MCPS policy on not returning quizzes, tests and exams to students

[Anonymous]

I think that is true at most schools. The complaint relates to the bigger tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"If a test shows incomplete understanding, our kid gets the test back and can petition to retake it after showing effort to attain better understanding. We have to sign off on everything as parents and participate in getting our child ready for a retake."

Your child gets her county formatives back to take home and can re-take?? Or do you just mean minor quizzes?
I think most kids get the smaller things back. It is the standardized assessments that are not given out...and no retakes either.

The PP is not right. You can not retake tests and you certainly don't get them to bring home.

PP here. Only certain tests can be retaken...not the county level ones, of which there are far fewer. I was responding to the assertion that quizzes, HW, and class work were never returned and no useful feedback was ever provided. I'm not talking about standardized tests. We get everything else back. FWIW, our kids go to W-cluster schools.

BTW, the retaking thing is just middle school. Not ES. But we get piles of ES schoolwork, homework, and quizzes back. Went through a big pile just this morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that is true at most schools. The complaint relates to the bigger tests.

I'm not so sure that's the extent of the complaint -- reading thru this thread, it sounds like at least one parent is claiming that no tests or homework or schoolwork are ever returned with grades or feedback, and that this is a county-wide policy.

[Anonymous]

Many of the formatives are county-wide. They are not what I think of as "standardized tests," i.e. MSAs. They are the unit tests for math and English. Maybe some of those unit tests are not county-wide. I can't figure out how this is decided. But county-wide formatives, like the math test my middle schooler just took, do NOT get sent home. That is the OP's main complaint. Also true that many writing assignments do not get returned home. They sit in a file with the English teacher and I'm pretty sure if I hadn't asked for them at the end of the year they would have been thrown out. There is a lot to complain about. It is not enough feedback for important assignments and tests. I often ask my MSer, how did you do, how did your teacher like your project, what feedback did you get, etc., and the reply, "I don't know."

[Anonymous]

PP here. The unit test my kid just took is the first test of the year, it's not a final or ability assessment to check math grouping or a "big test." It's a normal test; is a county test; and hence will not come home. It was turned back in class for the kids to see their grade.

[Anonymous]

We are NOT talking about standardized testing. all tests are not returned. IF you have a good teacher you may get graded homework and quizzes home but there is never any written up information, strengths/weaknesses on anything. Unit tests count for more of your grade than anything. To not allow parents to see them insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are NOT talking about standardized testing. all tests are not returned. IF you have a good teacher you may get graded homework and quizzes home but there is never any written up information, strengths/weaknesses on anything. Unit tests count for more of your grade than anything. To not allow parents to see them insane.

There is at my child's school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are NOT talking about standardized testing. all tests are not returned. IF you have a good teacher you may get graded homework and quizzes home but there is never any written up information, strengths/weaknesses on anything. Unit tests count for more of your grade than anything. To not allow parents to see them insane.

There is at my child's school.

What school? What grade? Below grade 6 does not count. We understand that elementary is different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are NOT talking about standardized testing. all tests are not returned. IF you have a good teacher you may get graded homework and quizzes home but there is never any written up information, strengths/weaknesses on anything. Unit tests count for more of your grade than anything. To not allow parents to see them insane.

There is at my child's school.

Are you saying this is a county policy and your experience is universal? Because at my kids' schools we get graded homework and quizzes AND we get commentary and feedback so that our kids know what they need to work on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are NOT talking about standardized testing. all tests are not returned. IF you have a good teacher you may get graded homework and quizzes home but there is never any written up information, strengths/weaknesses on anything. Unit tests count for more of your grade than anything. To not allow parents to see them insane.

There is at my child's school.

What school? What grade? Below grade 6 does not count. We understand that elementary is different.

I can't keep track of what does and doesn't count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I can't keep track of what does and doesn't count.

All you need to keep track of are the words "middle school". If anyone has a child in MCPS middle school and their child is able to take their tests home, I would love to hear about it.

As others have said there does not seem to be a uniform policy for elementary school as to whether tests or marked-up homework comes home. But I have not seen anyone say that their MCPS middle school allows it.

[Anonymous]

We need to restart thread for MIDDLE SCHOOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I can't keep track of what does and doesn't count.

All you need to keep track of are the words "middle school". If anyone has a child in MCPS middle school and their child is able to take their tests home, I would love to hear about it.

As others have said there does not seem to be a uniform policy for elementary school as to whether tests or marked-up homework comes home. But I have not seen anyone say that their MCPS middle school allows it.

I don't know how to take a picture of something and post it here, but I have in front of me a document that all Pyle MS students get and keep in their binders. I'm sure that anyone can ask for a copy from Pyle if s/he doubts this is for real, but I can say that my kid has followed the process to retake formative assessments and I have copies of the original and retaken quizzes, both reflecting what was wrong and feedback on how to improve.

"Pyle Math Department Formative Assessment Retake Process

Some formative assessments in each math class will be available for reassessment (and some will not). Students will be told prior to taking the assessment whether it is retakeable. In order to retake an assessment, the student must:

* Complete an error analysis, practice problems, and the retake assessment within one week of the date the assignment was returned.
* Take the reassessment prior to the end-of-unit summative test and within the same quarter of the original assessment.

Please remember:
1. Some courses may jave additional requirements or deadlines.
2. Appointments for retakes MUST be scheduled ahead of time by the student.
3. Reteaching during TAG (or by teacher appointment) is always available prior to the retake date, but it is the student's responsibility to schedule the reteaching with the teacher.

To retake a formative assessment, the student is required to follow the following steps:

Step 1: Error Analysis -- Student must redo all questions he/she answered incorrectly on the assessment.

Step 2: Practice Problems -- The student must write, solve, and check three similar problems for each type of problem missed. These practice problems can be obtained from sources such as:

* your textbook
* previous homework sheets
* the textbook website
* created by the student/parent/peer.

Step 3: The student must schedule an assessment retake time with his or her teacher, and arrange a time for reteaching if needed. (Be aware of deadlines to reassess)

Step 4: Parent Signature -- The student must have a parent sign their original quiz acknowledging they have seen it. Then, the student should staple the original assessment, corrections, make-up work, etc. together with the original quiz on top."

My kid says that there is also a retake policy in place for other classes like science and language, and that while summatives and county-level formatives are not returned to be kept in student binders, they get them back in class, go over them, and get feedback. They give the county tests back to the teacher after reviewing them, but it is not true at our kid's MS that no feedback is ever given to the students. My kid tells me they get all the non-county formative assessments back (I see them in my kid's binder, along with marked up and graded past homework), and expressed surprise that anyone would say they are not permitted to see their quizzes, tests and exams, or that the students get no feedback or have no idea how they are doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I can't keep track of what does and doesn't count.

All you need to keep track of are the words "middle school". If anyone has a child in MCPS middle school and their child is able to take their tests home, I would love to hear about it.

As others have said there does not seem to be a uniform policy for elementary school as to whether tests or marked-up homework comes home. But I have not seen anyone say that their MCPS middle school allows it.

I don't know how to take a picture of something and post it here, but I have in front of me a document that all Pyle MS students get and keep in their binders. I'm sure that anyone can ask for a copy from Pyle if s/he doubts this is for real, but I can say that my kid has followed the process to retake formative assessments and I have copies of the original and retaken quizzes, both reflecting what was wrong and feedback on how to improve.

"Pyle Math Department Formative Assessment Retake Process

Some formative assessments in each math class will be available for reassessment (and some will not). Students will be told prior to taking the assessment whether it is retakeable. In order to retake an assessment, the student must:

* Complete an error analysis, practice problems, and the retake assessment within one week of the date the assignment was returned.
* Take the reassessment prior to the end-of-unit summative test and within the same quarter of the original assessment.

Please remember:
1. Some courses may jave additional requirements or deadlines.
2. Appointments for retakes MUST be scheduled ahead of time by the student.
3. Reteaching during TAG (or by teacher appointment) is always available prior to the retake date, but it is the student's responsibility to schedule the reteaching with the teacher.

To retake a formative assessment, the student is required to follow the following steps:

Step 1: Error Analysis -- Student must redo all questions he/she answered incorrectly on the assessment.

Step 2: Practice Problems -- The student must write, solve, and check three similar problems for each type of problem missed. These practice problems can be obtained from sources such as:

* your textbook
* previous homework sheets
* the textbook website
* created by the student/parent/peer.

Step 3: The student must schedule an assessment retake time with his or her teacher, and arrange a time for reteaching if needed. (Be aware of deadlines to reassess)

Step 4: Parent Signature -- The student must have a parent sign their original quiz acknowledging they have seen it. Then, the student should staple the original assessment, corrections, make-up work, etc. together with the original quiz on top."

My kid says that there is also a retake policy in place for other classes like science and language, and that while summatives and county-level formatives are not returned to be kept in student binders, they get them back in class, go over them, and get feedback. They give the county tests back to the teacher after reviewing them, but it is not true at our kid's MS that no feedback is ever given to the students. My kid tells me they get all the non-county formative assessments back (I see them in my kid's binder, along with marked up and graded past homework), and expressed surprise that anyone would say they are not permitted to see their quizzes, tests and exams, or that the students get no feedback or have no idea how they are doing.

Just wanted to add that my kid said that they are told well in advance when a test/quiz will not be retakeable, so that they study accordingly. I assume that when it is not retakeable, it is a county-level assessment. It doesn't seem like a huge mystery to me...it seems quite well spelled out in the retake process, and my kid appears to be very clear on how it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Just wanted to add that my kid said that they are told well in advance when a test/quiz will not be retakeable, so that they study accordingly.

I don't have the slightest interest in my kids retaking a test. I just want to see the test and find out what my son got wrong and where he needs help. This is how people learn.

So far at Hoover MS I have not been able to see any marked up tests or quizzes.