I was reading the Deerfield Academy thread and was surprised to hear that teachers returned papers and tests to students weeks after completion. What is the policy at other boarding schools? I’d like to avoid schools with this delaying culture.
One of my kids has this problem at a local day school.
I wouldn’t worry about it too much. It is an inconvenience, but not worth avoiding certain schools entirely because of it, especially a school on the level of Deerfield. Now, if your child gets in, that’s a different story.
Happy to clarify about Deerfield.
Here’s the story in a nutshell:
At schools like Deerfield, you are expected to be self-motivated and insightful about your capacity to keep on pace with the work. You are also expected to be your own advocate. Don’t wait for the teacher to say something like “PrepKiddo, you seem to be having a tough time so come to office hours”. Now, don’t get me wrong, there ARE plenty of great boarding schools with teachers who offer more guidance, feedback, and personalized learning.
Yes, Deerfield is an extraordinary place with an amazingly gifted, creative, and engaging community. However, Deerfield is also academically rigorous. The students there are competitive with themselves and sometimes with each other (when you get into upper grades). Many students have come from JBS, other private schools, or have repeated a grade. So, they already have experience with managing their course load and their time.
This is the other truth bomb about Deerfield: “You are at Deerfield, act like it”. Teacher’s expect you to be competent and confident from Day One. There are no “training wheels” for Freshman, either. Maybe it’s that cold New England weather that makes them icy? 
There is a level of maturity that is expected of students - that includes self-monitoring and self-assessment.
It was our kid’s experience that teachers just don’t give a lot of positive verbal feedback. Instead, the feedback is reflected in the grades and course comments. Don’t expect a “pat on the head” or “hand holding” - unless you are a FacBrat, then you get lots of praise. 
In Math and most sciences, you will get timely feedback within a day or two. Kiddo had one math teacher that sometimes didn’t give back tests for a week, or longer. Other Math and Sciences were within the week - except for larger research or lab projects. In some cases, you might not “get your grade” or “score” on a test or paper for longer than a week. Again, it depends on your teacher. Some folks might get lucky and get a really responsive teacher. My kiddo had teachers who were less concerned about it. Especially, Mr. 89 because he already has decided what your term grade will be so your individual assignments are just busy work for him. 
English and History often variable - sometimes a few days, sometimes a week or more. Depends on the teacher.
If you want or need more feedback than you receive, you must seek it out yourself. This goes for all schools.
@VisibleName2
I think the point that @Golfgr8 is really trying to make people aware of is that the top boarding schools are academically at another level with very little hand holding and really rely on student initiative. If your kid isn’t super motivated with a ton of academic grit those schools are not the right place for them (unless they don’t mind an 85 average and attending UMaine - nothing wrong with that but lots of parents think these schools are a straight avenue to Harvard).
I have noticed that many parents and kids assume that since their kid is the best student wherever they are now they are going to hit home runs at BS. The problem is that teachers at BS will literally tell you “grades don’t matter.” They don’t have any sympathy for the fact that many kids are competing to get into top schools and that, yes, in fact, grades DO matter.
I just want to say my experiences with faculty with 3 kids at 2 schools just were not as described by the previous two posters.
Some teachers were better (or worse) than others, sure, but all cared about their students and about teaching well.
My point of view is that I have a current rigorous day school where both the math and science teachers did not return multiple tests before the exams. There were also problems with the English teacher taking two months to grade papers. I don’t really think a nice or kind teacher is going to overcome such deficits in teaching methods.
My kid is doing quite well (and doesn’t want to go to boarding school at all! I’m looking for his sibling.) but I hadn’t realized that these delays were allowable.
Your kiddo’s situation sounds untenable.
The delay in work is not nearly as bad at our school - over 2 weeks is too long for us.
FWIW, my kids rigorous day school has this issue with delayed grading of papers. Weeks is the norm. But I remember a few that crossed the month mark. And often all things were returned at once late in the term. It’s one of the reasons my older son left.
Depends on the teacher.
I have had math teachers who give back tests the following class period. I also have had math teachers who take 2-3 weeks. Same goes for English teachers with papers. (…and science teachers, and history teachers).
I have found that a decent way to predict how long a test will take to come back is to compare how long the teacher has been at the school. Longer = faster