Teacher not posting enough grades in Aspen?

[Anonymous]

My 10th grader has straight A's in the current term except in one class. That grade is currently a C+, but is based on just four grades posted by the teacher since the term began. One grade was on Dec. 13 and three grades were posted on Dec. 18. With class back in session after the holiday break, there are less than 4 weeks left in the term. Am I right that this does not comply with DCPS policy which requires teachers to post a minimum number of grades throughout the term?

[Anonymous]

I am not sure how many weeks into the advisory we are but teachers are supposed to post two grades every two weeks. So I think the advisory minimum number of grades is 9.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know about DCPS policy, but your kid should go to the teacher, say that she’s concerned about the C+ and wants to get it up before the end of the quarter, and ask about pending grades (what they are and when they’ll be posted). If the teacher can’t/won’t give her that information, you can escalate. But this is the first step.

[Anonymous]

Teacher here. Students that press me out about their grades either get extra work, revise old work, or I accept my dilemma of being an imperfect human, and excuse outlier assignments or bump 0s to 55. I am in a charter school and post three grades a week at least. Ward 7/8. Parents rarely seek me out, but I encourage students to advocate for themselves. No one may care about you, but you must care for yourself!

[Anonymous]

Most schools encourage/require more, but that teacher is doing the bare minimum of what is required. We are on the 8th week of the term with 3 more to go for this term.

Grades could get posted for progress reports with 4 assignments, so it looks like that teacher did just what they needed on the day progress reports were due.

I am a teacher (and a parent) and this infuriates me. My son has a class with 8 assignments and the last one has a date of December 8th. (And it was just put in over break.) It is also his lowest grade.

[Anonymous]

Same here- 8th grader at Reed. Younger kid in 6th gets many assignments marked missing that she turned in. Oddly these sometimes included exit tickets, dictation or other in class work (“stations” in science) that must be completed in class, and I know my kid was there that day and insists they did the work! Or, for both of them, it is impossible in some cases to get teachers to update grades to reflect assignments that were redone.

Truly infuriating.

[Anonymous]

I saw a lot of this last year. Kid says “I did that” and can anecdotally explain what they did in class for the “assignment.” Grade a 0.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks for all the helpful feedback. I tracked down the DCPS grading policy for grades 6-12:

"Teachers must record a minimum of two (2) grades for every five (5) school days in which the course meets. This requirement is intended as a floor, not a ceiling, and teachers are encouraged to regularly return graded work to provide ongoing, timely feedback to students and parents. . . . Teachers are prohibited from entering a term grade if they have not submitted at least nine (9) assignments for the term."

[Anonymous]

Inflate those grades. Ignore those behaviors. Work double overtime. Teachers need support. Support will never be there for teachers. Now take your paycheck and donate it for supplies.

[Anonymous]

So teacher above: I’m fine with a little venting, it’s common to every job, but what’s your alternative to putting grades in Aspen?

Sometimes just doing your job sucks but not doing it is a disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Inflate those grades. Ignore those behaviors. Work double overtime. Teachers need support. Support will never be there for teachers. Now take your paycheck and donate it for supplies.

Huh? Nobody wants you to inflate grades. But we’re preparing kids for high school and college admissions. We can’t let you give our kids a C because you didn’t keep accurate track of the work they submitted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for all the helpful feedback. I tracked down the DCPS grading policy for grades 6-12:

"Teachers must record a minimum of two (2) grades for every five (5) school days in which the course meets. This requirement is intended as a floor, not a ceiling, and teachers are encouraged to regularly return graded work to provide ongoing, timely feedback to students and parents. . . . Teachers are prohibited from entering a term grade if they have not submitted at least nine (9) assignments for the term."

can you please provide a link for this source? thx!

[Anonymous]

NP and just Google DCPS Grading Policy. But teachers know this is the policy as do administrators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for all the helpful feedback. I tracked down the DCPS grading policy for grades 6-12:

"Teachers must record a minimum of two (2) grades for every five (5) school days in which the course meets. This requirement is intended as a floor, not a ceiling, and teachers are encouraged to regularly return graded work to provide ongoing, timely feedback to students and parents. . . . Teachers are prohibited from entering a term grade if they have not submitted at least nine (9) assignments for the term."

can you please provide a link for this source? thx!

https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/publication/attachments/Secondary-Grading-and-Reporting-Policy-8621.pdf