The right to request to review education records from a diocese school

[Anonymous]

I wonder if anyone has experience for a request to review student's education records from a diocese school? Specifically, this is with a high school in catholic diocese of Arlington.

My sophomore had an extended sickness period in Q3 and got a permission to submit the missing assignments later. He managed to catch up with the work and submitted all of them in Q4.
However, the final grade that came out this week didn't seem to correct this issue for one particular class - His final grade turned out to be much lower solely due to the fact there is a "C" grade in Q3 for 7 missing assignments. All of these missing assignments are just for taking chapter notes, which shouldn't be difficult but more of time-consuming natures for which he had to spend time to finish.
He is a diligent student and has never missed any assignments. This is the only class he ends up with a B in his entire academic life. This particular teacher is also known to be very behind in grading the homework.
Now that the teacher is probably on vacation, so it is difficult to follow up... The administration stated this situation must be discussed and agreed with the teacher, otherwise the administrative office cannot change the official record. Before the semester ended, my child had talked to the teacher multiple times, and every time her response was the amended records had been turned in to the administration but it takes time for them to process.

Anybody has any suggestions? I know there is FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) for the right to inspect the education records for the schools receiving the federal fundings. But not sure if this applies to diocese school or not (Maybe they don't get federal fundings at all?)

[Anonymous]

Assuming he has the communications regarding the missing assignments in writing along with her stated intention to change his Q3 grade, have you forwarded them to his counselor and asked for a meeting to discuss? If he doesn't have any and all of it documented in emails, that's a great but difficult lesson learned for the future.

I don't know the answer to the FERPA question, but I wouldn't necessarily assume the teacher is completely MIA. My kids have received emails from a few of their future teachers this week because rosters just came out, and they've emailed over the summer before with questions about summer assignments and received answers back quickly.

[Anonymous]

private schools are not bound by HIPAA *or* FERPA. your child's school owes you nothing as far as access to records, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

This teacher doesn't respond through emails. All these missing assignments are required notetaking for each chapter - old-fashioned way, no digital records retained as supporting evidence unfortunately. It is a hard lesson for the teen to grasp. He is a diligent straight-A student. And this is the first time that he got a C grade, which leads to a B final grade for this particular course. He didn't have any issues for all the other classes as all the other teachers were able to correct the missed work for this extended period of sickness.

Anonymous wrote:Assuming he has the communications regarding the missing assignments in writing along with her stated intention to change his Q3 grade, have you forwarded them to his counselor and asked for a meeting to discuss? If he doesn't have any and all of it documented in emails, that's a great but difficult lesson learned for the future.

I don't know the answer to the FERPA question, but I wouldn't necessarily assume the teacher is completely MIA. My kids have received emails from a few of their future teachers this week because rosters just came out, and they've emailed over the summer before with questions about summer assignments and received answers back quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if anyone has experience for a request to review student's education records from a diocese school? Specifically, this is with a high school in catholic diocese of Arlington.

My sophomore had an extended sickness period in Q3 and got a permission to submit the missing assignments later. He managed to catch up with the work and submitted all of them in Q4.
However, the final grade that came out this week didn't seem to correct this issue for one particular class - His final grade turned out to be much lower solely due to the fact there is a "C" grade in Q3 for 7 missing assignments. All of these missing assignments are just for taking chapter notes, which shouldn't be difficult but more of time-consuming natures for which he had to spend time to finish.
He is a diligent student and has never missed any assignments. This is the only class he ends up with a B in his entire academic life. This particular teacher is also known to be very behind in grading the homework.
Now that the teacher is probably on vacation, so it is difficult to follow up... The administration stated this situation must be discussed and agreed with the teacher, otherwise the administrative office cannot change the official record. Before the semester ended, my child had talked to the teacher multiple times, and every time her response was the amended records had been turned in to the administration but it takes time for them to process.

Anybody has any suggestions? I know there is FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) for the right to inspect the education records for the schools receiving the federal fundings. But not sure if this applies to diocese school or not (Maybe they don't get federal fundings at all?)

They don't get federal money.

I am sorry your child had an illness. He got a B.

That's a great essay topic. I got mono in college and my transcript looked like I lost my mind one semester. I was about to tell employers that I was counseled to take medical leave, but a scraped together enough energy to not lose tuition and stay on course to graduate on time. I also did better and better after that rough time and graduated with honors.

I bet your child could write a similar story about resilience and perseverance. Good luck to you.

I would avoid threatening to "sue" the school over a B. Did your child keep records of their work? Is there a copy of the work or evidence that they did it, and when they turned it in?

[Anonymous]

You may be able to address this in the fall.

My kid's teacher did not enter a grade for part of his final. We could not reach her until
August. But it got fixed the next school year.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the responses! Does anyone know if the final transcript sent to college contains all the individual quarter grades or just the final year by year grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the responses! Does anyone know if the final transcript sent to college contains all the individual quarter grades or just the final year by year grade?

Official transcripts typically only include the final grade for a class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the responses! Does anyone know if the final transcript sent to college contains all the individual quarter grades or just the final year by year grade?

most colleges have you self report the final grades when applying to college. only after kid's been long admitted and after HS graduation does the college receive an official transcript.
Was there a particular contact at the school who worked with your kid about the illness or overdue assignments? I can't remember who this person was for us when DD missed 2 days a week her junior year - but that's who I would have reached out to and have them check with the teacher to be sure teacher followed the proper "accommodations" the school allowed.

[Anonymous]

If an administrator and counselor was aware of the agreement regarding make up work, you should email the teacher, counselor, and assistant principal. Administrators usually work during the summer and school counselors typically check email.
Given that this was a prolonged absence due to sickness, I assume that there is a paper trail somewhere.

[Anonymous]

What records are you thinking of? As a HS teacher, I'm not sure I see how records would help here. You already have access to the gradebook, with the record of the grade, and how it was calculated. You already have the email chain. The question seems to be a) Did the teacher receive the assignments (which records won't help with) and b) Did the teacher agree, or should they have agreed by school policy to grade them (which would come down to school policy, and your communication with the teacher)

In our school, college counseling would help with this. If you had documentation that it was a mistake, then they would have a sense of when the transcript needed to be fixed for your first application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the responses! Does anyone know if the final transcript sent to college contains all the individual quarter grades or just the final year by year grade?

Official transcripts typically only include the final grade for a class.

This is different for every school. You'll have to ask your college counseling office what they send.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the responses! Does anyone know if the final transcript sent to college contains all the individual quarter grades or just the final year by year grade?

most colleges have you self report the final grades when applying to college. only after kid's been long admitted and after HS graduation does the college receive an official transcript.
Was there a particular contact at the school who worked with your kid about the illness or overdue assignments? I can't remember who this person was for us when DD missed 2 days a week her junior year - but that's who I would have reached out to and have them check with the teacher to be sure teacher followed the proper "accommodations" the school allowed.

I would not say this is true for “most” colleges. Many want to see the transcript through junior year with the application, and some even ask for an unofficial transcript with interim grades from senior year. They do still want the final official transcripts after graduation as well, but many will see 9th-11th grades before that.