All secondary classes will have homework next year(even PE)

[Anonymous]

The kids who were able to retake to 100 this year in AP classes had an advantage. Not fair. Now next year other kids taking AP classes can’t. FCPS sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kids who were able to retake to 100 this year in AP classes had an advantage. Not fair. Now next year other kids taking AP classes can’t. FCPS sucks.

FCPS got it wrong this year. It was chaos trying to retest all those kids who absolutely needed an A to be able to function properly. This area is so twisted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kids who were able to retake to 100 this year in AP classes had an advantage. Not fair. Now next year other kids taking AP classes can’t. FCPS sucks.

Are you 16?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The homework is a small part of the grade and I don’t think that adding homework to all classes is a bad thing. MY kid had homework in 7th grade this year, 90% of the time he could finish it in school. He had friends who were working on it at home. I don’t think this is a huge change for Honors and AAP classes.

What thrills me is that they are starting to course correct the retakes. No more 100% retake options. You have to score below a 90% and can only earn up to a 90%. I would guess that they choose that threshold because the majority of retakes were kids scoring 90-93% and wanting an A.

If true that majority of retakes were kids who scored 90-93 and don’t want them to be able to retake, then stop ALL retakes. But if a B+ kid can retake to get an A- and a B kid can retake to get an A- and so on down the line, then an A- kid should be able to retake to improve their grade too. Either allow grade improvement for all or just shut retakes down entirely, which the latter is what assume teachers would prefer.

I agree with this. It’s not fair the A kids are punished. If they get an A- they now aren’t allowed to improve their grade. Meanwhile all the other idiots can get up to an A-. Not fair.

+1. A student can get a 91% and they aren’t allowed to retake, yet another student could get a 68% and do the retake to get a 90%— almost an identical grade to the first student.

I would guess that less then 5% of the kids who had a C or D grade that retook a test ended up with a 90% or higher. The kids who normally do well in school and had an off day because they were sick or something upsetting happened are the ones who would retake and score what they normally scored. The kid who regularly scores a 68% and is retaking probably ends up with a 70something grade, maybe a low B. But it doesn't matter because those were not the majority of kids retakign exams. The teachers on this board said that the majority of kids retaking exams were kids with a high B, low A- that wanted to get an A. Dropping the max score to a 90% means that the kids who had been retaking to get the A no longer can and it saves the teachers a ton of work.

I know from talking to my friends with MS and HS kids this year that a number of them commented that their kid would blow off studying for one test to focus on a second test because they knew they could make up the other test. They tended to ignore the class they were stronger in in the hopes of doing well enough to not have to retake but knowing that it would be easier for them to do the work to retake then the harder class. Changing the threshold means that the kids who were full on gaming the system will have to study for both tests and not blow one off because they can retake to an A.

[Anonymous]

A lot of SpEd kids needed a retake as they often don’t test well in timed, anxiety ridden tests. They did study for the first test but just didn’t do well. The retakes helped.

[Anonymous]

This site is so helpful for understanding FCPS's changes each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of SpEd kids needed a retake as they often don’t test well in timed, anxiety ridden tests. They did study for the first test but just didn’t do well. The retakes helped.

Except when teachers were tied up retesting kids with 75-89%. My sped kid gave up on getting remedial help. The process was too bogged down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The homework is a small part of the grade and I don’t think that adding homework to all classes is a bad thing. MY kid had homework in 7th grade this year, 90% of the time he could finish it in school. He had friends who were working on it at home. I don’t think this is a huge change for Honors and AAP classes.

What thrills me is that they are starting to course correct the retakes. No more 100% retake options. You have to score below a 90% and can only earn up to a 90%. I would guess that they choose that threshold because the majority of retakes were kids scoring 90-93% and wanting an A.

If true that majority of retakes were kids who scored 90-93 and don’t want them to be able to retake, then stop ALL retakes. But if a B+ kid can retake to get an A- and a B kid can retake to get an A- and so on down the line, then an A- kid should be able to retake to improve their grade too. Either allow grade improvement for all or just shut retakes down entirely, which the latter is what assume teachers would prefer.

I agree with this. It’s not fair the A kids are punished. If they get an A- they now aren’t allowed to improve their grade. Meanwhile all the other idiots can get up to an A-. Not fair.

+1. A student can get a 91% and they aren’t allowed to retake, yet another student could get a 68% and do the retake to get a 90%— almost an identical grade to the first student.

I would guess that less then 5% of the kids who had a C or D grade that retook a test ended up with a 90% or higher. The kids who normally do well in school and had an off day because they were sick or something upsetting happened are the ones who would retake and score what they normally scored. The kid who regularly scores a 68% and is retaking probably ends up with a 70something grade, maybe a low B. But it doesn't matter because those were not the majority of kids retakign exams. The teachers on this board said that the majority of kids retaking exams were kids with a high B, low A- that wanted to get an A. Dropping the max score to a 90% means that the kids who had been retaking to get the A no longer can and it saves the teachers a ton of work.

I know from talking to my friends with MS and HS kids this year that a number of them commented that their kid would blow off studying for one test to focus on a second test because they knew they could make up the other test. They tended to ignore the class they were stronger in in the hopes of doing well enough to not have to retake but knowing that it would be easier for them to do the work to retake then the harder class. Changing the threshold means that the kids who were full on gaming the system will have to study for both tests and not blow one off because they can retake to an A.

Kids aren’t “gaming the system” when they are acting within the exact parameters that FCPS gives them. What is gaming the system is not allowing all students to improve and arbitrarily designating a percent above which FCPS says no improvement allowed. Either all allowed or shut it all down and based on teacher input, shut all retakes down. IEP kids that need more time and other assistance for tests can separately be handled according to their plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The homework is a small part of the grade and I don’t think that adding homework to all classes is a bad thing. MY kid had homework in 7th grade this year, 90% of the time he could finish it in school. He had friends who were working on it at home. I don’t think this is a huge change for Honors and AAP classes.

What thrills me is that they are starting to course correct the retakes. No more 100% retake options. You have to score below a 90% and can only earn up to a 90%. I would guess that they choose that threshold because the majority of retakes were kids scoring 90-93% and wanting an A.

If true that majority of retakes were kids who scored 90-93 and don’t want them to be able to retake, then stop ALL retakes. But if a B+ kid can retake to get an A- and a B kid can retake to get an A- and so on down the line, then an A- kid should be able to retake to improve their grade too. Either allow grade improvement for all or just shut retakes down entirely, which the latter is what assume teachers would prefer.

I agree with this. It’s not fair the A kids are punished. If they get an A- they now aren’t allowed to improve their grade. Meanwhile all the other idiots can get up to an A-. Not fair.

+1. A student can get a 91% and they aren’t allowed to retake, yet another student could get a 68% and do the retake to get a 90%— almost an identical grade to the first student.

I would guess that less then 5% of the kids who had a C or D grade that retook a test ended up with a 90% or higher. The kids who normally do well in school and had an off day because they were sick or something upsetting happened are the ones who would retake and score what they normally scored. The kid who regularly scores a 68% and is retaking probably ends up with a 70something grade, maybe a low B. But it doesn't matter because those were not the majority of kids retakign exams. The teachers on this board said that the majority of kids retaking exams were kids with a high B, low A- that wanted to get an A. Dropping the max score to a 90% means that the kids who had been retaking to get the A no longer can and it saves the teachers a ton of work.

I know from talking to my friends with MS and HS kids this year that a number of them commented that their kid would blow off studying for one test to focus on a second test because they knew they could make up the other test. They tended to ignore the class they were stronger in in the hopes of doing well enough to not have to retake but knowing that it would be easier for them to do the work to retake then the harder class. Changing the threshold means that the kids who were full on gaming the system will have to study for both tests and not blow one off because they can retake to an A.

Kids aren’t “gaming the system” when they are acting within the exact parameters that FCPS gives them. What is gaming the system is not allowing all students to improve and arbitrarily designating a percent above which FCPS says no improvement allowed. Either all allowed or shut it all down and based on teacher input, shut all retakes down. IEP kids that need more time and other assistance for tests can separately be handled according to their plans.

Call it what you will but it was evident that it was mostly kids who couldn't stand having a B/B+ on their gradebook that took advantage of the retake policy. That's creating useless work for teachers and pulled them away from helping those who needed help. I spoke up against this policy to my HS Principal and I am glad to see this gradual change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The homework is a small part of the grade and I don’t think that adding homework to all classes is a bad thing. MY kid had homework in 7th grade this year, 90% of the time he could finish it in school. He had friends who were working on it at home. I don’t think this is a huge change for Honors and AAP classes.

What thrills me is that they are starting to course correct the retakes. No more 100% retake options. You have to score below a 90% and can only earn up to a 90%. I would guess that they choose that threshold because the majority of retakes were kids scoring 90-93% and wanting an A.

If true that majority of retakes were kids who scored 90-93 and don’t want them to be able to retake, then stop ALL retakes. But if a B+ kid can retake to get an A- and a B kid can retake to get an A- and so on down the line, then an A- kid should be able to retake to improve their grade too. Either allow grade improvement for all or just shut retakes down entirely, which the latter is what assume teachers would prefer.

I agree with this. It’s not fair the A kids are punished. If they get an A- they now aren’t allowed to improve their grade. Meanwhile all the other idiots can get up to an A-. Not fair.

+1. A student can get a 91% and they aren’t allowed to retake, yet another student could get a 68% and do the retake to get a 90%— almost an identical grade to the first student.

I would guess that less then 5% of the kids who had a C or D grade that retook a test ended up with a 90% or higher. The kids who normally do well in school and had an off day because they were sick or something upsetting happened are the ones who would retake and score what they normally scored. The kid who regularly scores a 68% and is retaking probably ends up with a 70something grade, maybe a low B. But it doesn't matter because those were not the majority of kids retakign exams. The teachers on this board said that the majority of kids retaking exams were kids with a high B, low A- that wanted to get an A. Dropping the max score to a 90% means that the kids who had been retaking to get the A no longer can and it saves the teachers a ton of work.

I know from talking to my friends with MS and HS kids this year that a number of them commented that their kid would blow off studying for one test to focus on a second test because they knew they could make up the other test. They tended to ignore the class they were stronger in in the hopes of doing well enough to not have to retake but knowing that it would be easier for them to do the work to retake then the harder class. Changing the threshold means that the kids who were full on gaming the system will have to study for both tests and not blow one off because they can retake to an A.

Kids aren’t “gaming the system” when they are acting within the exact parameters that FCPS gives them. What is gaming the system is not allowing all students to improve and arbitrarily designating a percent above which FCPS says no improvement allowed. Either all allowed or shut it all down and based on teacher input, shut all retakes down. IEP kids that need more time and other assistance for tests can separately be handled according to their plans.

It is gaming the system when they choose not to study for a test because they know they can retake it if they don’t like the grade. It creates extra work for the teachers that takes them away from prep, helping kids who need help, and grading all because kids are choosing not to study because they know they can retake the test. I would bring it back to no retakes if a grade is over an 80% and cannot be higher then an 80% recovered.

[Anonymous]

Sso there is no end of quarter retakes? Or there will be a retake after a unit test?

[Anonymous]

I loathe that man.

Anonymous wrote:Secondary staff got an email today. Our training on Thursday is about the new grading (which seems silly as next year’s staff isn’t here yet to hear it, so it will all be repeated in August)

Dear Middle and High School Staff,

Thank you for all that you have done to make this a successful school year for our students in FCPS!

As Chief Academic Officer, grading and reporting practices are one of my areas of responsibility, and I am writing today to share some updates in this policy area for SY25-26.

As you may be aware, our School Board spent much of the summer and fall working on Policy 2418, which sets the expectations for secondary grading within FCPS.

Since the passage of Policy 2418 in December, the Secondary Grading Committee, made up of teachers, students, parents/caregivers, and school-based and central office administrators, worked to align our grading practices to Policy 2418. As part of this process, the committee reviewed current FCPS practice, best practice research, and data from a survey and focus groups that captured a large amount of staff, student, and parent/caregiver feedback.

Specifically, the committee reviewed the following grading practices:
Gradebook type
Category weighting
Minimum number of assignments per quarter
Reassessment
Homework
Technical systems (e.g., Schoology and SIS) that support grading

Based on the committee’s work, the following grading and assessment practices will go into effect for the 2025-26 school year:

Gradebook type: All high school staff will use a rolling gradebook beginning in SY26-27. During SY25-26, Instructional Services will support this transition with training for high school staff, and IT will support the related technical aspects. Middle schools will continue to use their current gradebook configuration at this time and will not have any professional development requirements.

Category weighting: The current district gradebook weighting of 70% summative assignments and 30% formative assignments will continue across all secondary courses.

Homework: Regular homework will be assigned as a part of each secondary course. Homework must be recognized within the course as part of the student’s formative grade and will count no more than 10% of the overall course grade.

Minimum number of assignments per quarter: The current number of minimum assignments per quarter will remain at 7.

Reassessment: The summative reassessment maximum will be set at 90%. This means that students who receive lower than a 90% on a summative assessment will be eligible for one reassessment attempt, and the maximum score which can be earned on the reassessment will be capped at 90%.

We will also continue to improve our technical systems around grading and will be making some changes to the middle and high school report card comments section over the summer.

Additionally, I wanted to provide an update around the grading scale for next year. In the adoption of Policy 2418, the School Board voted to amend the grading scale within FCPS. The scale will eliminate the use of the D- letter grade. The following numerical ranges will now be used: D+ (69-67), D (66-60), F (59-50).

Updates and additional resources have been uploaded to the Grading and Reporting Toolkit and will continue to be developed and posted throughout the summer.

I want to thank both the School Board and the Secondary Grading Committee for their hard work in helping us continue to grow in the area of secondary grading practices.

Thank you for all that you do in support of our students.

Sincerely,


Sloan J. Presidio, Ed. D., J.D.
Chief Academic Officer
Fairfax County Public Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The homework is a small part of the grade and I don’t think that adding homework to all classes is a bad thing. MY kid had homework in 7th grade this year, 90% of the time he could finish it in school. He had friends who were working on it at home. I don’t think this is a huge change for Honors and AAP classes.

What thrills me is that they are starting to course correct the retakes. No more 100% retake options. You have to score below a 90% and can only earn up to a 90%. I would guess that they choose that threshold because the majority of retakes were kids scoring 90-93% and wanting an A.

If true that majority of retakes were kids who scored 90-93 and don’t want them to be able to retake, then stop ALL retakes. But if a B+ kid can retake to get an A- and a B kid can retake to get an A- and so on down the line, then an A- kid should be able to retake to improve their grade too. Either allow grade improvement for all or just shut retakes down entirely, which the latter is what assume teachers would prefer.

I agree with this. It’s not fair the A kids are punished. If they get an A- they now aren’t allowed to improve their grade. Meanwhile all the other idiots can get up to an A-. Not fair.

+1. A student can get a 91% and they aren’t allowed to retake, yet another student could get a 68% and do the retake to get a 90%— almost an identical grade to the first student.

I would guess that less then 5% of the kids who had a C or D grade that retook a test ended up with a 90% or higher. The kids who normally do well in school and had an off day because they were sick or something upsetting happened are the ones who would retake and score what they normally scored. The kid who regularly scores a 68% and is retaking probably ends up with a 70something grade, maybe a low B. But it doesn't matter because those were not the majority of kids retakign exams. The teachers on this board said that the majority of kids retaking exams were kids with a high B, low A- that wanted to get an A. Dropping the max score to a 90% means that the kids who had been retaking to get the A no longer can and it saves the teachers a ton of work.

I know from talking to my friends with MS and HS kids this year that a number of them commented that their kid would blow off studying for one test to focus on a second test because they knew they could make up the other test. They tended to ignore the class they were stronger in in the hopes of doing well enough to not have to retake but knowing that it would be easier for them to do the work to retake then the harder class. Changing the threshold means that the kids who were full on gaming the system will have to study for both tests and not blow one off because they can retake to an A.

Kids aren’t “gaming the system” when they are acting within the exact parameters that FCPS gives them. What is gaming the system is not allowing all students to improve and arbitrarily designating a percent above which FCPS says no improvement allowed. Either all allowed or shut it all down and based on teacher input, shut all retakes down. IEP kids that need more time and other assistance for tests can separately be handled according to their plans.

Well said!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The homework is a small part of the grade and I don’t think that adding homework to all classes is a bad thing. MY kid had homework in 7th grade this year, 90% of the time he could finish it in school. He had friends who were working on it at home. I don’t think this is a huge change for Honors and AAP classes.

What thrills me is that they are starting to course correct the retakes. No more 100% retake options. You have to score below a 90% and can only earn up to a 90%. I would guess that they choose that threshold because the majority of retakes were kids scoring 90-93% and wanting an A.

If true that majority of retakes were kids who scored 90-93 and don’t want them to be able to retake, then stop ALL retakes. But if a B+ kid can retake to get an A- and a B kid can retake to get an A- and so on down the line, then an A- kid should be able to retake to improve their grade too. Either allow grade improvement for all or just shut retakes down entirely, which the latter is what assume teachers would prefer.

I agree with this. It’s not fair the A kids are punished. If they get an A- they now aren’t allowed to improve their grade. Meanwhile all the other idiots can get up to an A-. Not fair.

+1. A student can get a 91% and they aren’t allowed to retake, yet another student could get a 68% and do the retake to get a 90%— almost an identical grade to the first student.

I would guess that less then 5% of the kids who had a C or D grade that retook a test ended up with a 90% or higher. The kids who normally do well in school and had an off day because they were sick or something upsetting happened are the ones who would retake and score what they normally scored. The kid who regularly scores a 68% and is retaking probably ends up with a 70something grade, maybe a low B. But it doesn't matter because those were not the majority of kids retakign exams. The teachers on this board said that the majority of kids retaking exams were kids with a high B, low A- that wanted to get an A. Dropping the max score to a 90% means that the kids who had been retaking to get the A no longer can and it saves the teachers a ton of work.

I know from talking to my friends with MS and HS kids this year that a number of them commented that their kid would blow off studying for one test to focus on a second test because they knew they could make up the other test. They tended to ignore the class they were stronger in in the hopes of doing well enough to not have to retake but knowing that it would be easier for them to do the work to retake then the harder class. Changing the threshold means that the kids who were full on gaming the system will have to study for both tests and not blow one off because they can retake to an A.

Kids aren’t “gaming the system” when they are acting within the exact parameters that FCPS gives them. What is gaming the system is not allowing all students to improve and arbitrarily designating a percent above which FCPS says no improvement allowed. Either all allowed or shut it all down and based on teacher input, shut all retakes down. IEP kids that need more time and other assistance for tests can separately be handled according to their plans.

It is gaming the system when they choose not to study for a test because they know they can retake it if they don’t like the grade. It creates extra work for the teachers that takes them away from prep, helping kids who need help, and grading all because kids are choosing not to study because they know they can retake the test. I would bring it back to no retakes if a grade is over an 80% and cannot be higher then an 80% recovered.

It was actually very time consuming to have to retake tests. Some of the teachers purposely made the retakes harder and had them doing an enormous amount of remedial work before allowing a retake to try to discourage it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The homework is a small part of the grade and I don’t think that adding homework to all classes is a bad thing. MY kid had homework in 7th grade this year, 90% of the time he could finish it in school. He had friends who were working on it at home. I don’t think this is a huge change for Honors and AAP classes.

What thrills me is that they are starting to course correct the retakes. No more 100% retake options. You have to score below a 90% and can only earn up to a 90%. I would guess that they choose that threshold because the majority of retakes were kids scoring 90-93% and wanting an A.

If true that majority of retakes were kids who scored 90-93 and don’t want them to be able to retake, then stop ALL retakes. But if a B+ kid can retake to get an A- and a B kid can retake to get an A- and so on down the line, then an A- kid should be able to retake to improve their grade too. Either allow grade improvement for all or just shut retakes down entirely, which the latter is what assume teachers would prefer.

I agree with this. It’s not fair the A kids are punished. If they get an A- they now aren’t allowed to improve their grade. Meanwhile all the other idiots can get up to an A-. Not fair.

+1. A student can get a 91% and they aren’t allowed to retake, yet another student could get a 68% and do the retake to get a 90%— almost an identical grade to the first student.

I would guess that less then 5% of the kids who had a C or D grade that retook a test ended up with a 90% or higher. The kids who normally do well in school and had an off day because they were sick or something upsetting happened are the ones who would retake and score what they normally scored. The kid who regularly scores a 68% and is retaking probably ends up with a 70something grade, maybe a low B. But it doesn't matter because those were not the majority of kids retakign exams. The teachers on this board said that the majority of kids retaking exams were kids with a high B, low A- that wanted to get an A. Dropping the max score to a 90% means that the kids who had been retaking to get the A no longer can and it saves the teachers a ton of work.

I know from talking to my friends with MS and HS kids this year that a number of them commented that their kid would blow off studying for one test to focus on a second test because they knew they could make up the other test. They tended to ignore the class they were stronger in in the hopes of doing well enough to not have to retake but knowing that it would be easier for them to do the work to retake then the harder class. Changing the threshold means that the kids who were full on gaming the system will have to study for both tests and not blow one off because they can retake to an A.

Kids aren’t “gaming the system” when they are acting within the exact parameters that FCPS gives them. What is gaming the system is not allowing all students to improve and arbitrarily designating a percent above which FCPS says no improvement allowed. Either all allowed or shut it all down and based on teacher input, shut all retakes down. IEP kids that need more time and other assistance for tests can separately be handled according to their plans.

I drive a carpool of kids in middle and early high school. One girl had switched from a private that had a rigorous courseload and strict grading to FCPS. It was actually quite impressive how she detailed for the other kids how she figured out exactly where she could slack off in each class and get an A. I think she spent more time figuring out how to "[act] wtih in the exact parameters that FCPS gives" than actually learning.

Honestly my own kid could have stood to understand that some level of knowing how to play the game is good, though this girl was next level and I want my kid to actually learn and not just skate by on brains.