How are high schoolers finding the grading changes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s been an awful transition for kids on IEPs with extra time because they’ve been used to a lot of flexibility and now there is no uniformity to when their due date actually is. There are due dates and deadlines and whatever is in the system is usually not the time and a half allotted (but sometimes is!!) so it’s now up to the kids to keep deadlines straight and then follow up with the teacher to override the system nearly every time.

All of this. And if you bug the teacher for these dates, the administrator tells you that the teacher has to announce them in class, but isn't required to post them to parents (it would be too burdensome). The executive functioning burden on IEP and 504 kids to keep up with this is absurd.

My coteacher and I put all the due dates and deadlines for regular students and extended time in the assignment title so there is zero confusion

For example:

Enders Game Close Read 2 due date 4/20(ext. time 4/21) deadline 4/27(ext. time 4/28)

Thats how it looks in canvas and parentvue and nobody can claim we didn’t go over it in class(which we do anyway in the daily agenda slide)

We have a couple teachers that do this and I LOVE it. Thank you! Wish more teachers were just clear and transparent about stuff. I’ve actually never seen a teacher give an extension on the deadline for those with IEPs though. Do you also post the due date on the canvas calendar? And if the kid doesn’t turn it in, does it post with a Z in Gradebook? If so, you might be my dream teacher!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s been an awful transition for kids on IEPs with extra time because they’ve been used to a lot of flexibility and now there is no uniformity to when their due date actually is. There are due dates and deadlines and whatever is in the system is usually not the time and a half allotted (but sometimes is!!) so it’s now up to the kids to keep deadlines straight and then follow up with the teacher to override the system nearly every time.

All of this. And if you bug the teacher for these dates, the administrator tells you that the teacher has to announce them in class, but isn't required to post them to parents (it would be too burdensome). The executive functioning burden on IEP and 504 kids to keep up with this is absurd.

My coteacher and I put all the due dates and deadlines for regular students and extended time in the assignment title so there is zero confusion

For example:

Enders Game Close Read 2 due date 4/20(ext. time 4/21) deadline 4/27(ext. time 4/28)

Thats how it looks in canvas and parentvue and nobody can claim we didn’t go over it in class(which we do anyway in the daily agenda slide)

We have a couple teachers that do this and I LOVE it. Thank you! Wish more teachers were just clear and transparent about stuff. I’ve actually never seen a teacher give an extension on the deadline for those with IEPs though. Do you also post the due date on the canvas calendar? And if the kid doesn’t turn it in, does it post with a Z in Gradebook? If so, you might be my dream teacher!

Admittedly terrible at using the canvas calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here: More or less the same situation as previous years, but we have a lot of seniors who are at risk of failing core classes/not graduating. Many of them have been enrolled in Edmentum for credit recovery (for their 3rd AND 4th quarter classes). It's alarming to think about how much money is being spent on these Edmentum courses, especially at a time when we're facing budget constraints. Many students will likely complete the courses unsupervised with ChatGPT.

It raises the question of whether those funds would be better spent elsewhere and whether we're doing enough to teach accountability before students reach this point. Between edmentum and changing course in grading for MP4 seniors... big yikes.

This is 100% true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s been an awful transition for kids on IEPs with extra time because they’ve been used to a lot of flexibility and now there is no uniformity to when their due date actually is. There are due dates and deadlines and whatever is in the system is usually not the time and a half allotted (but sometimes is!!) so it’s now up to the kids to keep deadlines straight and then follow up with the teacher to override the system nearly every time.

All of this. And if you bug the teacher for these dates, the administrator tells you that the teacher has to announce them in class, but isn't required to post them to parents (it would be too burdensome). The executive functioning burden on IEP and 504 kids to keep up with this is absurd.

My coteacher and I put all the due dates and deadlines for regular students and extended time in the assignment title so there is zero confusion

For example:

Enders Game Close Read 2 due date 4/20(ext. time 4/21) deadline 4/27(ext. time 4/28)

Thats how it looks in canvas and parentvue and nobody can claim we didn’t go over it in class(which we do anyway in the daily agenda slide)

We have a couple teachers that do this and I LOVE it. Thank you! Wish more teachers were just clear and transparent about stuff. I’ve actually never seen a teacher give an extension on the deadline for those with IEPs though. Do you also post the due date on the canvas calendar? And if the kid doesn’t turn it in, does it post with a Z in Gradebook? If so, you might be my dream teacher!

I love when teachers are this transparent about due dates and deadlines and extended time. But my kids have several teachers that don’t post the assignments in canvas at all. And I am still baffled by this mysterious Z in Gradebook. I’ve never seen the Z. It either shows the assignment with no grade at all, a zero, or whatever points were earned. Yet teachers keep referencing this Z! What is it and how does it appear in ParentVue?

[Anonymous]

I admit I don’t use the Z in my gradebook. To my knowledge the Z is supposed to be a placeholder that says a student didn’t turn in an assignment but still can until the deadline. I avoid that by not syncing my grades until the deadline passes. If you did it the grade shows, if you didn’t its a zero. I basically sync the grades from canvas to synergy every week using this because there is always an assignment that reached its deadline every week. Longest you ever wait to see your grade is one week after you hopefully turned it in.

[Anonymous]

It’s been very stressful for my kid with ADHD. He still has high As in classes where the teachers have normal, predictable grading practices and are clear about assignments. But for a coupe of classes his grade is a total mystery until the last couple of weeks of the quarter. He is very smart and very hardworking and I think it’s pretty unfair to crate such stress and to hold the kids accountable but not the teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I admit I don’t use the Z in my gradebook. To my knowledge the Z is supposed to be a placeholder that says a student didn’t turn in an assignment but still can until the deadline. I avoid that by not syncing my grades until the deadline passes. If you did it the grade shows, if you didn’t its a zero. I basically sync the grades from canvas to synergy every week using this because there is always an assignment that reached its deadline every week. Longest you ever wait to see your grade is one week after you hopefully turned it in.

As a parent trying to help my kids learn to manage all the assignments across all their classes, the teachers that don’t post grades until after the deadline are the most frustrating. I can’t help my kids stay on top of assignments if I don’t even know they exist. Why only post the grade after the deadline, when there is no longer a chance to complete the assignment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s been very stressful for my kid with ADHD. He still has high As in classes where the teachers have normal, predictable grading practices and are clear about assignments. But for a coupe of classes his grade is a total mystery until the last couple of weeks of the quarter. He is very smart and very hardworking and I think it’s pretty unfair to crate such stress and to hold the kids accountable but not the teachers.

What if your kid had final exams like most school districts? Stop coddling your kid. And MCPS can’t hold teachers accountable for the 10 day grading rule because they know most grading is done at home outside of work hours. If you want more prompt grading and teachers being held accountable, you should advocate for more planning time for teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here: More or less the same situation as previous years, but we have a lot of seniors who are at risk of failing core classes/not graduating. Many of them have been enrolled in Edmentum for credit recovery (for their 3rd AND 4th quarter classes). It's alarming to think about how much money is being spent on these Edmentum courses, especially at a time when we're facing budget constraints. Many students will likely complete the courses unsupervised with ChatGPT.

It raises the question of whether those funds would be better spent elsewhere and whether we're doing enough to teach accountability before students reach this point. Between edmentum and changing course in grading for MP4 seniors... big yikes.

Parent here, I hadn't thought about Edmentum costs. And I totally agree about accountability. By embracing EdTech and not thinking through its pedagogical and assessment implications, MCPS has put itself behind the 8 ball on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids either give up and are satisfied with the previous quarter grade or work hard to improve/maintain it. It really depends on the kid.

I just wish teachers would abide by the ten school day rule on assignments. We only have one teacher like this but the class is English where three papers haven’t been graded.

We also have an English teacher like this. Grade is a complete mystery. And we have a math teacher who has only given a few assessments in MP4 (30 possible all task points total so far) so every minor slip up carries weight. Oh and the teacher who only allows one retake on a specific submission but won’t tell you what grade you earned on the original version you turned in. That’s a new one. This grading policy has been a total nail biter for my two kids who normally get straight As and would have earned that this semester under the old policy but are definitely fighting off some potential Bs with a lot of risk and uncertainty.

I wonder if our kids have the same teacher. Was the retake referred to above in English? I don’t see how it can be a reassessment when there was never an assessment. Also, according to the new policy, there are supposed to be two opportunities for reassessment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s been very stressful for my kid with ADHD. He still has high As in classes where the teachers have normal, predictable grading practices and are clear about assignments. But for a coupe of classes his grade is a total mystery until the last couple of weeks of the quarter. He is very smart and very hardworking and I think it’s pretty unfair to crate such stress and to hold the kids accountable but not the teachers.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I admit I don’t use the Z in my gradebook. To my knowledge the Z is supposed to be a placeholder that says a student didn’t turn in an assignment but still can until the deadline. I avoid that by not syncing my grades until the deadline passes. If you did it the grade shows, if you didn’t its a zero. I basically sync the grades from canvas to synergy every week using this because there is always an assignment that reached its deadline every week. Longest you ever wait to see your grade is one week after you hopefully turned it in.

As a parent trying to help my kids learn to manage all the assignments across all their classes, the teachers that don’t post grades until after the deadline are the most frustrating. I can’t help my kids stay on top of assignments if I don’t even know they exist. Why only post the grade after the deadline, when there is no longer a chance to complete the assignment?

I remind the students every single day during the daily agenda about upcoming due dates and deadlines. By 9th grade they shouldn't need mommy to remind them that something should have been completed 7 days ago. Are you going to go to work with your child every day when they grow up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I admit I don’t use the Z in my gradebook. To my knowledge the Z is supposed to be a placeholder that says a student didn’t turn in an assignment but still can until the deadline. I avoid that by not syncing my grades until the deadline passes. If you did it the grade shows, if you didn’t its a zero. I basically sync the grades from canvas to synergy every week using this because there is always an assignment that reached its deadline every week. Longest you ever wait to see your grade is one week after you hopefully turned it in.

As a parent trying to help my kids learn to manage all the assignments across all their classes, the teachers that don’t post grades until after the deadline are the most frustrating. I can’t help my kids stay on top of assignments if I don’t even know they exist. Why only post the grade after the deadline, when there is no longer a chance to complete the assignment?

I remind the students every single day during the daily agenda about upcoming due dates and deadlines. By 9th grade they shouldn't need mommy to remind them that something should have been completed 7 days ago. Are you going to go to work with your child every day when they grow up?

Some kids have disabilities or struggle. Good parents support their kids. They would not need it if teachers did instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I admit I don’t use the Z in my gradebook. To my knowledge the Z is supposed to be a placeholder that says a student didn’t turn in an assignment but still can until the deadline. I avoid that by not syncing my grades until the deadline passes. If you did it the grade shows, if you didn’t its a zero. I basically sync the grades from canvas to synergy every week using this because there is always an assignment that reached its deadline every week. Longest you ever wait to see your grade is one week after you hopefully turned it in.

As a parent trying to help my kids learn to manage all the assignments across all their classes, the teachers that don’t post grades until after the deadline are the most frustrating. I can’t help my kids stay on top of assignments if I don’t even know they exist. Why only post the grade after the deadline, when there is no longer a chance to complete the assignment?

+1 Exactly! And many times it has nothing to do with the parent being involved at all. It’s a specific communication that the student can see in synergy so they know the teacher didn’t receive their submission and can sort it out before the deadline. Examples of times this has happened were a paper assignment was given when kid was on a field trip so it wasn’t in canvas, kid was verbally excused from a particular task but teacher forgot, a technical glitch prevented the electronic submission from reaching the teacher even though the kid had clicked submit, kid did paper assignment after absence and turned it in but teacher hadn’t put it in the original pile, etc. Numerous other examples. The teachers who promptly sync the grades are supportive and helpful. Many of these kids are actually trying their best not to miss due dates and deadlines. I encourage the teacher on here who waits until it’s too late to reconsider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I admit I don’t use the Z in my gradebook. To my knowledge the Z is supposed to be a placeholder that says a student didn’t turn in an assignment but still can until the deadline. I avoid that by not syncing my grades until the deadline passes. If you did it the grade shows, if you didn’t its a zero. I basically sync the grades from canvas to synergy every week using this because there is always an assignment that reached its deadline every week. Longest you ever wait to see your grade is one week after you hopefully turned it in.

As a parent trying to help my kids learn to manage all the assignments across all their classes, the teachers that don’t post grades until after the deadline are the most frustrating. I can’t help my kids stay on top of assignments if I don’t even know they exist. Why only post the grade after the deadline, when there is no longer a chance to complete the assignment?

I remind the students every single day during the daily agenda about upcoming due dates and deadlines. By 9th grade they shouldn't need mommy to remind them that something should have been completed 7 days ago. Are you going to go to work with your child every day when they grow up?

Some kids have disabilities or struggle. Good parents support their kids. They would not need it if teachers did instead.

The teacher is supporting them by reminding them daily of due dates and deadlines.

And I don’t understand your post. Parents wouldn’t have to support their kids if teachers would do more work?