MCPS Teachers Not Checking or Providing Feedback on Homework - How Common is this Practice?

[Anonymous]

My child was a successful honors student prior to going to our local high school. She is hard working and does every assignment on time. For homework completion she has 100%, however those grades are only 10% (very negligible) of her overall grade. Despite doing the homework (supposedly for practice and prep), she is getting D's in several core classes. When I had meetings with the teachers and dug through her notebook, I discovered a common practice at our school that teachers are not reviewing the homework for mistakes nor are constructive comments offered on what the child needs to do to master the objectives in the course.

What is the point of homework if mistakes are not corrected? How is a child to learn and prepare for formatives and summatives if no feedback is given?

Is this considered good teaching in MCPS?

[Anonymous]

My child is in middle school. The teachers go over the homework in class.

[Anonymous]

I would either make time to review the homework with her, or hire a tutor. High school is a big deal.

My son is still in elementary school, so my post may not be very helpful to you. However, I did notice that only 1 out of 5 teachers he has had over the years has ever written useful and timely feedback and corrections on his homework! The others would return the homework several weeks after it was handed in (a young child has time to forget all that he wrote in that timeframe), most of the time without comments, but there was just a check mark on the front page to indicate that the homework had been completed.

Teachers obviously have leeway in how they handle this, and most are too busy to bother. The homework is supposed to be reviewed in class, however verbal explanations are not the same as written comments. My son has ADHD and can't follow rapid discussions in class, so the verbal review is lost on him. But even for the average student, written feedback is permanent and undisputable.

That's what happens when teachers are underpaid and not trained properly.

[Anonymous]

My son gets no comments on his HS English papers. My biggest complaint with MCPS! He struggles in writing so if he gets a C or less I have him met with the teacher for additional feedback.

[Anonymous]

For HS Enlglish, my daughter receives no comments on her rough drafts. They are just checked for completion. The teacher also does not update Edline in a timely manner. There are missing grades from assignments turned in over 4 weeks ago. Up until this week, my daughter had an A so we thought there were no problems in the class. One rough draft turned into an essay worth 25% of her marking period grade which she FAILED. Totally has tanked her grade in the class.

[Anonymous]

My child's rough drafts (HS) only receive peer review (almost nothing).

[Anonymous]

This is very troubling. By the time they get to college, they should know how to write a good paper. If they are not being taught how to write in high school they will not be ready for college. I know teachers have over 120 students so that would be very time consuming to write detailed comments on every single written assignment but they should try to do this for a couple of writing assignments per semester so that their students can learn from their missteps.

[Anonymous]

I feel I have to work with my child on their writing assignments. I wish it was not that way but most papers come back with just a rubric filled out. This will not prepare them for college or the world.

[Anonymous]

My colleagues who teach in MS and HS are constantly in meetings during their planning periods (me too but I teach ES). We have to play for the next day so often grading is given the least amount of time of all of our duties.

[Anonymous]

PP..do they feel like kids are getting the skills they need as HS students? I am not being critical just wondering whether the system produces college ready kids.

[Anonymous]

I went to private school and was much more prepared for college than my friends who went to public school. I wasn't smarter. In fact, many of my public school friends had higher SAT scores etc.

In private school, every assignment and paper was given back within 1-3 days. There were extensive comments and corrections even if you received an A or B. If you received less than 80% on an assignment or test, you were often required to correct or rewrite it and take it to your advisor. You didn't receive an upward grade change but if you failed to do this your grade was further lowered.

I am sympathetic that the class sizes are too large in public school and incentives are not there for teachers to provide this level of motivation and instruction. What's sad is that this is the model that works not just letting everyone fall wherever, never achieving their potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to private school and was much more prepared for college than my friends who went to public school. I wasn't smarter. In fact, many of my public school friends had higher SAT scores etc.

In private school, every assignment and paper was given back within 1-3 days. There were extensive comments and corrections even if you received an A or B. If you received less than 80% on an assignment or test, you were often required to correct or rewrite it and take it to your advisor. You didn't receive an upward grade change but if you failed to do this your grade was further lowered.

I am sympathetic that the class sizes are too large in public school and incentives are not there for teachers to provide this level of motivation and instruction. What's sad is that this is the model that works not just letting everyone fall wherever, never achieving their potential.

Back when I was in a public HS in the 80's in CA, and not a great school, I got back all of my writing assignments with feedback. Seems like this is a current thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I would either make time to review the homework with her, or hire a tutor. High school is a big deal.

My son is still in elementary school, so my post may not be very helpful to you. However, I did notice that only 1 out of 5 teachers he has had over the years has ever written useful and timely feedback and corrections on his homework! The others would return the homework several weeks after it was handed in (a young child has time to forget all that he wrote in that timeframe), most of the time without comments, but there was just a check mark on the front page to indicate that the homework had been completed.

Teachers obviously have leeway in how they handle this, and most are too busy to bother. The homework is supposed to be reviewed in class, however verbal explanations are not the same as written comments. My son has ADHD and can't follow rapid discussions in class, so the verbal review is lost on him. But even for the average student, written feedback is permanent and undisputable.

That's what happens when teachers are underpaid and not trained properly.

MCPS teachers are compensated well and I don't understand the connection between training and the ability to write comments on papers.

I would think the explaination about meetings taking up the grading time would be correct.

[Anonymous]

MCPS parents are very proactive and do not deal with bullc**p.
At my child's highly regarded public charter in DC, homework is also 10% of the overall grade. I admit there is a lot of homework, but they are very rarely corrected or returned. However, unlike MPCS parents, no one seems to see this as a problem and blindly believe that teachers know gest ...and that I am being too aggressive and should not be holicoptering a high school age student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I would either make time to review the homework with her, or hire a tutor. High school is a big deal.

My son is still in elementary school, so my post may not be very helpful to you. However, I did notice that only 1 out of 5 teachers he has had over the years has ever written useful and timely feedback and corrections on his homework! The others would return the homework several weeks after it was handed in (a young child has time to forget all that he wrote in that timeframe), most of the time without comments, but there was just a check mark on the front page to indicate that the homework had been completed.

Teachers obviously have leeway in how they handle this, and most are too busy to bother. The homework is supposed to be reviewed in class, however verbal explanations are not the same as written comments. My son has ADHD and can't follow rapid discussions in class, so the verbal review is lost on him. But even for the average student, written feedback is permanent and undisputable.

That's what happens when teachers are underpaid and not trained properly.
]

MCPS teachers are compensated well and I don't understand the connection between training and the ability to write comments on papers.

I would think the explaination about meetings taking up the grading time would be correct.

This. I have one 30 minute individually-managed planning period per week. The rest are for "collaborative planning" or for team meetings or "data chats". Every meeting needs to have typed up notes turned into admin so it's not like we can just skip them to work on our own stuff. Collaborative planning means sitting with my team in a room with the staff development teacher and discussing curriculum for the following week. It is all discussion--no creating materials or anything productive like that. All that stuff gets done after school. I bring grading home over the weekend, and sometimes let it slide to every other weekend so that I can spend some uninterrupted time with my family.

The micromanagement of teachers' time is what has led to this. Even a few years ago I was able to use my planning time to prepare materials, which left more time for grading and comments. Now something has to give and since the majority of teachers grade on their own time that's what it tends to be.