Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I would either make time to review the homework with her, or hire a tutor. High school is a big deal.

My son is still in elementary school, so my post may not be very helpful to you. However, I did notice that only 1 out of 5 teachers he has had over the years has ever written useful and timely feedback and corrections on his homework! The others would return the homework several weeks after it was handed in (a young child has time to forget all that he wrote in that timeframe), most of the time without comments, but there was just a check mark on the front page to indicate that the homework had been completed.

Teachers obviously have leeway in how they handle this, and most are too busy to bother. The homework is supposed to be reviewed in class, however verbal explanations are not the same as written comments. My son has ADHD and can't follow rapid discussions in class, so the verbal review is lost on him. But even for the average student, written feedback is permanent and undisputable.

That's what happens when teachers are underpaid and not trained properly.
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MCPS teachers are compensated well and I don't understand the connection between training and the ability to write comments on papers.

I would think the explaination about meetings taking up the grading time would be correct.

Anonymous wrote:
I would either make time to review the homework with her, or hire a tutor. High school is a big deal.

My son is still in elementary school, so my post may not be very helpful to you. However, I did notice that only 1 out of 5 teachers he has had over the years has ever written useful and timely feedback and corrections on his homework! The others would return the homework several weeks after it was handed in (a young child has time to forget all that he wrote in that timeframe), most of the time without comments, but there was just a check mark on the front page to indicate that the homework had been completed.

Teachers obviously have leeway in how they handle this, and most are too busy to bother. The homework is supposed to be reviewed in class, however verbal explanations are not the same as written comments. My son has ADHD and can't follow rapid discussions in class, so the verbal review is lost on him. But even for the average student, written feedback is permanent and undisputable.

That's what happens when teachers are underpaid and not trained properly.

Anonymous wrote:I went to private school and was much more prepared for college than my friends who went to public school. I wasn't smarter. In fact, many of my public school friends had higher SAT scores etc.

In private school, every assignment and paper was given back within 1-3 days. There were extensive comments and corrections even if you received an A or B. If you received less than 80% on an assignment or test, you were often required to correct or rewrite it and take it to your advisor. You didn't receive an upward grade change but if you failed to do this your grade was further lowered.

I am sympathetic that the class sizes are too large in public school and incentives are not there for teachers to provide this level of motivation and instruction. What's sad is that this is the model that works not just letting everyone fall wherever, never achieving their potential.