Walls/Banneker Grading

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a 7th grader who is learning to take ownership of organization and executive function duties. We do not know that kid has missed an assignment until a WS appears in Aspen. If kid were not able to turn these assignments in later, kid would just be screwed. (School is not coaching kid on these skills.) Kid does not have trouble with the actual material, and grades are fine once the assignments actually get turned in. Count me as a vote in favor of a system that lets a 13-year-old figure this out without kneecapping their high school lottery opportunities.

That's my issue now. The quarter ends today, and my kid's teachers waited until Monday to start dumping grades in Aspen from before winter break. Now there are all these missing assignments that we had no clue about. It's nerve wracking, because everything seemed to be in order for the lottery up until this week. They still haven't sent off recommendations, so I'm trying to tread lightly.

[Anonymous]

There's a lot of variation by school and by teacher...some average old and new grades, some cap the redo to 86%, some allow full credit but you need to demonstrate some kind of new knowledge before retaking/redoing the assignment....there's no consistency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Banneker not allowing retakes seems so strange considering it’s an IB school and IB grading is so different from traditional grading. I guess they don’t really do the IB part fidelity?

IB is a tiny cohort of students at Banneker

[Anonymous]

You are supposed to allow students to redo assignments. There is no specific guideline on test retakes. You are supposed to accept late work up until the end of the quarter, but you can dock points for being late and the kid is only supposed to be able to earn an 86% at most. If a school isn’t following that policy complain to DCPS because those are written in the grading policy.

[Anonymous]

Did everyone else here just get a notification from DCPS, saying they’re thinking about revising the secondary grading policy and asking for input?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are supposed to allow students to redo assignments. There is no specific guideline on test retakes. You are supposed to accept late work up until the end of the quarter, but you can dock points for being late and the kid is only supposed to be able to earn an 86% at most. If a school isn’t following that policy complain to DCPS because those are written in the grading policy.

It may be the policy but it there’s a range of ways that different parts of it can be interpreted (for example, it says students must have the opportunity to redo “substandard” work but doesn’t define substandard)…as a result, there’s a huge amount of discretion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did everyone else here just get a notification from DCPS, saying they’re thinking about revising the secondary grading policy and asking for input?

Yep.

[Anonymous]

Quote from a student today who hasn’t turned in anything since before the Christmas break, maybe the first week in December.

“Time for me to kick it into gear and pull my grades up.”

I have to go in and grade each of the assignments that she just started doing yesterday. Multiply that times the 30 or so other kids who are doing the same thing.

It’s not fair for teachers to dump grades in Aspen at the end of the term. It’s also not fair for me to have to go back and get all these grades in over the weekend. When else will I have time to do it? We only get 1/2 of tomorrow to work on grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I'm a parent of an 8th grader who is applying to Walls and Banneker...I hate what I'm hearing about the DCPS grading policy, i.e., kids being able to turn things in whenever they want and getting to take tests over if they don't do well (this is not the real world). Does Walls allow all of the "redos" and late work that is allowed at other DCPS schools?

I agree school deadlines and tests should be in stone or near stone (deaths in the family, etc. should provide wiggle room).

But it is the real world. With few exceptions in my working life I'm allowed edits and redos. Kids need to learn to live in a world that is not made for them; that there are rules you must follow and you rules you should question. But school is not the real world.

This is the only time they will live like this - its creating the foundation for their life not the mirror of their life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Quote from a student today who hasn’t turned in anything since before the Christmas break, maybe the first week in December.

“Time for me to kick it into gear and pull my grades up.”

I have to go in and grade each of the assignments that she just started doing yesterday. Multiply that times the 30 or so other kids who are doing the same thing.

It’s not fair for teachers to dump grades in Aspen at the end of the term. It’s also not fair for me to have to go back and get all these grades in over the weekend. When else will I have time to do it? We only get 1/2 of tomorrow to work on grades.

Thanks for this point of view, seriously. You're right that it is not fair to get a ton of late work or redos all at once. Good reminder to parents to push their kids out of that mindset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quote from a student today who hasn’t turned in anything since before the Christmas break, maybe the first week in December.

“Time for me to kick it into gear and pull my grades up.”

I have to go in and grade each of the assignments that she just started doing yesterday. Multiply that times the 30 or so other kids who are doing the same thing.

It’s not fair for teachers to dump grades in Aspen at the end of the term. It’s also not fair for me to have to go back and get all these grades in over the weekend. When else will I have time to do it? We only get 1/2 of tomorrow to work on grades.

Thanks for this point of view, seriously. You're right that it is not fair to get a ton of late work or redos all at once. Good reminder to parents to push their kids out of that mindset.

NP who is a teacher and it really is a problem. I try my best to keep up my grades in Aspen but I had kids submitting work at 11 pm on Friday. So now I will be behind starting my third advisory grades because I have to spend the next few days grading a bunch of old assignments.

[Anonymous]

Private schools do not allow this at all. For every day an assignment is late points are deducted and after 3 days you basically will have a 0. There are no retakes. This does not prepare kids for life. I heard MCPS isn't allowing late work anymore.

[Anonymous]

I have a kid in Walls who has a teacher who has still only posted 5 grades for the entire term. The ungraded assignments actually outnumber the graded ones. DCPS requires a minimum of 9 grades before a final term grade can be recorded. My kid has a high B+ at this point, but even if the teacher adds enough grades to be compliant, it could easily raise my kid's grade to an A, or lower it to a C, and there will be nothing my kid could do about it. It's really frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quote from a student today who hasn’t turned in anything since before the Christmas break, maybe the first week in December.

“Time for me to kick it into gear and pull my grades up.”

I have to go in and grade each of the assignments that she just started doing yesterday. Multiply that times the 30 or so other kids who are doing the same thing.

It’s not fair for teachers to dump grades in Aspen at the end of the term. It’s also not fair for me to have to go back and get all these grades in over the weekend. When else will I have time to do it? We only get 1/2 of tomorrow to work on grades.

Thanks for this point of view, seriously. You're right that it is not fair to get a ton of late work or redos all at once. Good reminder to parents to push their kids out of that mindset.

NP who is a teacher and it really is a problem. I try my best to keep up my grades in Aspen but I had kids submitting work at 11 pm on Friday. So now I will be behind starting my third advisory grades because I have to spend the next few days grading a bunch of old assignments.

I hope you grade them down. That is just ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid in Walls who has a teacher who has still only posted 5 grades for the entire term. The ungraded assignments actually outnumber the graded ones. DCPS requires a minimum of 9 grades before a final term grade can be recorded. My kid has a high B+ at this point, but even if the teacher adds enough grades to be compliant, it could easily raise my kid's grade to an A, or lower it to a C, and there will be nothing my kid could do about it. It's really frustrating.

This is against DCPS policy...take screenshots and, if necessary, appeal and grade that you think is unfair.