Changes to 50 percent rule rolling out at Whitman; also at other MCPS high schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid got zeros on a few assignments with no communication from the teacher. There is no consistency in the way this is applied.

Why didn’t you contact the teacher?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Even within Blair, different departments are interpreting the rule differently."

https://silverchips.mbhs.edu/content/mcps-rolls-out-new-mid-year-regulations-allowing-zeros-to-return-to-gradebooks-36377/

*sigh*

This discretion that is afforded to different schools, let alone different departments in the same school, is one reason why MCPS is so dysfunctional and difficult for families to maneuver.

There isn't "discretion". The regulation was changed in the fall to roll in and codify some of the changes implemented during the pandemic, to go back to some previous procedures, and to remove all links between attendance and grades per state level direction. Schools were directed to communicate with their communities directly.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/ikara.pdf

In our HS there has been a little too much flexibility and different teachers implemented certain things differently. Now there are some particular things that will be consistent per the regulation.

What are those thiings?

And why let schools do this directly when it's a systemwide change and in an age where information flows freely and speedily, word will get out if one school publishes the news, as Whitman and Blair have, but others don't.

Why does MCPS suck at communications so bad? What is Chris Cram doing?

So whiny ...

If different schools were operating with different policies, then they each need individual messaging to describe the shift to the new policy.

From RM's global announcement:
Due Date/Deadline/Cut off Policy:
By Due Date - Full Credit

By Deadline (-10%): After the due date, late work will receive a 10% penalty until the deadline.
** The change is that this must be applied consistently by all teachers.

After the deadline, but by Cutoff 1 (Interim)/By Cutoff 2 (End of Quarter) (50%)
After the deadline, students have until the cutoff date to turn in assignments. Zs will remain until the final day of the cutoff.
Cutoff 1 is at interims: Work from the first half of the marking period turned in after the deadline but before the interim can receive 50%.
Cutoff 2 is at the end of the marking period: Work from the second half of the marking period turned in after the deadline but before the end of the marking period can receive 50%.

Missing (0%)
After the cutoff, missing work will result in a zero. Zs will be converted to zeros."
** This must also be applied consistently.

This is too complicated. I try to do it myself, but it is a crazy amount of work once communication is added in. Teachers can’t enter Z’s and INC in MYMCPS. We have to manually overwrite the grades sent over to Synergy. It requires about a minute per individual assignment grade due delays in the system so most do it. I usually only do it on teacher grading days.

This is unconscionable. Instead of teaching, grading or planning, our teachers are wasting their time being "mechanical Turks" to cover the ass of the vendor of crappy overpriced broken by design software.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The MCPS Quicknotes says there have not been changes to the 50% rule:

"Currently, there are no changes in the regulation to the 50 percent rule. Revisions have been made to Regulation IKA-RA, Grading and Reporting to include the updated requirements for End-of-Course exams and practices that notify students about missing assignments and opportunities for reassessment. Please visit this website to read the revised Regulation IKA-RA."

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/news/quick-notes/2024-01/jan.-31-2024/end-of-course-exam-reminder-and-update-on-the-grading-and-reporting-regulation/

This is seriously confusing. Clearly there’s a change because Blair and Whitman and the MCEA confirmed there’s a change. I also reached out to admin at my school they confirmed the change but said they’re still meeting internally on how the school will respond to the change.

So is MCPS lying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The MCPS Quicknotes says there have not been changes to the 50% rule:

"Currently, there are no changes in the regulation to the 50 percent rule. Revisions have been made to Regulation IKA-RA, Grading and Reporting to include the updated requirements for End-of-Course exams and practices that notify students about missing assignments and opportunities for reassessment. Please visit this website to read the revised Regulation IKA-RA."

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/news/quick-notes/2024-01/jan.-31-2024/end-of-course-exam-reminder-and-update-on-the-grading-and-reporting-regulation/

To be clear, the 2-way communication requirement was removed last year, per the grading memo, but not all schools implemented it. Putting last years memo into the updated regulation last fall, wasn’t a “change”, except that now schools were asked to actually implement that change if they hadn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got zeros on a few assignments with no communication from the teacher. There is no consistency in the way this is applied.

Why didn’t you contact the teacher?

Because this is HS not ES?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Even within Blair, different departments are interpreting the rule differently."

https://silverchips.mbhs.edu/content/mcps-rolls-out-new-mid-year-regulations-allowing-zeros-to-return-to-gradebooks-36377/

*sigh*

This discretion that is afforded to different schools, let alone different departments in the same school, is one reason why MCPS is so dysfunctional and difficult for families to maneuver.

There isn't "discretion". The regulation was changed in the fall to roll in and codify some of the changes implemented during the pandemic, to go back to some previous procedures, and to remove all links between attendance and grades per state level direction. Schools were directed to communicate with their communities directly.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/ikara.pdf

In our HS there has been a little too much flexibility and different teachers implemented certain things differently. Now there are some particular things that will be consistent per the regulation.

What are those thiings?

And why let schools do this directly when it's a systemwide change and in an age where information flows freely and speedily, word will get out if one school publishes the news, as Whitman and Blair have, but others don't.

Why does MCPS suck at communications so bad? What is Chris Cram doing?

So whiny ...

If different schools were operating with different policies, then they each need individual messaging to describe the shift to the new policy.

From RM's global announcement:
Due Date/Deadline/Cut off Policy:
By Due Date - Full Credit

By Deadline (-10%): After the due date, late work will receive a 10% penalty until the deadline.
** The change is that this must be applied consistently by all teachers.

After the deadline, but by Cutoff 1 (Interim)/By Cutoff 2 (End of Quarter) (50%)
After the deadline, students have until the cutoff date to turn in assignments. Zs will remain until the final day of the cutoff.
Cutoff 1 is at interims: Work from the first half of the marking period turned in after the deadline but before the interim can receive 50%.
Cutoff 2 is at the end of the marking period: Work from the second half of the marking period turned in after the deadline but before the end of the marking period can receive 50%.

Missing (0%)
After the cutoff, missing work will result in a zero. Zs will be converted to zeros."
** This must also be applied consistently.

This is too complicated. I try to do it myself, but it is a crazy amount of work once communication is added in. Teachers can’t enter Z’s and INC in MYMCPS. We have to manually overwrite the grades sent over to Synergy. It requires about a minute per individual assignment grade due delays in the system so most do it. I usually only do it on teacher grading days.

This is unconscionable. Instead of teaching, grading or planning, our teachers are wasting their time being "mechanical Turks" to cover the ass of the vendor of crappy overpriced broken by design software.

Thank you!

Another thank you for posting that. MCPS is really one of the worst organizations I have seen for technology. Nothing works the way it's logically supposed to work and it creates so much distress for teachers, students and parents. I wish they would hire new designers and bosses because they are the ones designing these terrible systems that could easily be programmed to actually make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got zeros on a few assignments with no communication from the teacher. There is no consistency in the way this is applied.

Why didn’t you contact the teacher?

Because this is HS not ES?

Child did with no response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The MCPS Quicknotes says there have not been changes to the 50% rule:

"Currently, there are no changes in the regulation to the 50 percent rule. Revisions have been made to Regulation IKA-RA, Grading and Reporting to include the updated requirements for End-of-Course exams and practices that notify students about missing assignments and opportunities for reassessment. Please visit this website to read the revised Regulation IKA-RA."

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/news/quick-notes/2024-01/jan.-31-2024/end-of-course-exam-reminder-and-update-on-the-grading-and-reporting-regulation/

To be clear, the 2-way communication requirement was removed last year, per the grading memo, but not all schools implemented it. Putting last years memo into the updated regulation last fall, wasn’t a “change”, except that now schools were asked to actually implement that change if they hadn’t.

Then this MCPS communication is confusing the matter. They know many schools didn’t implement the change in policy last year, so the lede should not be that the rule hasn’t changed. It should be that a new rule was passed last year and is being implemented this year in all schools. What they wrote is going to make it harder for schools to give zeros, not easier. (Maybe that is the point? Or it’s just incompetence.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The MCPS Quicknotes says there have not been changes to the 50% rule:

"Currently, there are no changes in the regulation to the 50 percent rule. Revisions have been made to Regulation IKA-RA, Grading and Reporting to include the updated requirements for End-of-Course exams and practices that notify students about missing assignments and opportunities for reassessment. Please visit this website to read the revised Regulation IKA-RA."

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/news/quick-notes/2024-01/jan.-31-2024/end-of-course-exam-reminder-and-update-on-the-grading-and-reporting-regulation/

To be clear, the 2-way communication requirement was removed last year, per the grading memo, but not all schools implemented it. Putting last years memo into the updated regulation last fall, wasn’t a “change”, except that now schools were asked to actually implement that change if they hadn’t.

Then this MCPS communication is confusing the matter. They know many schools didn’t implement the change in policy last year, so the lede should not be that the rule hasn’t changed. It should be that a new rule was passed last year and is being implemented this year in all schools. What they wrote is going to make it harder for schools to give zeros, not easier. (Maybe that is the point? Or it’s just incompetence.)

Seriously. This is further corroborated by SMOB Sami Saeed's post where he RECAPS the changes to the revision:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C2xxCJ5P48N/?img_index=1

MCPS comms is a failure. Why do they suck at their job this much?