How to Fill Out and Submit the LAUSD Grade Change Form

To challenge a grade in the Los Angeles Unified School District, you file the LAUSD grade change form referenced in Bulletin 1926.2 (Requests to Change a Pupil Grade) with your student’s classroom teacher within 30 school days of the date the grade report was mailed. The form is short; the work is in the evidence you attach and the legal ground you identify. Under California Education Code Section 49066, an administrator can only order a teacher’s grade changed if you show mistake, fraud, bad faith, or incompetency, so the form has to point at one of those four things.1California Legislative Information. California Education Code 49066

Where to Get the Form

Ask the main office or the counseling office at your student’s school for the grade change request form referenced in LAUSD Bulletin 1926.2.2Cleveland Charter High School. Notice of Grade Change Appeal Process and Form Some school sites also post it on their websites, and a Spanish-language version is available. There is no filing fee.

What the Form Asks For

The identifying section is straightforward: student’s full name, district ID number, school of attendance, course title, teacher’s name, and the grade you want changed. The section that decides the outcome is your written explanation of why the grade meets one of the four legal grounds. A general statement that the grade is unfair will not move the request forward. You need to tie specific evidence to a specific ground.

Attach every document you can gather:

  • Graded tests, quizzes, and assignments showing the teacher’s marks. These are the strongest evidence for a mistake claim.
  • A copy of the course syllabus with the stated grading criteria, useful when the teacher appears to have departed from their own standards.
  • A log of emails or other written communications with the teacher about the dispute, which shows you tried to resolve the issue informally.
  • Specific dates for each piece of evidence so the reviewer can reconstruct the timeline.

Keep every communication in writing. Verbal promises about extra credit or grade adjustments are nearly impossible to prove later.

The Four Grounds You Have to Show

California Education Code Section 49066 gives the classroom teacher sole authority over a grade. A school administrator cannot override it unless one of these four problems applies:

  • Mistake. A clerical or mechanical error, such as a miscalculated point total, a score entered on the wrong student’s record, or a missing assignment that was actually turned in.
  • Fraud. The teacher intentionally misrepresented the student’s performance to produce an inaccurate grade.
  • Bad faith. The teacher acted with an improper motive or deliberately ignored the grading standards outlined in the course syllabus.
  • Incompetency. The teacher lacked the ability or qualification to evaluate the student’s work fairly.

If none of these applies, the grade stands, no matter how strongly you disagree with the teacher’s judgment.1California Legislative Information. California Education Code 49066 Administrators have no authority to second-guess how heavily a teacher weights participation or how strictly they grade an essay. The request has to show something went wrong with the process, not that you would have graded differently.

Where to Submit the Form

LAUSD uses a four-level process. The completed form starts at Level 1 and moves up only if the previous level denies or you are unsatisfied with the response. Deadlines are counted in school days, not calendar days. At every level, the parent, teacher, and student have the right to present information supporting their position.2Cleveland Charter High School. Notice of Grade Change Appeal Process and Form

Level 1: Classroom Teacher

Submit the form to the teacher who assigned the grade within 30 school days of the date the grade report was mailed. The teacher has 10 school days to respond. Many disputes end here, especially when the issue is a data-entry error or an assignment that was turned in but recorded as missing.

Level 2: School Principal

If the teacher denies the request, you have 10 school days from the teacher’s response to file a written appeal with the principal. The principal schedules a review meeting within 10 school days and issues a written decision within 20 school days. If a change is ordered, the correction is made within 30 school days of the appeal. State law requires that the teacher who issued the grade be given a chance to explain the reasoning before any administrator orders a change.1California Legislative Information. California Education Code 49066

Level 3: Local District Superintendent

If the principal denies the appeal, you have 10 school days from the principal’s response to escalate the request in writing to the Local District Superintendent. A review meeting is held within 10 school days, a decision issues within 20, and a granted change is processed within 30.

Level 4: Chief Academic Officer

The final internal level is a written request to the Chief Academic Officer in the Division of Instruction, filed within 10 school days of the Local District Superintendent’s response. The same timing applies: a meeting within 10 school days, a decision within 20, and a correction (if granted) within 30. This decision closes the district’s internal process.2Cleveland Charter High School. Notice of Grade Change Appeal Process and Form

Deadlines to Watch

Missing a deadline can end the challenge, so track them from the start:

  • 30 school days from the date the grade report was mailed to file with the teacher.
  • 10 school days from each denial to move to the next level.
  • All windows use school days, not calendar days, so holidays and breaks do not count.

Use a delivery method that creates a paper trail at every level. Hand-deliver the form and ask for a date-stamped copy, or send it by email so you have a timestamp. A dispute over whether the school received your paperwork on time can derail the entire process.

Why Requests Get Denied

The most common reason a grade change request fails is that the parent disagrees with the teacher’s grading philosophy rather than identifying an actual mistake, fraud, bad faith, or incompetency. Before you submit the form, compare the grades on the student’s returned assignments against the grade recorded on the report card or transcript. If the arithmetic does not add up, you have a straightforward mistake claim. If the syllabus promised one grading scale and the teacher applied another, that can support a bad faith argument. Build the request around one of the four grounds, document it, and file it on time.

A Note on Records Corrections

The LAUSD grade change form is the right tool when you are challenging a grade itself. If instead a grade was recorded incorrectly in the student’s records (for example, the teacher gave a B but the transcript shows a D), federal law under FERPA gives you a separate right to request that the record be corrected, with a formal hearing if the school refuses.3eCFR. 34 CFR 99.20 FERPA does not let you challenge the teacher’s substantive grading judgment; that stays with the Education Code 49066 process above.