Know Your Grades At South Shore

When the quarter is about to end, every student is rushing to get their grades up before the final grades are submitted and it’s too late. For example, my grades are low so I must do everything I can to make sure everything I have missing is up to date and graded. The problem is that sometimes teachers take a while to update final grades, so the system is going to say that you have assignments missing even though you turned them in. I have decided to investigate teachers at South Shore to find out why updating grades takes a long time.

First, I interviewed Ms. Steere the math teacher, she said that teachers get one week to submit final grades and it probably takes 1 hour if the assignments are turned in on time, but takes more time if teachers go back for missing or late work, she also said that she frequently updates grades once a week according to students who have finished their work and meet the correct grading standards. There are a few parents that are concerned about their students’ grades and need to be updated frequently on how their student is doing. Ms. Steere said she likes to have communication with the parents by emailing them about their student and sending talking points. She also said that she likes it when her students email her when they have finished their work so she doesn’t have to check the system constantly so she can update grades.

Students wonder if their work gets penalized if they turn work in late, but Ms. Steere said that if their work meets the standard and it done correctly their work doesn’t get penalized. I wondered if there was a policy based on these issues, so I interviewed the assistant principal Mr. Booker. He said that teachers must update grades 5-10 days after the quarter ends. He also said that teachers must put assignments in every six weeks because students must fill out their scale sheets form, he informed me that teachers are not allowed to penalize students for late work because the grading policy is based on how well the student understood the standard being taught and if teachers were to penalize students for late work, they would have to report it. There have been a lot of complaints about teachers not grading their students fairly.

Mr. Booker said that first students should talk to their teachers first and if that doesn’t work then they should tell their parents so they can meet with Mr. Booker about the issue.

Now that you know your rights and policy on your grades always make sure that you have your assignments right.