We’ve had 13 days of school. How’s the new grading policy going?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I put aside 30 minutes each night to grade assignments as they are submitted. I know that means I'm "working for free" but it helps me keep things at a manageable level so I can get everything done in compliance with the new grading policy.

What subject and grade level?

I would be thrilled if it was just 30 min a night for seven nights.

It usually 2.5 to 3 hours a night for 4-5 nights to grade a single secondary writing assignment with comments.

Hon. English 9.

I'm sure the grading responsibility will increase as the year progresses but so far through 3 weeks we have not done any large scale assignments. Each one takes 2-3 minutes to review and grade. When we get to larger written assignments, we have two staff members who work in the writing center who can assist with the heavy lifting of evaluating papers.

That’s great!

The grading load is why our school has difficulty keeping English teachers. It’s usually the cited reason when people quit. If we had someone to help with essay comments, we may be able to grow some veteran department members!

Our school has mostly veteran teachers. The problem with others grading is it’s very subjective. Last year a teacher helped grade and gave my kid a bad grade on a paragraph of an essay. Regular teacher graded the entire assignment and no changes made and gave a perfect score. MCPS needs consistency.

Grading IS subjective... and the teacher who gave your child a bad grade on a paragraph was probably more helpful to your child than one giving a perfect score, provided there were comments. All teachers have something different to contribute, and it sure beats a machine grading everyone's papers the same way, which leads to homogeneity in writing.

How was it helpful? There was no feedback and no way to reach out to the teacher to discuss why. I suspect why was the paragraph alone made no sense without the entire essay (the assignment was to just turn in that paragraph) and it was very technical. If the regular teacher gave it an A without any changes, then how was that C helpful when child went to the regular teacher who said it was good. The inconsistencies are a problem.

You have just as many problems with reading then, because I wrote "provided there were comments." The subjectivity is part of writing and grading writing. It is not a problem. Just receiving an A is not an indication of excellence. It is the default grade for teachers who don't have time to grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I put aside 30 minutes each night to grade assignments as they are submitted. I know that means I'm "working for free" but it helps me keep things at a manageable level so I can get everything done in compliance with the new grading policy.

What subject and grade level?

I would be thrilled if it was just 30 min a night for seven nights.

It usually 2.5 to 3 hours a night for 4-5 nights to grade a single secondary writing assignment with comments.

Hon. English 9.

I'm sure the grading responsibility will increase as the year progresses but so far through 3 weeks we have not done any large scale assignments. Each one takes 2-3 minutes to review and grade. When we get to larger written assignments, we have two staff members who work in the writing center who can assist with the heavy lifting of evaluating papers.

That’s great!

The grading load is why our school has difficulty keeping English teachers. It’s usually the cited reason when people quit. If we had someone to help with essay comments, we may be able to grow some veteran department members!

Our school has mostly veteran teachers. The problem with others grading is it’s very subjective. Last year a teacher helped grade and gave my kid a bad grade on a paragraph of an essay. Regular teacher graded the entire assignment and no changes made and gave a perfect score. MCPS needs consistency.

Grading IS subjective... and the teacher who gave your child a bad grade on a paragraph was probably more helpful to your child than one giving a perfect score, provided there were comments. All teachers have something different to contribute, and it sure beats a machine grading everyone's papers the same way, which leads to homogeneity in writing.

How was it helpful? There was no feedback and no way to reach out to the teacher to discuss why. I suspect why was the paragraph alone made no sense without the entire essay (the assignment was to just turn in that paragraph) and it was very technical. If the regular teacher gave it an A without any changes, then how was that C helpful when child went to the regular teacher who said it was good. The inconsistencies are a problem.

The person you are responding to specified “provided there were comments”

The parents read no better than the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find that grading takes longer with the new changes. Since the grading scale changed, I grade more carefully and write comments for every point deduction because I expect that some kids/parents will try to claw back every point that they can.

I’ve taught nitpickers and the children of nitpickers for the last 13 years so I always grade carefully and write comments.

We had to redo all of our rubrics to eliminate the fluff that used to protect As and Bs. Now it’s the barebones so that it is crystal clear when a student didn’t meet the objectives.

We want feedback on what our kids did wrong and what they need to improve because we want to support them and if necessary get a tutor. A random grade is useless.

Detailed comments make grading take much longer. It is often not the best use of teacher time because most kids completely ignore the comments and never even read them. And at the HS level, how many parents are realistically going through all the graded assignments for their child and reading all the comments - almost none. Better to grade fast with minimal feedback and if kids have questions, they can directly speak with the teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find that grading takes longer with the new changes. Since the grading scale changed, I grade more carefully and write comments for every point deduction because I expect that some kids/parents will try to claw back every point that they can.

I’ve taught nitpickers and the children of nitpickers for the last 13 years so I always grade carefully and write comments.

We had to redo all of our rubrics to eliminate the fluff that used to protect As and Bs. Now it’s the barebones so that it is crystal clear when a student didn’t meet the objectives.

We want feedback on what our kids did wrong and what they need to improve because we want to support them and if necessary get a tutor. A random grade is useless.

Detailed comments make grading take much longer. It is often not the best use of teacher time because most kids completely ignore the comments and never even read them. And at the HS level, how many parents are realistically going through all the graded assignments for their child and reading all the comments - almost none. Better to grade fast with minimal feedback and if kids have questions, they can directly speak with the teacher

I leave tons of comments. I then make the students read every single one and respond back. Which taught them something new? Which was unclear? Take what I wrote and revise that section of your paper. Then they return the papers to me. I review their feedback.

This is the only way I can keep 100+ papers from being thrown in the trash. Most will never make it home for parents to see. I also can refer back to their papers when I read the next one.

It takes time I don’t have, but I think this step is important. And it honors the many hours I spent on their work.