivalent to those used for undergraduate students.

 

 

COURSEWORK ACCOMMODATIONS

To receive disability accommodations at American University, participants must register with the Academic Support and Access Center by submitting documentation and completing the three-step process at this link. The first step requires you to complete and return the Student Accommodations Questionnaire (SAQ). We recommend participants begin this process as soon as possible, collecting medical documentation in advance, since the processing and finalization of accommodation(s) can take several weeks and there is no guarantee that these accommodations will be applied retroactively.

 

 

PROGRAM DISMISSAL AND WITHDRAWAL

Please note that continuation in the Urban Teachers MAT program is contingent upon participation in the Urban Teachers clinical training program, and vice versa. Students who are academically dismissed from American University School of Education or who are otherwise dismissed for violating any University code or policy will also be automatically dismissed from the Urban Teachers program.

 

To maintain satisfactory academic progress in the Urban Teachers MAT program, students must maintain their participation in the Urban Teachers clinical training program during their entire time in the Urban Teachers MAT program. This includes, but is not limited to, maintaining good standing at an approved school site, completing all required coaching activities, meeting end-of-year teaching practice expectations, and fulfilling all state requirements for certification/licensure. Students who are dismissed from the Urban Teachers program are not in good standing in their academic program and may be removed or dismissed from the Urban Teachers MAT program. Students should refer to the Urban Teachers clinical program requirements and expectations on the Urban Teachers Info Center (support.urbanteachers.org) for more information about the process for dismissal from Urban Teachers.

 

Students in good academic standing wishing to withdraw (or “separate”) from the University must notify their academic advisor may do so at any time, up to and including the last day of classes. Separations requested after the last day of instruction or by students on probation must be approved by the Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies or designee. Students may separate from the University only once for any reason. Students who withdraw from the Urban Teachers MAT program must also withdraw from the Urban Teachers clinical program.

 

Please refer to the Graduate Academic Regulations for additional information about dismissal, voluntary separation, and involuntary separation.

 

 

STUDENT CONDUCT CODE

All American University School of Education students are governed by the university’s Student Conduct Code. This Student Conduct Code is designed to support a safe, honest, and inclusive community with a shared commitment to acting with mutual respect and forming the highest standards of ethics and morals among its members.

 

 

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY CODE

Students are bound by the University’s Academic Integrity Code, which ensures that all work done in pursuit of a degree, whether graded or ungraded, formal or informal, meets the highest standards of academic honesty. Suspension and academic dismissal are permanently recorded on the transcript as a violation of the Academic Integrity Code.