Changes to grading for all MCPS high school students

[Anonymous]

THERE ARE TONS OF TIKTOK kids that will get C in classes for the 3rd quarter and not show up doing the 4th quarter. I talked to this girl who is going to MC in the fall, she only show up a few times doing the 4th quarter and it was doing the last period of the day. She graduated from Wheaton high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure this will make a huge difference for E and D students. Many of them fail intentionally, so that they can just do the online make-up programs. They will just google answers, use AI, or have a friend help them with the answers. And then just click there way through with endless retakes.

It’s demoralizing as a teacher to see kids skip most of a semester, or sit in class on their phone, refuse to do work in a required class and then walk for graduation.

I am a fan of these changes. But I disagree that it won’t make a big difference for lower performing students. Some kids just don’t have the capability to earn more than a D in certain classes and no amount of tutoring or IEP services will change that. The ability to recover from a Q1 and Q3 F is a game changer for them. Or at least it was for my kid.

I’m really surprised to hear so many parents worried that their high performing kid can’t slack off 50% of the time anymore with these changes. I don’t actually know any high performing kids that approached school that way and I know tons of high performing kids who perform at high levels all the time.

As far as teacher feedback on writing assignments, my daughter had quite a lot of both written and in person discussion on her writing assignments. She has turned into an excellent writer with much better skills than some people who work for me.

And last thing. Montgomery College is not only nationally very highly ranked. It also has one of the largest, if not the largest, populations of international students. If I am remembering correctly, when my son started a year and a half ago, the student population included people from 151 countries.

This. I don’t think top students will be hurt by this at all. Almost all the best students I have tend to have strong work ethic and truly want to learn the material (10%). The bottom 25% slackers who are mostly on their phone during class will be affected by this. It really does not take much to pass in MCPS for most kids but so many kids are used to coasting through with doing close to zero work. And then there are the kids with minimal interest in learning who are used to gaming the system. They will have to work harder which is a good thing

[Anonymous]

Teacher here. I like these rules. We get so much pressure from administrators and some parents to pass some kids who never show up to school and barely even turn in 2 assignments in a semester. Having new rules set by MCPS will make it a little easier for teachers to push back

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they should change the grading policy for the class of 2026. These kids are fully into the college process and it's already stressful. Colleges will be thrown off trying to evaluate this cohort.

Class of 26 is already baked in. Most kids apply early and colleges evaluate only up to junior year.

Agree.

This actually isn’t correct. Some kids apply early. Many kids don’t. Also many don’t get accepted to the school(s) they applied early or get waitlisted and as such are still in process during RD, where schools absolutely review Semester 1 grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they should change the grading policy for the class of 2026. These kids are fully into the college process and it's already stressful. Colleges will be thrown off trying to evaluate this cohort.

Class of 26 is already baked in. Most kids apply early and colleges evaluate only up to junior year.

Agree.

This actually isn’t correct. Some kids apply early. Many kids don’t. Also many don’t get accepted to the school(s) they applied early or get waitlisted and as such are still in process during RD, where schools absolutely review Semester 1 grades.

Kids that are motivated to get into competitive colleges can figure out how to get A’s for both quarters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op is right that it’s weird to average the two quarters instead of skit giving a semester grade. For the AP classes there are almost no assignments 4th quarter so it’s weird to weigh it as heavily as third quarter.

I have a rising junior and somehow missed the earlier thread about this. Amy change is incredibly nerve wracking at this point. We are already so stressed out aboit the whole thing. And I feel like the first year always has tough adjustments as the teachers figure it out. I really hate for the experimentation heat to be his junior year when we’re already sort of mentally hanging on by a thread. Teachers will neeec to develop new finals that they’ve never given before and it won’t necessarily all work immediately for all teachers. It might be helpful if they all bring back curved grading — my oldest is at a challenging college and often the teacher overshoots on the final, everyone gets a D and so the teacher says “sorry, I wrote a bad test — don’t worrry I’ve curve it.” Currently McPS teachers don’t have that ability. I just think there are gojng to be unanticipated wrinkles that will take a year or two to iron out.

What are you talking about no assignments 4th quarter for AP classes. There are plenty of assignments. There has to be because all the students who are not seniors need grades. It’s one of the reasons why I and others absolutely hate when school starts and how classes are setup because for AP students they have to take exams early May at almost the start of 4th qtr but then have like 6wks remaining for class. My kid has had whole projects and papers that had to be done post exams.

Are you aware of what those assignments actually are? As a mother of current junior, I found the multiple assignments requiring students to plan trips interesting but not exactly reflective of the subject.

Yes I’m acutely aware of the assignments are and can see the grades. And while even my kids will admit these assignments are more interesting and enjoyable, the absolutely are still requiring time and focus. They are just more project based assignments.

Yes. It’s very “project based” to plan a teacher’s vacation. <eye roll>

My kid wasn’t planning anyone’s vacation. They were doing real projects related to the course.

[Anonymous]

Think about how many teachers throughout years might have been retaliated on for not frauding the data

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked at the guidance and two other things stood out to me.

First, there will no longer be semester grades for year long classes. They will just have full year grades averaging all four quarters. This seems like a big shift.

Second, two retakes will be allowed per quarter (with some exceptions), which is a major shift from today when retakes are not permitted. That should help students during the shift to more rigorous grading.

What are you talking about? My DS who just graduated from an MCPS high school this year has been allowed to do test retakes all four years of high school.

+1 Gradebook literally codes certain assignments as NRT (Not-retakable). Other assignments are retakable obviously-my kid has retakes pretty frequently.

I can only think of one class that offered one retake on one test in both my kids HS careers so far (I have two rising juniors). It would be good if this standardized across schools.

People are getting test retakes? Quizzes or some assignments, but never a test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:THERE ARE TONS OF TIKTOK kids that will get C in classes for the 3rd quarter and not show up doing the 4th quarter. I talked to this girl who is going to MC in the fall, she only show up a few times doing the 4th quarter and it was doing the last period of the day. She graduated from Wheaton high school.

Why are you rotting your brain on TikTok?

She's going to community college. Her high school grades don't matter.

You don't sound much like a high school graduate yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure this will make a huge difference for E and D students. Many of them fail intentionally, so that they can just do the online make-up programs. They will just google answers, use AI, or have a friend help them with the answers. And then just click there way through with endless retakes.

It’s demoralizing as a teacher to see kids skip most of a semester, or sit in class on their phone, refuse to do work in a required class and then walk for graduation.

Why demoralizing? Enjoy the smaller classes with less work to grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure this will make a huge difference for E and D students. Many of them fail intentionally, so that they can just do the online make-up programs. They will just google answers, use AI, or have a friend help them with the answers. And then just click there way through with endless retakes.

It’s demoralizing as a teacher to see kids skip most of a semester, or sit in class on their phone, refuse to do work in a required class and then walk for graduation.

I am a fan of these changes. But I disagree that it won’t make a big difference for lower performing students. Some kids just don’t have the capability to earn more than a D in certain classes and no amount of tutoring or IEP services will change that. The ability to recover from a Q1 and Q3 F is a game changer for them. Or at least it was for my kid.

I’m really surprised to hear so many parents worried that their high performing kid can’t slack off 50% of the time anymore with these changes. I don’t actually know any high performing kids that approached school that way and I know tons of high performing kids who perform at high levels all the time.

As far as teacher feedback on writing assignments, my daughter had quite a lot of both written and in person discussion on her writing assignments. She has turned into an excellent writer with much better skills than some people who work for me.

And last thing. Montgomery College is not only nationally very highly ranked. It also has one of the largest, if not the largest, populations of international students. If I am remembering correctly, when my son started a year and a half ago, the student population included people from 151 countries.

There are very, very few classes that are required to take where it's impossible to get a C or higher. IEP students have access to extremely modified curriculum and expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op is right that it’s weird to average the two quarters instead of skit giving a semester grade. For the AP classes there are almost no assignments 4th quarter so it’s weird to weigh it as heavily as third quarter.

I have a rising junior and somehow missed the earlier thread about this. Amy change is incredibly nerve wracking at this point. We are already so stressed out aboit the whole thing. And I feel like the first year always has tough adjustments as the teachers figure it out. I really hate for the experimentation heat to be his junior year when we’re already sort of mentally hanging on by a thread. Teachers will neeec to develop new finals that they’ve never given before and it won’t necessarily all work immediately for all teachers. It might be helpful if they all bring back curved grading — my oldest is at a challenging college and often the teacher overshoots on the final, everyone gets a D and so the teacher says “sorry, I wrote a bad test — don’t worrry I’ve curve it.” Currently McPS teachers don’t have that ability. I just think there are gojng to be unanticipated wrinkles that will take a year or two to iron out.

What are you talking about no assignments 4th quarter for AP classes. There are plenty of assignments. There has to be because all the students who are not seniors need grades. It’s one of the reasons why I and others absolutely hate when school starts and how classes are setup because for AP students they have to take exams early May at almost the start of 4th qtr but then have like 6wks remaining for class. My kid has had whole projects and papers that had to be done post exams.

Are you aware of what those assignments actually are? As a mother of current junior, I found the multiple assignments requiring students to plan trips interesting but not exactly reflective of the subject.

Yes I’m acutely aware of the assignments are and can see the grades. And while even my kids will admit these assignments are more interesting and enjoyable, the absolutely are still requiring time and focus. They are just more project based assignments.

Yes. It’s very “project based” to plan a teacher’s vacation. <eye roll>

My kid wasn’t planning anyone’s vacation. They were doing real projects related to the course.

I’m intrigued by this post-AP project which involved planning a teacher’s vacation. Please share more details

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op is right that it’s weird to average the two quarters instead of skit giving a semester grade. For the AP classes there are almost no assignments 4th quarter so it’s weird to weigh it as heavily as third quarter.

I have a rising junior and somehow missed the earlier thread about this. Amy change is incredibly nerve wracking at this point. We are already so stressed out aboit the whole thing. And I feel like the first year always has tough adjustments as the teachers figure it out. I really hate for the experimentation heat to be his junior year when we’re already sort of mentally hanging on by a thread. Teachers will neeec to develop new finals that they’ve never given before and it won’t necessarily all work immediately for all teachers. It might be helpful if they all bring back curved grading — my oldest is at a challenging college and often the teacher overshoots on the final, everyone gets a D and so the teacher says “sorry, I wrote a bad test — don’t worrry I’ve curve it.” Currently McPS teachers don’t have that ability. I just think there are gojng to be unanticipated wrinkles that will take a year or two to iron out.

What are you talking about no assignments 4th quarter for AP classes. There are plenty of assignments. There has to be because all the students who are not seniors need grades. It’s one of the reasons why I and others absolutely hate when school starts and how classes are setup because for AP students they have to take exams early May at almost the start of 4th qtr but then have like 6wks remaining for class. My kid has had whole projects and papers that had to be done post exams.

Are you aware of what those assignments actually are? As a mother of current junior, I found the multiple assignments requiring students to plan trips interesting but not exactly reflective of the subject.

Yes I’m acutely aware of the assignments are and can see the grades. And while even my kids will admit these assignments are more interesting and enjoyable, the absolutely are still requiring time and focus. They are just more project based assignments.

Yes. It’s very “project based” to plan a teacher’s vacation. <eye roll>

My kid wasn’t planning anyone’s vacation. They were doing real projects related to the course.

I’m intrigued by this post-AP project which involved planning a teacher’s vacation. Please share more details

All our ap teachers stopped teaching and assigned all kinds of dumb busy work. Two did not even show up to class most days and told the kids to find a place to go.

[Anonymous]

How about a rule where teachers and admin need to respond to parents within three days. We have teachers and admin who clearly read the messages and don’t respond. How about teachers needing to consistently post assignments online so parents know what’s going on. How about teachers grade within a week so kids know how they are doing? We have teachers who still have not graded or posted in a month. Not ok. Kids can only be successful if teachers also put in the effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they should change the grading policy for the class of 2026. These kids are fully into the college process and it's already stressful. Colleges will be thrown off trying to evaluate this cohort.

Class of 26 is already baked in. Most kids apply early and colleges evaluate only up to junior year.

Agree.

This actually isn’t correct. Some kids apply early. Many kids don’t. Also many don’t get accepted to the school(s) they applied early or get waitlisted and as such are still in process during RD, where schools absolutely review Semester 1 grades.

Kids that are motivated to get into competitive colleges can figure out how to get A’s for both quarters.

No one said they couldn’t. They said the upcoming crop of seniors shouldn’t have their outlooks potentially changed by an inflight implementation. Adding notes on the transcript doesn’t help them it invites question and confusion.