How are high schoolers finding the grading changes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I admit I don’t use the Z in my gradebook. To my knowledge the Z is supposed to be a placeholder that says a student didn’t turn in an assignment but still can until the deadline. I avoid that by not syncing my grades until the deadline passes. If you did it the grade shows, if you didn’t its a zero. I basically sync the grades from canvas to synergy every week using this because there is always an assignment that reached its deadline every week. Longest you ever wait to see your grade is one week after you hopefully turned it in.

As a parent trying to help my kids learn to manage all the assignments across all their classes, the teachers that don’t post grades until after the deadline are the most frustrating. I can’t help my kids stay on top of assignments if I don’t even know they exist. Why only post the grade after the deadline, when there is no longer a chance to complete the assignment?

I remind the students every single day during the daily agenda about upcoming due dates and deadlines. By 9th grade they shouldn't need mommy to remind them that something should have been completed 7 days ago. Are you going to go to work with your child every day when they grow up?

Some kids have disabilities or struggle. Good parents support their kids. They would not need it if teachers did instead.

Sorry, Mom. I have a child like this too, but the teacher above says that she reminds students EVERY DAY, so don't accuse her of not supporting students. Train your child to write down assignments in a planner, and then you and he can check the list each day. ADHD requires that you build coping mechanisms, not be excused from deadlines.

I'm a man but I appreciate the support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I admit I don’t use the Z in my gradebook. To my knowledge the Z is supposed to be a placeholder that says a student didn’t turn in an assignment but still can until the deadline. I avoid that by not syncing my grades until the deadline passes. If you did it the grade shows, if you didn’t its a zero. I basically sync the grades from canvas to synergy every week using this because there is always an assignment that reached its deadline every week. Longest you ever wait to see your grade is one week after you hopefully turned it in.

As a parent trying to help my kids learn to manage all the assignments across all their classes, the teachers that don’t post grades until after the deadline are the most frustrating. I can’t help my kids stay on top of assignments if I don’t even know they exist. Why only post the grade after the deadline, when there is no longer a chance to complete the assignment?

I remind the students every single day during the daily agenda about upcoming due dates and deadlines. By 9th grade they shouldn't need mommy to remind them that something should have been completed 7 days ago. Are you going to go to work with your child every day when they grow up?

Some kids really struggle with this, especially those with ADHD. They need much more support than MCPS provides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s been an awful transition for kids on IEPs with extra time because they’ve been used to a lot of flexibility and now there is no uniformity to when their due date actually is. There are due dates and deadlines and whatever is in the system is usually not the time and a half allotted (but sometimes is!!) so it’s now up to the kids to keep deadlines straight and then follow up with the teacher to override the system nearly every time.

All of this. And if you bug the teacher for these dates, the administrator tells you that the teacher has to announce them in class, but isn't required to post them to parents (it would be too burdensome). The executive functioning burden on IEP and 504 kids to keep up with this is absurd.

My coteacher and I put all the due dates and deadlines for regular students and extended time in the assignment title so there is zero confusion

For example:

Enders Game Close Read 2 due date 4/20(ext. time 4/21) deadline 4/27(ext. time 4/28)

Thats how it looks in canvas and parentvue and nobody can claim we didn’t go over it in class(which we do anyway in the daily agenda slide)

We have a couple teachers that do this and I LOVE it. Thank you! Wish more teachers were just clear and transparent about stuff. I’ve actually never seen a teacher give an extension on the deadline for those with IEPs though. Do you also post the due date on the canvas calendar? And if the kid doesn’t turn it in, does it post with a Z in Gradebook? If so, you might be my dream teacher!

jj

I was on the grading and reporting workgroup, where central office made clear that both the due date and deadline should shift for students who get extended time. If they get 1.5 time, then it shifts forward by; if 100% then it doubles.

Example - for kids without accommodations, an assignment due in 4 days, deadline is in 6 days. For kids with 1.5 time, the due date is in 6 days, and the deadline is in 9 days. Kids with 2.0 would have due date in 8 days and deadline in 12 days.

[Anonymous]

I'm so relieved to see this thread. I don't feel so alone now!

The inconsistency of teacher implementation of the grading / due dates / extended time / deadline /sync to ParentVue situation has been SO stressful for both my straight A (graduated!) senior and my hard-working+IEP student in middle school. I check ParentVue every day - sometimes twice - and have no real sense of when grades will be put in, how the % AT vs. PP will shake out, it's just a mess. Telling my kid 5 days before the EOQ "There's a missing assignment, and according to policy, I guess you can't turn it in now" is not learning. It's just negligence.

I hope it gets better in the coming years because every conscientious student and parent are putting in way too much effort on monitoring grades that should be way more transparent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so relieved to see this thread. I don't feel so alone now!

The inconsistency of teacher implementation of the grading / due dates / extended time / deadline /sync to ParentVue situation has been SO stressful for both my straight A (graduated!) senior and my hard-working+IEP student in middle school. I check ParentVue every day - sometimes twice - and have no real sense of when grades will be put in, how the % AT vs. PP will shake out, it's just a mess. Telling my kid 5 days before the EOQ "There's a missing assignment, and according to policy, I guess you can't turn it in now" is not learning. It's just negligence.

I hope it gets better in the coming years because every conscientious student and parent are putting in way too much effort on monitoring grades that should be way more transparent.

I completely agree. It's a mess. MCPS needs to standardize this. I don't understand why only the due date appears, and not the deadline, in Canvas/Synergy. And it would seem like MCPS could have a tech solution to automatically inform kids with accommodations of what their due date/deadline is for assignments. Just have Canvas/Synergy automatically move them up by 50%/100% based on the accommodation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I admit I don’t use the Z in my gradebook. To my knowledge the Z is supposed to be a placeholder that says a student didn’t turn in an assignment but still can until the deadline. I avoid that by not syncing my grades until the deadline passes. If you did it the grade shows, if you didn’t its a zero. I basically sync the grades from canvas to synergy every week using this because there is always an assignment that reached its deadline every week. Longest you ever wait to see your grade is one week after you hopefully turned it in.

As a parent trying to help my kids learn to manage all the assignments across all their classes, the teachers that don’t post grades until after the deadline are the most frustrating. I can’t help my kids stay on top of assignments if I don’t even know they exist. Why only post the grade after the deadline, when there is no longer a chance to complete the assignment?

I remind the students every single day during the daily agenda about upcoming due dates and deadlines. By 9th grade they shouldn't need mommy to remind them that something should have been completed 7 days ago. Are you going to go to work with your child every day when they grow up?

Some kids really struggle with this, especially those with ADHD. They need much more support than MCPS provides.

Unfortunately, MCPS cannot provide an unlimited well of support. Parents have unrealistic expectations. They expect their kid to have all As. Kids learn by messing up. You have to let them mess up and figure it out over time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s been an awful transition for kids on IEPs with extra time because they’ve been used to a lot of flexibility and now there is no uniformity to when their due date actually is. There are due dates and deadlines and whatever is in the system is usually not the time and a half allotted (but sometimes is!!) so it’s now up to the kids to keep deadlines straight and then follow up with the teacher to override the system nearly every time.

All of this. And if you bug the teacher for these dates, the administrator tells you that the teacher has to announce them in class, but isn't required to post them to parents (it would be too burdensome). The executive functioning burden on IEP and 504 kids to keep up with this is absurd.

My coteacher and I put all the due dates and deadlines for regular students and extended time in the assignment title so there is zero confusion

For example:

Enders Game Close Read 2 due date 4/20(ext. time 4/21) deadline 4/27(ext. time 4/28)

Thats how it looks in canvas and parentvue and nobody can claim we didn’t go over it in class(which we do anyway in the daily agenda slide)

We have a couple teachers that do this and I LOVE it. Thank you! Wish more teachers were just clear and transparent about stuff. I’ve actually never seen a teacher give an extension on the deadline for those with IEPs though. Do you also post the due date on the canvas calendar? And if the kid doesn’t turn it in, does it post with a Z in Gradebook? If so, you might be my dream teacher!

jj

I was on the grading and reporting workgroup, where central office made clear that both the due date and deadline should shift for students who get extended time. If they get 1.5 time, then it shifts forward by; if 100% then it doubles.

Example - for kids without accommodations, an assignment due in 4 days, deadline is in 6 days. For kids with 1.5 time, the due date is in 6 days, and the deadline is in 9 days. Kids with 2.0 would have due date in 8 days and deadline in 12 days.

My high school told us the opposite so clearly central office sucks at communication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so relieved to see this thread. I don't feel so alone now!

The inconsistency of teacher implementation of the grading / due dates / extended time / deadline /sync to ParentVue situation has been SO stressful for both my straight A (graduated!) senior and my hard-working+IEP student in middle school. I check ParentVue every day - sometimes twice - and have no real sense of when grades will be put in, how the % AT vs. PP will shake out, it's just a mess. Telling my kid 5 days before the EOQ "There's a missing assignment, and according to policy, I guess you can't turn it in now" is not learning. It's just negligence.

I hope it gets better in the coming years because every conscientious student and parent are putting in way too much effort on monitoring grades that should be way more transparent.

I completely agree. It's a mess. MCPS needs to standardize this. I don't understand why only the due date appears, and not the deadline, in Canvas/Synergy. And it would seem like MCPS could have a tech solution to automatically inform kids with accommodations of what their due date/deadline is for assignments. Just have Canvas/Synergy automatically move them up by 50%/100% based on the accommodation.

Tell your kid to get stuff done by the due date. Deadlines should be used for emergencies. And train kids to use their phones to set calendar reminders. Kids are on their phones all the damn time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s been very stressful for my kid with ADHD. He still has high As in classes where the teachers have normal, predictable grading practices and are clear about assignments. But for a coupe of classes his grade is a total mystery until the last couple of weeks of the quarter. He is very smart and very hardworking and I think it’s pretty unfair to crate such stress and to hold the kids accountable but not the teachers.

What if your kid had final exams like most school districts? Stop coddling your kid. And MCPS can’t hold teachers accountable for the 10 day grading rule because they know most grading is done at home outside of work hours. If you want more prompt grading and teachers being held accountable, you should advocate for more planning time for teachers

I’m the PP you addressed. My kid does great on normal exams that test knowledge and preparation. He does not do well keeping track of the huge volume of random assignments, projects, and worksheets that are posted in all different locations (or not posted anywhere) and graded weeks or months after the fact. I have good executive functioning and I cannot even really help him (much less coddle him!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so relieved to see this thread. I don't feel so alone now!

The inconsistency of teacher implementation of the grading / due dates / extended time / deadline /sync to ParentVue situation has been SO stressful for both my straight A (graduated!) senior and my hard-working+IEP student in middle school. I check ParentVue every day - sometimes twice - and have no real sense of when grades will be put in, how the % AT vs. PP will shake out, it's just a mess. Telling my kid 5 days before the EOQ "There's a missing assignment, and according to policy, I guess you can't turn it in now" is not learning. It's just negligence.

I hope it gets better in the coming years because every conscientious student and parent are putting in way too much effort on monitoring grades that should be way more transparent.

Plus a million. This is my child’s junior year and it has been brutal for him and for us. He’s not learning any more, he is just more stressed, frustrated, and demoralized. MCPS hasn’t made grading more rigorous, just more opaque, random, and convoluted.

[Anonymous]

Why can’t teachers just post all assignments in Canvas (before they are due) and label all of them with a PP or AT? Is that really so much to ask? Even that would be helpful for tracking all of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s been very stressful for my kid with ADHD. He still has high As in classes where the teachers have normal, predictable grading practices and are clear about assignments. But for a coupe of classes his grade is a total mystery until the last couple of weeks of the quarter. He is very smart and very hardworking and I think it’s pretty unfair to crate such stress and to hold the kids accountable but not the teachers.

What if your kid had final exams like most school districts? Stop coddling your kid. And MCPS can’t hold teachers accountable for the 10 day grading rule because they know most grading is done at home outside of work hours. If you want more prompt grading and teachers being held accountable, you should advocate for more planning time for teachers

I’m the PP you addressed. My kid does great on normal exams that test knowledge and preparation. He does not do well keeping track of the huge volume of random assignments, projects, and worksheets that are posted in all different locations (or not posted anywhere) and graded weeks or months after the fact. I have good executive functioning and I cannot even really help him (much less coddle him!)

This! It will be so much easier in college when there are 2 exams and 2 papers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s been very stressful for my kid with ADHD. He still has high As in classes where the teachers have normal, predictable grading practices and are clear about assignments. But for a coupe of classes his grade is a total mystery until the last couple of weeks of the quarter. He is very smart and very hardworking and I think it’s pretty unfair to crate such stress and to hold the kids accountable but not the teachers.

What if your kid had final exams like most school districts? Stop coddling your kid. And MCPS can’t hold teachers accountable for the 10 day grading rule because they know most grading is done at home outside of work hours. If you want more prompt grading and teachers being held accountable, you should advocate for more planning time for teachers

I’m the PP you addressed. My kid does great on normal exams that test knowledge and preparation. He does not do well keeping track of the huge volume of random assignments, projects, and worksheets that are posted in all different locations (or not posted anywhere) and graded weeks or months after the fact. I have good executive functioning and I cannot even really help him (much less coddle him!)

This! It will be so much easier in college when there are 2 exams and 2 papers.

But much more difficult when they get a career and have to manage a large amount of tasks of varying importance and urgency. It's best that your children learn how to manage a full plate and have to make their own decisions as to how to tackle things as opposed to having everything neatly and strictly laid out for them in a step by step process. I will be the first to admit that high school did not teach me those skills. The Marine Corps did. Unless you want your children to get the highly effective executive functioning and problem skills that the US Military can teach, they are going to have to try their best to learn them in HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s been very stressful for my kid with ADHD. He still has high As in classes where the teachers have normal, predictable grading practices and are clear about assignments. But for a coupe of classes his grade is a total mystery until the last couple of weeks of the quarter. He is very smart and very hardworking and I think it’s pretty unfair to crate such stress and to hold the kids accountable but not the teachers.

What if your kid had final exams like most school districts? Stop coddling your kid. And MCPS can’t hold teachers accountable for the 10 day grading rule because they know most grading is done at home outside of work hours. If you want more prompt grading and teachers being held accountable, you should advocate for more planning time for teachers

I’m the PP you addressed. My kid does great on normal exams that test knowledge and preparation. He does not do well keeping track of the huge volume of random assignments, projects, and worksheets that are posted in all different locations (or not posted anywhere) and graded weeks or months after the fact. I have good executive functioning and I cannot even really help him (much less coddle him!)

This! It will be so much easier in college when there are 2 exams and 2 papers.

Actually not really how college works anymore. The professors now have to deal with kids who don't read, so they require weekly discussion boards, in-class quizzes, many group projects that will require your child to keep up, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I admit I don’t use the Z in my gradebook. To my knowledge the Z is supposed to be a placeholder that says a student didn’t turn in an assignment but still can until the deadline. I avoid that by not syncing my grades until the deadline passes. If you did it the grade shows, if you didn’t its a zero. I basically sync the grades from canvas to synergy every week using this because there is always an assignment that reached its deadline every week. Longest you ever wait to see your grade is one week after you hopefully turned it in.

Jerk move. Teachers who do this are trying to lighten their load by having fewer late assignments come in. This is why no one respects teaching anymore.