Advice needed: Awful high school teacher

Parents Forum
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<p>I would be very grateful for any suggestions about how to proceed in this situation. </p>

<p>I am appalled at what is going on in my child's AP class, but my child does not want me to complain. This child loves the relaxed atmosphere and feels it is a sign of how highly the class is regarded by other teachers--the vice principal pops in regularly to discuss the latest episode of Jersey Shore, for example!</p>

<p>Since September, not one single graded writing assignment has been returned to these students! A grade, always 100 in my child's case, appears on the computer, but they never see the paper again and never receive any feedback from the teacher.</p>

<p>I asked my child to persist in asking for the work but we gave up after a while. Child said it was embarrassing and, after all, EVERYONE KNOWS that he NEVER gives back ANY work! Since then, I have talked to kids who graduated in 2009, 2010, and current seniors--all agree, he never gave back anything!</p>

<p>Tests, which have been returned eventually after my repeated requests, consist of a large section of objective questions. There is one essay question, for which my child writes two full pages and always receives full credit, but there has never been one single mark anywhere on the essays that would indicate they've been read.</p>

<p>So, I spoke to some parents of my child's classmates. They were all happy to see the As and pretty much left their top-notch students to take care of things on their own. I felt a bit odd for being aware of various writing assignments (which my child had spent many hours working on). These parents seemed to think it was none of their business.</p>

<p>One other parent is concerned about complaining because she has another child yet to come through the high school. Someone even commented to me that I should be careful, lest this teacher retaliate on my child's younger cousins!</p>

<p>After several emails and conversations with the teacher, where he gave various reasons for not returning the work and promised to do better in the future, I have emailed his supervisor and cc'd him. The supervisor is on leave for a week. The principal commented that if I still want a meeting, one can be arranged then.</p>

<p>IF I STILL WANT A MEETING?? Why would I not?? Meanwhile, the teacher called my child into the hall and quietly said, "Your mother is really mad at me," and gave back ONE of the 10 missing assignments. My child wants no parts of this, and told him so. My child is so pleased to be included in all the fun discussions with all the other teachers who pop in to visit their class.</p>

<p>So, how do I proceed? Other parents do not want to complain for fear of it affecting their children's grades. My child is happy to be one of the cool kids. Only I seem to care that they are not doing anything to prepare for the AP test and it is clear that the teacher is not grading any of their written work.</p>

<p>I don't know many people on this site IRL, but if you do recognize me, please don't reply in a way that would identify me or where we live. Thanks!</p>

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<p>What about AP test results? Did most students get 5s? If so, then obviously the teacher is doing his job. If most kids are not passing the test and getting As then I would raise it as an issue.</p>

<p>D2´s IB math teacher is not grading their homework because she feels they should be using homework to practice their skills, not for her to monitor the students.</p>

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<p>It sounds like you’ve reached out to students (or their parents) who’ve taken this course in the past, since you know that their work was never returned. Did you ask them what their grades were on the AP exam? If not, can you get that information from the school? If the kids in the class are getting mostly 4’s and 5’s (or 5’s if most of the kids in the class have an A), then I don’t think there’s a problem. The teacher’s method is working and the kids are learning. If the AP grades are not stellar, then I think the school needs to address the situation. At my D’s school, the AP Euro teachers were told to step it up a few years back (kids had been getting 3’s and 4’s on the test, which the school didn’t think was good enough), and now the kids are getting mostly 5’s mixed with some 4’s. Teachers can improve their curriculum and demand more of the students if kids aren’t doing well on the AP tests, and IME they will if the school forces the issue. I would definitely check on the AP test scores before I made a fuss, especially if your child doesn’t want you to.</p>

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<p>*What about AP test results? Did most students get 5s? If so, then obviously the teacher is doing his job. If most kids are not passing the test and getting As then I would raise it as an issue.
*</p>

<p>Good point…that’s one good thing about AP classes…The quality of teaching is revealed when students don’t score well on the exams. </p>

<p>But…to your point…I really doubt this teacher is reading/grading work. </p>

<p>This sounds like a teacher who likes the “teaching in the classroom” part of his job, but not the grunge…grading papers and such. </p>

<p>My younger son had a teacher like that. He’d return essays with any ole grade written on top without any red marks anywhere on the paper. When the principal told him that he had to indicate where points had been taken off, he refused. He was fired.</p>

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<p>In not returning written work, I feel this teacher is shortchanging his students. Can that many high school students really be capable of producing college-level written work? How and where did they learn to do it? Every year a considerable number of kids on this board report foundering on written assignments once they get to college. AP teachers should be teaching kids how to write for college. If by some chance each paper is truly deserving of a grade of 100 percent, the teacher should still return it with comments.</p>

<p>I’ll wait with interest to see what the OP reports as the teacher’s track record regarding AP test scores. In some school systems, the student is not required to take the AP exam, but allowed to take the class, which has the benefit of boosting the GPA if grades are weighted. Unfortunately, this can lead to an unprincipled or lazy teacher shirking his responsibilities.</p>

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<p>Agree about the truth being revealed by AP scores.</p>

<p>I agree that the teacher isn’t grading the work…have seen that ourselves with a few hs teachers…when our student said nothing had come back and there wasa grade for the quarter on the report card…It is a problem and if the teacher is liked by the schools administration, they will not support your complaints.</p>

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<p>I think your anger and disgust are justified. However, I doubt that any amount of complaint, to the teacher or his supervisors, will transform him into a good teacher who is willing to spend time and effort on his job. Complaining while your son is still in the class will embarrass and alienate your son, with no compensating gain in the quality of his education.</p>

<p>When the school year ends, write letters to the department head (if the school has one), the principal and the district superintendent. </p>

<p>If the AP exam record is stellar, your complaints will be dismissed. You may not find it easy to get that information, but the district has it and can refer to it. </p>

<p>I doubt the exam record will be stellar.</p>

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<p>Also agree about checking the AP scores. If the school does not post the yearly AP results on its website, you can request a copy of the school’s “College Board Summary Report.” Even if the results are far from stellar, it may still be difficult to make any changes without the backing of more parents. If you want to ensure that your child is ready for college level writing, you may want to have him submit his papers to an online writing company. Two such companies that I have had good experience with are writeathome.com and writeguide.com.</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

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<p>It’s so unfortunate your son has not had the benefit of teacher-input, and that is a critical piece at any grade – elementary, MS, HS, or college. Unfortunately, I can tell you a few explanations for this and it has been getting worse.</p>

<p>1) Teachers are reluctant to write down comments for fear of lawsuits or losing their jobs. I know of someone who once had a meeting with a parent and the supervisor. This parent had all the student’s papers in a ring binder and she flipped through each one with a critical comment. Then she read some of those comments in a voice and tone that was never intended. Is it no surprise that teacher lost her job?</p>

<p>2) Alternatively, it could be that the teacher is over whelmed with demands from his administration. Lesson plans, curriculum plans, other projects (clubs), new materials to teach, report cards to complete, IEPs, etc. All those things take away from what the students need, which is teacher input, but the adminsitration doesn’t see it that way.</p>

<p>So how to proceed? Talk to the teacher as a person first. Explain why it’s important to get feedback, and get to understand the problem.</p>

<p>BTW: this shouldn’t just be about an end-of-the-year grade. That’s crap to think that’s the only thing that matters. He/She’s in high school and deserves feedback.</p>

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<p>This wouldn’t fly at my d’s school, what with Edline (which students and parents check very regularly), and the expectation of detailed feedback on papers and assignments.</p>

<p>That said, I think the rigor of AP English has fallen substantially since I took it back in the '70s. We killed ourselves to get 5s on that exam…working diligently and systematically toward it all year. We learned a TON, and I’ve been grateful for that class my entire life. The level of my d’s AP English class and the quality of her teacher pale by comparison. But my d is a literary freak and excellent writer so she probably would get a 5 on the AP exam even without the class.</p>

<p>Now AP Chem last year? That was a different story. Darn near killed her.</p>

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<p>D has a biology teacher this year does not give assignments back in a timely manner at all. In fact, he posted 2 assignments from the first week of class as “missing” with zeros and brought down her final grade a full grade for first semester – but these grades only showed up with the posting of the final grade in the class. And… it turned out that he had lost the assignments (and found them after D went to see him). So then he had to do the paperwork to raise the grade – which took two requests from D, one from me, and eventually a call from the office after I finally called them.</p>

<p>I have been quite polite to him, but have asked him if he could please return assignments and post the grades more promptly so our kids can learn from any mistakes (and lost assignments on his side could be identified sooner…). </p>

<p>So he asked D a couple of weeks ago, “Does your mom have any OTHER teacher’s bodies buried under her floorboards?”. She said, “Only the math teacher my sister had 5 years ago… but you wouldn’t know him, he was gone before you arrived at the school.”</p>

<p>I actually think I have been pretty nice to him, considering. D wants to use him as a reference for camps and college, as he is the only bio teacher at her school and it is her passion. So I actually feel like I have been restraining myself :D</p>

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<p>Teachers not returning assignments and tests are one of my major pet peeves.</p>

<p>At one of our PTA meetings, our principal lectured the parents about being “involved” in their child’s work if they are getting low grades. When I asked how we were supposed to do this when the work and tests are never brought home, she was speechless. She didn’t even know this was going on.</p>

<p>Apparently, the students and their parents must make an appointment to come in and go over the tests and assignments. But when your kid has 6 different classes and tests/assignments every week, this is a bit unreasonable, don’t you think? (Never mind if you have 2 kids in hs at the same time!)</p>

<p>Many public school teachers are lazy and they get away with it.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all of your helpful replies. </p>

<p>I will ask to see the College Board report–AP test information isn’t posted on the school website. In fact, I’d be quite interested to see how other schools handle this. If you know of a website that publishes this information, could you post the school name or send it to me in a private message?</p>

<p>Interestingly, the teacher handed my child 3 assignments yesterday, as everyone was leaving the class. It was done quite surreptitiously, with the papers face-down so no one else could see what they were. He said he’s still looking for the others. He hasn’t returned anything to other students, just my child.</p>

<p>Also yesterday, the teacher assigned a practice essay question in the style of the test (only the second time since September, and that still hasn’t been returned) and included a grading rubric he would be using. These rubrics are widely used in other classes in the school, but this was the first one used in this class.</p>

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<p>Because AP tests start in about 7 weeks, the class should have covered most of the curriculum by now.</p>

<p>Your child might want to pick up a few AP review books for the subject and skim through them to see whether he/she knows the material that’s going to be tested. If not, and if the gap is too big to be filled by last-minute cramming, it may be worthwhile to consider not taking the AP test (assuming that the school allows this). Wasting the money already paid for the AP test may be better than having to show colleges a low score.</p>

<p>Of course, if your child is a senior, this problem doesn’t apply because the AP score won’t factor into college admissions.</p>

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<p>Which AP subject? My daughter scored 4 on AP English Comp & hadn’t even taken an AP course. For a kid who writes well, that’s a fairly easy exam.</p>

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<p>Francesca, if your school has a profile, it might include AP test results. If you’re in NY, you can probably find that information in the school’s state-issued report card. Is this teacher the only one teaching this AP subject? Because the only way to find results by individual teacher would be through the school. Can you contact your son’s GC? As a resident and taxpayer in your district, I believe you have the right to this information. You can act as if you do ;).</p>

<p>I think it’s possible that many of this guy’s students might take the class without taking the AP exam, which would allow him to fly under the radar even though he’s not preparing the kids adequately. I’m concerned that his students have only had two opportunities to respond to a test-style essay (and the first hasn’t been returned yet???). It’s probably fine for kids who are strong writers, but most aren’t. And if this is a DBQ-style essay, there are benchmarks to be satisfied, and practice helps.</p>