1 graded assignment this month

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child who is a junior has an AP English teacher who has graded ONE assignment for the month of January input in ParentVUE. This teacher is notorious for having so few assignments, Dec had 4 assignments total. I keep thinking she will do better, but that doesn’t seem to be true.

It’s hard for my child to get a good grade or good feedback when this is the case.

I am new to the school system in the US. Is this something to complain about? If so,who would I complain to? Also forgot to Mention this is a magnet program.

Getting this thread back on topic, the teacher had about 1 assignment per week in December, we've had like 14 school days this month, and you say there is 1 for this month, so it's possible that there is 1 more in the process of being graded. Instead of complaining to anyone, why not just email the teacher and ask if what you are seeing is accurate?

Noooooo don’t email the teacher of a HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR

[Anonymous]

I am a teacher. I always update my grades. That means my grades are padded by significant fluff that ups the GPA. This is the expectation at my school so I don't have a choice.

Many teachers are in the same situation. So the average American kids GPA is trending much higher while test scores drop like a stone. This drives the trends towards insane extracurriculars and the crazy focus on crafting a unique essay.

I went to high school in the 90s. There was no grade portal. I got essays back with a grade at the top. I applied to four colleges and got in to all four.

Yes, things have changed, but we've designed systems that make everything worse. We're the ones that need to change the system.

No one wants to be a teacher. No one. Even in the liberal arts, we're starting to have trouble finding candidates.

[Anonymous]

So many things I could say, but I'll limit myself to the original post's question:
I'm a HS teacher who teaches AP, and based on your description, I wouldn't complain about it. If you think about this particular January, we were scheduled to have 19 school days. However, we lost 3 days to snow and had 2 2 hour delays. I myself lost another day to counseling for registration. The last two days of the quarter, I'm not assigning new grades because that potentially screws over students on their grades. So those 19 full days of instruction essentially became 12 full days (11 if a class was used by counseling). You have to cover some material before giving an assignment, so the window of assigning work becomes even smaller. Every class is different in regards to grading demands, and any class heavy on essays (as I imagine AP English does) is going to have fewer assignments to begin with, unless the teacher is sadistic.
If your student's grade is based on 9 or more assignments in the All Tasks category, and 5 or more assignments in the Practice category, then the teacher has fulfilled the MCPS expectation. But with the disruption we've experienced throughout this month to instruction, I wouldn't be surprised if there is some flexibility on this requirement.
So, in short, I don't think you have much to complain about, and an email is not worth your time.

[Anonymous]

HS teachers should have 4 periods a day of teaching. I don’t know how middle school and elementary school work so not commenting on them. Private schools do 4 teaching periods a day and it makes so much sense.