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

[Anonymous]

Any other parents at Potomac with similar experiences?

[Anonymous]

Why can’t the US student navigate this? Talk to his classmates, see if it’s happening with them, then take action?

[Anonymous]

I went to NCS and have taught both high school and university and weeks or months to get papers back is inexcusable. It should be back in 10 days, two weeks at the most. But it really should take about a week. Kids need to get comments so that they can improve their work going forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to NCS and have taught both high school and university and weeks or months to get papers back is inexcusable. It should be back in 10 days, two weeks at the most. But it really should take about a week. Kids need to get comments so that they can improve their work going forward.

Oh and the reason I mentioned NCS is that I can tell you that at least when I went there, teachers never took more than a few days till week to get papers back. And some prided themselves in getting them back within 2 to 3 days.

[Anonymous]

My child does talk to his friends, and many are having similar experiences. However, they are in many of the same classes, so it is not surprising. The students have tried individually asking teachers how they did on an unreturned assignment, but don’t get much feedback because, they suspect, the assignment or test was not yet graded or corrected. I think there is only so much that a student feels comfortable doing without potentially making the teacher angry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Idiotic of you to post here. Talk to Virchow, dean of academics. She’s fantastic at advocating for students. Really your kid should talk to her, not you but you sound like you are the type who wants to do it yourself. BTW - tell your kid this is why he had an advisor. He is supposed to take this issue to his advisor not his mommy.

Oh, stop. Such a nasty post. OP, I hope you ignore this post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Idiotic of you to post here. Talk to Virchow, dean of academics. She’s fantastic at advocating for students. Really your kid should talk to her, not you but you sound like you are the type who wants to do it yourself. BTW - tell your kid this is why he had an advisor. He is supposed to take this issue to his advisor not his mommy.

rude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Idiotic of you to post here. Talk to Virchow, dean of academics. She’s fantastic at advocating for students. Really your kid should talk to her, not you but you sound like you are the type who wants to do it yourself. BTW - tell your kid this is why he had an advisor. He is supposed to take this issue to his advisor not his mommy.

+1
This is also something for your child to figure out (if in fact it’s actually true). I have multiple kids there and just asked them and none have had this issue or know of their friends having it

[Anonymous]

It is definitely true. Are your children in the Upper School? Have they been there recently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Idiotic of you to post here. Talk to Virchow, dean of academics. She’s fantastic at advocating for students. Really your kid should talk to her, not you but you sound like you are the type who wants to do it yourself. BTW - tell your kid this is why he had an advisor. He is supposed to take this issue to his advisor not his mommy.

+1
This is also something for your child to figure out (if in fact it’s actually true). I have multiple kids there and just asked them and none have had this issue or know of their friends having it

No, that’s how you may deal with it. If I’m paying $45k+/year, I expect a certain level of professionalism and customer service. That includes timely grading and responsiveness. Once my child addresses this issue with the teacher ONCE, without a response, I’m getting involved. Period.

[Anonymous]

My kid at Potomac had this issue and discussed it with me. Pretty similar scenario as OP describes. I encouraged talking to their advisor. Advisor agreed it was unacceptable and counseled kid to go to Virchow. Virchow set up an in person meeting with kid - discussed issue in depth. Virchow was open and receptive, acknowledged it was not okay, and agreed to address issue with teacher. Everything worked out fine. There are proper ways to handle these things and posting on DCUM isn’t it - won’t help your kid one bit.

Plus, OP’s saying she needs to have access to an online record of every grade her kid gets in a class is absurd unless she has reason not to trust her kid. By upper school if you still feel the need, or your kid actually needs, you to watch for every single grade they receive all year long, you have a problem. By upper school a kid needs to have some independence and accountability. One of the strengths of Potomac is their belief that a kid needs to learn to self advocate - and not just with the teacher but all the way to the top - Virchow in this case. Support your kid, give him advice, but let him handle it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Idiotic of you to post here. Talk to Virchow, dean of academics. She’s fantastic at advocating for students. Really your kid should talk to her, not you but you sound like you are the type who wants to do it yourself. BTW - tell your kid this is why he had an advisor. He is supposed to take this issue to his advisor not his mommy.

+1
This is also something for your child to figure out (if in fact it’s actually true). I have multiple kids there and just asked them and none have had this issue or know of their friends having it

No, that’s how you may deal with it. If I’m paying $45k+/year, I expect a certain level of professionalism and customer service. That includes timely grading and responsiveness. Once my child addresses this issue with the teacher ONCE, without a response, I’m getting involved. Period.

This is so crass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid at Potomac had this issue and discussed it with me. Pretty similar scenario as OP describes. I encouraged talking to their advisor. Advisor agreed it was unacceptable and counseled kid to go to Virchow. Virchow set up an in person meeting with kid - discussed issue in depth. Virchow was open and receptive, acknowledged it was not okay, and agreed to address issue with teacher. Everything worked out fine. There are proper ways to handle these things and posting on DCUM isn’t it - won’t help your kid one bit.

Plus, OP’s saying she needs to have access to an online record of every grade her kid gets in a class is absurd unless she has reason not to trust her kid. By upper school if you still feel the need, or your kid actually needs, you to watch for every single grade they receive all year long, you have a problem. By upper school a kid needs to have some independence and accountability. One of the strengths of Potomac is their belief that a kid needs to learn to self advocate - and not just with the teacher but all the way to the top - Virchow in this case. Support your kid, give him advice, but let him handle it.

This whole “self advocacy” thing is great in theory, but doesn’t always work. Some kids just aren’t good at it and don’t want to come across in a negative way to a teacher. And to be honest, if a teacher waits until semester’s end to grade pretty much everything, or assigns a different weighting to a grade than a child or parent expects, it often winds up a surprise low grade that the kid/parent doesn’t expect. It looks shady and subjective on the teacher’s part. This has happened to my DC more than once and not fun. Grades have unfortunately become too important to just let pass by and teachers should be able to provide some transparency to the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Idiotic of you to post here. Talk to Virchow, dean of academics. She’s fantastic at advocating for students. Really your kid should talk to her, not you but you sound like you are the type who wants to do it yourself. BTW - tell your kid this is why he had an advisor. He is supposed to take this issue to his advisor not his mommy.

+1
This is also something for your child to figure out (if in fact it’s actually true). I have multiple kids there and just asked them and none have had this issue or know of their friends having it

No, that’s how you may deal with it. If I’m paying $45k+/year, I expect a certain level of professionalism and customer service. That includes timely grading and responsiveness. Once my child addresses this issue with the teacher ONCE, without a response, I’m getting involved. Period.

This is so crass.

Based on your response, I can tell that I have much more success getting my needs met than you. Continue to move through the world in a way that best suits you, and I’ll do the same. I’m not seeking your approval.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid at Potomac had this issue and discussed it with me. Pretty similar scenario as OP describes. I encouraged talking to their advisor. Advisor agreed it was unacceptable and counseled kid to go to Virchow. Virchow set up an in person meeting with kid - discussed issue in depth. Virchow was open and receptive, acknowledged it was not okay, and agreed to address issue with teacher. Everything worked out fine. There are proper ways to handle these things and posting on DCUM isn’t it - won’t help your kid one bit.

Plus, OP’s saying she needs to have access to an online record of every grade her kid gets in a class is absurd unless she has reason not to trust her kid. By upper school if you still feel the need, or your kid actually needs, you to watch for every single grade they receive all year long, you have a problem. By upper school a kid needs to have some independence and accountability. One of the strengths of Potomac is their belief that a kid needs to learn to self advocate - and not just with the teacher but all the way to the top - Virchow in this case. Support your kid, give him advice, but let him handle it.

This whole “self advocacy” thing is great in theory, but doesn’t always work. Some kids just aren’t good at it and don’t want to come across in a negative way to a teacher. And to be honest, if a teacher waits until semester’s end to grade pretty much everything, or assigns a different weighting to a grade than a child or parent expects, it often winds up a surprise low grade that the kid/parent doesn’t expect. It looks shady and subjective on the teacher’s part. This has happened to my DC more than once and not fun. Grades have unfortunately become too important to just let pass by and teachers should be able to provide some transparency to the process.

So if your kid wants to be a lawyer, Potomac is great school. If the admin does not respond to their concerns. The students (not the parents) should sue the school. Any student that starts the suit should get a reference for college.