Why are there so many graded assignments in MCPS HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember switching papers and grading my peers in class growing up in FCPS.

For some teachers the assignments are formative assessments so they can determine if the students get the content in general.

For some students, more grades are better. If they bomb one quiz and only have 7 other grades for the quarter, it will be hard to bring it up. Having more decent grades can help bring up the average.

Kids these days are lazy and don’t pay attention in class. And no it’s not because the teachers aren’t interesting—they literally tune out when the teacher is talking and when it’s time to start the work they raise their hand and ask for directions. That have just been given. It’s infuriating. But if the kids don’t think they’ll be graded on something, they really really don’t care.

I’m the PP and a long-time AP teacher. Students generally meet the expectations we set for them. I used to grade everything as a form of classroom management; it kept students in line, but it wasn’t actually effective. It emphasized grades and not learning, so students merely did the work because they had to and I spent weekends grading shoddy work.

I spent a summer redesigning my classes. I now grade only 8-10 assignments a quarter. The quarter syllabus outlines all tasks, labeling them as graded/not graded. The progression is clear, so students can see how the not-graded assignments impact a future task. The syllabus also outlines what graded assignments are eligible for revisions (higher scores) and which are final products.

When I set this expectation, students still did the work. The class feels truly college-prep now, as well, and I get positive feedback from students and parents.

I appreciate your effort! I’m glad it worked well. Do you think it would work for non-AP students whose parents aren’t as involved with their student’s schooling?

NP but the answer is Yes. And DCUM needs to quit the narratives that students in non-AP classes don’t care about school or have non engaged families

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

No it’s called learning and given public’s teach better than privates in HS what the hell are you talking about?

No your private isn’t superior. And no you aren’t either because you spend money on private sup par education

College admissions I rest my case

LOL, MCPS sucks at preparing kids for college. With the exception of a percentage of kids at W schools and a very very small percentage at others, by and large, kids are in for a shock when they go to college. Case in point, my friend's daughter enrolled in Towson. She was a A/B student at her MCPS HS and struggled in her first year because she didn't know how to study for cumulative exams. MCPS hasn't given a final in years. Private schools have mid term and final exams for the most part. I don't know about OP's school, but most privates in the DMV are college prep level schools and do much better at preparing students for college. For one thing, they don't have the level of grade inflation that MCPS has and college admissions officers know this. That's why a larger percentage of students of the strong private schools get into top 20 colleges. At my daughter's private, 25% were admitted to top 20 schools. At the best W schools, it was only 5%.

Private can focus on that because they aren’t mandated to standardize test the students to death. Once the state tests started ramping up, MCPS removed classroom tests because it’s all they really could. Not excusing this! But it’s part of the reasoning why. Partially in response to parents and students upset at so much testing. I wish we could get rid of all the standardized tests, but it’s coming from above MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember switching papers and grading my peers in class growing up in FCPS.

For some teachers the assignments are formative assessments so they can determine if the students get the content in general.

For some students, more grades are better. If they bomb one quiz and only have 7 other grades for the quarter, it will be hard to bring it up. Having more decent grades can help bring up the average.

Kids these days are lazy and don’t pay attention in class. And no it’s not because the teachers aren’t interesting—they literally tune out when the teacher is talking and when it’s time to start the work they raise their hand and ask for directions. That have just been given. It’s infuriating. But if the kids don’t think they’ll be graded on something, they really really don’t care.

I’m the PP and a long-time AP teacher. Students generally meet the expectations we set for them. I used to grade everything as a form of classroom management; it kept students in line, but it wasn’t actually effective. It emphasized grades and not learning, so students merely did the work because they had to and I spent weekends grading shoddy work.

I spent a summer redesigning my classes. I now grade only 8-10 assignments a quarter. The quarter syllabus outlines all tasks, labeling them as graded/not graded. The progression is clear, so students can see how the not-graded assignments impact a future task. The syllabus also outlines what graded assignments are eligible for revisions (higher scores) and which are final products.

When I set this expectation, students still did the work. The class feels truly college-prep now, as well, and I get positive feedback from students and parents.

Really? Your scores have gone up? Because I grade and comment on all assignments and my scores have been and continue to be high. I'm not sure about your measure of "effectiveness."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember switching papers and grading my peers in class growing up in FCPS.

For some teachers the assignments are formative assessments so they can determine if the students get the content in general.

For some students, more grades are better. If they bomb one quiz and only have 7 other grades for the quarter, it will be hard to bring it up. Having more decent grades can help bring up the average.

Kids these days are lazy and don’t pay attention in class. And no it’s not because the teachers aren’t interesting—they literally tune out when the teacher is talking and when it’s time to start the work they raise their hand and ask for directions. That have just been given. It’s infuriating. But if the kids don’t think they’ll be graded on something, they really really don’t care.

I’m the PP and a long-time AP teacher. Students generally meet the expectations we set for them. I used to grade everything as a form of classroom management; it kept students in line, but it wasn’t actually effective. It emphasized grades and not learning, so students merely did the work because they had to and I spent weekends grading shoddy work.

I spent a summer redesigning my classes. I now grade only 8-10 assignments a quarter. The quarter syllabus outlines all tasks, labeling them as graded/not graded. The progression is clear, so students can see how the not-graded assignments impact a future task. The syllabus also outlines what graded assignments are eligible for revisions (higher scores) and which are final products.

When I set this expectation, students still did the work. The class feels truly college-prep now, as well, and I get positive feedback from students and parents.

Really? Your scores have gone up? Because I grade and comment on all assignments and my scores have been and continue to be high. I'm not sure about your measure of "effectiveness."

Yes, my scores are higher.

As an an AP teacher, I’m sure you appreciate the MANY factors that can impact scores.

One of them is purpose / student involvement. Students are more invested in the class when the material is important, and not merely the grade. I changed the narrative in my class to emphasize learning, and the students responded by learning MORE. I comment extensively on one assignment a week, and the other assignments are preparation for that.

I’m glad your way works for you. Mine works for me.

[Anonymous]

Your private sounds bad. We don’t have a lot of assignments or homework and it’s a problem for reinforcement of materials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember switching papers and grading my peers in class growing up in FCPS.

For some teachers the assignments are formative assessments so they can determine if the students get the content in general.

For some students, more grades are better. If they bomb one quiz and only have 7 other grades for the quarter, it will be hard to bring it up. Having more decent grades can help bring up the average.

Kids these days are lazy and don’t pay attention in class. And no it’s not because the teachers aren’t interesting—they literally tune out when the teacher is talking and when it’s time to start the work they raise their hand and ask for directions. That have just been given. It’s infuriating. But if the kids don’t think they’ll be graded on something, they really really don’t care.

I’m the PP and a long-time AP teacher. Students generally meet the expectations we set for them. I used to grade everything as a form of classroom management; it kept students in line, but it wasn’t actually effective. It emphasized grades and not learning, so students merely did the work because they had to and I spent weekends grading shoddy work.

I spent a summer redesigning my classes. I now grade only 8-10 assignments a quarter. The quarter syllabus outlines all tasks, labeling them as graded/not graded. The progression is clear, so students can see how the not-graded assignments impact a future task. The syllabus also outlines what graded assignments are eligible for revisions (higher scores) and which are final products.

When I set this expectation, students still did the work. The class feels truly college-prep now, as well, and I get positive feedback from students and parents.

Really? Your scores have gone up? Because I grade and comment on all assignments and my scores have been and continue to be high. I'm not sure about your measure of "effectiveness."

Yes, my scores are higher.

As an an AP teacher, I’m sure you appreciate the MANY factors that can impact scores.

One of them is purpose / student involvement. Students are more invested in the class when the material is important, and not merely the grade. I changed the narrative in my class to emphasize learning, and the students responded by learning MORE. I comment extensively on one assignment a week, and the other assignments are preparation for that.

I’m glad your way works for you. Mine works for me.

Of all the classes our AP class was the best with weekly quizzes, note checks and assignments. The teacher was strict and taught and held the kids accountable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember switching papers and grading my peers in class growing up in FCPS.

For some teachers the assignments are formative assessments so they can determine if the students get the content in general.

For some students, more grades are better. If they bomb one quiz and only have 7 other grades for the quarter, it will be hard to bring it up. Having more decent grades can help bring up the average.

Kids these days are lazy and don’t pay attention in class. And no it’s not because the teachers aren’t interesting—they literally tune out when the teacher is talking and when it’s time to start the work they raise their hand and ask for directions. That have just been given. It’s infuriating. But if the kids don’t think they’ll be graded on something, they really really don’t care.

I’m the PP and a long-time AP teacher. Students generally meet the expectations we set for them. I used to grade everything as a form of classroom management; it kept students in line, but it wasn’t actually effective. It emphasized grades and not learning, so students merely did the work because they had to and I spent weekends grading shoddy work.

I spent a summer redesigning my classes. I now grade only 8-10 assignments a quarter. The quarter syllabus outlines all tasks, labeling them as graded/not graded. The progression is clear, so students can see how the not-graded assignments impact a future task. The syllabus also outlines what graded assignments are eligible for revisions (higher scores) and which are final products.

When I set this expectation, students still did the work. The class feels truly college-prep now, as well, and I get positive feedback from students and parents.

I appreciate your effort! I’m glad it worked well. Do you think it would work for non-AP students whose parents aren’t as involved with their student’s schooling?

NP but the answer is Yes. And DCUM needs to quit the narratives that students in non-AP classes don’t care about school or have non engaged families

Our school offers very few AP's so it's really unfair to kids who would prefer them. The "honors" classes are very basic and lacking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

No it’s called learning and given public’s teach better than privates in HS what the hell are you talking about?

No your private isn’t superior. And no you aren’t either because you spend money on private sup par education

College admissions I rest my case

LOL, MCPS sucks at preparing kids for college. With the exception of a percentage of kids at W schools and a very very small percentage at others, by and large, kids are in for a shock when they go to college. Case in point, my friend's daughter enrolled in Towson. She was a A/B student at her MCPS HS and struggled in her first year because she didn't know how to study for cumulative exams. MCPS hasn't given a final in years. Private schools have mid term and final exams for the most part. I don't know about OP's school, but most privates in the DMV are college prep level schools and do much better at preparing students for college. For one thing, they don't have the level of grade inflation that MCPS has and college admissions officers know this. That's why a larger percentage of students of the strong private schools get into top 20 colleges. At my daughter's private, 25% were admitted to top 20 schools. At the best W schools, it was only 5%.

Students at W schools and others are having no problem being admitted to schools which they apply. I don’t know why folks are suddenly committing to the narrative that MCPS students can’t get admitted to good schools but it’s not true. If anything the only thing working against them is the number of students in their school and the district applying to the same school. Students are applying to schools that fit them and that they can afford.

We did not say MCPS kids can’t get admitted. We said that once they do get admitted, many MCPS kids struggle in college because of grade inflation and inadequate rigor that fails to prepare them to keep up with college level work.

[Anonymous]

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Parents will always be criticizing teachers. You suck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember switching papers and grading my peers in class growing up in FCPS.

For some teachers the assignments are formative assessments so they can determine if the students get the content in general.

For some students, more grades are better. If they bomb one quiz and only have 7 other grades for the quarter, it will be hard to bring it up. Having more decent grades can help bring up the average.

Kids these days are lazy and don’t pay attention in class. And no it’s not because the teachers aren’t interesting—they literally tune out when the teacher is talking and when it’s time to start the work they raise their hand and ask for directions. That have just been given. It’s infuriating. But if the kids don’t think they’ll be graded on something, they really really don’t care.

I’m the PP and a long-time AP teacher. Students generally meet the expectations we set for them. I used to grade everything as a form of classroom management; it kept students in line, but it wasn’t actually effective. It emphasized grades and not learning, so students merely did the work because they had to and I spent weekends grading shoddy work.

I spent a summer redesigning my classes. I now grade only 8-10 assignments a quarter. The quarter syllabus outlines all tasks, labeling them as graded/not graded. The progression is clear, so students can see how the not-graded assignments impact a future task. The syllabus also outlines what graded assignments are eligible for revisions (higher scores) and which are final products.

When I set this expectation, students still did the work. The class feels truly college-prep now, as well, and I get positive feedback from students and parents.

Really? Your scores have gone up? Because I grade and comment on all assignments and my scores have been and continue to be high. I'm not sure about your measure of "effectiveness."

Yes, my scores are higher.

As an an AP teacher, I’m sure you appreciate the MANY factors that can impact scores.

One of them is purpose / student involvement. Students are more invested in the class when the material is important, and not merely the grade. I changed the narrative in my class to emphasize learning, and the students responded by learning MORE. I comment extensively on one assignment a week, and the other assignments are preparation for that.

I’m glad your way works for you. Mine works for me.

I’m not the PP that you’ve been interacting with, but I’m another MCPS teacher (though not at the high school level). Presumably you’ve chosen to work in a private school for a reason, which is not salary. Those reasons may be class size, student behavior, school discipline policy enforcement, ability to teach without county central office inout, not standardized state mandated testing, family support/views on education, access to tools and technology, and the list goes on. I think it makes a lot of sense that they way you’ve chosen to teach your class meets the students enrolled at your school. I also think it makes perfect sense that a teacher in MCPS needs to teach a different way to meet the needs of the students in their class. And I’m not sure the judgement here does anyone any favors.

To answer the question asked- MCPS also has grading expectations of how many All Task and Practice Prep grades need to be assigned each quarter. Some teachers may assign more, but I’ve always found that even the expected grades are more than what’s needed and some assignments are graded in order to reach the threshold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

I'm a high school AP teacher and there is no way that one graded assignment per week (basically what you are suggesting) is enough to keep kids practicing skills or memorizing content. My assignments aren't "useless." They are meant to make sure that kids read, write the content that they need to memorize (because this is what forms memories) and then synthesize/use the ideas and content in a new way. That takes a lot of practice.

Seriously. One assignment per week for a college-prep level course is absurd.

OP, go back to private. I have lots of criticism for MCPS but this isn’t one of them. If anything, MCPS high school rigor is insufficient to prepare most kids for college level assignments.

One assignment per week is normal for college.

Is it? I may be dating myself, but when I was in college (majored political science), almost of my classes had a midterm, a final, and a paper. That was it. There was required reading every week, but you just read it-- or didn't-- but there was nothing to turn in to ensure that you did.

College has been infantilized as more (and less qualified) people attend. There are often attendance quizzes, reading quizzes, "blog" posts about the week's reading, etc. I don't blame professors, they are struggling mightily to get kids to actually engage with content.

Do you understand why people engage when the class isn't their preferred subject?
Consequences. Poor grades. Failure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

I'm a high school AP teacher and there is no way that one graded assignment per week (basically what you are suggesting) is enough to keep kids practicing skills or memorizing content. My assignments aren't "useless." They are meant to make sure that kids read, write the content that they need to memorize (because this is what forms memories) and then synthesize/use the ideas and content in a new way. That takes a lot of practice.

Seriously. One assignment per week for a college-prep level course is absurd.

OP, go back to private. I have lots of criticism for MCPS but this isn’t one of them. If anything, MCPS high school rigor is insufficient to prepare most kids for college level assignments.

Are you saying it would be absurd to have more or less than 1 graded assignment per week? I can't think of a single college or grad course where I had more than that. It was almost always much less than that, particularly after freshman year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

No it’s called learning and given public’s teach better than privates in HS what the hell are you talking about?

No your private isn’t superior. And no you aren’t either because you spend money on private sup par education

College admissions I rest my case

LOL, MCPS sucks at preparing kids for college. With the exception of a percentage of kids at W schools and a very very small percentage at others, by and large, kids are in for a shock when they go to college. Case in point, my friend's daughter enrolled in Towson. She was a A/B student at her MCPS HS and struggled in her first year because she didn't know how to study for cumulative exams. MCPS hasn't given a final in years. Private schools have mid term and final exams for the most part. I don't know about OP's school, but most privates in the DMV are college prep level schools and do much better at preparing students for college. For one thing, they don't have the level of grade inflation that MCPS has and college admissions officers know this. That's why a larger percentage of students of the strong private schools get into top 20 colleges. At my daughter's private, 25% were admitted to top 20 schools. At the best W schools, it was only 5%.

It sounds like she wasn't actually learning the material. Perhaps she was too narrowly focused on simply being able to complete the homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember switching papers and grading my peers in class growing up in FCPS.

For some teachers the assignments are formative assessments so they can determine if the students get the content in general.

For some students, more grades are better. If they bomb one quiz and only have 7 other grades for the quarter, it will be hard to bring it up. Having more decent grades can help bring up the average.

Kids these days are lazy and don’t pay attention in class. And no it’s not because the teachers aren’t interesting—they literally tune out when the teacher is talking and when it’s time to start the work they raise their hand and ask for directions. That have just been given. It’s infuriating. But if the kids don’t think they’ll be graded on something, they really really don’t care.

I’m the PP and a long-time AP teacher. Students generally meet the expectations we set for them. I used to grade everything as a form of classroom management; it kept students in line, but it wasn’t actually effective. It emphasized grades and not learning, so students merely did the work because they had to and I spent weekends grading shoddy work.

I spent a summer redesigning my classes. I now grade only 8-10 assignments a quarter. The quarter syllabus outlines all tasks, labeling them as graded/not graded. The progression is clear, so students can see how the not-graded assignments impact a future task. The syllabus also outlines what graded assignments are eligible for revisions (higher scores) and which are final products.

When I set this expectation, students still did the work. The class feels truly college-prep now, as well, and I get positive feedback from students and parents.

I appreciate your effort! I’m glad it worked well. Do you think it would work for non-AP students whose parents aren’t as involved with their student’s schooling?

NP but the answer is Yes. And DCUM needs to quit the narratives that students in non-AP classes don’t care about school or have non engaged families

Our school offers very few AP's so it's really unfair to kids who would prefer them. The "honors" classes are very basic and lacking.

That’s a problem with the teaching of the honors class(es), but it shouldn’t become a generalized indictment that ALL on grade level class are bad nor that the students in them don’t care about their education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

I'm a high school AP teacher and there is no way that one graded assignment per week (basically what you are suggesting) is enough to keep kids practicing skills or memorizing content. My assignments aren't "useless." They are meant to make sure that kids read, write the content that they need to memorize (because this is what forms memories) and then synthesize/use the ideas and content in a new way. That takes a lot of practice.

Seriously. One assignment per week for a college-prep level course is absurd.

OP, go back to private. I have lots of criticism for MCPS but this isn’t one of them. If anything, MCPS high school rigor is insufficient to prepare most kids for college level assignments.

One assignment per week is normal for college.

Is it? I may be dating myself, but when I was in college (majored political science), almost of my classes had a midterm, a final, and a paper. That was it. There was required reading every week, but you just read it-- or didn't-- but there was nothing to turn in to ensure that you did.

+1