Anonymous
04/22/2026 11:41
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Anonymous wrote:Worst part of the new grading policy is you are seeing more and more teachers no longer assigning papers. Knowing we have only 10 days to grade for 150 kids, most English teachers I know are just chunking them into smaller, easier to read and grade assignments. Instead of kids having to write a 5 paragraph paper in 3 weeks, we are asking them to write 5 individual paragraphs with each being completed over a week. Also helps reach the AT requirements.
I'm sympathetic to this, but I'm also kind of wondering. I went to a public HS in the 80s. My classes had probably 25-30 kids in them. We had essays assigned several times per semester (typically multiple pages were expected) and the teachers read them and provided substantive feedback within a week or so. And back then they had to read handwriting, typically not typed papers. What is it that's making it so hard for the current teachers to do that? Did the 80s teachers work more nights? Or do the current teachers have too much admin burden and -- if that's it -- is there a way to address that? If you're a HS english teacher, would it work to have a day or two a week where you assign the kids to talk amongst themselves about the reading, or something like that, while you grade essays? I think we also had classes where we traded essays and each marked up each other's essays with comments and constructive feedback. That could sometimes be really helpful itself.
Anonymous
04/21/2026 20:30
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Anonymous wrote:I don't like the ability of teachers to enter grades so late. I really think they need to provide feedback early and often. By waiting 2-3 weeks, kids don't know if they're on track or not.
100% agree. My middle schooler had no idea she had a C in health class until weeks later. I thought grades are supposed to be entered within 2 weeks or something like that of the assignment due date or deadline?
Anonymous
04/21/2026 19:17
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kid hasn't had a grade entered since March 19 in one class. When are teachers supposed to get grades in?
Yesterday
If you have a teacher who is a hot mess who can't seem to manage Gradebook, at what point do you flag this to someone else in the school (guidance counselor)? All my kids' teachers are fine except for one who is near retirement whose grades lag by a month or so and even when grades are entered--it's often a mix of wrong stuff (0s and 50%s for the whole class.)
Anonymous
04/21/2026 18:58
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Anonymous wrote:My kid hasn't had a grade entered since March 19 in one class. When are teachers supposed to get grades in?
Yesterday
Anonymous
04/21/2026 18:52
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
My kid hasn't had a grade entered since March 19 in one class. When are teachers supposed to get grades in?
Anonymous
04/21/2026 18:35
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Worst part of the new grading policy is you are seeing more and more teachers no longer assigning papers. Knowing we have only 10 days to grade for 150 kids, most English teachers I know are just chunking them into smaller, easier to read and grade assignments. Instead of kids having to write a 5 paragraph paper in 3 weeks, we are asking them to write 5 individual paragraphs with each being completed over a week. Also helps reach the AT requirements.
Anonymous
04/21/2026 16:25
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I don't like the ability of teachers to enter grades so late. I really think they need to provide feedback early and often. By waiting 2-3 weeks, kids don't know if they're on track or not.
Technically we are supposed to grade and return work within 10 school days per the grading policy. If an assignment is turned in late, then we get 10 days from when it was turned in.
I believe central office is not enforcing this rule because they know that there is not enough time in the school day to get grading done and most teachers do it on their own time
I believe they are using this first year to collect data to see if the policy is effective rather than enforcement.
The kids find it a little frustrating when some teachers are really strict about turning things in, but then are really lax about grading. I totally understand that a teacher may have trouble adhering to the 10 day deadline, but if so, I feel like they should be more understanding when a teen has trouble adhering to a deadline that if often only a few days.
One of my top wishes for MCPS is to give the teachers more time to grade -- whether that's days off or half days or even just saying -- look, its fine if once a week you put on a Ken Burns documentary or whatever the equivalent is for your class, or let the class get caught up on homework while you get caught up on grading. There's an old saying that you learn more from your mistakes than from what you do right --- but that's only true if you get relatively prompt feedback on your mistakes.
+1 This. My kid has a missing assignment from when he made a mistake about a deadline and tried to submit something the morning after it was due. Teacher gave him a zero. Fine. But it's the same teacher who hadn't entered any grades since March 6 until yesterday which makes it difficult for both parent and kid to understand how they're doing in the class.
Anonymous
04/21/2026 16:04
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I don't like the ability of teachers to enter grades so late. I really think they need to provide feedback early and often. By waiting 2-3 weeks, kids don't know if they're on track or not.
Technically we are supposed to grade and return work within 10 school days per the grading policy. If an assignment is turned in late, then we get 10 days from when it was turned in.
I believe central office is not enforcing this rule because they know that there is not enough time in the school day to get grading done and most teachers do it on their own time
I believe they are using this first year to collect data to see if the policy is effective rather than enforcement.
The kids find it a little frustrating when some teachers are really strict about turning things in, but then are really lax about grading. I totally understand that a teacher may have trouble adhering to the 10 day deadline, but if so, I feel like they should be more understanding when a teen has trouble adhering to a deadline that if often only a few days.
One of my top wishes for MCPS is to give the teachers more time to grade -- whether that's days off or half days or even just saying -- look, its fine if once a week you put on a Ken Burns documentary or whatever the equivalent is for your class, or let the class get caught up on homework while you get caught up on grading. There's an old saying that you learn more from your mistakes than from what you do right --- but that's only true if you get relatively prompt feedback on your mistakes.
True but if you look at the calendar thread, everyone is screaming how it is ridiculous for teachers to have one day off each quarter for grading, planning and finalizing report cards. All of these things take time.
I agree. I think it is really short-sighted of the parents who take that position. It's more about the quality, rather than the quantity. I'd rather 3 days of substantive teaching with substantive feedback over 5 days of teachers walking through a power point with no time to actually give kids feedback on the work they do or figure out if they need to be covering some material in more depth or adjusting the class material based on student interest/ability.
My second wish for MCPS is to somehow minimize the admin BS that I hear teachers quietly complaining about -- the useless trainings and so forth. But I don't know how one does that...
i feel like once they give the teachers what they need to be successful, they could then start enforcing some accountability against the teachers who aren't very good. (Which I think is a minority, but notable minority, of the teaching staff.) But with the current setup, everyone is so stressed out that it's hard to enforce standards -- you risk just driving away the good teachers who are really trying.
Completely agree. You nailed it
Anonymous
04/21/2026 14:32
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I don't like the ability of teachers to enter grades so late. I really think they need to provide feedback early and often. By waiting 2-3 weeks, kids don't know if they're on track or not.
Technically we are supposed to grade and return work within 10 school days per the grading policy. If an assignment is turned in late, then we get 10 days from when it was turned in.
I believe central office is not enforcing this rule because they know that there is not enough time in the school day to get grading done and most teachers do it on their own time
I believe they are using this first year to collect data to see if the policy is effective rather than enforcement.
The kids find it a little frustrating when some teachers are really strict about turning things in, but then are really lax about grading. I totally understand that a teacher may have trouble adhering to the 10 day deadline, but if so, I feel like they should be more understanding when a teen has trouble adhering to a deadline that if often only a few days.
One of my top wishes for MCPS is to give the teachers more time to grade -- whether that's days off or half days or even just saying -- look, its fine if once a week you put on a Ken Burns documentary or whatever the equivalent is for your class, or let the class get caught up on homework while you get caught up on grading. There's an old saying that you learn more from your mistakes than from what you do right --- but that's only true if you get relatively prompt feedback on your mistakes.
True but if you look at the calendar thread, everyone is screaming how it is ridiculous for teachers to have one day off each quarter for grading, planning and finalizing report cards. All of these things take time.
I agree. I think it is really short-sighted of the parents who take that position. It's more about the quality, rather than the quantity. I'd rather 3 days of substantive teaching with substantive feedback over 5 days of teachers walking through a power point with no time to actually give kids feedback on the work they do or figure out if they need to be covering some material in more depth or adjusting the class material based on student interest/ability.
My second wish for MCPS is to somehow minimize the admin BS that I hear teachers quietly complaining about -- the useless trainings and so forth. But I don't know how one does that...
i feel like once they give the teachers what they need to be successful, they could then start enforcing some accountability against the teachers who aren't very good. (Which I think is a minority, but notable minority, of the teaching staff.) But with the current setup, everyone is so stressed out that it's hard to enforce standards -- you risk just driving away the good teachers who are really trying.
Anonymous
04/21/2026 13:26
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I don't like the ability of teachers to enter grades so late. I really think they need to provide feedback early and often. By waiting 2-3 weeks, kids don't know if they're on track or not.
Technically we are supposed to grade and return work within 10 school days per the grading policy. If an assignment is turned in late, then we get 10 days from when it was turned in.
I believe central office is not enforcing this rule because they know that there is not enough time in the school day to get grading done and most teachers do it on their own time
I believe they are using this first year to collect data to see if the policy is effective rather than enforcement.
The kids find it a little frustrating when some teachers are really strict about turning things in, but then are really lax about grading. I totally understand that a teacher may have trouble adhering to the 10 day deadline, but if so, I feel like they should be more understanding when a teen has trouble adhering to a deadline that if often only a few days.
One of my top wishes for MCPS is to give the teachers more time to grade -- whether that's days off or half days or even just saying -- look, its fine if once a week you put on a Ken Burns documentary or whatever the equivalent is for your class, or let the class get caught up on homework while you get caught up on grading. There's an old saying that you learn more from your mistakes than from what you do right --- but that's only true if you get relatively prompt feedback on your mistakes.
True but if you look at the calendar thread, everyone is screaming how it is ridiculous for teachers to have one day off each quarter for grading, planning and finalizing report cards. All of these things take time.
Anonymous
04/21/2026 13:01
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:When are report cards out?
April 24th
4/24 on parentvue, next week for printed.
Anonymous
04/21/2026 12:58
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I don't like the ability of teachers to enter grades so late. I really think they need to provide feedback early and often. By waiting 2-3 weeks, kids don't know if they're on track or not.
Technically we are supposed to grade and return work within 10 school days per the grading policy. If an assignment is turned in late, then we get 10 days from when it was turned in.
I believe central office is not enforcing this rule because they know that there is not enough time in the school day to get grading done and most teachers do it on their own time
I believe they are using this first year to collect data to see if the policy is effective rather than enforcement.
The kids find it a little frustrating when some teachers are really strict about turning things in, but then are really lax about grading. I totally understand that a teacher may have trouble adhering to the 10 day deadline, but if so, I feel like they should be more understanding when a teen has trouble adhering to a deadline that if often only a few days.
One of my top wishes for MCPS is to give the teachers more time to grade -- whether that's days off or half days or even just saying -- look, its fine if once a week you put on a Ken Burns documentary or whatever the equivalent is for your class, or let the class get caught up on homework while you get caught up on grading. There's an old saying that you learn more from your mistakes than from what you do right --- but that's only true if you get relatively prompt feedback on your mistakes.
Anonymous
04/21/2026 12:47
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Anonymous wrote:When are report cards out?
April 24th
Anonymous
04/21/2026 11:46
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I don't like the ability of teachers to enter grades so late. I really think they need to provide feedback early and often. By waiting 2-3 weeks, kids don't know if they're on track or not.
Technically we are supposed to grade and return work within 10 school days per the grading policy. If an assignment is turned in late, then we get 10 days from when it was turned in.
I believe central office is not enforcing this rule because they know that there is not enough time in the school day to get grading done and most teachers do it on their own time
I believe they are using this first year to collect data to see if the policy is effective rather than enforcement.
Anonymous
04/21/2026 11:37
Subject: Grades 3rd quarter
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I don't like the ability of teachers to enter grades so late. I really think they need to provide feedback early and often. By waiting 2-3 weeks, kids don't know if they're on track or not.
Technically we are supposed to grade and return work within 10 school days per the grading policy. If an assignment is turned in late, then we get 10 days from when it was turned in.
I believe central office is not enforcing this rule because they know that there is not enough time in the school day to get grading done and most teachers do it on their own time