Getting written feedback on boarders' work

<p>Let’s see if we can make this discussion productive. I wrote that “looking at the back and forth between the teacher and the kid is by far the best way to tell if the kid is getting effective instruction at school.” Some have warned, in the words of a recent poster, “That type of access won’t occur unless you force it and nothing good will come of that.” The only responsive post relating a bad thing that happened to a parent or child who expressed interest in seeing their kids papers is a snide remark from an AO at Loomis. My experience in occasionally asking to see my kid’s work has been a productive one. I think that AO at Loomis should get an ironist of the year award if, like many prep schools, Loomis asks applicants to submit a graded essay with their applications. They know as well as I do that a graded essay tells the reader about the student and the education he has received so far. That said, has any parent out there actually had an awful experience as a result of asking for, or getting to see, their boarding student’s draft essays or see teacher comments on essays that have been turned in?</p>

<p>let’s make something clear first. If you want to see your kid’s essays and he agrees, it’s between you two and no one from the school would, should or could stop that. If you want to spend money on a writing tutor outside school or you yourself be the tutor, well the school may discourage but last time I checked there’s no rule prohibiting that either. Now, whether it’s the most effective way to help your kid to grow is debatable. I think it can be in the transition period but not without some burden or potential risks as I stated in my last posts, and some others think it’s not. Not sure how it became a “moral issue”, which I think is really not necessary.</p>

<p>To address Southhockeymom’s concerns further… Many academically rigorous BS’s usually don’t calculate or submit GPA of individual students to colleges, so whether freshmen grades are counted or how much weight is put on them is really colleges’ business if freshmen grades are sent to colleges, which they usually are. </p>

<p>Periwinkle gave you another example of grades distribution at another tough school. As you can see, it has a similar pattern as Andover’s, which is that few students reach the very high end (Andover’s 6 is usually a 93 or above), but then not many students reach the deep low end either. I think colleges do appreciate the rigor of these schools. You can check on the matriculation stats from the school profiles as well.</p>

<p>So back to the original thread,more or less, because Im curious about the variety of access at different schools, are there any BSs who provide on-line access to more grades than mid-terms and finals? How long are teacher comments at different schools? Ours were about a short paragraph on average. How long are your teacher conferences? I was surprised that ours were 10 minutes, the same as at our public school.</p>

<p>I wonder if my dd had not shared her grades with me as she went along (her choice) if the official lines of access would have been sufficient to get a clear picture of how she was adjusting for the first 2 months. I can tell you that once the midterms were in Chimney daughter relaxed considerably - she also needed confirmation that she was doing well as she couldnt judge this for herself initially. My biggest job as her helicopter was actually to help her to see that a B on a test was.not a disaster and Im guessing many others have done the same.</p>

<p>It is worth noting that when your child is in a new school with 100s of students and no adult (initially) who truly knows her, it is easy to fly under the radar. No one realized that my dd was homesick or in a panic over her workload until we brought it up - and like most all newbies she has now adjusted and is finally starting to enjoy herself.</p>

<p>Jumping in late to the conversation, and my information is a couple of years old, but I remember looking at the student handbook and seeing something like “rules for using a tutor!” or something like that. It stuck out in my mind that unless the student themself comes up with and writes the thesis statement of a paper, it would be considered a violation of the honor code. So be careful out there! I seem to remember comments coming out about every six weeks and consisting of two long paragraphs from each teacher.</p>

<p>Check the individual school. At Deerfield, they tell parents no editing of papers before turning in (the logic is, they want to see exactly what the kids do, so they can see what they really need to work on). They clearly lay out these rules to both the parents and the kids (verbally) at the beginning of the year, and the kids have to take some sort of test on the honor code. From the Deerfield website: </p>

<p>“The second form of plagiarism occurs when students receive unacknowledged help in preparing an assignment. Such outside help includes proofreading, editing, and assistance from, but not limited to, parents, proctors, tutors, or classmates. While students are encouraged to discuss assignments with faculty and other students, all writing should be a student’s own. Again, when in doubt, students should acknowledge any help they receive.
A student will receive a failing grade for any assignment in which plagiarism occurs.”</p>

<p>It depends on the school, of course. Just seconding Baystateresident’s warning. There’s nothing that stops kids from showing you their work once they get it back, of course, although nothing on line that shows you those comments as the course progresses-- just end of term comments and some mid-term comments.</p>

<p>If you want to monitor your student’s work on a regular basis, local school is the best option. It is next to impossible to monitor student’s work at a BS on a daily basis as they are busy with HW, sports, and EC commitments. As the kids get older, they will reduce communication with you as they want to be more independent. You may get your kid to do this in freshman year, but later on they balk at it. However, some parents do hire tutors.</p>

<p>I subscribe more to the Deerfield philosophy. I paid a fortune to have my son educated by people better qualified than I am. It was essential for the faculty to see unvarnished work. The grades should be real. There was a ton of red ink freshman year, but it had the effect of making my son wildly focused on improving his writing, the gauntlet had been laid down. I love reading his stuff today, whether it’s a short email, a blog post, or something longer. I’m always interested, often humored, and frequently convinced!</p>

<p>Agree, I never saw any of my kids’ papers until they had gone off to college and I was cleaning up their rooms. I know from looking at them that prep school transformed them into wonderful writers, much better than I ever have been.</p>

<p>“There was a ton of red ink freshman year, but it had the effect of making my son wildly focused on improving his writing, the gauntlet had been laid down”</p>

<p>That’s precisely what I want to see!</p>

<p>The natural point of contact is the Advisor. You can certainly contact individual teachers but reactions will vary. I suggest taking the tack of wanting to build a supportive team for your student, rather than assuming a supervisory role. From a survey of one (but in harmony with many here), the improvement between freshman year and junior year is quite amazing. Most importantly, DC knows it and owns it first.</p>

<p>BigValley - WHY exactly do you want to see the marked up papers full of red ink? To help your child avoid poor grades? Because you feel you can help more than his/her teacher? To check up on the quality of teaching? I am just trying to understand your motivation.</p>

<p>BigValley: as you can see, you’ve hit one of those topics that is so hot button on CC that people tend to not listen very well. As I understand it, you do not want to see your child’s assignments so that you can do them for him. You do not want to see drafts before he submits them so that you can edit them. You want to see the kinds of comment teachers write on his various draft so that you can see for yourself how effective the instruction is and how much your son is paying attention to his teacher’s comments. </p>

<p>If that’s correct, no, you’re not going to get anyone in to trouble. But is it necessary? Maybe, maybe not. There is a difference between what we have to do for our public schooled kids and our boarding school kids: </p>

<p>In public school, we often have to keep an eye on our kids’ work to fight what my husband calls the “crabs in a bucket syndrome”–that is, the tendency to underperform to fit in. Also, teachers who are trying to manage 150 students every day will not always comment on your child’s writing effectively.</p>

<p>At prep school, on the other hand, as others have pointed out above, teachers are, for the most part rigorous and demanding. Because they have small classes they can and do spend lots of time on thoughtful, helpful critique. And the students tend to set very high standards for themselves. They are constantly comparing themselves to other students, most of whom are as or more motivated and intelligent than they. All of that can add up to a lot of pressure. </p>

<p>Knowing you’re watching and evaluating the work might just add more stress without helping your student. That’s why some of the posters above are recommending that you might want to move into more of a cheerleading role or use the adviser and (eventually) the teacher’s comments as a way of assessing how effectively he’s being taught and how well he’s doing. At my kid’s school, those comments generally include a detailed description of what was taught that term, followed by a 1-3 paragraph evaluation or the student’s performance. And in English and history classes, that evaluation often includes specific feedback the teacher gave our son on his writing. </p>

<p>On the other hand, there are instances where kids feel reassured, not pressured, by having a parent take a look at their work. My son, for example, tended to skip over every positive comment and focus on the negative that year, and when he shared things with me, I was often able to redirect his gaze. Also, as chemchimney pointed out, some kids do fly under the radar, doing mediocre to sub-par work and slowly slipping downward. I’ve seen kids fail out of school that first year because no one saw what was happening until it was too late–teachers and advisers don’t know your kid well enough at that point to discern whether he just needs to adjust or catch up or is under-performing and needs some more direct intervention. In that case, an eye on the work early might well save everyone grief later on. </p>

<p>As long as you’re aware of the potential pitfalls and your kid is willing, chances are you’ll do what’s best. I do think you’ll feel much more informed and better once those first term comments roll in. Hope that helps a bit.</p>

<p>There is nothing preventing you from giving your child a scanner, or from driving to the school frequently to rifle through your child’s backpack.</p>

<p>A few days ago folks here answered my question – “how do you get X” question with a resounding “the only X we get from the schools is in the blurb we get with grades – and we’re happy with that.” From that information, I have concluded that a parent who wants to see more than that in the parent’s portal better present the school with a donation big enough to cover any foreseeable costs and compensate the teachers for any new headaches that ensue. I don’t expect a school to do things that I alone want done. So unless parents start posting expressions of interest in seeing their schools sharing more information about their kids performance, I think this thread has run its course.</p>

<p>What I think we are suggesting is that you wait to see what’s on the portal come grade time. You might find–as nearly all of us have–that it will give you what you’re after, just in a different form. </p>

<p>But yes. Best to move on.</p>