Are Other Upper School Students at Potomac Not Getting Tests and Papers Back for Weeks at a Time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have put in an application for Potomac and awaiting decision in March. Thank you for starting this thread, OP. I certainly appreciate the chance to weigh this issue as we consider our options for the fall.

Seriously? You are going to "weigh" an "issue" brought up by a handful of people on an anonymous website that leans toward heavy snark??

Talk to the School, ask to speak with current parents, speak with a few alums. We are an extremely happy lifer Potomac family who appreciates the incredible education, social experiences, athletics, incredible arts programs, gorgeous campus, and lifelong ethical education that our kids are receiving. We have never had an issue with unduly late returns of graded assignments. We have had an incredible number of caring educators who have gone above and beyond to support and meet with my kids when needed, to cheer them on outside of the classroom, and to create a beautifully supportive sense of community.

I guess I feel bad about the direction this thread has taken. I would seriously hope that any student/parent with a concern would bring that to any number of the administrators who are responsible for the best practices to which good schools aspire. Doing so on an anonymous thread has limited constructive outcomes.

Absolutely and why wouldn't I? I come to this board for unvarnished opinion and this is certainly worth noting. I can parse meaningful feedback vs snark. And I know better than to ask Admin about this issue for all the reasons raised by other posters. Thank you to OP for surfacing this issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have put in an application for Potomac and awaiting decision in March. Thank you for starting this thread, OP. I certainly appreciate the chance to weigh this issue as we consider our options for the fall.

Seriously? You are going to "weigh" an "issue" brought up by a handful of people on an anonymous website that leans toward heavy snark??

Talk to the School, ask to speak with current parents, speak with a few alums. We are an extremely happy lifer Potomac family who appreciates the incredible education, social experiences, athletics, incredible arts programs, gorgeous campus, and lifelong ethical education that our kids are receiving. We have never had an issue with unduly late returns of graded assignments. We have had an incredible number of caring educators who have gone above and beyond to support and meet with my kids when needed, to cheer them on outside of the classroom, and to create a beautifully supportive sense of community.

I guess I feel bad about the direction this thread has taken. I would seriously hope that any student/parent with a concern would bring that to any number of the administrators who are responsible for the best practices to which good schools aspire. Doing so on an anonymous thread has limited constructive outcomes.

Sorry, but how do you know you are not one of the “favored” and that is why your child is getting grades back on time? (Assuming that conspiracy theory is true)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tragic in what way?

The worst you could think of. And nothing has changed. The "lifer" above with all their feel-good nonsense is disconnected--and probably hasn't had one or more go through the US yet. There is a large handful of those families who are the charmed ones and completely disconnected from what so many of the lesser performers face day in and day out.

"The worse you could think of"?? Meaning what?

[Anonymous]

+1. The earlier post is unintelligible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have put in an application for Potomac and awaiting decision in March. Thank you for starting this thread, OP. I certainly appreciate the chance to weigh this issue as we consider our options for the fall.

Seriously? You are going to "weigh" an "issue" brought up by a handful of people on an anonymous website that leans toward heavy snark??

Talk to the School, ask to speak with current parents, speak with a few alums. We are an extremely happy lifer Potomac family who appreciates the incredible education, social experiences, athletics, incredible arts programs, gorgeous campus, and lifelong ethical education that our kids are receiving. We have never had an issue with unduly late returns of graded assignments. We have had an incredible number of caring educators who have gone above and beyond to support and meet with my kids when needed, to cheer them on outside of the classroom, and to create a beautifully supportive sense of community.

I guess I feel bad about the direction this thread has taken. I would seriously hope that any student/parent with a concern would bring that to any number of the administrators who are responsible for the best practices to which good schools aspire. Doing so on an anonymous thread has limited constructive outcomes.

I guessed you missed the posts where several people have already talked with teachers and administrators about the issue and nothing has changed. There are folks on here actual complaining about teaching 4 sections of 15 students. Likely not all the same class so the assignments will vary at any given time. Meanwhile most public schools teachers cover 4-5 sections with 25-40 students, and still get complaints about feedback and return of assignments even when they are doing so within 2-3 weeks.

As one PP indicated, all students and families should expect and be given timely feedback on assignments.

[Anonymous]

Another thought -- does Potomac's Student-Parent Handbook say anything about grading? I realize it is probably not specific enough to address OP's concerns, but it might be a good starting point. Maybe parents could encourage the school to put their practice/expectations in writing -- it might cause the admin to rethink their approach, but, at least, it would put parents on notice before they apply for/accept a spot at the school.

[Anonymous]

If there is a lot of slow (or no) grading, the likely culprit seems like teachers not doing their job in conjunction with a lack of oversight. Independent school's affording their teachers too much independence can go sideways.

On the "caste" front, there probably is not some broad conspiracy to only help certain kids, but given some families will have way more access to tutors, shorter commutes, etc etc, less privileged students will suffer worse from poor teaching, and the consequences will be real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tragic in what way?

The worst you could think of. And nothing has changed. The "lifer" above with all their feel-good nonsense is disconnected--and probably hasn't had one or more go through the US yet. There is a large handful of those families who are the charmed ones and completely disconnected from what so many of the lesser performers face day in and day out.

"The worse you could think of"?? Meaning what?

I am the parent of the lifers and we have two in the US (one of whom is a senior) so far. And I will add that we have been far from disconnected - we have been involved in the LS/MS/IS as room parents and in the US on a number of parent committees. Oh, and none of our children are stand out students in terms of academics. I was concerned that the B student might fall through the cracks at a school like Potomac but we have found the teachers (obviously not every single one) to be fair, supportive, and engaged. I am simply offering a counter to others' experience; not denying, just saying that my two in the US have not had the negative grading experience that others are reporting.

No school is without issues. We think, after so many years, that Potomac is top-notch.

[Anonymous]

Can't speak to US, but in IS the grades come back in a jiffy--including lengthy essays/papers in English, History etc. So it seems that Potomac knows how to do this in a timely fashion, and maybe just needs to administer common protocols across the various divisions.

This seems like a fairly tame request to bring up to administration. I don't think you need to be fearful of bringing this type of thing up to the divsion head. It's certainly not going to get solved by complaining here.

Any issue I have brought to administration within iS has been dealt with pretty swiftly (and trust me--we are nobodies with zero influence)...I have found admin pretty responsive to parent concerns.

[Anonymous]

Assignments were returned much more quickly when my child was in the Intermediate School.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps different requirements from the division administrators?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps different requirements from the division administrators?

Interesting thought, especially given the US head. I would guess there isn't a great deal of leadership there.

[Anonymous]

Keep grinding that axe, PP.

[Anonymous]

I don’t get it….

[Anonymous]

Have people generally had good experiences dealing with the US Administration? We tried once, and it achieved nothing. We decided it wasn’t worth trying again on a different issue.