Are Other Upper School Students at Potomac Not Getting Tests and Papers Back for Weeks at a Time?

[Anonymous]

Not a lifer and have kids at various privates so can compare and not just complain. Let the kid handle it and, if you can't do that, step up and go to the school instead of whinging on a message board.

[Anonymous]

I don't consider myself to be whining. I am trying to see if other students and parents are experiencing the same problem. It is a different situation if it is just a handful of teachers or whether it seems to be more widespread. I have spoken to the parents of several of my child's friends, who report similar experiences. However, their children are in many of my child's classes, so it is going to be a bit skewed. Based upon the responses so far on this board, this seems to be a larger problem.

[Anonymous]

It is a very small handful of teachers but those teachers need to be overseen more closely by administration. Everyone (staff) knows who these teachers are and they need to stop giving them classes if they can’t handle the work load. One of the worst offenders is probably in her 70s and clearly just can’t keep up with workload. Another is fairly young and he has been know to never return papers. Administration knows this and needs to not just act once but on an consistent plan.

[Anonymous]

My child has had at least 6 teachers who consistently return work weeks or months late.

[Anonymous]

And sometimes work is never returned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They do not have an online grade book and have never gave a great explanation as to why not.

Our public has online grade book with every test graded and uploaded on time. It is truly the best for assessing improvement and trajectory.

[Anonymous]

PP again, without the online grade book we would be quite lost about school performance.

[Anonymous]

We are at another school but this is so clearly not OK. If it is a systemic issue, and not a one-off teacher, you do not leave it up to the students to deal with it. The parents and administration should handle it. This is unprofessional conduct and it amazes me that any teacher, much less multiple teachers, can get away with this behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like a systemic problem at Potomac. The parents need to step-up and talk to the admin asap. Why is this happening? Sounds like the admin is not doing a good job monitoring the teachers and/or not making the expectations clear. This is for adults to discuss and resolve, not the kids.

I have not known this to be a problem in the US at Potomac. So I would argue that it is not a "systemic problem."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like a systemic problem at Potomac. The parents need to step-up and talk to the admin asap. Why is this happening? Sounds like the admin is not doing a good job monitoring the teachers and/or not making the expectations clear. This is for adults to discuss and resolve, not the kids.

I have not known this to be a problem in the US at Potomac. So I would argue that it is not a "systemic problem."

Trust me. It is!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They do not have an online grade book and have never gave a great explanation as to why not.

Our public has online grade book with every test graded and uploaded on time. It is truly the best for assessing improvement and trajectory.

It’s a public school tool, or lower end private. Potomac doesn’t use it and neither does “big 3” my other kids attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like a systemic problem at Potomac. The parents need to step-up and talk to the admin asap. Why is this happening? Sounds like the admin is not doing a good job monitoring the teachers and/or not making the expectations clear. This is for adults to discuss and resolve, not the kids.

I have not known this to be a problem in the US at Potomac. So I would argue that it is not a "systemic problem."

Trust me. It is!

No, it is not. It’s a very small number of teachers. Like 2-3.

[Anonymous]

It’s not just for “low end” privates to use an online grade book. Several NYC and NJ well regarded privates have them also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like a systemic problem at Potomac. The parents need to step-up and talk to the admin asap. Why is this happening? Sounds like the admin is not doing a good job monitoring the teachers and/or not making the expectations clear. This is for adults to discuss and resolve, not the kids.

Does Potomac have an open gradebook to students? It sounds like no from comments.

Many schools have moved to that model because it puts pressure on teachers to get work back and provides students with consistent clarity about where they stand.

The earlier comment about it being advertised that grades aren't returned in order to reduce stress on an admissions tour sounds like their admission team spinning what may be a systemic issue.

My guess is the tour comment was in regard to the frequency of report cards (semester), grades on transcript (yearly), and things like not reporting class rank or gpa. There are certainly lots of assignments and grades for most classes my student has taken. FWIW my US student hasn’t experienced the poor grading practices reported here. I hope it is just a handful of teachers, and I hope parents and students can communicate through deans, parent reps, and advisors how negatively it affects student learning when feedback isn’t readily available.

[Anonymous]

Q- the transcript only shows yearly grades, vs each semester? We are new to US.