Changes to grading for all MCPS high school students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Most teachers are putting in the effort. But that effort requires time. We’ve done this math multiple times but here it is again:
150 students x 5min an assignment =750mins / 60mins in an hour = 12.5 hours . Thats the total time to grade one assignment. If a teacher got one class period free per day let’s say 47mins x 5 days =235 mins /60 =3.9 hours. That’s how much time they had in their work week to potentially grade. There other 8.6 hours comes from their personal life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Most teachers are putting in the effort. But that effort requires time. We’ve done this math multiple times but here it is again:
150 students x 5min an assignment =750mins / 60mins in an hour = 12.5 hours . Thats the total time to grade one assignment. If a teacher got one class period free per day let’s say 47mins x 5 days =235 mins /60 =3.9 hours. That’s how much time they had in their work week to potentially grade. There other 8.6 hours comes from their personal life.

This. I have to put in a full day on Saturday doing school stuff and I still can’t manage a one week turnaround on grading. Administrators and parents forget that planning lessons takes a long time especially if you want high quality, engaging lessons that reflect the present time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

That is simply not true. There are kids who can barely make it through HS and a C is out of reach. But to have a chance at success in life the HS diploma is key. And the curriculum does not get modified with an IEP. The expectations are the same. IEPs may offer extra supports so that the student can learn the material and maybe extra time to complete assignments and tests. But to get a diploma, the expectations and curriculum is the same as for every other student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It is very mixed. AP Lang started reading books needed for Lit. Others did movies and basically nothing.
This is why i would like to see school start a week earlier in August and end closer to Memorial Day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Most teachers are putting in the effort. But that effort requires time. We’ve done this math multiple times but here it is again:
150 students x 5min an assignment =750mins / 60mins in an hour = 12.5 hours . Thats the total time to grade one assignment. If a teacher got one class period free per day let’s say 47mins x 5 days =235 mins /60 =3.9 hours. That’s how much time they had in their work week to potentially grade. There other 8.6 hours comes from their personal life.

This. I have to put in a full day on Saturday doing school stuff and I still can’t manage a one week turnaround on grading. Administrators and parents forget that planning lessons takes a long time especially if you want high quality, engaging lessons that reflect the present time.

And that’s for a five min assignment. My course is writing heavy. Our easiest to grade assignments take at least 15 min.

If I have to turn around every assignment in 10 days, I have to radically change what I assign.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

OMG I would love a rule that teachers are required to put the assignments on the canvas calendar at least a few days in advance. It is so so hard to plan the work out when it’s not posted until right before it’s due. I would love love love it posted by Sunday for the week. For kids that have after school commitments, it would markedly improve life, quality of work, and ability to get lsleep. Imagine if your boss refused to post deadlines until a day or two before!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It is very mixed. AP Lang started reading books needed for Lit. Others did movies and basically nothing.
This is why i would like to see school start a week earlier in August and end closer to Memorial Day

Yes everyone would like that except the eastern shore lobby!
I think it’s easier for the humanities AP teachers to come up with fun extra assignments after the test, like a debate or an extra book or something like that. It’s harder for the stem classes because you’ve already had to cover all the material and it’s not like there a big budget for doing fun extra experiments for that last week in school. So it’s basically like okay let’s watch a movie that’s marginally relevant to what we learned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It is very mixed. AP Lang started reading books needed for Lit. Others did movies and basically nothing.
This is why i would like to see school start a week earlier in August and end closer to Memorial Day

Yes everyone would like that except the eastern shore lobby!
I think it’s easier for the humanities AP teachers to come up with fun extra assignments after the test, like a debate or an extra book or something like that. It’s harder for the stem classes because you’ve already had to cover all the material and it’s not like there a big budget for doing fun extra experiments for that last week in school. So it’s basically like okay let’s watch a movie that’s marginally relevant to what we learned.

What kind of political pull does the Eastern shore lobby have with MCPS? That's a ridiculous assertion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It is very mixed. AP Lang started reading books needed for Lit. Others did movies and basically nothing.
This is why i would like to see school start a week earlier in August and end closer to Memorial Day

Yes everyone would like that except the eastern shore lobby!
I think it’s easier for the humanities AP teachers to come up with fun extra assignments after the test, like a debate or an extra book or something like that. It’s harder for the stem classes because you’ve already had to cover all the material and it’s not like there a big budget for doing fun extra experiments for that last week in school. So it’s basically like okay let’s watch a movie that’s marginally relevant to what we learned.

It’s ridiculous. There is probably 4-5 weeks of school remaining after AP exams and 1-2 wks remaining for seniors. Which means teachers either have to front load a bunch of assignments fourth quarter, which they try to make related to preparation for the exam, or they have to do assignments after the AP exams despite the fact the exam is the culmination of the course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Most teachers are putting in the effort. But that effort requires time. We’ve done this math multiple times but here it is again:
150 students x 5min an assignment =750mins / 60mins in an hour = 12.5 hours . Thats the total time to grade one assignment. If a teacher got one class period free per day let’s say 47mins x 5 days =235 mins /60 =3.9 hours. That’s how much time they had in their work week to potentially grade. There other 8.6 hours comes from their personal life.

Out of seven teachers, three are putting in effort. Getting a month behind on grading and not responding to parents is not ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It is very mixed. AP Lang started reading books needed for Lit. Others did movies and basically nothing.
This is why i would like to see school start a week earlier in August and end closer to Memorial Day

Yes everyone would like that except the eastern shore lobby!
I think it’s easier for the humanities AP teachers to come up with fun extra assignments after the test, like a debate or an extra book or something like that. It’s harder for the stem classes because you’ve already had to cover all the material and it’s not like there a big budget for doing fun extra experiments for that last week in school. So it’s basically like okay let’s watch a movie that’s marginally relevant to what we learned.

What budget? For bio and chemistry we had zero labs or hands on assignments. In English kids did not get copies of books and we had to buy them, some we got pdf, but some were classroom copies only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

OMG I would love a rule that teachers are required to put the assignments on the canvas calendar at least a few days in advance. It is so so hard to plan the work out when it’s not posted until right before it’s due. I would love love love it posted by Sunday for the week. For kids that have after school commitments, it would markedly improve life, quality of work, and ability to get lsleep. Imagine if your boss refused to post deadlines until a day or two before!

Since the kids know about the assignments and can plan their schedules, I don’t find it
Problematic that the assignments aren’t posted early. Posting too early just makes more work because changes would mean revising the posting. If a parent wants to know what’s due they can ask their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Most teachers are putting in the effort. But that effort requires time. We’ve done this math multiple times but here it is again:
150 students x 5min an assignment =750mins / 60mins in an hour = 12.5 hours . Thats the total time to grade one assignment. If a teacher got one class period free per day let’s say 47mins x 5 days =235 mins /60 =3.9 hours. That’s how much time they had in their work week to potentially grade. There other 8.6 hours comes from their personal life.

Out of seven teachers, three are putting in effort. Getting a month behind on grading and not responding to parents is not ok.

Thank those three. They gave up their weekends and evenings for you.

The other four are giving you what they are paid for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

OMG I would love a rule that teachers are required to put the assignments on the canvas calendar at least a few days in advance. It is so so hard to plan the work out when it’s not posted until right before it’s due. I would love love love it posted by Sunday for the week. For kids that have after school commitments, it would markedly improve life, quality of work, and ability to get lsleep. Imagine if your boss refused to post deadlines until a day or two before!

We have had some teachers send out a weekly email on what’s upcoming and expected. So helpful to plan. Or, for math the same day of the week for the date and history had quizzes and note checks same day weekly. It’s nice to teach kids to plan and work ahead, arrange tutoring, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Most teachers are putting in the effort. But that effort requires time. We’ve done this math multiple times but here it is again:
150 students x 5min an assignment =750mins / 60mins in an hour = 12.5 hours . Thats the total time to grade one assignment. If a teacher got one class period free per day let’s say 47mins x 5 days =235 mins /60 =3.9 hours. That’s how much time they had in their work week to potentially grade. There other 8.6 hours comes from their personal life.

Out of seven teachers, three are putting in effort. Getting a month behind on grading and not responding to parents is not ok.

Thank those three. They gave up their weekends and evenings for you.

The other four are giving you what they are paid for.

Some, yes, some no. It’s their job. Not ok to not grade. As of today still no grades posted for the past month.