<p>Despite repeated requests, one of my child's teachers has not filled out the teacher evaluation. Will this negatively affect my child's chances for admission?</p>
<p>Child’s application may not be considered if it is incomplete. This requires your attention ASAP. I would contact the guidance office and see if they can help. If the teacher is unwilling, see if the school will accept and alternate, (science for math, history for English), then beg.</p>
<p>I’m sorry you’re dealing with this.</p>
<p>Call the BS’ AO --NOW. Explain the problem and the steps you have tried to take to resolve the issue. While they will not consider an incomplete but they also understand if the incompleteness is not the fault of the applicant too…</p>
<p>Also call your child’s school’s principal. It is part of the job description to do such recommendations and you have a right to the recommendation-- now things may backfire (the teacher may take out being called up short by “tanking” the recommendation) so ask both the AO and the principal if another teacher can be substituted. then be super polite and thankful to that new teacher.</p>
<p>I don’t want to cast dispersions on all NYC public school teachers. 95% percent of them have been fantastic for my child. Unfortunately, she has the misfortune of having a teacher that won’t do anything that is not explicitly delineated in his contract. Short of confronting him on the street, I don’t think there’s anything we can really do to ‘force’ him to write a rec.</p>
<p>We’ve already spoken to the BS AO (actually they called us to letting us know that they haven’t received the recommendation). We explained that we sent several personal requests to the teacher without result. We’re using the Gateway to Prep Schools site to process the application. Part 3 of the application deals with Recommendations and shows requests sent to the Math teacher. The status shows as “request denied”… So there’s 3rd party verification of that. </p>
<p>Her teacher form last year(taught both Math and English) did provide a recommendation in the Personal Recommendations section. Hopefully this balances things out.</p>
<p>Have you spoken directly with the teacher, and indicated how important this is to your child’s prospects and applications? Quite painfully, we had a teacher who had been very enthusiastic about recommending my child, and then changed her mind once she saw the questions on the recommendation sheet. This was a required recommendation, and I stressed repeatedly how important is was for my child’s application. I finally ferreted out that she had reservations about my child’s coping skills (he is a perfectionist who does not deal well with grades that don’t meet his standards, but he is getting better.) Once I explained that I had addressed this issue in my own parent essay, the teacher agreed to submit a form on his behalf. Will it help or hurt? I don’t know, but I appreciate her honesty. If there is an issue that your child’s teacher has with your child’s performance, perhaps addressing it upfront will help. Best of luck! I understand how difficult this is.</p>
<p>Along similar lines: what if they DO submit the receommendation form, but are unpleasant in general and “ding” your child? It is such a hard thing as yo unever see what they write so cannot address any super-low rankings… sometimes the teachers don’t teach well, so the student doesn’t learn well from her/him and voila: the grade tanks. These recs are worrying sometimes! </p>
<p>The schools really should have a procedure in place for refusal of recommendation, or spiteful responses… and yes, I realize these will be few and far between.</p>
<p>Your child’s applications will not even be looked at unless the recommendations are complete - it will go in to the “incomplete” basket. </p>
<p>Glad one AO called you and you could explain that an alternative recommendation was submitted by last year’s teacher. Hopefully that will work. </p>
<p>I would call each of the schools and explain. Have to get that application in to the “complete” pile.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, admissions committees at boarding schools are made up of adult professionals. So while an individual school may not have a specific policy, the admissions folk are all more than capable of recognizing a “spiteful” recommendation if one comes across the desk. (That said, I’ve been nastily accused a few times in my career by parents convinced I would write something mean or spiteful when I had zero intention of doing so. I was hurt that the parents had so little regard for my professionalism and perspective, and surprised at their total misreading of my affection for the children in question. The second time, I understood that the parents’ anxiety about little junior’s flaws was causing them to lash out at me, rather than grounded in my actual behavior.) If a teacher “dings” your kid, it may be because your kid has some problems/issues/areas for growth, and it’s not necessarily a deal-breaker for a school. The nice thing about my boarding school is that the adults who work here are fully aware that adolescents have rough edges. We know your kids aren’t perfect, and we like them anyway. Admissions’ job is to be experts at reading recommendations and understanding the child behind the subjective report. (this goes for fulsome praise as well.)</p>
<p>I can’t speak to the ACRONYM schools that get thousands of applications, but at my hidden gem school with its mere hundreds of applications, the admissions staff does track those incomplete applications down. They know that sometimes you run across a teacher who doesn’t/can’t/won’t complete a recommendation. They talk to families and find a solution. People who go into admissions tend to be cheerful extroverts, and they have empathy for the variables that are out of the applicants control. When you hit a snag, reach out and contact the admissions staff.</p>
<p>Best of luck to all in this admissions cycle.</p>
<p>Was the “request denied” because the teacher did not want to write for your child? If that is the case then you are better off going to another teacher. Otherwise I agree with the another poster who advised you to take the matter up with the principal. I would have someone else write for your child and then mention your disappointment to the principal. That is really unprofessional.</p>
<p>Also - I re-read my earlier post about Admissions and having procedures to deal with slow recommenders and/or spiteful ones. I realize that maybe my point sounded a bit … well, let’s just say not friendly. It wasn’t really my intent to sound that way. What I meant was that the person having the trouble should contact the admissions office for ideas as to what alternatives might work for them. I meant that there were (no doubt) procedures in place for such situations… apologies if I was unclear! </p>
<p>I confess that were I in that situation, I would have already contacted the principal to see how the form could be completed. Perhaps the principal could do it himself?</p>
<p>If any teacher was the least bit hesitant to recommend my child, I would go out of my way to sit down with that teacher at his/her convenience and try to understand whether it has to do with concerns about my child in particular, or the teacher’s own issues. I would emphasize to teacher that I value his/her concerns about my child, regardless of the letter of recommendation. If it turned out that the teacher’s hesitancy had nothing to do with my child in particular (e.g., teacher feels overworked or unfairly treated by employer), I would discuss it with the principal of my child’s school, and an AO at each school to which my child is applying, to find an acceptable solution for the letter of rec. If, on the other hand, I learned that the teacher had valid concerns about my child, I would ask for his/her help in developing a plan to appropriately address the issue, and see if that makes the teacher more comfortable recommending my child.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, she has the misfortune of having a teacher that won’t do anything that is not explicitly delineated in his contract. Short of confronting him on the street, I don’t think there’s anything we can really do to ‘force’ him to write a rec.</p>
<p>Sometimes a teacher is truly intractable. But I wonder if the schools wouldn’t accept the prior year’s teacher’s personal rec AS the math rec, or if the prior year’s teacher could be asked to do the math rec (with an explanation to AOs of course). It sounds like that is where the OP may be headed.</p>
<p>For college the phrasing is often “do you feel comfortable writing me a positive letter of recommendation.” Applying to boarding school is more complicated because certain letters are required. Although I do remember, when applying, my daughter mentioned how resistant her teachers were being and received some empathy. I don’t think this is he first time Adcoms have seen this. Certainly - at public schools - the emphasis is to try to retain the brightest kids because they are propping up the state test scores needed for accreditation. In our case, my husband took the day off and parked himself in the school office and said he wasn’t leaving until every Fedex envelope in his hand was filled with the required paperwork. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do.</p>
<p>But I still suggest it is right to be concerned. While a poor recommendation can be construed as “spiteful” it might also be seen as the only honest one in a pile of flattery. My husband has commented on the ones that have come through on his end. That’s why I think interviews are so helpful. To see the real student behind the paperwork.</p>
<p>But again - in the OP’s case, communicating with the school combined with a letter from the previous year’s teacher might be enough to overcome the problem. Mostly what does the letter do? Help show if the student does work on time, has enthusiasm for the subject, contributes in class, is not disruptive, works independently (etc.) I.e. is inquisitive and has the skills to do boarding school work without someone holding his/her hand.</p>
<p>Albion- Right now, we have one of those ‘hidden gems’ schools doing their best to track down the recommendation from the school. On the one hand, it’s encouraging that they initiated the communication and have actively followed up on it. It kinda shows they are interested in my D. However, the acceptance notification date is next Monday. We feel so close… yet so far. </p>
<p>D is also applying to boarding school and notifications don’t go out until March. It’s one of the ACRONYM schools that get thousands of applications, so it’s probable that she is in the incomplete pile. I can’t rely on them being so understanding.</p>
<p>I’m going to the school tomorrow and don’t plan on leaving until I get the recommendation. Gotta do what I gotta do.</p>