Change the Grading in Our High Schools

• The AP/Dual Credit System- Let's just be honest. In most schools in America, AP classes and Dual Credit classes are King. The number of kids we have enrolled in them are directly related to our school's rankings (not how the kids do). These courses are supposed to be preparing our kids for college, and ultimately there are weeks between when the kids take the test and when they get the scores back. The kids in these courses have the be self motivated and know how they are doing without having a grade on piece of paper
• The I Want It Now Generation- The online grade books are killing our teachers. Yes, I will not deny that it is great that parents get to be in the know about their kids at all times, and it is a great alternative to progress reports. But on the flip side parents ans students can set up to be notified in these systems any time there are any kind of changes and they want answers. They want to know why their child got this grade over that grade, and it seems as though they expect the graded to updated with in minutes of their child turning something in. This also for the record applies to wanting immediate responses to their emails.
• Grades for Grades- Grades have become just that- grades, not a sign of progress of learning. I graduated less than 15 years ago from high school. Without a daily update of grades, we knew at any given point or time if we were going to pass a teachers class or not. We just knew if that class was a struggle for us or not. It did not matter if that teacher had graded a single assignment. I teach AP, and because my course is hard, I offer an insane amount of academic based extra credit, because it means the kids are going above and beyond with their learning and are more likely to pass. Even the kids who are struggling this year, and begging me for help with their grade (note grade not class) are not willing to do it.
• Late Work- Can you hear the collective groan of every teacher in the last three years? Kids are taking big fat zeros in college because high school teachers have to swallow their pride and their late policy to stay within passing rates every six weeks. Kids then think that this behavior is accepted when they leave high school and move on to college or work. If we renew our car's inspection after the grace period, we are going to have pretty large consequences. Those of us working on our Masters know that if we even think about turning in something late, we are failing an entire course. Suddenly the kids putting in no effort all grading period means that teachers are accepting work up until the very last second, to the point of putting their own personal life on hold.
• Words- We literally need to give respect back to our teachers! Especially when you are talking to teachers who teach in low socio-economic areas, you find that students feel as though they can address their teachers however and whenever they wish. In AP US History, one of the biggest course themes is the course of African Americans, a few of my kids however, felt the need to address a lack of a specific Black History Month lesson in the middle of an assessment during my class yesterday. I hear kids addressing failing grades every day, rather rudely with their teachers in the middle of the hallway. There's a kid who will go to his teachers on his lunch to address why he is failing...in the middle of them teaching another class. They see it as a non-issue. Grades no longer equate to having learned something, they are a means to an end, and in many places, we are graduating kids, who ultimately are not ready to be out of the school building in one way or another.