Does FCPS have any requirements for instructors regarding posting grades in timely fashion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stand up for the teachers. The reason they aren’t grassing work quickly is because they have to cover other teacher’s classes during their planning periods.

The ones who can't do their jobs had other excuses when they weren't covering other teachers' classes. It's really quite ridiculous and just breeds cynicism and a lack of respect on the part of students when teachers can't get their act together to post grades on a timely basis.

Is grading and posting grades more labor intensive now than they were in the 80s? Is it lack of time during the school day to grade work? Genuinely curious. We had larger classes where I went to school and teachers turn homework and tests around quicker. My MS and HS kid don’t get many assignments back u til after the unit tests or quizzes on the test topics. And much of what is returned isn’t actually checked for accuracy — just that work was done.

It is different because teachers have way more responsibilities than before. The amount of forced meetings, trainings, PD, admin tasks takes time away from grading and planning. This is a major reason why teachers are leaving. There is very little autonomy. I think if the county did the following there would be less burnout.

90 min planning blocks daily
Class Size Caps of 25
Stop CLTS and let teachers choose to meet and plan together.
Unencumbered TWD

I don’t teach high school, I teach Upper ES and can tell you I am drowning in work. I have 5 hours a week of planning and only 3 that are not in CLT meetings. 3 hours is not a lot to plan, grade, email parents, etc. I come in early every morning and do a few hours on Sunday. I have been teaching for awhile so luckily planning has become easier, but what teachers need is time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stand up for the teachers. The reason they aren’t grassing work quickly is because they have to cover other teacher’s classes during their planning periods.

The ones who can't do their jobs had other excuses when they weren't covering other teachers' classes. It's really quite ridiculous and just breeds cynicism and a lack of respect on the part of students when teachers can't get their act together to post grades on a timely basis.

Is grading and posting grades more labor intensive now than they were in the 80s? Is it lack of time during the school day to grade work? Genuinely curious. We had larger classes where I went to school and teachers turn homework and tests around quicker. My MS and HS kid don’t get many assignments back u til after the unit tests or quizzes on the test topics. And much of what is returned isn’t actually checked for accuracy — just that work was done.

It is different because teachers have way more responsibilities than before. The amount of forced meetings, trainings, PD, admin tasks takes time away from grading and planning. This is a major reason why teachers are leaving. There is very little autonomy. I think if the county did the following there would be less burnout.

90 min planning blocks daily
Class Size Caps of 25
Stop CLTS and let teachers choose to meet and plan together.
Unencumbered TWD

I don’t teach high school, I teach Upper ES and can tell you I am drowning in work. I have 5 hours a week of planning and only 3 that are not in CLT meetings. 3 hours is not a lot to plan, grade, email parents, etc. I come in early every morning and do a few hours on Sunday. I have been teaching for awhile so luckily planning has become easier, but what teachers need is time.

That plan would be great. The CT meetings are terrible and such a time suck.

Also, I would specify that administrators cannot require teachers to use their planning time for non-teaching activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stand up for the teachers. The reason they aren’t grassing work quickly is because they have to cover other teacher’s classes during their planning periods.

The ones who can't do their jobs had other excuses when they weren't covering other teachers' classes. It's really quite ridiculous and just breeds cynicism and a lack of respect on the part of students when teachers can't get their act together to post grades on a timely basis.

Is grading and posting grades more labor intensive now than they were in the 80s? Is it lack of time during the school day to grade work? Genuinely curious. We had larger classes where I went to school and teachers turn homework and tests around quicker. My MS and HS kid don’t get many assignments back u til after the unit tests or quizzes on the test topics. And much of what is returned isn’t actually checked for accuracy — just that work was done.

Near-retirement HS teacher here.
In the 80s and 90s, parents got one interim report in the middle of the quarter, then the report card.
SIS has been great in many ways, but it also makes parents think that every single grade should be immediately posted and is the most important grade ever. Nah.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stand up for the teachers. The reason they aren’t grassing work quickly is because they have to cover other teacher’s classes during their planning periods.

The ones who can't do their jobs had other excuses when they weren't covering other teachers' classes. It's really quite ridiculous and just breeds cynicism and a lack of respect on the part of students when teachers can't get their act together to post grades on a timely basis.

Is grading and posting grades more labor intensive now than they were in the 80s? Is it lack of time during the school day to grade work? Genuinely curious. We had larger classes where I went to school and teachers turn homework and tests around quicker. My MS and HS kid don’t get many assignments back u til after the unit tests or quizzes on the test topics. And much of what is returned isn’t actually checked for accuracy — just that work was done.

Near-retirement HS teacher here.
In the 80s and 90s, parents got one interim report in the middle of the quarter, then the report card.
SIS has been great in many ways, but it also makes parents think that every single grade should be immediately posted and is the most important grade ever. Nah.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stand up for the teachers. The reason they aren’t grassing work quickly is because they have to cover other teacher’s classes during their planning periods.

The ones who can't do their jobs had other excuses when they weren't covering other teachers' classes. It's really quite ridiculous and just breeds cynicism and a lack of respect on the part of students when teachers can't get their act together to post grades on a timely basis.

Do some math.
Let’s say Teacher has 125 students.
It takes him, on average, 4 meninges to grade each assignment and enter that student’s grade online.
125x4=500

For one assignment, we are already talking about about 8 hours of work.

So the teacher gets 2 45 minute planning periods per day, but is covering another teacher’s class (sub shortage) leaving 45 minutes per day of planning time. That time, of course, is only useful for practical matters: answering parent emails, reading all the emails that come in from the county and administration, tidying up the classroom, making copies, etc. actual lesson planning is more time intensive; maybe it’s done for a couple of hours after school a couple of times a week, or for 5-6 hours on Sundays.

So when is all this grading happening? For 2-3 hours a night a few nights a week. On weekends. Or over long weekends and teacher workdays. Maybe, like me, a teacher has been fighting a nasty virus for the last 10 days and doesn’t have the energy or brain power to spend a few hours grading at night. We get backed up. We do our best.

Maybe what “breeds cynicism” among students is not the fact that their teachers attend working 60 hour weeks and grossly overtaxed and over stressed, but the fact that parents like you are accusing them of not “getting their act together” rather than understanding that our class sizes are unreasonably large, our requirements to cover other people’s classes due to the teacher and sub shortage is leaving us with no time to plan or grade, and our colleagues are leaving the profession in droves because it all feels close to impossible right now?

Maybe you could reach out to the teacher and see if they need any support. Maybe you could be patient. Maybe you could be kind. Maybe you could stop speaking so derisively of the people who are trying their best to help your kid.

Let’s be real. Teachers assign work or projects for kids to do in class. That actually gives the teacher time to get work done while the kids are working. Generally in middle and high school kids can work without a teacher hovering. The teacher can sit at his/her desk to check emails and grade.

Lol that's not how teaching works.

That being said, OP have you approached the teacher?

But didn't you know? Parents think they know everything about teaching, since they were once students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has an elective with multiple time consuming assignments a week and the teacher has not posted any grades. There is no way she is going to be able to keep up with grading if she is struggling so much the first month. Plus, they have no idea if they are doing assignments properly and she avoids helping for the part they get done in class. Are there any requirements for posting? This is not like grading English assignments which is labor intensive.

If your kid is struggling, you and your kid need to communicate with the teacher. Stop posting “customer service complaints” on anonymous boards. FCPS schools can have many expectations and requirements of their teachers… and most of those have nothing to do with teaching. We are security guards, therapists, monitors, babysitters and behavioral managers. Be polite, respectful, and gracious when you communicate with your teacher, by the way, or you’ll poison the well for the rest of the year.

Already done graciously. Teacher said would appear over a week ago. Nada.

So then the purpose of your little internet rant is what exactly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a long-standing problem in FCPS with terrible consequences for students. But most teachers, particularly those who post here, will be incredibly defensive about it. They, quite frankly, do not seem to think that grading is important enough to prioritize over other tasks. And administrators must agree because there is never any change.

I'd lodge concerns, in writing, to the counselor and principle, but do not expect any change.

Because it’s not more important. How is grading more important than the actual lesson? And the other tasks, from admin, they are telling us that task is a priority…so grading comes later, much later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a long-standing problem in FCPS with terrible consequences for students. But most teachers, particularly those who post here, will be incredibly defensive about it. They, quite frankly, do not seem to think that grading is important enough to prioritize over other tasks. And administrators must agree because there is never any change.

I'd lodge concerns, in writing, to the counselor and principle, but do not expect any change.

Which task should we drop so we can grade? Should I drop planning lessons? That means I won’t be ready when your child shows up in my classroom on Monday. Should I drop logging and analyzing student data? That means I’ll have no idea how well your child is doing over them. Maybe I should drop parking lot duty and cafeteria duty, even though my contract dictates that I am responsible for fulfilling them. Maybe I should drop answering the tsunami of parent and student emails I get each day, or I should refuse to go to IEP meetings.

I get less than an hour of work time each day. I usually have over 5 hours of work to do. There’s the math and that’s the reason grading takes a while.

If you want more timely feedback, then join teachers in the fight for more reasonable workloads. I’ve worked 6 hours already today, on a Saturday. I’m nowhere near done.

The teachers here who refuse to work on weekends have the right idea. They are forcing an appropriate work/life balance while I’ll burn out and quit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a long-standing problem in FCPS with terrible consequences for students. But most teachers, particularly those who post here, will be incredibly defensive about it. They, quite frankly, do not seem to think that grading is important enough to prioritize over other tasks. And administrators must agree because there is never any change.

I'd lodge concerns, in writing, to the counselor and principle, but do not expect any change.

Which task should we drop so we can grade? Should I drop planning lessons? That means I won’t be ready when your child shows up in my classroom on Monday. Should I drop logging and analyzing student data? That means I’ll have no idea how well your child is doing over them. Maybe I should drop parking lot duty and cafeteria duty, even though my contract dictates that I am responsible for fulfilling them. Maybe I should drop answering the tsunami of parent and student emails I get each day, or I should refuse to go to IEP meetings.

I get less than an hour of work time each day. I usually have over 5 hours of work to do. There’s the math and that’s the reason grading takes a while.

If you want more timely feedback, then join teachers in the fight for more reasonable workloads. I’ve worked 6 hours already today, on a Saturday. I’m nowhere near done.

The teachers here who refuse to work on weekends have the right idea. They are forcing an appropriate work/life balance while I’ll burn out and quit.

Proving the OPs point. Sorry your job sucks. But that doesn’t change the fact that grading isn’t happening and childrens education is suffering because of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a long-standing problem in FCPS with terrible consequences for students. But most teachers, particularly those who post here, will be incredibly defensive about it. They, quite frankly, do not seem to think that grading is important enough to prioritize over other tasks. And administrators must agree because there is never any change.

I'd lodge concerns, in writing, to the counselor and principle, but do not expect any change.

Which task should we drop so we can grade? Should I drop planning lessons? That means I won’t be ready when your child shows up in my classroom on Monday. Should I drop logging and analyzing student data? That means I’ll have no idea how well your child is doing over them. Maybe I should drop parking lot duty and cafeteria duty, even though my contract dictates that I am responsible for fulfilling them. Maybe I should drop answering the tsunami of parent and student emails I get each day, or I should refuse to go to IEP meetings.

I get less than an hour of work time each day. I usually have over 5 hours of work to do. There’s the math and that’s the reason grading takes a while.

If you want more timely feedback, then join teachers in the fight for more reasonable workloads. I’ve worked 6 hours already today, on a Saturday. I’m nowhere near done.

The teachers here who refuse to work on weekends have the right idea. They are forcing an appropriate work/life balance while I’ll burn out and quit.

Proving the OPs point. Sorry your job sucks. But that doesn’t change the fact that grading isn’t happening and childrens education is suffering because of it.

If teachers’ jobs suck, if teachers are suffering, then “children’s education suffering” does seem a likely outcome. Do you expect teachers to suffer even more for the “sake of the kids?” Oh no no. This is a job, my friend. Those of us who have been beaten down by the likes of you and yours have no incentive to try and martyr ourselves for ungrateful folks who *expect* us to do sacrifice our own personal lives as a matter of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a long-standing problem in FCPS with terrible consequences for students. But most teachers, particularly those who post here, will be incredibly defensive about it. They, quite frankly, do not seem to think that grading is important enough to prioritize over other tasks. And administrators must agree because there is never any change.

I'd lodge concerns, in writing, to the counselor and principle, but do not expect any change.

Which task should we drop so we can grade? Should I drop planning lessons? That means I won’t be ready when your child shows up in my classroom on Monday. Should I drop logging and analyzing student data? That means I’ll have no idea how well your child is doing over them. Maybe I should drop parking lot duty and cafeteria duty, even though my contract dictates that I am responsible for fulfilling them. Maybe I should drop answering the tsunami of parent and student emails I get each day, or I should refuse to go to IEP meetings.

I get less than an hour of work time each day. I usually have over 5 hours of work to do. There’s the math and that’s the reason grading takes a while.

If you want more timely feedback, then join teachers in the fight for more reasonable workloads. I’ve worked 6 hours already today, on a Saturday. I’m nowhere near done.

The teachers here who refuse to work on weekends have the right idea. They are forcing an appropriate work/life balance while I’ll burn out and quit.

Proving the OPs point. Sorry your job sucks. But that doesn’t change the fact that grading isn’t happening and childrens education is suffering because of it.

Teaching these days is an absurdly impossible job. Most teachers have lives, families, and responsibilities outside of work and are unwilling to “volunteer” our time past the contracted hours for the pay we receive. Some have second jobs because of the pay they receive. A lot of teachers learn take shortcuts in order to stay afloat and even then, they have to let some things slide. It’s appalling, I know.

So kids aren’t receiving grades in a timely manner. If that’s your biggest concern, it shouldn’t be. You are focusing on a symptom of a much larger problem. It is possible that in fifteen years time, you will look back on these days and think how lucky your kids were to have teachers with college degrees, teachers who tried to plan interesting lessons for your kids, rather than high school graduates and military vets who are only equipped for babysitting duty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a long-standing problem in FCPS with terrible consequences for students. But most teachers, particularly those who post here, will be incredibly defensive about it. They, quite frankly, do not seem to think that grading is important enough to prioritize over other tasks. And administrators must agree because there is never any change.

I'd lodge concerns, in writing, to the counselor and principle, but do not expect any change.

Which task should we drop so we can grade? Should I drop planning lessons? That means I won’t be ready when your child shows up in my classroom on Monday. Should I drop logging and analyzing student data? That means I’ll have no idea how well your child is doing over them. Maybe I should drop parking lot duty and cafeteria duty, even though my contract dictates that I am responsible for fulfilling them. Maybe I should drop answering the tsunami of parent and student emails I get each day, or I should refuse to go to IEP meetings.

I get less than an hour of work time each day. I usually have over 5 hours of work to do. There’s the math and that’s the reason grading takes a while.

If you want more timely feedback, then join teachers in the fight for more reasonable workloads. I’ve worked 6 hours already today, on a Saturday. I’m nowhere near done.

The teachers here who refuse to work on weekends have the right idea. They are forcing an appropriate work/life balance while I’ll burn out and quit.

Proving the OPs point. Sorry your job sucks. But that doesn’t change the fact that grading isn’t happening and childrens education is suffering because of it.

If teachers’ jobs suck, if teachers are suffering, then “children’s education suffering” does seem a likely outcome. Do you expect teachers to suffer even more for the “sake of the kids?” Oh no no. This is a job, my friend. Those of us who have been beaten down by the likes of you and yours have no incentive to try and martyr ourselves for ungrateful folks who *expect* us to do sacrifice our own personal lives as a matter of course.

+1, I’m not working more hours than I already am for “the sake of the kids.” If they are suffering that is the parents problem. I’m working 50 hours a week and that’s my limit. No it’s in the parents to find the solution or pressure FCPS to find one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a long-standing problem in FCPS with terrible consequences for students. But most teachers, particularly those who post here, will be incredibly defensive about it. They, quite frankly, do not seem to think that grading is important enough to prioritize over other tasks. And administrators must agree because there is never any change.

I'd lodge concerns, in writing, to the counselor and principle, but do not expect any change.

Which task should we drop so we can grade? Should I drop planning lessons? That means I won’t be ready when your child shows up in my classroom on Monday. Should I drop logging and analyzing student data? That means I’ll have no idea how well your child is doing over them. Maybe I should drop parking lot duty and cafeteria duty, even though my contract dictates that I am responsible for fulfilling them. Maybe I should drop answering the tsunami of parent and student emails I get each day, or I should refuse to go to IEP meetings.

I get less than an hour of work time each day. I usually have over 5 hours of work to do. There’s the math and that’s the reason grading takes a while.

If you want more timely feedback, then join teachers in the fight for more reasonable workloads. I’ve worked 6 hours already today, on a Saturday. I’m nowhere near done.

The teachers here who refuse to work on weekends have the right idea. They are forcing an appropriate work/life balance while I’ll burn out and quit.

Proving the OPs point. Sorry your job sucks. But that doesn’t change the fact that grading isn’t happening and childrens education is suffering because of it.

If teachers’ jobs suck, if teachers are suffering, then “children’s education suffering” does seem a likely outcome. Do you expect teachers to suffer even more for the “sake of the kids?” Oh no no. This is a job, my friend. Those of us who have been beaten down by the likes of you and yours have no incentive to try and martyr ourselves for ungrateful folks who *expect* us to do sacrifice our own personal lives as a matter of course.

+1, I’m not working more hours than I already am for “the sake of the kids.” If they are suffering that is the parents problem. I’m working 50 hours a week and that’s my limit. No it’s in the parents to find the solution or pressure FCPS to find one.

Yes. Parents should be pushing for teachers to have better working conditions so they can do their jobs effectively. This is why teachers want collective bargaining. Class Sizes and Planning time are the two main topics. With collective bargaining teachers can set the limits or be paid accordingly for extra students/work. Teachers can get control back of their planning time. Which both will trickle down to benefit students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a long-standing problem in FCPS with terrible consequences for students. But most teachers, particularly those who post here, will be incredibly defensive about it. They, quite frankly, do not seem to think that grading is important enough to prioritize over other tasks. And administrators must agree because there is never any change.

I'd lodge concerns, in writing, to the counselor and principle, but do not expect any change.

Which task should we drop so we can grade? Should I drop planning lessons? That means I won’t be ready when your child shows up in my classroom on Monday. Should I drop logging and analyzing student data? That means I’ll have no idea how well your child is doing over them. Maybe I should drop parking lot duty and cafeteria duty, even though my contract dictates that I am responsible for fulfilling them. Maybe I should drop answering the tsunami of parent and student emails I get each day, or I should refuse to go to IEP meetings.

I get less than an hour of work time each day. I usually have over 5 hours of work to do. There’s the math and that’s the reason grading takes a while.

If you want more timely feedback, then join teachers in the fight for more reasonable workloads. I’ve worked 6 hours already today, on a Saturday. I’m nowhere near done.

The teachers here who refuse to work on weekends have the right idea. They are forcing an appropriate work/life balance while I’ll burn out and quit.

Proving the OPs point. Sorry your job sucks. But that doesn’t change the fact that grading isn’t happening and childrens education is suffering because of it.

If teachers’ jobs suck, if teachers are suffering, then “children’s education suffering” does seem a likely outcome. Do you expect teachers to suffer even more for the “sake of the kids?” Oh no no. This is a job, my friend. Those of us who have been beaten down by the likes of you and yours have no incentive to try and martyr ourselves for ungrateful folks who *expect* us to do sacrifice our own personal lives as a matter of course.

+1, I’m not working more hours than I already am for “the sake of the kids.” If they are suffering that is the parents problem. I’m working 50 hours a week and that’s my limit. No it’s in the parents to find the solution or pressure FCPS to find one.

Yes. Parents should be pushing for teachers to have better working conditions so they can do their jobs effectively. This is why teachers want collective bargaining. Class Sizes and Planning time are the two main topics. With collective bargaining teachers can set the limits or be paid accordingly for extra students/work. Teachers can get control back of their planning time. Which both will trickle down to benefit students.

Yup. There is also major discrepancy on class size throughout the county. In my own school alone, Our grade has about 8 extra kids than other classes. So my work load is going to be higher and I get paid the same amount as someone with less students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a long-standing problem in FCPS with terrible consequences for students. But most teachers, particularly those who post here, will be incredibly defensive about it. They, quite frankly, do not seem to think that grading is important enough to prioritize over other tasks. And administrators must agree because there is never any change.

I'd lodge concerns, in writing, to the counselor and principle, but do not expect any change.

Which task should we drop so we can grade? Should I drop planning lessons? That means I won’t be ready when your child shows up in my classroom on Monday. Should I drop logging and analyzing student data? That means I’ll have no idea how well your child is doing over them. Maybe I should drop parking lot duty and cafeteria duty, even though my contract dictates that I am responsible for fulfilling them. Maybe I should drop answering the tsunami of parent and student emails I get each day, or I should refuse to go to IEP meetings.

I get less than an hour of work time each day. I usually have over 5 hours of work to do. There’s the math and that’s the reason grading takes a while.

If you want more timely feedback, then join teachers in the fight for more reasonable workloads. I’ve worked 6 hours already today, on a Saturday. I’m nowhere near done.

The teachers here who refuse to work on weekends have the right idea. They are forcing an appropriate work/life balance while I’ll burn out and quit.

Proving the OPs point. Sorry your job sucks. But that doesn’t change the fact that grading isn’t happening and childrens education is suffering because of it.

If teachers’ jobs suck, if teachers are suffering, then “children’s education suffering” does seem a likely outcome. Do you expect teachers to suffer even more for the “sake of the kids?” Oh no no. This is a job, my friend. Those of us who have been beaten down by the likes of you and yours have no incentive to try and martyr ourselves for ungrateful folks who *expect* us to do sacrifice our own personal lives as a matter of course.

+1, I’m not working more hours than I already am for “the sake of the kids.” If they are suffering that is the parents problem. I’m working 50 hours a week and that’s my limit. No it’s in the parents to find the solution or pressure FCPS to find one.

So you aren't grading work, knowing it adversely affects children, in an effort to pressure admin to do something? You are using the kids to further your efforts to enact change. How did you feel about the asylum seekers being shipped to Martha's Vineyard?