Are Other Upper School Students at Potomac Not Getting Tests and Papers Back for Weeks at a Time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guys this thread is so distasteful. Don’t you have a parent listserv? I can’t believe parents would start a public thread to vent about their school and name teachers.

No, this is exactly what needs to happen. The true issues need to come to light and stop being ignored and hidden by a money and a shiny exterior. There are plenty of families who feel the same about this and other things.

[Anonymous]

This thread is shocking (assuming the people posting aren’t lying). I thought Potomac US was the gem of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guys this thread is so distasteful. Don’t you have a parent listserv? I can’t believe parents would start a public thread to vent about their school and name teachers.

The biggest PITA parent I know sends her kids to Potomac so this is exactly what I would expect from her. Good riddance she is not at our school anymore.

[Anonymous]

My US student also has been in the position of receiving “surprise” grades at the end of the semester. Based upon assignments returned during the first half of the semester, our child statistically had an A. At the parent-teacher conferences, the teachers would rave about how well our child was doing. Then, no assignments, or very few, would be returned for the rest of the semester, and our child would mysteriously end up with an A- grade. Did he bomb a test or assignment? Probably not because he was doing so well before and put in the same amount of effort, etc. If he had been getting assignments back consistently, he could have addressed any weak areas, gotten a tutor, etc. instead, it is just a mysterious disappointment at the end. Some students are wondering if there might be grading quotas, i.e. only four kids can get an A, etc. and that could account for this. I truly don’t think it is sour grapes or slacking off on my child’s part. And these mystery grades have occurred with his friends as well.

[Anonymous]

Guys this thread is so distasteful. Don’t you have a parent listserv? I can’t believe parents would start a public thread to vent about their school and name teachers.

Perhaps because they are beyond frustrated! Lucky for you, you have not been frustrated enough to use this forum to vent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My US student also has been in the position of receiving “surprise” grades at the end of the semester. Based upon assignments returned during the first half of the semester, our child statistically had an A. At the parent-teacher conferences, the teachers would rave about how well our child was doing. Then, no assignments, or very few, would be returned for the rest of the semester, and our child would mysteriously end up with an A- grade. Did he bomb a test or assignment? Probably not because he was doing so well before and put in the same amount of effort, etc. If he had been getting assignments back consistently, he could have addressed any weak areas, gotten a tutor, etc. instead, it is just a mysterious disappointment at the end. Some students are wondering if there might be grading quotas, i.e. only four kids can get an A, etc. and that could account for this. I truly don’t think it is sour grapes or slacking off on my child’s part. And these mystery grades have occurred with his friends as well.

Is all this drama about kids getting a surprise A- instead of an A?? The horror.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My US student also has been in the position of receiving “surprise” grades at the end of the semester. Based upon assignments returned during the first half of the semester, our child statistically had an A. At the parent-teacher conferences, the teachers would rave about how well our child was doing. Then, no assignments, or very few, would be returned for the rest of the semester, and our child would mysteriously end up with an A- grade. Did he bomb a test or assignment? Probably not because he was doing so well before and put in the same amount of effort, etc. If he had been getting assignments back consistently, he could have addressed any weak areas, gotten a tutor, etc. instead, it is just a mysterious disappointment at the end. Some students are wondering if there might be grading quotas, i.e. only four kids can get an A, etc. and that could account for this. I truly don’t think it is sour grapes or slacking off on my child’s part. And these mystery grades have occurred with his friends as well.

Is all this drama about kids getting a surprise A- instead of an A?? The horror.

NP you and your kids are perhaps low performers? When you are aiming for top schools, A vs. A- does matter. And in any case, regardless of the grades, it’s bad practice to keep your students in the dark about their grades for that long.

[Anonymous]

No, an A- is a solid grade, but is a disappointment if all the grades that you actually received back in the class were all A’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, an A- is a solid grade, but is a disappointment if all the grades that you actually received back in the class were all A’s.

It doesn't take much for a 93 to become a 92. One not-so-bad assessment can change that. Having said that, not receiving timely feedback is inexcusable.

[Anonymous]

But it is harder for a high A grade to drop mysteriously.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This sounds like a systemic problem at Potomac. The parents need to step-up and talk to the admin asap. Why is this happening? Sounds like the admin is not doing a good job monitoring the teachers and/or not making the expectations clear. This is for adults to discuss and resolve, not the kids.

I have not known this to be a problem in the US at Potomac. So I would argue that it is not a "systemic problem."

T[b]rust me. It is[/b]!

No, it is not. It’s a very small number of teachers. Like 2-3.

Different poster here to say it has not been a problem for my two kids in the US, one of whom is a senior. So no, it is not a systemic problem in the US.

I'm on my third kid in US and I would say the issue has gotten worse over time. Grades are typically, while not quite a surprise, at least a slight mystery, when they come out mid-semester and at the end of the semester. Sometimes it's a good surprise, sometimes devastating. My kid has not had one single final paper returned in an English class in the last 4 semesters. My kid is an amazing self-advocate, but figures this is just the culture and goes with it. I don't think it's great and have always felt the school lacks any transparency at all. After all, if they published all the grades, then those who are put into the middle and low bucket might have a fighting chance of rising up to the top students. This is their way of keeping the "caste" system in place. They determine very early on who the top students are and make sure there's enough distinction to keep them high enough in front of the others to get them into the very top schools. Transparency would make this more difficult.

Choosing to believe the teachers are involved in a widespread conspiracy to propel a select group of students into Harvard while participating in unethical grading practices to keep the rest of the student body out, instead of considering that your child might actually be the lesser student, is just a stunning take. And no, my kid isn’t a top academic performer. But he sure respects his classmates who are, and has never once attributed their success to anything other than their being incredibly smart and hard working. And fwiw to anyone following this thread, we think the faculty is amazing. No grading issues or uncertainty.

Not getting a single paper back in four semesters is wild behavior. I remember how much work I put into English papers in high school and if I was sending those out into the void never to get comments or a reaction to them, that would have totally wrecked my love for English class after one, maybe two semesters. Four semesters? With different teachers?

Is it just the one student who isn't getting their papers back because of some issue, or the whole class isn't getting them back? Either way, that is not right, but obviously it's a much bigger problem if it's the whole class.

[Anonymous]

Lets stay focused here.

Teachers should grade assignments and return them graded with comments in a timely fashion period!

I think one week is sufficient time to grade any assignment, unless the teacher is out sick etc.

Students, parents, and administrators at a "top" private school like Potomac should accept no less!

[Anonymous]

"No, it is not. It’s a very small number of teachers. Like 2-3."

It is more than 3!

It should be 0!

[Anonymous]

My child alone has had more than three!

[Anonymous]

Although I should point out that there are some great teachers at Potomac.