HS teacher not grading papers for two straight semesters. Does FCPS have a policy on this?

[Anonymous]

I would love to hear feedback from FCPS high school teachers regarding the grading policy for teachers. Specifically, my DC is in an AP class at an FCPS high school and the teachers has not graded any writing assignments (including the written Portion of any unit tests) since October. My DC is given writing assignments and completes short answer and essay potions of unit tests…but the teacher does not grade them and enters nothing in the grade book for them. The teacher does grade most multiple choice quizzes and tests. However, has told my child that some quiz grades aren’t in the grade book because the teacher threw out the quizzes before entering the grade. Is this normal?

Is there any policy in FCPS that requires teachers to actually grade tests given or written work? This AP class will have a written component on the AP exam and DC has been given no feedback on any written assignments for the last two marking periods. I am not sure if the teachers is overwhelmed, or lazy, but it seems odd to have students put a lot of work into studying for tests and quizzes, and writing papers, to simply not grade them or throw them
Out without entering grades into the grade book. I’m just a little frustrated because DC is putting a lot of effort into this class and getting absolutely no feedback.

[Anonymous]

AP teacher.

Those free response questions are the death of me. They take 3-4 minutes each to grade, our tests have two each, so 7 minutes per kid x87 kids = 10 hrs of grading for one test. I have fantasized about not grading them…but I just suck it up and devote one Sunday every 2-3 weeks to nothing but free response grading.

Next year I am going to try to be more strategic and have the kids “pre grade” it themselves using the rubric. Is the teacher showing them what the rubric for the short answer questions looks like? Are they going over what a solid answer looks like and picking apart examples of weaker ones? Are they writing a sample solution as a class after they write individual ones? Are they told what year the question was from so they can look up the rubric in college board’s website?

I think all of these are ways to give feedback without grades. If none of that is happening, then I’d be frustrated and would have my kid reach out to the teacher (cc you on the email for accountability) and ask how to get feedback on the written part. If no answer, then go to the administrator in charge of that department and ask how your child can get feedback on their written portions. That’s the more important piece than the grade, IMO. They are having graded assignments (the gradebook isn’t blank! No surprise entries at the end of the quarter) but your child needs guidance to pass the AP test.

[Anonymous]

Teacher again.

No, there is no policy other than 9 grades per quarter (1 per week, ish) and no single grade can be more than 30? 40? Percent of the overall grade. They can choose to grade whatever they choose to grade.

[Anonymous]

Exhibit A of grade inflation in public schools. Teachers aren’t even grading assignments. This would never be acceptable at a private. Such a joke.

[Anonymous]

we have so many post on this

[Anonymous]

I saw a TikTok about this, a lot of the assignments they complete are not graded. I guess its new

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP teacher.

Those free response questions are the death of me. They take 3-4 minutes each to grade, our tests have two each, so 7 minutes per kid x87 kids = 10 hrs of grading for one test. I have fantasized about not grading them…but I just suck it up and devote one Sunday every 2-3 weeks to nothing but free response grading.

Next year I am going to try to be more strategic and have the kids “pre grade” it themselves using the rubric. Is the teacher showing them what the rubric for the short answer questions looks like? Are they going over what a solid answer looks like and picking apart examples of weaker ones? Are they writing a sample solution as a class after they write individual ones? Are they told what year the question was from so they can look up the rubric in college board’s website?

I think all of these are ways to give feedback without grades. If none of that is happening, then I’d be frustrated and would have my kid reach out to the teacher (cc you on the email for accountability) and ask how to get feedback on the written part. If no answer, then go to the administrator in charge of that department and ask how your child can get feedback on their written portions. That’s the more important piece than the grade, IMO. They are having graded assignments (the gradebook isn’t blank! No surprise entries at the end of the quarter) but your child needs guidance to pass the AP test.

I emailed the Principal and the AP and the assistant superintendent and nothing changed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Exhibit A of grade inflation in public schools. Teachers aren’t even grading assignments. This would never be acceptable at a private. Such a joke.

Private school teacher here. Did you catch the teacher above who wrote that one set of responses can take 10 hours of grading? That’s on top of the teacher’s other work, which doesn’t stop for a stack of papers. I have my alarm set for 6am tomorrow (on a weekend) to grade all day, just to get comments back to my juniors on Monday. I anticipate 10-12 hours of work.

Don’t make this public vs. private. Teachers everywhere are exhausted. We should have time at work to grade if you want comments back. The expectation shouldn’t be sacrificed weekends.

[Anonymous]

Hire a tutor.


Just do it. NOW


The teacher is clearly not equipped to teach this class and you as a parent needs to step up so your child ready for the AP test. Stop complaining and just do it. Your child is almost done with FCPS and then you can leave their dumpster fire behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we have so many post on this

It’s called quiet quitting.

[Anonymous]

The other thing to remember is that the worse the writing is the more feedback the teacher has to give. A good answer requires very little feedback. If students are not well prepared for an AP, it can be a grading nightmare for a teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP teacher.

Those free response questions are the death of me. They take 3-4 minutes each to grade, our tests have two each, so 7 minutes per kid x87 kids = 10 hrs of grading for one test. I have fantasized about not grading them…but I just suck it up and devote one Sunday every 2-3 weeks to nothing but free response grading.

Next year I am going to try to be more strategic and have the kids “pre grade” it themselves using the rubric. Is the teacher showing them what the rubric for the short answer questions looks like? Are they going over what a solid answer looks like and picking apart examples of weaker ones? Are they writing a sample solution as a class after they write individual ones? Are they told what year the question was from so they can look up the rubric in college board’s website?

I think all of these are ways to give feedback without grades. If none of that is happening, then I’d be frustrated and would have my kid reach out to the teacher (cc you on the email for accountability) and ask how to get feedback on the written part. If no answer, then go to the administrator in charge of that department and ask how your child can get feedback on their written portions. That’s the more important piece than the grade, IMO. They are having graded assignments (the gradebook isn’t blank! No surprise entries at the end of the quarter) but your child needs guidance to pass the AP test.

I emailed the Principal and the AP and the assistant superintendent and nothing changed

Did your child contact the teacher and ask how to get feedback on that part?

Does the teacher provide opportunities for self reflection by the student by showing what a solid response is? It doesn’t have to be graded and put in the gradebook to get feedback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The other thing to remember is that the worse the writing is the more feedback the teacher has to give. A good answer requires very little feedback. If students are not well prepared for an AP, it can be a grading nightmare for a teacher.

Omg so true. The lowest kids take 10+ minutes to decipher and sort through, looking for partial credit and filling in gaps with missing criteria. A strong answer is 2 minutes, checking off required elements.

[Anonymous]

I’m a teacher. Your kid’s teacher is lazy and that’s unfortunate. Grading truly sucks and grading writing is time consuming and to provide feedback even more so. That being said, it’s part of the job so unacceptable not to do it. Unfortunately, many of the district policies have created a sense of “why try” among kids and staff. Staff know the kids have to pass no matter what, so do the kids. The result is this sense of “I can give hours and hours to grading and doing work or just pass them all anyway.” And on the kids end it looks like “they’re going to have to pass me anyway so why do the work.” We have a LOT of bad policies that have completely demotivated all stakeholders because the districts just want to cook their data. It sucks.

[Anonymous]

Why don’t we shift school so that a teacher teaches but someone else does the grading. Particularly for writing heavy things.