Anonymous
Post 02/02/2026 21:53     Subject: 50% rule question
Anonymous wrote:"9. The “50 percent rule” is as follows:
(a) Teachers shall not assign a grade lower than 50 percent if the student’s work shows evidence of progress toward attaining the relevant standards that are being assessed.
(b) Students receiving 50 percent may seek, and teachers shall offer, support and/or intervention to improve the accuracy or quality of the student’s assessment product.
(c) The teacher will assign a zero if –
i. the student does not seek support or does no work on the task/assessment after the teacher offers support and/or intervention, or
ii. the teacher determines the student did not attempt to meet the basic requirements of the task/assessment.
(d) The teacher may assign a zero if the student engaged in academic dishonesty.
(e) Teachers shall document the support and/or intervention they offer the student, which may include, but is not limited to, the following: in- or out-of-class support; reteaching; reassessment when appropriate; communication with student, parent/guardian, or counselor; or, if these steps have not been successful, communication with administration."


See also:

'(4) A “Z” in the gradebook is used to denote that the student did
not submit an assignment by the due date but still has an
opportunity to submit the missing work. Assignments noted
as “Z” must be submitted by the deadline.
(5) If the student does not turn in the assignment after support
and intervention, the teacher will change the “Z” to a final
grade of zero."
Anonymous
Post 02/02/2026 21:49     Subject: 50% rule question
"9. The “50 percent rule” is as follows:
(a) Teachers shall not assign a grade lower than 50 percent if the student’s work shows evidence of progress toward attaining the relevant standards that are being assessed.
(b) Students receiving 50 percent may seek, and teachers shall offer, support and/or intervention to improve the accuracy or quality of the student’s assessment product.
(c) The teacher will assign a zero if –
i. the student does not seek support or does no work on the task/assessment after the teacher offers support and/or intervention, or
ii. the teacher determines the student did not attempt to meet the basic requirements of the task/assessment.
(d) The teacher may assign a zero if the student engaged in academic dishonesty.
(e) Teachers shall document the support and/or intervention they offer the student, which may include, but is not limited to, the following: in- or out-of-class support; reteaching; reassessment when appropriate; communication with student, parent/guardian, or counselor; or, if these steps have not been successful, communication with administration."
Anonymous
Post 02/02/2026 21:41     Subject: 50% rule question
What i have been told as a teacher in regards to the 50 percent rule is that a student can be given a 50 percent if they demonstrate effort and a moderate level of understanding. I am allowed to give a student a zero if they fail to do those things. For example, if the assignment was to write a three paragraph essay and the student submits two sentences, I can give them a zero for not demonstrating enough effort.

As for missing assignments, we are supposed to put a Z once the due date passes and then change it to a zero after the deadline.
Anonymous
Post 02/02/2026 21:14     Subject: 50% rule question
Anonymous wrote:I was hoping to get a more clear answer — the principal just emailed out something about the 50% rule that indicated that seemed to indicate teachers needed to give notice of the non completion before giving a zero.

It’s weird because what happened is that over tje snow break, suddenly a whole bunch of PP assignments loaded into parentvue. They seem to be from throughout the quarter but all are dated the last day of the quarter. None of them have substantive descriptions(no words) but just have a number that I guess is a chapter or unit number maybe notes or review sheets from a particular chapter (??) but I don’t think he was clear that they were supposed to turn their notes/study sheets in for a grade. It was never known the calendar assignment and never showed up on parentvue or studnetvue until last week. I meant that if one of them had showed up at the beginning of quarter, we would have known that those were supposed to be turned in. It’s a little unclear what they even are.

So the situation is weird and one I haven’t seen in my 7 years of parenting MCPS HS students … but the question was just a pretty basic one about whether the 50% rule applies to PP or just AT. I thought for sure someone would know the answer to that.



I don’t think it applies to PP. my kid got a 0% for a “missing” PP where he had kept the paper showing that the teacher marked it. Teacher said he was too late in reporting it missing, she had already recorded the zero. Certainly no one emailed me that my kid had gotten a zero, presumably because that rule doesn’t apply
Anonymous
Post 02/02/2026 21:11     Subject: 50% rule question
I was hoping to get a more clear answer — the principal just emailed out something about the 50% rule that indicated that seemed to indicate teachers needed to give notice of the non completion before giving a zero.

It’s weird because what happened is that over tje snow break, suddenly a whole bunch of PP assignments loaded into parentvue. They seem to be from throughout the quarter but all are dated the last day of the quarter. None of them have substantive descriptions(no words) but just have a number that I guess is a chapter or unit number maybe notes or review sheets from a particular chapter (??) but I don’t think he was clear that they were supposed to turn their notes/study sheets in for a grade. It was never known the calendar assignment and never showed up on parentvue or studnetvue until last week. I meant that if one of them had showed up at the beginning of quarter, we would have known that those were supposed to be turned in. It’s a little unclear what they even are.

So the situation is weird and one I haven’t seen in my 7 years of parenting MCPS HS students … but the question was just a pretty basic one about whether the 50% rule applies to PP or just AT. I thought for sure someone would know the answer to that.
Anonymous
Post 02/02/2026 18:26     Subject: 50% rule question
Anonymous wrote:Does it apply to PP assignments or only all tasks?
My HS student was set to get a semester A in a class but over the snow week suddenly a whole bunch of PP assignments were posted to Gradebook as zeros that weren’t there previously. He isn’t really sure what they are and didn’t think they were graded assignments. I guess t might be a system glitch but if not is there any way to beg for 50% rule on these? He would have done them if any of them had showed up previously on Gradebook. It knows his grade down from like a 92 to an 88. It’s his favorite class and what he wants to major in so this one is really a bummer.


How can he both not know what they are and have thought they weren’t graded? Stop training him to make excuses.
Anonymous
Post 02/02/2026 17:47     Subject: 50% rule question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:So as a teacher, should I just blindly believe every student who claims they turned in an assignment and somehow i missed it? And if i am to somehow believe them, how should I grade it? How do I know they even did a good job on the assignment? You would probably be upset if i just handed out a 50 because what if they did 90 work?

There seems to be no real solution other than provide me with proof you did it and turned it in. This is why I do everything on Chromebooks in my class and only on rare occasions allow for paper copies.


I get it. But you can't blame the OP's kid for being disturbed that missing assignments are being posted after the marking period has ended, during snow days when they can't talk to their teacher about it.

If OP's kid is telling the truth and several missing assignments only appeared last week after the MP2 had ended, unless the missing assignments happened a day or two before the MP2 ended, that's the fault of the teacher for not updating their grading in a timely fashion.


-+1 this never happens with the organized teachers who stay on top of their grading in accordance with the timing/expectations of the new grading policy. There shouldn’t be a bunch of assignments popping up in synergy after the end of the semester has ended. It should be whatever was covered and due the last week.





Sometimes the problem is a disorganized teacher. That should definitely change, but remember the county gives them 2 weeks to put in grades. I think it should be less for practice and preparation assignments since they are not graded for accuracy.

Sometimes teachers wait to see if a student is going to turn it in. As a result, the zero goes in close to the deadline. In that case, I would prefer the teacher to put in a Z which will show the assignment is missing. The Z should go in right away.


Yes, sometimes it is. My kid has a disorganized teacher who is older and seems to have problem with tech. And then the disorganized teacher went on extended leave. It's been hours of time trying to figure out why my kid had so many missing assignments, whether to give the teacher some grace because there were issues with the long-term sub which would get resolved eventually, making sure he writes emails documenting that he turned all that stuff is.

Teachers can complain about disorganized kids, but a disorganized teacher is so much worse, because the kid has no power to fix it.
Anonymous
Post 02/02/2026 17:31     Subject: 50% rule question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:So as a teacher, should I just blindly believe every student who claims they turned in an assignment and somehow i missed it? And if i am to somehow believe them, how should I grade it? How do I know they even did a good job on the assignment? You would probably be upset if i just handed out a 50 because what if they did 90 work?

There seems to be no real solution other than provide me with proof you did it and turned it in. This is why I do everything on Chromebooks in my class and only on rare occasions allow for paper copies.


I get it. But you can't blame the OP's kid for being disturbed that missing assignments are being posted after the marking period has ended, during snow days when they can't talk to their teacher about it.

If OP's kid is telling the truth and several missing assignments only appeared last week after the MP2 had ended, unless the missing assignments happened a day or two before the MP2 ended, that's the fault of the teacher for not updating their grading in a timely fashion.


-+1 this never happens with the organized teachers who stay on top of their grading in accordance with the timing/expectations of the new grading policy. There shouldn’t be a bunch of assignments popping up in synergy after the end of the semester has ended. It should be whatever was covered and due the last week.





Sometimes the problem is a disorganized teacher. That should definitely change, but remember the county gives them 2 weeks to put in grades. I think it should be less for practice and preparation assignments since they are not graded for accuracy.

Sometimes teachers wait to see if a student is going to turn it in. As a result, the zero goes in close to the deadline. In that case, I would prefer the teacher to put in a Z which will show the assignment is missing. The Z should go in right away.
Anonymous
Post 02/02/2026 17:28     Subject: 50% rule question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:So as a teacher, should I just blindly believe every student who claims they turned in an assignment and somehow i missed it? And if i am to somehow believe them, how should I grade it? How do I know they even did a good job on the assignment? You would probably be upset if i just handed out a 50 because what if they did 90 work?

There seems to be no real solution other than provide me with proof you did it and turned it in. This is why I do everything on Chromebooks in my class and only on rare occasions allow for paper copies.


I get it. But you can't blame the OP's kid for being disturbed that missing assignments are being posted after the marking period has ended, during snow days when they can't talk to their teacher about it.

If OP's kid is telling the truth and several missing assignments only appeared last week after the MP2 had ended, unless the missing assignments happened a day or two before the MP2 ended, that's the fault of the teacher for not updating their grading in a timely fashion.



If OP's kid did the work, they should still be able to talk to the teacher about it and have a possible grade change submitted. If the OP's kid is actually saying that they did not know it was going to count or that it would lower their grade, then the OP's kid will need to accept the consequences. In the future, if a teacher says to do an assignment, I would suggest doing the assignment.
Anonymous
Post 02/02/2026 06:48     Subject: 50% rule question
This is almost certainly a glitch from a disorganized teacher. Check your each assignment in Canvas. Look at the average grade. If it's 0, it's not graded for anyone. If it's low (50%), the teacher is grading and is midway through. If it's high, your kid is missing the assignment.

Obviously grwades they are coming through after the MP is over are from a disorganized teacher who doesn't keep up with their own work, so ignore all the snark from crabby witches who want you blame your kid for not doing the teacher's job.
Anonymous
Post 02/02/2026 06:42     Subject: 50% rule question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:So as a teacher, should I just blindly believe every student who claims they turned in an assignment and somehow i missed it? And if i am to somehow believe them, how should I grade it? How do I know they even did a good job on the assignment? You would probably be upset if i just handed out a 50 because what if they did 90 work?

There seems to be no real solution other than provide me with proof you did it and turned it in. This is why I do everything on Chromebooks in my class and only on rare occasions allow for paper copies.


I get it. But you can't blame the OP's kid for being disturbed that missing assignments are being posted after the marking period has ended, during snow days when they can't talk to their teacher about it.

If OP's kid is telling the truth and several missing assignments only appeared last week after the MP2 had ended, unless the missing assignments happened a day or two before the MP2 ended, that's the fault of the teacher for not updating their grading in a timely fashion.


-+1 this never happens with the organized teachers who stay on top of their grading in accordance with the timing/expectations of the new grading policy. There shouldn’t be a bunch of assignments popping up in synergy after the end of the semester has ended. It should be whatever was covered and due the last week.

Anonymous
Post 02/02/2026 00:13     Subject: 50% rule question
Anonymous wrote:So as a teacher, should I just blindly believe every student who claims they turned in an assignment and somehow i missed it? And if i am to somehow believe them, how should I grade it? How do I know they even did a good job on the assignment? You would probably be upset if i just handed out a 50 because what if they did 90 work?

There seems to be no real solution other than provide me with proof you did it and turned it in. This is why I do everything on Chromebooks in my class and only on rare occasions allow for paper copies.


I get it. But you can't blame the OP's kid for being disturbed that missing assignments are being posted after the marking period has ended, during snow days when they can't talk to their teacher about it.

If OP's kid is telling the truth and several missing assignments only appeared last week after the MP2 had ended, unless the missing assignments happened a day or two before the MP2 ended, that's the fault of the teacher for not updating their grading in a timely fashion.
Anonymous
Post 02/02/2026 00:02     Subject: 50% rule question
So as a teacher, should I just blindly believe every student who claims they turned in an assignment and somehow i missed it? And if i am to somehow believe them, how should I grade it? How do I know they even did a good job on the assignment? You would probably be upset if i just handed out a 50 because what if they did 90 work?

There seems to be no real solution other than provide me with proof you did it and turned it in. This is why I do everything on Chromebooks in my class and only on rare occasions allow for paper copies.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 23:48     Subject: 50% rule question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:He should email the teacher to ask.


Kid should email the teacher to have it on record if he did in fact turn in the assignment. My kid also has some missing assignments in Gradebook that he turned in, and I’ve gotten involved to have the teacher fix them because the teacher didn’t respond to my kid for weeks. Finally it got fixed.


Does the student have any proof it was turned in. I tell all my students that any assignment turned in on paper, they should take a photo of and send it to me as proof it was put in the box. That way if it somehow goes missing there is a record of it actually existing. Without that photo and e-mail for timestamp purposes, it's their word against mine and my admin has told me that they back me up 100%.


I tell my kids that but they don't do it and some teachers take the phones during class so its not an option.


+1 How exactly are kids supposed to take pictures of every written assignment? Phones aren't allowed, and Chromebooks aren't used in every class (some schools are on the cart model where they're only used sometimes.)
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 23:47     Subject: 50% rule question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:He should email the teacher to ask.


Kid should email the teacher to have it on record if he did in fact turn in the assignment. My kid also has some missing assignments in Gradebook that he turned in, and I’ve gotten involved to have the teacher fix them because the teacher didn’t respond to my kid for weeks. Finally it got fixed.


Does the student have any proof it was turned in. I tell all my students that any assignment turned in on paper, they should take a photo of and send it to me as proof it was put in the box. That way if it somehow goes missing there is a record of it actually existing. Without that photo and e-mail for timestamp purposes, it's their word against mine and my admin has told me that they back me up 100%.


Few kids does that, and it's a shame that the admin backs you up 100%. My kid's grade went from an A (91) to a B (89) for one class because a teacher said that the assignment was never turned in, even when my kid had the hard copy with her teacher's comments on it, and my kid was too shy to push her on it, when the teacher gave a zero. After that, whenever I see a missing assignment in Canvas, I grill my kid, and on one occasion, I wrote the teacher directly, because my kid had tried to correct the teacher and failed.