Middle School parents: does your kid’s school work get read and graded?

[Anonymous]

In three of the four core subjects, my kid doesn't have daily homework. When homework is assigned, it's something like a science lab to finish up, a current events write up, a short essay in English, etc. Those items are graded.

In math, on the other hand, there is homework assigned each class and it is not graded for anything other than completion. I'm ok with that...I want the emphasis to be on the attempt, so that my kid has something to look at as they go over the homework in class and she can see where she went wrong (if she did). I don't want her to stress that she's going to get a poor grade if she doesn't fully understand a concept, and think that in that case she might as well not try in the first place. The incentive to do the work for just a completion stamp is that if you don't, you aren't eligible for retakes on the unit test and most of the kids want to keep that door open.

[Anonymous]

Any poster who doesn’t understand why teachers don’t do X needs to get a long term sub job ASAP. You will understand, I promise. ( Also, fcps needs more subs, so win-win!

[Anonymous]

My MCPS 7th grader has his homework checked and graded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's suppose your kid's teacher has 120 students and each of them turn in an assignment each day. If the teacher takes just one minute to read it over and one minute to comment, grade, and record that assignment, that's 240 minutes, or 4 hours of grading. While it's theoretically possible to fit that into a day with planning periods, before-school hours, and after-school work, it's not the highest and best use of a teacher's time. Better to have the teacher planning engaging lessons, meeting with students who have fallen behind, communicating with parents, and grading fewer but more meaningful assignments.

Then don’t assign homework! I am ok with not receiving homework but if children have it and do it, then it needs to be fully graded. How will the child know what he or she is doing right if no one corrects them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What has changed? Teachers used to have a few meetings every once in a while. Now I have IEP, 504, SST, IDP and retention meetings during my planning. We also have data meetings and meetings to prepay for other meetings. I also have to spend my planning times to enter all of the data into an antiquated data tracking system as well as send home progress reports every two weeks for my students who are below grade level (80% of our students fit this category). I also spend my planning time attending meetings with parents who make excuses for their child’s bad behavior insisting that little Larla doesn’t like to _____ (go to school, do her homework, go to bed, do schoolwork, etc). I also have my own IDP meeting, my pre and post observation conferences as well as write my SLO (6+ hours) and find artifacts that show I am meeting all of my professional responsibilities. Yeah, so grading comes now after my kids are in bed. I’ll log onto our online grading portal and it will either freeze or not save and hours of work will be wasted. I’m pretty sure my teachers didn’t have to do any of this BS.

Which school system is this?

Baltimore City

[Anonymous]

I’ve taught middle and high school math. Homework solutions are uploaded and students are expected to check the answers themselves then we go over some of the problems together in class. I can’t grade nightly homework for over 120 students because it would not give them timely feedback and each lesson builds upon the last. The math classes in elementary have around 30 students and problems are shorter. That’s why homework can be corrected.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is in 6th grade, and her homework is read/graded. Even her summer reading projects were read and graded. This is a private school though. Guess the tuition is worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in 6th grade, and her homework is read/graded. Even her summer reading projects were read and graded. This is a private school though. Guess the tuition is worth it.

+1

[Anonymous]

6th grade core subject teacher here (public school, not DC). I probably only really read 2-3 assignments a month. I have 165 students and try to translate some work into multiple languages. It is insane and unsustainable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the goal of the assignment. Teachers often want to give wiggle room for formative assignments when students are new to concepts. The idea is to learn something through the assignment, not to be perfect out of the gate. Also, with 120-150 students and class work and homework every day, teachers have to be picky about what they grade or they’d be under a mountain of paperwork.

Thank you for responding. I understand they have too many students and not enough time to read/grade assignments, but teachers used to. At least when I was growing up. Anyway, I just wanted to see what the “norm” was. Philosophically, I feel it’s wrong to assign work, ask students to do their best, and then not even read or make a comment on it.

The consequences of this are important. I don't see many students trying very hard because they know their efforts won’t be seen or rewarded. It strikes me as unfair to all students.

speaking as an English teacher, grading HW & writing tasks and assessing comprehension on assigned texts??

A killer

I'm three years shy of retirement & I'm getting out bc I can't fight ignorance for much longer.

I know you don't get it, PP, but it's you times hundreds each year.

[Anonymous]

Class sizes are no bigger than they were when I was in school, and my teachers would grade every assignment we turned in.

What has changed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class sizes are no bigger than they were when I was in school, and my teachers would grade every assignment we turned in.

What has changed?

I’m OP. That’s my thought as well, but one PP explained all the burdens teacher now have in regards to IEPs, etc. it’s taken away their time to grade work.

[Anonymous]

My 6th grader in MCPS doesn’t have any of her assignments graded other than for completion. Except for in band, where the teacher will make comments.

This is why we got her a writing tutor! The tutor goes over all the assignments. Expensive, but cheaper than private school.