Some Blair teachers are most certainly giving zeros, not just as place holders, but as permanent grades. The teacher we recently spoke to about it said if a student doesn't turn something in, then they can give zeros now and do not have to reach out to the parents/family. They said it changed this year.

The MCPS Quicknotes says there have not been changes to the 50% rule:

"Currently, there are no changes in the regulation to the 50 percent rule. Revisions have been made to Regulation IKA-RA, Grading and Reporting to include the updated requirements for End-of-Course exams and practices that notify students about missing assignments and opportunities for reassessment. Please visit this website to read the revised Regulation IKA-RA."

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/news/quick-notes/2024-01/jan.-31-2024/end-of-course-exam-reminder-and-update-on-the-grading-and-reporting-regulation/

Anonymous wrote:A student journalist at Whitman reported on the school's move to adjust the 50 percent rule. Namely, stripping away the requirement of two-way communication before a zero can be assigned:

SOURCE: https://mocoshow.com/2024/01/29/change-to-50-percent-rule-marks-shift-in-mcps-grading-trends/

This marking period, Whitman administrators began to roll out through department meetings a revised, county-wide grading policy, including new guidance regarding the current “50 percent” rule. The new rule, to go into effect in the second semester in MCPS, allows teachers to give students zeros for missing work provided that they contact the student’s guardians. Previously, MCPS administrators expected teachers to participate in two-way communication before assigning a zero, meaning they had to contact the student’s guardian and receive a response.

The change shortens the steps between a student missing an assignment and their receiving a zero and may substantially change the culture surrounding the 50 percent rule. The English department was the first at Whitman to receive the new rule via a summary sheet at their department meeting on Dec. 18. Administrators across MCPS are now circulating similar guides as the second semester approaches. In addition to the zero rule change, the new grading policy includes a commitment to clear reassessment opportunities and consistent grading between different sections of a class.

Following the policy announcement, the Montgomery County Education Association entered into negotiations with MCPS to ensure that teachers would not be reprimanded for potentially violating a mid-year policy change. MCPS officials agreed to continue the rollout but with teacher “coaching” as the aim until the 2024-2025 school year, MCEA confirmed in an email to members. Then, compliance will be mandatory.

It's confusing since this is a student journalist report if this is systemwide, but given the MCEA confirmation, it seems like it is. But why isn't MCPS communicating about this change systemwide? This is the kind of information that should be in the Things to Know messages.

Teachers on DCUM: Are all MCPS high schools making this shift? If so, does it look differently at your school versus what's described at Whitman?

I might be completely mistaken but at back to school night at Sherwood, I recall teachers saying they could give zeros if they attempted 2 contacts with the parents whether or not the parents contacted them back. This is not an issue with our family so I did not focus on it too much but I don’t believe this is new information.

Anonymous wrote:Here's the policy MCPS should have:

Every missing assignment is referred to central office, who hires low paid admin assistants to chase down parents, including visiting homes. Heck, hire high school student interns to do it!

Let the professional teachers get back to work teaching, and the admins get started on work admining.

or don't do that and let people decide what is important to them

This is clearly the biggest issue facing MCPS.
Finally, those F students will get what they deserve!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Even within Blair, different departments are interpreting the rule differently."

https://silverchips.mbhs.edu/content/mcps-rolls-out-new-mid-year-regulations-allowing-zeros-to-return-to-gradebooks-36377/

*sigh*

This discretion that is afforded to different schools, let alone different departments in the same school, is one reason why MCPS is so dysfunctional and difficult for families to maneuver.

There isn't "discretion". The regulation was changed in the fall to roll in and codify some of the changes implemented during the pandemic, to go back to some previous procedures, and to remove all links between attendance and grades per state level direction. Schools were directed to communicate with their communities directly.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/ikara.pdf

In our HS there has been a little too much flexibility and different teachers implemented certain things differently. Now there are some particular things that will be consistent per the regulation.

Oh that doc reminded me

"Grades must be based on individual demonstration of skill and understanding."

-> it is illegal to assign grades for group projects. So stop complaining about your kid's peers, are start filing grievances to the principal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Even within Blair, different departments are interpreting the rule differently."

https://silverchips.mbhs.edu/content/mcps-rolls-out-new-mid-year-regulations-allowing-zeros-to-return-to-gradebooks-36377/

*sigh*

This discretion that is afforded to different schools, let alone different departments in the same school, is one reason why MCPS is so dysfunctional and difficult for families to maneuver.

What maneuvering are you doing instead of telling your kid to do their homework?

Here's the policy MCPS should have:

Every missing assignment is referred to central office, who hires low paid admin assistants to chase down parents, including visiting homes. Heck, hire high school student interns to do it!

Let the professional teachers get back to work teaching, and the admins get started on work admining.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Even within Blair, different departments are interpreting the rule differently."

https://silverchips.mbhs.edu/content/mcps-rolls-out-new-mid-year-regulations-allowing-zeros-to-return-to-gradebooks-36377/

*sigh*

This discretion that is afforded to different schools, let alone different departments in the same school, is one reason why MCPS is so dysfunctional and difficult for families to maneuver.

There isn't "discretion". The regulation was changed in the fall to roll in and codify some of the changes implemented during the pandemic, to go back to some previous procedures, and to remove all links between attendance and grades per state level direction. Schools were directed to communicate with their communities directly.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/ikara.pdf

In our HS there has been a little too much flexibility and different teachers implemented certain things differently. Now there are some particular things that will be consistent per the regulation.

What are those thiings?

And why let schools do this directly when it's a systemwide change and in an age where information flows freely and speedily, word will get out if one school publishes the news, as Whitman and Blair have, but others don't.

Why does MCPS suck at communications so bad? What is Chris Cram doing?

So whiny ...

If different schools were operating with different policies, then they each need individual messaging to describe the shift to the new policy.

From RM's global announcement:
Due Date/Deadline/Cut off Policy:
By Due Date - Full Credit

By Deadline (-10%): After the due date, late work will receive a 10% penalty until the deadline.
** The change is that this must be applied consistently by all teachers.

After the deadline, but by Cutoff 1 (Interim)/By Cutoff 2 (End of Quarter) (50%)
After the deadline, students have until the cutoff date to turn in assignments. Zs will remain until the final day of the cutoff.
Cutoff 1 is at interims: Work from the first half of the marking period turned in after the deadline but before the interim can receive 50%.
Cutoff 2 is at the end of the marking period: Work from the second half of the marking period turned in after the deadline but before the end of the marking period can receive 50%.

Missing (0%)
After the cutoff, missing work will result in a zero. Zs will be converted to zeros."
** This must also be applied consistently.

This is too complicated. I try to do it myself, but it is a crazy amount of work once communication is added in. Teachers can’t enter Z’s and INC in MYMCPS. We have to manually overwrite the grades sent over to Synergy. It requires about a minute per individual assignment grade due delays in the system so most do it. I usually only do it on teacher grading days.

This is unconscionable. Instead of teaching, grading or planning, our teachers are wasting their time being "mechanical Turks" to cover the ass of the vendor of crappy overpriced broken by design software.

Guys. Guys.

This rule only affects students with completely absent parents who don't care about school at all.
Not the ones who would ever read a communication from the school or district.
Why are you so worked up about it? It doesn't affect you.

If you were concerned about rescuing the kids falling throthr cracks, that would be one thing, but that's not what you are talking about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Even within Blair, different departments are interpreting the rule differently."

https://silverchips.mbhs.edu/content/mcps-rolls-out-new-mid-year-regulations-allowing-zeros-to-return-to-gradebooks-36377/

*sigh*

This discretion that is afforded to different schools, let alone different departments in the same school, is one reason why MCPS is so dysfunctional and difficult for families to maneuver.

There isn't "discretion". The regulation was changed in the fall to roll in and codify some of the changes implemented during the pandemic, to go back to some previous procedures, and to remove all links between attendance and grades per state level direction. Schools were directed to communicate with their communities directly.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/ikara.pdf

In our HS there has been a little too much flexibility and different teachers implemented certain things differently. Now there are some particular things that will be consistent per the regulation.

What are those thiings?

And why let schools do this directly when it's a systemwide change and in an age where information flows freely and speedily, word will get out if one school publishes the news, as Whitman and Blair have, but others don't.

Why does MCPS suck at communications so bad? What is Chris Cram doing?

So whiny ...

If different schools were operating with different policies, then they each need individual messaging to describe the shift to the new policy.

From RM's global announcement:
Due Date/Deadline/Cut off Policy:
By Due Date - Full Credit

By Deadline (-10%): After the due date, late work will receive a 10% penalty until the deadline.
** The change is that this must be applied consistently by all teachers.

After the deadline, but by Cutoff 1 (Interim)/By Cutoff 2 (End of Quarter) (50%)
After the deadline, students have until the cutoff date to turn in assignments. Zs will remain until the final day of the cutoff.
Cutoff 1 is at interims: Work from the first half of the marking period turned in after the deadline but before the interim can receive 50%.
Cutoff 2 is at the end of the marking period: Work from the second half of the marking period turned in after the deadline but before the end of the marking period can receive 50%.

Missing (0%)
After the cutoff, missing work will result in a zero. Zs will be converted to zeros."
** This must also be applied consistently.

This is too complicated. I try to do it myself, but it is a crazy amount of work once communication is added in. Teachers can’t enter Z’s and INC in MYMCPS. We have to manually overwrite the grades sent over to Synergy. It requires about a minute per individual assignment grade due delays in the system so most do it. I usually only do it on teacher grading days.

Still buts all the responsibility on the teacher to get the kid to do it. Sometimes even after all that’s required, the kids earns less than a 50%. So then what? And who decides what level of “support and intervention” is appropriate before retakes? What about kids that just don’t care and refuse? I guarantee I’ll still be scolded for not using all of my IRA time to work with those kids versus that kids that actually try and are struggling

My HS kid’s principal has included this info in her weekly message for the past few weeks:

MCPS has communicated an updated Grading & Reporting Policy that will go into effect when second semester begins on January 30, 2024. The policy is linked here. Some important updates to note are as follows below:

Teachers will include the letter "[R]” in assignment titles in the grade book if the assignment is re-assessable.

There must be at least 9 (nine) All Tasks/Assessment grades and at least 5 (five) Practice/Preparation grades in each class' grade book each marking period.

A “Z” in the grade book is entered if a student did not submit an assignment by the due date but still has an opportunity to submit the work. If the student does not turn in the assignment after support and intervention, the teacher may change the “Z” to a final grade of zero.

Teachers will document communication informing students and parents/guardians about missing assignments in the All Tasks Category.

Teachers may assign a grade lower than 50 percent to a task/assessment if a student does no work on the task/assessment; a teacher determines the student did not attempt to meet the basic requirements of the task/assessment; or the student engaged in academic dishonesty.

Anonymous wrote:If your school isn’t following board policy then get your EFRs to address it at the triad meetings. If they still aren’t, I really don’t see why as a teacher you don’t follow it anyway. Union will back you if admin pushes back.

Retaliation from admin and RTS, etc. I know it sounds nice and easy to just ignore the policies at my school that go against board policy and wait for the union to have my back, but realistically, it isn’t easy. I’m already on the breaking point of leaving the profession due to retaliation from admin, lowering standards, etc. EFRS know about it, but there is only so much they can do as well. The union knows about this, but when they tell MCPS about it, MCPS pretends it is not an issue. Just like they pretend SPED retention isn’t an issue and that vacancies, class coverage, sprinkling in ES schools, etc. isn’t an issue. We do have contracts that MCPS routinely violates, but most of the time, they don’t care when the union tries to hold them account.

TL;Dr: following board policy instead of my school’s grading policy that goes against what the board says just creates more problems, stress, tears, and disciplinary measures for me and my colleagues who try to hold kids accountable.

Somewhat unrelated but, the Biedleman scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. Bullying and retaliation is a HUGE problem in schools. I can only fight for what I think is right for so many extra hours a week. At the end of the day, even though the vast majority of my teacher colleagues agree wholeheartedly with me, almost no one in central /at the top cares. This is still a job for me that I work 75 hours a week for and teachers like
Me are already at our breaking points. It is likely that we have all tried to say “hey this isn’t right..” multiple times, but making a huge fuss over it just hurts us via retaliation and countless more hours of emotional distress.

Anonymous wrote:"Even within Blair, different departments are interpreting the rule differently."

https://silverchips.mbhs.edu/content/mcps-rolls-out-new-mid-year-regulations-allowing-zeros-to-return-to-gradebooks-36377/

nobody with half a brain cares