DD grade pulled down by a grade that was entered last day of the marking period!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My middle schooler has a teacher who does not grade anything on time. Last quarter, my DD had pretty much full marks in all of her tasks except 1 that was showing as 'missing', although she had submitted and followed up twice about it. There were about 4-5 other tasks not graded in the last week and a big project that was not graded as well. With so few graded work and 1 of them missing her grade was High B . I was assuming it would turn to A when the other things get graded. This is an easy subject for her but my DD followed up with the teacher and asked for feedback for the big project and was told that she had only 50% and was given some pointers to improve her project (again grading rubric wasn't clear), so she reworked it and submitted again. The teacher ignores the rework she re-did and gives her a original 50% grade on the very last day of the quarter which pulled her grade to a very low B . My all-A student has never gotten a B so far and this is her very first B and is quite upset. I have emailed the teacher to get some feedback on what she should have done better and after 2 follow ups , there is no response to my emails. I am not sure how this teacher can do that. No idea how their grade will be even during last week of quarter, no opportunity for kids to make up anything, no credit for re-do work. The teacher does not seem strict but just lazy. I am at loss how to deal with the teacher!

It's middle school. It is a lesson learned and better sooner rather than later ie Junior year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:May be I should ask these questions in a forum where parents do care about their kid and kid's grade and can help with useful suggestions rather than try to establish they are somehow better parents for not caring about grades! There are already plenty of other disappointments that my DD deals with, grades shouldn't have to be one when she doesn't actually deserves it.

We do care about our children's grades, but that includes caring that our children are learning so that they can earn higher grades in the future. High school grades matter more than middle school grades -- what approach will give your child the tools to earn the highest possible grades when it matters?

I think we should care more about the learning than the grades. After all, if they cheat and get all As how does that help them? But, if they learn something and work hard and remember what they learned even if they don't get an A isn't that better? Your daughter needs to learn how to work hard not solely for the grade. After all, how many gold stars does one get in "real" life?

If your daughter is disappointed than she can do something NEXT time. Disappointment = growth

[Anonymous]

OMG OP you nee dot check yourself. Your child got the grade she earned. Getting a B is not the end of the world. And she probably actually learned a lesson here. By the way, it is NOT your job to fight a teacher to change your child's grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:May be I should ask these questions in a forum where parents do care about their kid and kid's grade and can help with useful suggestions rather than try to establish they are somehow better parents for not caring about grades! There are already plenty of other disappointments that my DD deals with, grades shouldn't have to be one when she doesn't actually deserves it.

But it sounds like she does deserve it. She got the grade she earned but she just doesn’t like it.

+1 How odd of you to be mad at the teacher for not allowing a do over for a grade, but encouraging it for learning.

[Anonymous]

OP, my HS DD was in a similar position this quarter so I feel for you. It’s just not fair if they don’t get their grades and they can’t tell how they’re doing. It’s time to teacher your child how to advocate for herself. Ask for feedback. Say I know you haven’t entered the grade yet, but I can’t asses my performance so can you tell me something? My DD did confront her teacher at the end of the quarter but he just apologized and looked like he wanted to cry, so that made her feel worse. I told her to confront him earlier on this quarter, assignment by assignment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My middle schooler has a teacher who does not grade anything on time. Last quarter, my DD had pretty much full marks in all of her tasks except 1 that was showing as 'missing', although she had submitted and followed up twice about it. There were about 4-5 other tasks not graded in the last week and a big project that was not graded as well. With so few graded work and 1 of them missing her grade was High B . I was assuming it would turn to A when the other things get graded. This is an easy subject for her but my DD followed up with the teacher and asked for feedback for the big project and was told that she had only 50% and was given some pointers to improve her project (again grading rubric wasn't clear), so she reworked it and submitted again. The teacher ignores the rework she re-did and gives her a original 50% grade on the very last day of the quarter which pulled her grade to a very low B . My all-A student has never gotten a B so far and this is her very first B and is quite upset. I have emailed the teacher to get some feedback on what she should have done better and after 2 follow ups , there is no response to my emails. I am not sure how this teacher can do that. No idea how their grade will be even during last week of quarter, no opportunity for kids to make up anything, no credit for re-do work. The teacher does not seem strict but just lazy. I am at loss how to deal with the teacher!

You don't. You deal with your kid.

[Anonymous]

This is not my first experience with MCPS middle school and its teachers! I have an older kid who went through middle school in a lot tougher environment (clemente magnet) and is now in high school magnet. So I am not unfamiliar with good/poor work . My now magnet high schooler has gotten some Bs and she did deserve them as well. And I do not meddle with their work/grades unless I think something was really unfair. I often side with the teachers when my kids complain against any teacher. My sister is a teacher and I know all the difficulties... so don't think I am here to just bash all teachers!
This particular project from my youngest was a group project and she collaborated with a kid from another period (same teacher though). The teacher had not given same instructions to the 2 classes which I guess they should have clarified. Yes the teacher allowed re-work because lot of kids complained the instructions weren't clear (he assigned the project and was absent from school for over a week), but then did not grade the re-work. Apparently a lot of kids ended up with Cs and Ds on this one project!
I am just surprised why the teacher doesn't want to reply to email asking for feedback about what she should have done better? To me it looked like the project was on point.
Most of you say 'yeah may be she deserved it' , why don't you help her do better? But if there is no feedback on what is that she should have done better, how can some one improve? All the teachers I have had for my kids have been nice and I have never had one that doesn't respond to emails!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not my first experience with MCPS middle school and its teachers! I have an older kid who went through middle school in a lot tougher environment (clemente magnet) and is now in high school magnet. So I am not unfamiliar with good/poor work . My now magnet high schooler has gotten some Bs and she did deserve them as well. And I do not meddle with their work/grades unless I think something was really unfair. I often side with the teachers when my kids complain against any teacher. My sister is a teacher and I know all the difficulties... so don't think I am here to just bash all teachers!
This particular project from my youngest was a group project and she collaborated with a kid from another period (same teacher though). The teacher had not given same instructions to the 2 classes which I guess they should have clarified. Yes the teacher allowed re-work because lot of kids complained the instructions weren't clear (he assigned the project and was absent from school for over a week), but then did not grade the re-work. Apparently a lot of kids ended up with Cs and Ds on this one project!
I am just surprised why the teacher doesn't want to reply to email asking for feedback about what she should have done better? To me it looked like the project was on point.
Most of you say 'yeah may be she deserved it' , why don't you help her do better? But if there is no feedback on what is that she should have done better, how can some one improve? All the teachers I have had for my kids have been nice and I have never had one that doesn't respond to emails!

This might be a reason why you’d get an A- instead of an A.

But, she got an F…that indicates major issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you telling us this?

+1

Stay out of it, OP. Your kid needs to learn some lessons about this before she gets to high school. This is nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My middle schooler has a teacher who does not grade anything on time. Last quarter, my DD had pretty much full marks in all of her tasks except 1 that was showing as 'missing', although she had submitted and followed up twice about it. There were about 4-5 other tasks not graded in the last week and a big project that was not graded as well. With so few graded work and 1 of them missing her grade was High B . I was assuming it would turn to A when the other things get graded. This is an easy subject for her but my DD followed up with the teacher and asked for feedback for the big project and was told that she had only 50% and was given some pointers to improve her project (again grading rubric wasn't clear), so she reworked it and submitted again. The teacher ignores the rework she re-did and gives her a original 50% grade on the very last day of the quarter which pulled her grade to a very low B . My all-A student has never gotten a B so far and this is her very first B and is quite upset. I have emailed the teacher to get some feedback on what she should have done better and after 2 follow ups , there is no response to my emails. I am not sure how this teacher can do that. No idea how their grade will be even during last week of quarter, no opportunity for kids to make up anything, no credit for re-do work. The teacher does not seem strict but just lazy. I am at loss how to deal with the teacher!

OP, it's better for your all-A student to learn in middle school that a B - even an undeserved, unfair B - is not the end of the world.

[Anonymous]

She is probably so upset by this B because you are making it sound like a failure. It is a B. That is great. So her that it is not the end of the world to get a B or even a C or a D.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:May be I should ask these questions in a forum where parents do care about their kid and kid's grade and can help with useful suggestions rather than try to establish they are somehow better parents for not caring about grades! There are already plenty of other disappointments that my DD deals with, grades shouldn't have to be one when she doesn't actually deserves it.

Some of us care more about our children learning, especially life lessons, than we do about a grade in <checks notes> … middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, my HS DD was in a similar position this quarter so I feel for you. It’s just not fair if they don’t get their grades and they can’t tell how they’re doing. It’s time to teacher your child how to advocate for herself. Ask for feedback. Say I know you haven’t entered the grade yet, but I can’t asses my performance so can you tell me something? My DD did confront her teacher at the end of the quarter but he just apologized and looked like he wanted to cry, so that made her feel worse. I told her to confront him earlier on this quarter, assignment by assignment.

OP’s daughter knew how she was doing. She knew she only got a 50% on a major project.

That being said, if I were the parent and my all A student got an F on a major project, I would have wanted to talk to the teacher back when the grade was given. And if for some reason I missed it, I’d want to understand something so out of character. It’s not the end of the world because an A next quarter will be an A for the course.

[Anonymous]

I firmly believe in holding kids accountable, but kids who turn in and submit work SHOULD have it graded. It should NOT be up to the teacher to decide to not grade work because they want to punish the kid or their too busy.

IF the teacher has a policy of not accepting rework or late work, that's one thing. But I know that's not the case in MCPS so this teacher is out of order and needs to be dealt with by her superiors.

[Anonymous]

It's middle school OP. Time to learn that not everything happens on your schedule, and that there are consequences for bad work, before there are real consequences in high school or college.