HS Teachers Aren’t Keeping up on Grading

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are these late assignments or assignments they did on time? Students expect me to update the grades the day they turn in something that is over a month late. I don’t have to take it to begin with. Those assignments I wait until last. Test and summative assignments and quizzes I grade with 2 days of taking it.

PP - every single assignment was turned in on time. No grades since Nov 17.

[Anonymous]

Just fyi, department heads aren't supervisory positions. You need to email the assistant principal assigned to the department.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, you do not email their supervisor to tattle on them. What you can do is step in yourself and email the teacher directly.

DP. And if they ignore the parent as well? From my experience, teachers who ignore the students, will ignore the parents. Typically, this is an indication of a widespread culture or what they are allowed to do. Sadly, it means administration will most likely ignore you too, or find solutions that don’t make much difference. It is a sad reality at many schools.

DP.

I agree with you: this is a sad reality at many schools. It stems from the job’s requirements, though. Teachers aren’t given time at work to grade, meaning that this integral part of their job competes with their home obligations.

Many teachers work around the clock These teachers are burning out and quitting because of the unsustainably of the workload. That leaves the teachers who refuse to work past contract hours, meaning the work doesn’t get done.

The solution to this is to provide time at work for grading, but that’s not a priority to school systems. As long as there are teachers willing to give up home lives and as long as parents don’t complain, this will just continue.

DP. On the whole, I completely sympathize with the workload and unrealistic expectations placed on teachers by admin, students, and parents. That said, my DC also has a teacher this year that hasn't graded anything in months. When the students try to inquire, she tells them that she refuses to discuss grades and that she "doesn't care about grades". The students feel helpless to improve or truly learn the material because they get zero feedback on their work to apply the next time. Meanwhile, their friends taking the same class with different teachers are getting thorough and timely feedback that enables them to learn, improve their scores, and earn higher grades in the class. Further, the teacher spends class time telling the students about how she spends all her free time, her relationship with her significant other, etc. Teachers are MORE than entitled to use their non-working hours however they choose, but my point is that this isn't an issue of struggle to balance personal and professional lives.

I'm hesitant to contact the teacher because I don't want it to backfire on my DC. This is why many parents consider "going over their heads" when the teacher dismisses the student's efforts at self-advocacy. (PS - my DC has an A in every other class they take, earned through hard work. So this isn't a situation of "are you sure your kid is telling you the truth"!) Like any profession, some teachers are victims of a very broken system and some just aren't good. Most are the former but it's okay to acknowledge that sometimes it really is the teacher's issue.

I’m the PP you’re responding to and I think we are arguing the same point.

This is a work/life balance issue. Your child’s teacher has prioritized her own life to your child’s detriment. The other teachers are likely sacrificing time with their own families to produce that timely feedback.

It’s absolutely not okay, but that’s the way it is. And I’ve watched many strong teachers crash and burn because good teaching creeps into every aspect of life. You’re never “off” as a teacher.

The answer is reconfiguring a teacher’s day to allow for contracted time to grade. But again: unless people complain, schools will continue to pile more on and teachers will continue to quit.

[Anonymous]

Most of DCs grades are automatically graded bc they are multiple choice questions. There are very few paragraphs to grade over a quarter. Although the DCs know their grade, they are unaware of the questions and problems that they missed. The tests are not viewable and they aren’t required to go back and learn from their mistakes. It’s the biggest missed opportunity for DCs to learn the material. There is no feedback at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, you do not email their supervisor to tattle on them. What you can do is step in yourself and email the teacher directly.

+1. Escalate to the counselor and admin if you don’t get a response. These people saying the teachers don’t have time at work make teachers look bad. There is no excuse to not input grades for months. It’s okay to not have a test graded in 24-48 hours. It’s not okay to not input anything for weeks or months.

I am a parent of teens and a HS teacher. It’s so frustrating when multiple tests or papers aren’t graded and the teacher keeps assigning more. The kids don’t know where they stand in the class. There are a lot of bad teachers out there and they need to give these kids some feedback.

[Anonymous]

Why are people complaining about nothing graded since Dec. 17th? That was the Wed before winter break. Maybe the teacher didnt want to sacrifice family time to grade over break. Maybe they input grades at the end of the month so that is this week.

If parents want grades reported faster, complain about how many meetings teachers have to attend and all the extra duties they have to do like supervision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are people complaining about nothing graded since Dec. 17th? That was the Wed before winter break. Maybe the teacher didnt want to sacrifice family time to grade over break. Maybe they input grades at the end of the month so that is this week.

If parents want grades reported faster, complain about how many meetings teachers have to attend and all the extra duties they have to do like supervision.

Nov 17 for us. What’s the justification for that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child has multiple teachers who haven’t graded things since November. My child emails them multiple times giving three to five days space to honor them juggling multiple tasks (I have seen child’s emails). However, now that it’s end of quarter there are multiple items that have still yet to be resolved in multiple classes. The teachers tell students they have plenty of time don’t worry, but this is inadequate. It’s undue stress on the student.

Should I contact the principal or counselor if the teachers aren’t keeping up with grade book and it’s been more than 8 weeks or 6 weeks? What is the proper escalation process when teachers say students must advocate for themselves and then they ignore the student actively requesting a retake or asking for access to complete an assignment they need to complete?

Is this late work your child wants graded? Personally, if I don’t grade summative assignments near the end of the quarter, it’s because I don’t want students’ (specifically seniors’) grades to drop precipitously without them having a chance to revise or retake the assessment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, you do not email their supervisor to tattle on them. What you can do is step in yourself and email the teacher directly.

different parent but we contacted teachers first quarter by this quarter everyone has had enough. Go to the AP but expect lip service because that is what FCPS is built on these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, you do not email their supervisor to tattle on them. What you can do is step in yourself and email the teacher directly.

DP. And if they ignore the parent as well? From my experience, teachers who ignore the students, will ignore the parents. Typically, this is an indication of a widespread culture or what they are allowed to do. Sadly, it means administration will most likely ignore you too, or find solutions that don’t make much difference. It is a sad reality at many schools.

DP.

I agree with you: this is a sad reality at many schools. It stems from the job’s requirements, though. Teachers aren’t given time at work to grade, meaning that this integral part of their job competes with their home obligations.

Many teachers work around the clock These teachers are burning out and quitting because of the unsustainably of the workload. That leaves the teachers who refuse to work past contract hours, meaning the work doesn’t get done.

The solution to this is to provide time at work for grading, but that’s not a priority to school systems. As long as there are teachers willing to give up home lives and as long as parents don’t complain, this will just continue.

DP. On the whole, I completely sympathize with the workload and unrealistic expectations placed on teachers by admin, students, and parents. That said, my DC also has a teacher this year that hasn't graded anything in months. When the students try to inquire, she tells them that she refuses to discuss grades and that she "doesn't care about grades". The students feel helpless to improve or truly learn the material because they get zero feedback on their work to apply the next time. Meanwhile, their friends taking the same class with different teachers are getting thorough and timely feedback that enables them to learn, improve their scores, and earn higher grades in the class. Further, the teacher spends class time telling the students about how she spends all her free time, her relationship with her significant other, etc. Teachers are MORE than entitled to use their non-working hours however they choose, but my point is that this isn't an issue of struggle to balance personal and professional lives.

I'm hesitant to contact the teacher because I don't want it to backfire on my DC. This is why many parents consider "going over their heads" when the teacher dismisses the student's efforts at self-advocacy. (PS - my DC has an A in every other class they take, earned through hard work. So this isn't a situation of "are you sure your kid is telling you the truth"!) Like any profession, some teachers are victims of a very broken system and some just aren't good. Most are the former but it's okay to acknowledge that sometimes it really is the teacher's issue.

this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are people complaining about nothing graded since Dec. 17th? That was the Wed before winter break. Maybe the teacher didnt want to sacrifice family time to grade over break. Maybe they input grades at the end of the month so that is this week.

If parents want grades reported faster, complain about how many meetings teachers have to attend and all the extra duties they have to do like supervision.

We constantly get emails from the school saying we need to monitor grades in the grade book. 6 weeks with no grades and now the end of the quarter in honors math is not acceptable. There’s been weeks of time after winter break, grades should have been entered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child has multiple teachers who haven’t graded things since November. My child emails them multiple times giving three to five days space to honor them juggling multiple tasks (I have seen child’s emails). However, now that it’s end of quarter there are multiple items that have still yet to be resolved in multiple classes. The teachers tell students they have plenty of time don’t worry, but this is inadequate. It’s undue stress on the student.

Should I contact the principal or counselor if the teachers aren’t keeping up with grade book and it’s been more than 8 weeks or 6 weeks? What is the proper escalation process when teachers say students must advocate for themselves and then they ignore the student actively requesting a retake or asking for access to complete an assignment they need to complete?

Largely, emails are not addressed rapidly or at all directly to a student. They bark about ‘self-advocacy’ yet the DCs are often ignored and shut down if they can brave a request. It’s a defeating feeling for a quiet DC.

I can't imagine how high schoolers feel all day trying to navigate the chaos and dismissiveness they face. My kids come home and look exhausted and they are good kids but they seem defeated by FCPS. It seems to get worse every year. We can't wait to be done with this school system. So many unhappy teachers and yes it's directed at the students. FCPS will always say it's the "kids fault" they are trained to cover and protect the school. Parents should not have to worry that their children will be targeted if they ask questions or ask for a retake. I think teachers are disgruntled because FCPS does not care about staff either so some teachers take it out on students. FCPS has gone down hill in big ways. Even their ranking in VA has gone down. Is it Dr. Reid-the school board? What is making teachers and in turn students so miserable. Perhaps we need to take meaningless tasks off teachers plates so they can plan and teach and care again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are people complaining about nothing graded since Dec. 17th? That was the Wed before winter break. Maybe the teacher didnt want to sacrifice family time to grade over break. Maybe they input grades at the end of the month so that is this week.

If parents want grades reported faster, complain about how many meetings teachers have to attend and all the extra duties they have to do like supervision.

Nov 17 for us. What’s the justification for that?

Try October!!!

[Anonymous]

Has your child talked to the teacher in person before or after class?


I didn't think so. Come back after your child learns to talk to adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has your child talked to the teacher in person before or after class?


I didn't think so. Come back after your child learns to talk to adults.

My child talks to his teachers. He gets excuses like "I am grading on weekends"(nope, nothing on weekends), "I am sick" (ok, and?),, "faculty meetings".