Changes to grading for all MCPS high school students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, the purpose of grading is to measure how well a student understands the material and how well they can complete the skill under a time constraint. For the teacher, grading should be looked at individually and as a whole. If the entire class is missing one question or section then the teacher needs to course correction as they didn’t word or present the material adequately. For the student, grading is part of the learning cycle where they learn more by seeing what they got wrong, understanding why and should be in a position to course correction and do better the next time.

Of course none of this happens because students drop assignments and tests into a black box where the teacher doesn’t return them until the day before quarter ends or much later or maybe never. Tests may be quickly reviewed in class but they are snatched back so the teacher isn’t bothered to create more than one test. This deprives students of an excellent end of year study guide but god forbid the teacher do anything pedagogical.

This is all true but I wouldn’t frame it as a knock on the teachers. McPS doesn’t give them the time to give the feedback or get grading done timely. Also, in college if a prof realizes a test was bad because one or more questions were poorly phrased or too hard, they can adjust the grades or give extra credit or something. I remember in my HS physics cclass, the teacher gave an army assignment that was impossible and almost everyone failed it, so the teacher assigned an additional assignment as “extra credit” to account for it. McPS doesn’t allow extra credit or grading on a carve. I do think people are gojng to complain more about unfair grading or violations of the grading policy — that currently happens a lot but parents let it go because it so rarely makes a difference under the current grading policy.

Good news! The new policy requires teachers to return graded school work within 10 school days.

DP. And I assume the county isn’t giving teachers any additional time to get this done, right? Just more demands on teachers’ home lives?

You want more rigor for students but not more rigor on giving students feedback?

There are multiple comments on this thread about the absence of written feedback on student work.

I’m a high school teacher who ALWAYS leaves written feedback. I make my students review my feedback and then they have to correct their work using my comments as a guide.

Guess when I leave these comments: at night when I should be with my own children, on Saturday mornings when I should be watching my own kids at practice, on Sunday when I would like to be on a family trip. I work 7 days a week to do what people on this thread want.

So yes, it would be nice to get a little bit of time AT work to DO my work. Then you can get the type of feedback you want for your children without burning out the teacher. I’m very good at what I do, but I’m not sticking around much longer. I’d like a job that respects my health and time.

How much more rigor do you want to impose on me?

If teachers or their union could come up with a workable plan for teachers to get school time, I’d support it. But absent that, I still want my children to get timely feedback as is required for proper learning and is required by your job. Full stop.

10 extra hours is very reasonable.
15 I can do, but I won’t love it.

30 extra hours a week means I don’t see my own children. Parents like the PP expect me to sacrifice my children for theirs. I can’t do that anymore.

So the teachers who provide feedback and give you the quality instruction you want are quitting. I’m one of them. I’m the teacher you are clamoring to get your child assigned to.

You see the suggestions on this thread already: just don’t assign work, don’t provide feedback, etc. The teachers who operate this way are the ones surviving. You’re going to get more of them as the hard workers burn out.

You are going to prioritize your children and I’m going to prioritize mine.

[Anonymous]

I am the parent who wrote that I support the teacher above.

I want to add though that parents are frustrated, just as you are, because this isn’t working.

Not enough and timely feedback makes for poor educational outcomes.

Not enough time makes for poor teacher mental health and quitting.

So see, we are on the same team. Let’s stop villifying teachers and parents and find some solutions!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, the purpose of grading is to measure how well a student understands the material and how well they can complete the skill under a time constraint. For the teacher, grading should be looked at individually and as a whole. If the entire class is missing one question or section then the teacher needs to course correction as they didn’t word or present the material adequately. For the student, grading is part of the learning cycle where they learn more by seeing what they got wrong, understanding why and should be in a position to course correction and do better the next time.

Of course none of this happens because students drop assignments and tests into a black box where the teacher doesn’t return them until the day before quarter ends or much later or maybe never. Tests may be quickly reviewed in class but they are snatched back so the teacher isn’t bothered to create more than one test. This deprives students of an excellent end of year study guide but god forbid the teacher do anything pedagogical.

This is all true but I wouldn’t frame it as a knock on the teachers. McPS doesn’t give them the time to give the feedback or get grading done timely. Also, in college if a prof realizes a test was bad because one or more questions were poorly phrased or too hard, they can adjust the grades or give extra credit or something. I remember in my HS physics cclass, the teacher gave an army assignment that was impossible and almost everyone failed it, so the teacher assigned an additional assignment as “extra credit” to account for it. McPS doesn’t allow extra credit or grading on a carve. I do think people are gojng to complain more about unfair grading or violations of the grading policy — that currently happens a lot but parents let it go because it so rarely makes a difference under the current grading policy.

Good news! The new policy requires teachers to return graded school work within 10 school days.

DP. And I assume the county isn’t giving teachers any additional time to get this done, right? Just more demands on teachers’ home lives?

You want more rigor for students but not more rigor on giving students feedback?

There are multiple comments on this thread about the absence of written feedback on student work.

I’m a high school teacher who ALWAYS leaves written feedback. I make my students review my feedback and then they have to correct their work using my comments as a guide.

Guess when I leave these comments: at night when I should be with my own children, on Saturday mornings when I should be watching my own kids at practice, on Sunday when I would like to be on a family trip. I work 7 days a week to do what people on this thread want.

So yes, it would be nice to get a little bit of time AT work to DO my work. Then you can get the type of feedback you want for your children without burning out the teacher. I’m very good at what I do, but I’m not sticking around much longer. I’d like a job that respects my health and time.

How much more rigor do you want to impose on me?

If teachers or their union could come up with a workable plan for teachers to get school time, I’d support it. But absent that, I still want my children to get timely feedback as is required for proper learning and is required by your job. Full stop.

10 extra hours is very reasonable.
15 I can do, but I won’t love it.

30 extra hours a week means I don’t see my own children. Parents like the PP expect me to sacrifice my children for theirs. I can’t do that anymore.

So the teachers who provide feedback and give you the quality instruction you want are quitting. I’m one of them. I’m the teacher you are clamoring to get your child assigned to.

You see the suggestions on this thread already: just don’t assign work, don’t provide feedback, etc. The teachers who operate this way are the ones surviving. You’re going to get more of them as the hard workers burn out.

Agreed. I am a parent and family member of many teachers. I support you.

What do we do about it?

Would it be crazy and unfair to have different student loads depending on subject and the number of preps?

THANK YOU! Sorry for shouting, but the kind word toward teachers is rare on this site.

The answer is definitely additional planning time. The grading load won’t go away; essays still need comments.

The answer is fewer students, leading to fewer papers, and more time AT work to grade them. That’s the only answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, the purpose of grading is to measure how well a student understands the material and how well they can complete the skill under a time constraint. For the teacher, grading should be looked at individually and as a whole. If the entire class is missing one question or section then the teacher needs to course correction as they didn’t word or present the material adequately. For the student, grading is part of the learning cycle where they learn more by seeing what they got wrong, understanding why and should be in a position to course correction and do better the next time.

Of course none of this happens because students drop assignments and tests into a black box where the teacher doesn’t return them until the day before quarter ends or much later or maybe never. Tests may be quickly reviewed in class but they are snatched back so the teacher isn’t bothered to create more than one test. This deprives students of an excellent end of year study guide but god forbid the teacher do anything pedagogical.

This is all true but I wouldn’t frame it as a knock on the teachers. McPS doesn’t give them the time to give the feedback or get grading done timely. Also, in college if a prof realizes a test was bad because one or more questions were poorly phrased or too hard, they can adjust the grades or give extra credit or something. I remember in my HS physics cclass, the teacher gave an army assignment that was impossible and almost everyone failed it, so the teacher assigned an additional assignment as “extra credit” to account for it. McPS doesn’t allow extra credit or grading on a carve. I do think people are gojng to complain more about unfair grading or violations of the grading policy — that currently happens a lot but parents let it go because it so rarely makes a difference under the current grading policy.

Good news! The new policy requires teachers to return graded school work within 10 school days.

DP. And I assume the county isn’t giving teachers any additional time to get this done, right? Just more demands on teachers’ home lives?

You want more rigor for students but not more rigor on giving students feedback?

There are multiple comments on this thread about the absence of written feedback on student work.

I’m a high school teacher who ALWAYS leaves written feedback. I make my students review my feedback and then they have to correct their work using my comments as a guide.

Guess when I leave these comments: at night when I should be with my own children, on Saturday mornings when I should be watching my own kids at practice, on Sunday when I would like to be on a family trip. I work 7 days a week to do what people on this thread want.

So yes, it would be nice to get a little bit of time AT work to DO my work. Then you can get the type of feedback you want for your children without burning out the teacher. I’m very good at what I do, but I’m not sticking around much longer. I’d like a job that respects my health and time.

How much more rigor do you want to impose on me?

If teachers or their union could come up with a workable plan for teachers to get school time, I’d support it. But absent that, I still want my children to get timely feedback as is required for proper learning and is required by your job. Full stop.

10 extra hours is very reasonable.
15 I can do, but I won’t love it.

30 extra hours a week means I don’t see my own children. Parents like the PP expect me to sacrifice my children for theirs. I can’t do that anymore.

So the teachers who provide feedback and give you the quality instruction you want are quitting. I’m one of them. I’m the teacher you are clamoring to get your child assigned to.

You see the suggestions on this thread already: just don’t assign work, don’t provide feedback, etc. The teachers who operate this way are the ones surviving. You’re going to get more of them as the hard workers burn out.

Your posts are full of complaints and have zero steps for practical action. Seems unlikely that you would accept that attitude from your students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, the purpose of grading is to measure how well a student understands the material and how well they can complete the skill under a time constraint. For the teacher, grading should be looked at individually and as a whole. If the entire class is missing one question or section then the teacher needs to course correction as they didn’t word or present the material adequately. For the student, grading is part of the learning cycle where they learn more by seeing what they got wrong, understanding why and should be in a position to course correction and do better the next time.

Of course none of this happens because students drop assignments and tests into a black box where the teacher doesn’t return them until the day before quarter ends or much later or maybe never. Tests may be quickly reviewed in class but they are snatched back so the teacher isn’t bothered to create more than one test. This deprives students of an excellent end of year study guide but god forbid the teacher do anything pedagogical.

This is all true but I wouldn’t frame it as a knock on the teachers. McPS doesn’t give them the time to give the feedback or get grading done timely. Also, in college if a prof realizes a test was bad because one or more questions were poorly phrased or too hard, they can adjust the grades or give extra credit or something. I remember in my HS physics cclass, the teacher gave an army assignment that was impossible and almost everyone failed it, so the teacher assigned an additional assignment as “extra credit” to account for it. McPS doesn’t allow extra credit or grading on a carve. I do think people are gojng to complain more about unfair grading or violations of the grading policy — that currently happens a lot but parents let it go because it so rarely makes a difference under the current grading policy.

Good news! The new policy requires teachers to return graded school work within 10 school days.

DP. And I assume the county isn’t giving teachers any additional time to get this done, right? Just more demands on teachers’ home lives?

You want more rigor for students but not more rigor on giving students feedback?

There are multiple comments on this thread about the absence of written feedback on student work.

I’m a high school teacher who ALWAYS leaves written feedback. I make my students review my feedback and then they have to correct their work using my comments as a guide.

Guess when I leave these comments: at night when I should be with my own children, on Saturday mornings when I should be watching my own kids at practice, on Sunday when I would like to be on a family trip. I work 7 days a week to do what people on this thread want.

So yes, it would be nice to get a little bit of time AT work to DO my work. Then you can get the type of feedback you want for your children without burning out the teacher. I’m very good at what I do, but I’m not sticking around much longer. I’d like a job that respects my health and time.

How much more rigor do you want to impose on me?

If teachers or their union could come up with a workable plan for teachers to get school time, I’d support it. But absent that, I still want my children to get timely feedback as is required for proper learning and is required by your job. Full stop.

10 extra hours is very reasonable.
15 I can do, but I won’t love it.

30 extra hours a week means I don’t see my own children. Parents like the PP expect me to sacrifice my children for theirs. I can’t do that anymore.

So the teachers who provide feedback and give you the quality instruction you want are quitting. I’m one of them. I’m the teacher you are clamoring to get your child assigned to.

You see the suggestions on this thread already: just don’t assign work, don’t provide feedback, etc. The teachers who operate this way are the ones surviving. You’re going to get more of them as the hard workers burn out.

You are going to prioritize your children and I’m going to prioritize mine.

We agree.

But who is going to teach our children to write persuasive essays? To solve quadratic equations?

My solution supports teachers so they will continue contributing their skill and expertise. I don’t want them burning out because it’s in my own children’s best interest that they don’t. It’s also in your children’s best interest.

-teacher who posted above

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, the purpose of grading is to measure how well a student understands the material and how well they can complete the skill under a time constraint. For the teacher, grading should be looked at individually and as a whole. If the entire class is missing one question or section then the teacher needs to course correction as they didn’t word or present the material adequately. For the student, grading is part of the learning cycle where they learn more by seeing what they got wrong, understanding why and should be in a position to course correction and do better the next time.

Of course none of this happens because students drop assignments and tests into a black box where the teacher doesn’t return them until the day before quarter ends or much later or maybe never. Tests may be quickly reviewed in class but they are snatched back so the teacher isn’t bothered to create more than one test. This deprives students of an excellent end of year study guide but god forbid the teacher do anything pedagogical.

This is all true but I wouldn’t frame it as a knock on the teachers. McPS doesn’t give them the time to give the feedback or get grading done timely. Also, in college if a prof realizes a test was bad because one or more questions were poorly phrased or too hard, they can adjust the grades or give extra credit or something. I remember in my HS physics cclass, the teacher gave an army assignment that was impossible and almost everyone failed it, so the teacher assigned an additional assignment as “extra credit” to account for it. McPS doesn’t allow extra credit or grading on a carve. I do think people are gojng to complain more about unfair grading or violations of the grading policy — that currently happens a lot but parents let it go because it so rarely makes a difference under the current grading policy.

Good news! The new policy requires teachers to return graded school work within 10 school days.

DP. And I assume the county isn’t giving teachers any additional time to get this done, right? Just more demands on teachers’ home lives?

You want more rigor for students but not more rigor on giving students feedback?

There are multiple comments on this thread about the absence of written feedback on student work.

I’m a high school teacher who ALWAYS leaves written feedback. I make my students review my feedback and then they have to correct their work using my comments as a guide.

Guess when I leave these comments: at night when I should be with my own children, on Saturday mornings when I should be watching my own kids at practice, on Sunday when I would like to be on a family trip. I work 7 days a week to do what people on this thread want.

So yes, it would be nice to get a little bit of time AT work to DO my work. Then you can get the type of feedback you want for your children without burning out the teacher. I’m very good at what I do, but I’m not sticking around much longer. I’d like a job that respects my health and time.

How much more rigor do you want to impose on me?

If teachers or their union could come up with a workable plan for teachers to get school time, I’d support it. But absent that, I still want my children to get timely feedback as is required for proper learning and is required by your job. Full stop.

10 extra hours is very reasonable.
15 I can do, but I won’t love it.

30 extra hours a week means I don’t see my own children. Parents like the PP expect me to sacrifice my children for theirs. I can’t do that anymore.

So the teachers who provide feedback and give you the quality instruction you want are quitting. I’m one of them. I’m the teacher you are clamoring to get your child assigned to.

You see the suggestions on this thread already: just don’t assign work, don’t provide feedback, etc. The teachers who operate this way are the ones surviving. You’re going to get more of them as the hard workers burn out.

Your posts are full of complaints and have zero steps for practical action. Seems unlikely that you would accept that attitude from your students.

I treat my students fairly and provide them with the resources to do the work I ask of them.

I’m not provided the same respect from my employer.

(… and “explaining the situation” is not synonymous with “complaining.”)

[Anonymous]

There are many reasons teachers do not have enough time and that students struggle to get needed feedback. Part of this is because we are not working together. If students could try to be on time with assignments, that would be a big help. Of course their are times teachers will need to be flexible, but in general, trying to be on time will help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I’m a DP, but I’m happy to repeat the math for you:

I have 150 students. A writing assignment can take 15 minutes to grade. That’s 37.5 hours of grading. I get approximately 3.5 hours a week of time to get my work done.

And that’s just one assignment. Just one. That doesn’t include emails I need to respond to, reports I have to update, plans I have to revise.

So literally half my job has to be done on my own time. Over 30 hours a week.

So… SHOULD this be my job?

How do you think your students will improve without written feedback? I get that it takes time, but isn’t this a huge part of learning and the job?

I am a middle school teacher. My students do not read the feedback. They look at their grade and come up to me and say 'why did I get a B/C?' I ask them about looking at the feedback and they say nope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, the purpose of grading is to measure how well a student understands the material and how well they can complete the skill under a time constraint. For the teacher, grading should be looked at individually and as a whole. If the entire class is missing one question or section then the teacher needs to course correction as they didn’t word or present the material adequately. For the student, grading is part of the learning cycle where they learn more by seeing what they got wrong, understanding why and should be in a position to course correction and do better the next time.

Of course none of this happens because students drop assignments and tests into a black box where the teacher doesn’t return them until the day before quarter ends or much later or maybe never. Tests may be quickly reviewed in class but they are snatched back so the teacher isn’t bothered to create more than one test. This deprives students of an excellent end of year study guide but god forbid the teacher do anything pedagogical.

This is all true but I wouldn’t frame it as a knock on the teachers. McPS doesn’t give them the time to give the feedback or get grading done timely. Also, in college if a prof realizes a test was bad because one or more questions were poorly phrased or too hard, they can adjust the grades or give extra credit or something. I remember in my HS physics cclass, the teacher gave an army assignment that was impossible and almost everyone failed it, so the teacher assigned an additional assignment as “extra credit” to account for it. McPS doesn’t allow extra credit or grading on a carve. I do think people are gojng to complain more about unfair grading or violations of the grading policy — that currently happens a lot but parents let it go because it so rarely makes a difference under the current grading policy.

Good news! The new policy requires teachers to return graded school work within 10 school days.

DP. And I assume the county isn’t giving teachers any additional time to get this done, right? Just more demands on teachers’ home lives?

You want more rigor for students but not more rigor on giving students feedback?

There are multiple comments on this thread about the absence of written feedback on student work.

I’m a high school teacher who ALWAYS leaves written feedback. I make my students review my feedback and then they have to correct their work using my comments as a guide.

Guess when I leave these comments: at night when I should be with my own children, on Saturday mornings when I should be watching my own kids at practice, on Sunday when I would like to be on a family trip. I work 7 days a week to do what people on this thread want.

So yes, it would be nice to get a little bit of time AT work to DO my work. Then you can get the type of feedback you want for your children without burning out the teacher. I’m very good at what I do, but I’m not sticking around much longer. I’d like a job that respects my health and time.

How much more rigor do you want to impose on me?

If teachers or their union could come up with a workable plan for teachers to get school time, I’d support it. But absent that, I still want my children to get timely feedback as is required for proper learning and is required by your job. Full stop.

10 extra hours is very reasonable.
15 I can do, but I won’t love it.

30 extra hours a week means I don’t see my own children. Parents like the PP expect me to sacrifice my children for theirs. I can’t do that anymore.

So the teachers who provide feedback and give you the quality instruction you want are quitting. I’m one of them. I’m the teacher you are clamoring to get your child assigned to.

You see the suggestions on this thread already: just don’t assign work, don’t provide feedback, etc. The teachers who operate this way are the ones surviving. You’re going to get more of them as the hard workers burn out.

You are going to prioritize your children and I’m going to prioritize mine.

We agree.

But who is going to teach our children to write persuasive essays? To solve quadratic equations?

My solution supports teachers so they will continue contributing their skill and expertise. I don’t want them burning out because it’s in my own children’s best interest that they don’t. It’s also in your children’s best interest.

-teacher who posted above

In MCPS, parents and tutors. Change how you are doing things to make it work better for you. This year, we had to get a few tutors (in the past we could do it ourselves) as teachers barely taught and the curriculum and methods didn't work for our child. The lack of grading and feedback make it impossible for kids and the subjective grading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I’m a DP, but I’m happy to repeat the math for you:

I have 150 students. A writing assignment can take 15 minutes to grade. That’s 37.5 hours of grading. I get approximately 3.5 hours a week of time to get my work done.

And that’s just one assignment. Just one. That doesn’t include emails I need to respond to, reports I have to update, plans I have to revise.

So literally half my job has to be done on my own time. Over 30 hours a week.

So… SHOULD this be my job?

How do you think your students will improve without written feedback? I get that it takes time, but isn’t this a huge part of learning and the job?

I am a middle school teacher. My students do not read the feedback. They look at their grade and come up to me and say 'why did I get a B/C?' I ask them about looking at the feedback and they say nope.

As parents, we are going in and reading it. And, if that many kids are struggling, maybe you need to take some more time to reinforce the concepts they are struggling with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are many reasons teachers do not have enough time and that students struggle to get needed feedback. Part of this is because we are not working together. If students could try to be on time with assignments, that would be a big help. Of course their are times teachers will need to be flexible, but in general, trying to be on time will help.

Agree with this but as parents, we need it posted with specifics on the assignment and if its a paper assignment a copy of that assignment online so we can ensure it gets done. If my kid doesn't get it, they will not go to the teacher as most they feel aren't approachable and they will not admit it to us so we can help or get them outside help. Teachers need to work with parents.

[Anonymous]

so.

students require timely feedback in order to learn -- but too often do not receive it.

teachers should provide timely and adequate feedback -- but too often bear too heavy a workload or do not have the resources needed to provide it.

and mcps is here to solve the problem with...

grading policies.

that'll whip those teachers AND students into shape.

good job chat.

ps there is zero actual evidence that such policies would improve educational outcomes. they give parents and administrators something to hold over teachers' heads, and give teachers a wee little cudgel to beat students with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I’m a DP, but I’m happy to repeat the math for you:

I have 150 students. A writing assignment can take 15 minutes to grade. That’s 37.5 hours of grading. I get approximately 3.5 hours a week of time to get my work done.

And that’s just one assignment. Just one. That doesn’t include emails I need to respond to, reports I have to update, plans I have to revise.

So literally half my job has to be done on my own time. Over 30 hours a week.

So… SHOULD this be my job?

How do you think your students will improve without written feedback? I get that it takes time, but isn’t this a huge part of learning and the job?

I am a middle school teacher. My students do not read the feedback. They look at their grade and come up to me and say 'why did I get a B/C?' I ask them about looking at the feedback and they say nope.

As parents, we are going in and reading it. And, if that many kids are struggling, maybe you need to take some more time to reinforce the concepts they are struggling with.

Yep, keep blaming the teacher. At what point does the student have any accountability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the parent who wrote that I support the teacher above.

I want to add though that parents are frustrated, just as you are, because this isn’t working.

Not enough and timely feedback makes for poor educational outcomes.

Not enough time makes for poor teacher mental health and quitting.

So see, we are on the same team. Let’s stop villifying teachers and parents and find some solutions!

+1. I also think there are at least three categories of teachers (at least at the Me and HS level):
1) great teachers who are either incredibly efficient or out in a lot of hours and are just phenomenal
2) teachers who are good teachers but are clearly drawing boundaries in their life and as a result can’t really get stuff back to the kids in a timely manner which is frustrating but the fault of the system that doesn’t give them enough planning or grading time.
3) teachers who have either given up or are not very good.
I’d like a system that allows (1) and (2) the time to get the work done well without sacrificing their personal lives, so we don’t just end up with (3).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

I’m a DP, but I’m happy to repeat the math for you:

I have 150 students. A writing assignment can take 15 minutes to grade. That’s 37.5 hours of grading. I get approximately 3.5 hours a week of time to get my work done.

And that’s just one assignment. Just one. That doesn’t include emails I need to respond to, reports I have to update, plans I have to revise.

So literally half my job has to be done on my own time. Over 30 hours a week.

So… SHOULD this be my job?

How do you think your students will improve without written feedback? I get that it takes time, but isn’t this a huge part of learning and the job?

I am a middle school teacher. My students do not read the feedback. They look at their grade and come up to me and say 'why did I get a B/C?' I ask them about looking at the feedback and they say nope.

Out of curiosity, can the parents see the feedback? One thing I find frustrating is that as a parent I can rarely see the feedback. Otherwise I would go over it with my kid. “the teacher says you need a better into sentence. Can you think of a good into sentence for this paragraph?” Etc. I do think it’s hard for 11-13 year olds to look at written feedback and internalize it. I work with 25-30 hear olds and I am often told they want oral feedback, not just my written feedback on their work product. I get ghat teachers don’t have time to sit down with every kid but I feel like there is missed opposition for parents to partner with teachers in this effort.