Anonymous wrote:I have no idea when the MCPS grading system is correct. I just looked, here an array of things going on:
- One classes states no missing assignment. Yet has zero for three assignments. I assume the teacher just hasn’t graded those but don’t understand why the grade is just not pending. Or if it’s missing why it isn’t reflected.
- One class shows missing assignments of which each noted as missing has a grade. If you go in Canvas you can see these are paper assignments. So why is the assignment noted as missing?
- One class has an assignment that is not due until January and in fact hasn’t even been given to students but yet the grade reflects 50%.

Maybe if Admin set and enforced a standard grading timeline and way Canvas is supposed to operate families could spend less time focusing on this and more time focused on the class content. I won’t even get into the need for meaningful feedback and grading for excellence.

Per the updated grading policy, assignments not turned in by the deadline may now remain a zero. They aren’t marked “missing” because they are no longer being accepted.

If a teacher initially marks an assignment as missing, and then enters a grade, depending on how they did that there is a separate process to remove the “missing” flag.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a parent of a middle school student and a high school student. I have literally NEVER checked their work online for missing assignments. I look at their interim reports and their report cards. If the grades are low, there are consequences at home (e.g. losing phone privileges).

By middle school this should be the kid’s responsibility. If my kids ask me for help or advice of course I do my best, but it’s actually not my job to manage their day to day homework load. And it’s not their teacher’s job, either.

That’s all good unless your kid has a learning or executive function disability.

I understand teachers are overworked. I wish there was a way to give them more planning time.

More than once my kid (with 504) forgot to put name on a paper, took 3 weeks for grade to get posted. Kid gets a zero and teacher says “too bad it’s been 3 weeks”.

Exactly this. Some kids need some support. A freshman can be a 13 year old.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a parent of a middle school student and a high school student. I have literally NEVER checked their work online for missing assignments. I look at their interim reports and their report cards. If the grades are low, there are consequences at home (e.g. losing phone privileges).

By middle school this should be the kid’s responsibility. If my kids ask me for help or advice of course I do my best, but it’s actually not my job to manage their day to day homework load. And it’s not their teacher’s job, either.

That’s all good unless your kid has a learning or executive function disability.

I understand teachers are overworked. I wish there was a way to give them more planning time.

More than once my kid (with 504) forgot to put name on a paper, took 3 weeks for grade to get posted. Kid gets a zero and teacher says “too bad it’s been 3 weeks”.

Every single thing you said sounds ridiculous - more than 1x, 3 weeks to grade, 0. If true you should be upset, but I have a feeling you embellished this just a bit.

100% true. Different teachers. My kid was able to get it corrected eventually. Why would I make this up?

It was corrected. So then your kid DID NOT earn a zero. How about a skill for that 504 is to follow directions and put names on paper. I’m with the teacher here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a parent of a middle school student and a high school student. I have literally NEVER checked their work online for missing assignments. I look at their interim reports and their report cards. If the grades are low, there are consequences at home (e.g. losing phone privileges).

By middle school this should be the kid’s responsibility. If my kids ask me for help or advice of course I do my best, but it’s actually not my job to manage their day to day homework load. And it’s not their teacher’s job, either.

That’s all good unless your kid has a learning or executive function disability.

I understand teachers are overworked. I wish there was a way to give them more planning time.

More than once my kid (with 504) forgot to put name on a paper, took 3 weeks for grade to get posted. Kid gets a zero and teacher says “too bad it’s been 3 weeks”.

Every single thing you said sounds ridiculous - more than 1x, 3 weeks to grade, 0. If true you should be upset, but I have a feeling you embellished this just a bit.

100% true. Different teachers. My kid was able to get it corrected eventually. Why would I make this up?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a parent of a middle school student and a high school student. I have literally NEVER checked their work online for missing assignments. I look at their interim reports and their report cards. If the grades are low, there are consequences at home (e.g. losing phone privileges).

By middle school this should be the kid’s responsibility. If my kids ask me for help or advice of course I do my best, but it’s actually not my job to manage their day to day homework load. And it’s not their teacher’s job, either.

That’s all good unless your kid has a learning or executive function disability.

I understand teachers are overworked. I wish there was a way to give them more planning time.

More than once my kid (with 504) forgot to put name on a paper, took 3 weeks for grade to get posted. Kid gets a zero and teacher says “too bad it’s been 3 weeks”.

I’m the PP you are quoting, and one of my own children has a 504. That doesn’t mean I think she can do less. She has learned, with my help, how to work with her learning differences. I do not fight her fights, and she is doing quite well.

Regarding your anecdote: did your -child- kindly write an email explaining that situation, requesting to turn it in since the mistake was immediately noticed once the grade went in? Most teachers are extremely reasonable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a parent of a middle school student and a high school student. I have literally NEVER checked their work online for missing assignments. I look at their interim reports and their report cards. If the grades are low, there are consequences at home (e.g. losing phone privileges).

By middle school this should be the kid’s responsibility. If my kids ask me for help or advice of course I do my best, but it’s actually not my job to manage their day to day homework load. And it’s not their teacher’s job, either.

That’s all good unless your kid has a learning or executive function disability.

I understand teachers are overworked. I wish there was a way to give them more planning time.

More than once my kid (with 504) forgot to put name on a paper, took 3 weeks for grade to get posted. Kid gets a zero and teacher says “too bad it’s been 3 weeks”.

Every single thing you said sounds ridiculous - more than 1x, 3 weeks to grade, 0. If true you should be upset, but I have a feeling you embellished this just a bit.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a parent of a middle school student and a high school student. I have literally NEVER checked their work online for missing assignments. I look at their interim reports and their report cards. If the grades are low, there are consequences at home (e.g. losing phone privileges).

By middle school this should be the kid’s responsibility. If my kids ask me for help or advice of course I do my best, but it’s actually not my job to manage their day to day homework load. And it’s not their teacher’s job, either.

That’s all good unless your kid has a learning or executive function disability.

I understand teachers are overworked. I wish there was a way to give them more planning time.

More than once my kid (with 504) forgot to put name on a paper, took 3 weeks for grade to get posted. Kid gets a zero and teacher says “too bad it’s been 3 weeks”.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a parent of a middle school student and a high school student. I have literally NEVER checked their work online for missing assignments. I look at their interim reports and their report cards. If the grades are low, there are consequences at home (e.g. losing phone privileges).

By middle school this should be the kid’s responsibility. If my kids ask me for help or advice of course I do my best, but it’s actually not my job to manage their day to day homework load. And it’s not their teacher’s job, either.

Sorry but not all kids are as perfect as yours.

The PP wrote that if grades are low, there are consequences. That alone suggests PP’s kids aren’t perfect.

I agree with the PP’s approach. Ultimately, her kids will be just fine because they are learning responsibility and accountability. This is similar to how I treat my own kids’ grades. It’s their responsibility to stay on top of them. (And no, my kids aren’t perfect.)

I teach high school seniors, and I regularly receive emails from parents requesting assignment extensions, extra credit, etc. My cut-and-paste response now is that they should have their child reach out to me first.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a parent of a middle school student and a high school student. I have literally NEVER checked their work online for missing assignments. I look at their interim reports and their report cards. If the grades are low, there are consequences at home (e.g. losing phone privileges).

By middle school this should be the kid’s responsibility. If my kids ask me for help or advice of course I do my best, but it’s actually not my job to manage their day to day homework load. And it’s not their teacher’s job, either.

Sorry but not all kids are as perfect as yours.

I’m a parent of a middle school student and a high school student. I have literally NEVER checked their work online for missing assignments. I look at their interim reports and their report cards. If the grades are low, there are consequences at home (e.g. losing phone privileges).

By middle school this should be the kid’s responsibility. If my kids ask me for help or advice of course I do my best, but it’s actually not my job to manage their day to day homework load. And it’s not their teacher’s job, either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every two weeks is considered the minimum, but longer is acceptable for projects or papers.

Let me help you. Twice per week, not every two weeks, is the minimum requirement for entering grades.

Nope. You are confidently wrong

Assigning graded assessments per week is the minimum. Teachers are not required to enter grades twice a week.

Assignments, not assessments.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, it really bugs me when kids turn in work late, then demand it get graded immediately.

As a parent, it really bugs me when teachers don't ask kids for their homework and don't tell them it's missing, and then accuse them of being "late" weeks later.

As a teacher, I can't believe that you believed that one out of your DC.

As a teacher, you should catch up on your late paperwork and Canvas reporting instead of posting on DCUM.

DP. If it makes you happy, I worked 4 hours already today (Christmas Eve) and I’ll certainly work tomorrow.

So there you have it: I’m spending my entire break doing all the work I don’t have time to do at school.

I’d be happier if you kept up with it earlier so we’d know.
Happy now?

Here’s what you need to know:

I already work 60 hours a week, and I can’t keep up because the workload is so unreasonable. I refuse to go over 60, because (at some point) I feel I should be able to take care of my own family.

I use every holiday to catch up. I use every summer to get ahead.

This is the workload of a conscientious, dedicated teacher. We are the ones working with few resources to support your children.

Most teachers do very little to support individual students, maybe just a few of your favorites. Do more assignments online with autograding.

You are wrong. You clearly have no idea what it means to teach. So just STFU.

You shouldn't be a teacher with that attitude. Very little is done in MS and HS. I can see the teachers who try. We have several teachers this year who have missed weeks, and its a huge problem in HS with AP classes and classes that have state required tests with no textbooks to work with them at home.

I have a lot of patience with students and I support all of them. But I don't have patience with parents like you, that is true. Sorry you are struggling as a parent.

I'm not struggling as a parent. Good try. You don't support them, maybe a select few. Post the assignments online and grade them so parents can know and access the paper assigments so they can get done. Parents are trying and your way of doing things doesn't allow parents to support their kids.

Ask your child what their assignments are and when they are due.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every two weeks is considered the minimum, but longer is acceptable for projects or papers.

Let me help you. Twice per week, not every two weeks, is the minimum requirement for entering grades.

Nope. You are confidently wrong

Assigning graded assessments per week is the minimum. Teachers are not required to enter grades twice a week.

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea when the MCPS grading system is correct. I just looked, here an array of things going on:
- One classes states no missing assignment. Yet has zero for three assignments. I assume the teacher just hasn’t graded those but don’t understand why the grade is just not pending. Or if it’s missing why it isn’t reflected.
- One class shows missing assignments of which each noted as missing has a grade. If you go in Canvas you can see these are paper assignments. So why is the assignment noted as missing?
- One class has an assignment that is not due until January and in fact hasn’t even been given to students but yet the grade reflects 50%.

Maybe if Admin set and enforced a standard grading timeline and way Canvas is supposed to operate families could spend less time focusing on this and more time focused on the class content. I won’t even get into the need for meaningful feedback and grading for excellence.

I’m not a MCPS teacher, but I do use Canvas. It’s easy to use, but keep in mind the sheer amount of work on the teacher’s side. I am usually entering 300-450 grades at once for my 140ish students. Teachers make mistakes, especially since many of us are up past midnight trying to get this work done.

I’m grading a lot this week, and since I’m on winter break I can work more leisurely. Not only am I marking things, I’m leaving tons of comments in the gradebook for students and parents, too… requests for revisions, reminders of extension deadlines, etc.

Imagine what I could get done if I actually had time during the workweek to do it instead of frantically rushing through things between my own kids’ bedtime and 1am.

I can’t believe the parents on this thread (and I’m a parent!) No wonder teachers are leaving the profession in droves.

Schools are also for learning life lessons. And your kid has just been presented, on a silver platter, two great life lessons. You’re trying to bulldoze past them because you’re “concerned that the closer we get to report card time, we won't have clarity on where she stands with her grade” for a MIDDLE SCHOOLER. This isn’t the Bar exam. Get a grip.

Lesson 1: You need to be on top of your own work and tasks. That’s HER responsibility. Your kid had four assignments laying around that she hadn’t turned in, and didn’t realize she hadn’t turned in, until she saw the grade book. That means she’s disorganized. She needs to figure out better systems and get organized so it doesn’t happen again. And I think that bright “D” sticking around for a few weeks while she feels panicky sounds like great motivation.

Lesson 2: People your report to or work with aren’t always going to be perfect, and sometimes they’ll be downright awful, and they’re certainly going to have different priorities than you, and you need to learn to work around that. This teacher updates his grade book infrequently. Okay. So, better make sure you’re turning work in on time, and you’re going to have to learn a little patience and sit and wait for something that’s important to you. That’s life! Happens to me at the office ALL the time.

The fact that you, OP, emailed the teacher and the principal (!!) about this instead of reinforcing these lessons with your kid boggles my mind.