Late with grades

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or perhaps the teacher cannot get all of the grading done during contracted school hours and their normal amount of extra time in the evenings and weekends.

Lol. Let me guess you’re a teacher?

Not that poster, but anyone with a pulse knows that MCPS can’t supply enough subs this year and teachers are forced to spend their planning periods “covering” absent teachers’ classes. Maybe you can sign up to sub?

NP here. I’m not a teacher, but honest question…do teachers need to plan lessons every year?, I was under the impression that once a teacher plans a lesson (at the start of their career) it’s pretty much a repeat lesson every year, so there’s really not much planning involved during the subsequent years. Im asking a genuine question, please no snarky comments!

I’m a 3rd year teacher and I do all the planning for my science content area. I have no one else to share the planning with.
I spend a ton of time on planning (weekends + evenings).
I teach 3 different classes and I keep trying to improve my content.
Trying to teach is way harder than I expected.

I teach social studies. I probably overhaul 75% of my lessons each year. Some of it is tweaking because I’m a perfectionist. However, a good teacher adjusts to meet students and we get different kids each year so we have to adjust to suit them. I do a particular project every October that requires research. As soon as the new MAP-R scores come out, I check them so that I select appropriate research materials. I have to do this every year to ensure that the range I select isn’t too easy (and boring) or too difficult (and therefore unusable). Also, MCPS sometimes drops a database subscription or bans a website used previously so I need to find substitutes that we still can access. Then, I have to rewrite the directions and other materials to reflect the specific resources used that year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It's extremely deleterious for students' progress to not have their work back and be able to understand corrections in a timely manner. Beyond the quarter grading issue, it's a question of learning: they're learning so much at such speed in high school, that coming back to an essay or math unit from last month will seriously impact their memorization of facts and methods.

Most of my child's high school teachers grade in a timely manner. He's a senior, so he's had LOTS of high school teachers. There is absolutely NO excuse for late grading and MCPS should not allow it at all.

MCPS is never going to come down hard on late grading because it relies too much on teachers willingness to work unpaid late nights and weekends. If they tried to crackdown, most teachers will drop the extras they do now like sponsoring after school clubs or writing recommendations. MCPS would also have to account for how infrequently teachers get to keep their planning periods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, teachers have 3 weeks to grade an assignment. The only thing your kid should be asking about is any assignment that is retake-able. But otherwise, she completed the assignments and they will be graded. If you daughter’s grade drops, then she can consider what to do differently next quarter so that she knows she is turning in work that meets A level work.

THREE WEEKS?! Should be 3 days, what $&@“! Came up with that rule?

Teachers should be able to grade a multiple choice assessment within three days. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my children only taking multiple choice assessments. I don’t know how the English teachers do it. They must be grading constantly. DD is in AP Lang. She gets feedback on 2-3 rough drafts within days. The final draft can’t be redone so we don’t worry if it takes three weeks to grade it.

Timely feedback shouldn’t trump meaningful feedback. Four days of instruction per week could be the solution to a current lack of time for teachers to grade essays, lab reports, and projects. If every Monday was a grading day, it would be more reasonable to expect someone to grade over 100 five paragraph essays in a week or two. However, it would just be ridiculous to expect that to be done in three days.

For perspective, I was a TA during grad school. Most undergrad courses in my department that used TAs had 25-30 students per section. Most courses had only four grades., typically two to three assignments before finals. Usually a couple tests and a five page paper. We had two weeks turn around time during the semester to grade 30 tests or essays. I could do three a night for ten days in order to meet that expectation. Retakes we’re not a thing, which means that once I graded all of an assignment, it was over. At the end of the semester, we had three days to grade only 25-30 finals with no other responsibilities.

Most MCPS teachers have 120-150 students and just 2-4 days per semester to grade with no other responsibilities. They have a lot more than four assignments per semester. The minimum is one per week. Not all will be essays or tests, but for the sake of argument, let’s say three tests per marking period. One every three weeks. To finish grading 150 tests in two weeks, a teacher has to do 15 a night for ten days to meet that expectation. That is five times what I had to do as a TA. Plus, MCPS allows redos. Even if a teacher graded 15 tests a night for ten days, the week between grading one test and assigning the next would be filled with grading retakes.

[Anonymous]

Thanks PP for the numerical reality check. Well explained!

[Anonymous]

If parents want teachers to grade faster, you should ask MCPS Central to give us less busy work.
Between the constant useless trainings and meetings, covering for teachers who are out and filling out special Ed forms, attending IEP meetings, providing extra help to students, sponsoring a club, answering parent emails, etc., the only time I can grade and plan is evenings and weekends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think teachers should be punished for late grades, but I do agree that they should prioritize getting things back to students earlier. If a student gets a C on a test but doesn't find out about it until weeks later, that seems like a missed opportunity to actually ask questions on what they got wrong and try to fix their errors of thinking before the next batch of assignments/tests. Perhaps there should be fewer assignments or less cr*p for teachers to focus on so that they could focus on providing feedback, one of the major mechanisms of student learning.

This is reasonable, but there are only so many hours in a day, and class coverage is taking priority.

This was sent to us at our school recently:

Class Coverage
Cooperation is expected. Many hands make light work.

It is not optional.

Content specialists deliver coverage slips daily.

Staff are not to discuss, complain, or negotiate with the secretaries.

I would never work in a district like that. My union says it is optional to cover for another teacher. I say no thanks.

Teacher here. Are you comfortable sharing which district? I plan on leaving MCPS because I do not see a light at the end of the tunnel here with being overworked everyday while trying to raise my child at home. I'm at a breaking point. Is it better elsewhere in MD? Please tell me so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, teachers have 3 weeks to grade an assignment. The only thing your kid should be asking about is any assignment that is retake-able. But otherwise, she completed the assignments and they will be graded. If you daughter’s grade drops, then she can consider what to do differently next quarter so that she knows she is turning in work that meets A level work.

THREE WEEKS?! Should be 3 days, what $&@“! Came up with that rule?

Teachers should be able to grade a multiple choice assessment within three days. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my children only taking multiple choice assessments. I don’t know how the English teachers do it. They must be grading constantly. DD is in AP Lang. She gets feedback on 2-3 rough drafts within days. The final draft can’t be redone so we don’t worry if it takes three weeks to grade it.

Timely feedback shouldn’t trump meaningful feedback. Four days of instruction per week could be the solution to a current lack of time for teachers to grade essays, lab reports, and projects. If every Monday was a grading day, it would be more reasonable to expect someone to grade over 100 five paragraph essays in a week or two. However, it would just be ridiculous to expect that to be done in three days.

For perspective, I was a TA during grad school. Most undergrad courses in my department that used TAs had 25-30 students per section. Most courses had only four grades., typically two to three assignments before finals. Usually a couple tests and a five page paper. We had two weeks turn around time during the semester to grade 30 tests or essays. I could do three a night for ten days in order to meet that expectation. Retakes we’re not a thing, which means that once I graded all of an assignment, it was over. At the end of the semester, we had three days to grade only 25-30 finals with no other responsibilities.

Most MCPS teachers have 120-150 students and just 2-4 days per semester to grade with no other responsibilities. They have a lot more than four assignments per semester. The minimum is one per week. Not all will be essays or tests, but for the sake of argument, let’s say three tests per marking period. One every three weeks. To finish grading 150 tests in two weeks, a teacher has to do 15 a night for ten days to meet that expectation. That is five times what I had to do as a TA. Plus, MCPS allows redos. Even if a teacher graded 15 tests a night for ten days, the week between grading one test and assigning the next would be filled with grading retakes.

Yes! When the pandemic hit, I had to take home over 120+ science fair boards to grade. IN MY CAR because I wasn't allowed to grade in the building (even though no one was there except admin). Then I had to LUG them ALLL back for kids to pick up if they wanted to. Only one did. That took me forever. If I assign an essay, I want to provide meaningful feedback. 120+ essays to grade WITH feedback plus all other duties is very very hard so hard to get back in a timely manner. Expect weeks for any teacher - unless they aren't really providing feedback. We really need more hands on deck or smaller class sizes otherwise we all are going to crash and burn.