Stop Homework

Last night, my daughter brought home a “contract” titled “Classroom Rules” from her 9th grade French teacher. The contract was to be signed by both the student and the parent/guardian.

According to the Rules, “If [a student] chooses to break a rule [s/he] earns a zero for the day.”

As readers of this blog know, I disagree with the giving of a zero for a grade. So, in good conscience, I couldn’t sign the bottom of the form, which stated: “I understand and support the rules.”

I crossed out “support the rules,” put an asterisk beside it, and wrote:

Dear Teacher,

Based on my own research, my husband and I don’t agree with the giving of a “zero” as a grade. If you’re interested in seeing that research, I’d be delighted to share it with you.

I’ll let you know what happens.

I am featuring this recent Comment, because it highlights how change can happen even when you think it won’t.

I wrote a note to my daughter’s teacher. A couple week’s ago she was not finished her homework (she gets a duo-tang with various worksheets to do that are all due at the end of the week). She had dictee (spelling lists) to study, a novel study they were working to also complete, and the homework. In my note I didn’t get into my perception that homework is a waste of time. I just simply said we needed a lighter load. Interestingly enough my daughter told me later that there was only one student in the class who finished the homework that week - so there were a few others that also felt they needed a lighter load! The teacher’s note back basically said, “Nope. They need to learn to handle it all and balance these requirements.” I didn’t respond back…..but this week the class didn’t get the duo-tang full of more worksheets because soon the novel study is due….so maybe my request did have an impact! I can only hope.

A few weeks ago, I received an email from Dale O’Dair, the father of a first-grader in Niagara Falls, Canada. Dale, who holds a post-graduate degree and whose mother is a retired teacher, was fed up on the Wednesday he wrote me, because he had already spent 3 to 4 hours that week helping his daughter with her homework. He wrote, “I have time in my schedule to start a campaign to find the silent majority of parents in the Niagara Board who oppose excessive homework for primary students and start petitioning the Board to drop primary homework or minimize it.”

Read what happened next. If only we all could have it so easy!

A Little Talk with the Teacher Goes a Long Way
by Dale O’Dair

I spoke to the District School Board of Niagara and they gave me the usual “we can’t do anything until you talk to the teacher and principal routine and then we’ll have the responsible superintendent deal with your grievance.”

I went to the school before classes last Tuesday armed with a lot of information, samples of homework, work we had done on our own to get ahead of the curriculum, the entire grade one curriculum, and a lot of advice from my extended family of teachers who all quit or retired around 1997. I was already going in to discuss the group seating arrangements and figured I would go through the motions with my homework concerns.

In my daughter’s journal the very next day was a note from the principal and teachers of Grade 1 and 2 that, beginning immediately, they would cease to issue homework booklets. The kids would receive no more than 5 minutes of homework, 4 nights a week, and in that time they were to practice their 5 wall words a week. The maximum would be increased to 10 minutes in Grade 2.

They noted that there had been parental concern and apologized for any misunderstanding, since they had not realized that the homework was taking three hours a week. They also stressed that these new restrictions were in line with the 1997 Ontario curriculum concerning the Ministry’s suggestions on homework.

I don’t remember everything that we discussed in our rapid fire 25 minute meeting but it worked. The homework was a result of a few over-zealous parents who demanded more, and my argument that the silent majority of parents were opposed but didn’t want to appear lazy or uncaring was accepted.

It was all too easy. So with that out of the way for the next two years, I am going to find out from the Board what their official stance is on homework. It does not appear that it will be a problem with this principal at this school for the near future.

Today’s guest blogger, Frank Bruni, the moving force behind Toronto, Canada’s new, family-friendly homework policy, write about how the new homework policy is working. You can read Frank’s earlier entries here and here and here .

The Price of Homework Reform is Eternal Vigilance
by Frank Bruni

The news from Toronto is good.

Homework reform has been rolled out across the Toronto District School Board and has received wide spread attention. The media coverage the first few days of classes was nothing short of extraordinary.

The feedback that I am getting from the parents that I know is positive. Children are bringing home less and are able do more with their families and friends and participate in other activities. In our own household homework reform has been wonderful. My teen has more time to pursue individual interests, read for pleasure, and, in what is contrary to what we have been told over the years, is enjoying better grades.

However, the transition has not been without hiccups. Some teachers and schools have been slow to adapt and there has been some “interpretation” of the policy that, in my view, is inconsistent with its intent.

In addition, the policy was published in the student planner, a day timer that is given to all elementary students in Toronto; however, key parts of the policy were omitted. Quite by accident, so I was told.

My point is that even when parents are successful in getting the kind of homework policy that they want (or can live with) there is still work to be done.

Having a new policy is not enough. It has to be accepted by all stakeholders and implemented well. It is up to parents to continue to insist that the policy is adhered to. That means when it doesn’t appear to be working SPEAK UP.

I have encouraged many parents to do so and am I working to try to have the published omissions rectified.

Parents and students have influence; they just have to learn to use it.

If you caught yesterday’s blog post, then you can skip down a paragraph to find out how the Middle and High School responded to Jodie Leidecker’s email about reducing or eliminating homework.

Jodie Leidecker, a mother of two from Berea, Kentucky, who has been involved in the movement to save recess, wrote to tell me that she was planning to approach her Site-based decision making council (Kentucky’s schools governing boards) about a low or no homework policy. In an effort to enlist some parental support in advance, she “stood outside the car rider lines in elementary school and middle/high school and handed out copies of the fact sheet” from The Case Against Homework. Also in advance, she and a few other parents sent emails to the Board.

Jodie heard back from the Principal of the Middle and High School that there already is a homework policy in place.

*7th - 12th grade: Generally up to 2 hours each day, but recommendations vary according to the type and number of subjects a student is taking.

*Teachers at each level shall coordinate to ensure that these homework guidelines are being followed. Teachers shall follow up on any parent or student requests for assistance with homework assignments.

The principal went on to tell Jodie that the Site Council “has tackled this issue on several occasions over the last several years and perhaps we need to revisit the issue once more. Our desire has been to maintain a rigorous course offering (which does include homework–to reinforce skills learned in the classroom and class projects–that demonstrate the application of the skills learned in the classroom). With this having been said, we do acknowledge the time requirements placed upon our students by after school jobs, athletics and extra/co curricular activities. This indeed can require a delicate balancing act by students that are impacted by these scenarios to say the least.”

He then told her that he “really liked your ‘family friendly’ ideas, and we have previously discussed some of them as options. We have refrained from including them in a policy related to homework due the vastness of secondary curriculum.” He invited her to attend the next meeting and told her, “If you would like for this issue to be on our agenda we can add it to our discussion tomorrow evening.”

Jodie told me she attended the next meeting, “and the council agreed to do a survey of teachers’/parents’/students’ homework experiences. They did not take any other certain action, but they were nice and listened, so I am hopeful that this is a good beginning of a change. ”

Jodie Leidecker, a mother of two from Berea, Kentucky, who has been involved in the movement to save recess, wrote to tell me that she was planning to approach her Site-based decision making council (Kentucky’s schools governing boards) about a low or no homework policy. In an effort to enlist some parental support in advance, she “stood outside the car rider lines in elementary school and middle/high school and handed out copies of the fact sheet” from The Case Against Homework. Also in advance, she and a few other parents sent emails to the Board. Jodie heard back from the Principal of the Elementary School that there already was a homework policy in place.

The Policy actually turned out to be relatively decent:

* students in Grades 1-3 could receive up to 20 minutes of homework a night
* students in Grades 4-5 could receive from 20-40 minutes of homework a night

And, the principal told her, “I will re-send the policy to our staff to remind them of the time restrictions.”

If only we could all have such success! (Tomorrow, I’ll tell you what happened at the middle and high school level.)

Here’s the email Jodie sent to the Board:

Read the rest of this entry »

This Monday, November 3, is the first Monday of the month. As I suggest every month in this blog, I hope you’ll send a note expressing your thoughts about homework to your children’s teachers or, perhaps, to a school administrator or School Board member. Even better, join with a few friends and send a collective note. Ask for a public discussion of the problem. Ask the school to be responsive. If you need help in formulating a note, look in The Case Against Homework for some examples, or see the kinds of notes parents have been writing by browsing Moms (and Dads) on a Mission on this blog. If you do send a note, please post a comment and send me a copy of your letter. And if you get a response from the teacher or school, please let us know that as well.

Here’s an email I received from John Painter, the editor of readingtonparents.blogspot.com. You can read John’s earlier guest blog entry here.

The Trouble with Internet Based Homework
by John Painter

My latest entry on readingtonparents.blogspot.com is about internet based homework, and I thought you might find it a worthy read. My kids, now in 6th and 8th grade, have been just inundated this year with homework requiring internet connectivity and other computer resources. I was recently forced to upgrade my infrastructure at home once again, and that led to a related article on readingtonparents.org about creating a safer Linux-based student PC at home. This is a fight I’ll be pushing hard in my district this school year. Even though I have gained the attention of three district administrators who are sympathetic to the idea that internet and computer based homework needs to be better delineated and understood by educators, I’m realizing now that they simply don’t have the expertise in the district to fix the problem. The push from the top of the district food chain to include technology at every turn (sometimes called techno-lust) has already created problems, including some young elementary students inadvertently viewing some delightful websites about the unique sexual habits of human beings. Yet, there is no leadership on how to properly harness the power of the net for young students within the district, and parents are left to scramble on their own.