Wyoming Elementary School Eliminates Homework
I just learned from the principal of Grant Elementary School in Glenrock, Wyoming, that her school is implementing a no homework practice. The school came to that decision after examining homework and having discussions with Kim Bevill of Brain Basics, who provided them with materials about homework. Kim, a dynamo, teaches social studies and psychology in a Colorado high school, owns and operate Gray Matters (whose goal is to “re-ignite learning in every classroom using brain-compatible curriculum to further academic achievement”), hosts a yearly conference entitled Brain Basics, and, most importantly, is a passionate advocate against homework. I have enjoyed many conversations with Kim this year.
Here’s the principal’s letter to the parents explaining the new policy:
Dear Parents,
Over the years we have seen that with the increased pressure in meeting AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress), homework has also increased. This increase may have come in response to the call for higher expectations, comparisons of American student performance with the children from European and Asian countries, and the pressures created with state testing programs such as PAWS.
With that being said, the research is unable to produce evidence that homework improves student performance. The research is telling us that if we want to improve attitudes, mental and physical health and academic performance, we as parents need to promote the following 5 things:
• Children need to play outside for at least an hour after the school day. They should be at the point where they are almost sweating.
• Dinner with your family every night or at least 4 times a week. This is shown to decrease eating disorders in females, decrease smoking and drug abuse rates in males and recent research suggests it teaches life-long good eating habits—more fruits and vegetables.
• Early to bed. Research suggests that children need 10-12 hours of sleep a day to be ready to learn.
• Limited television, video games and computer time, especially an hour before bed time.
• Reading time every evening. This is a great time for the whole family to sit and read together.
At Grant this semester we are trying something new. Homework will only consist of work students did not finish during the school day. However, if a child is bringing homework home on a regular basis then we will have a parent meeting to see why the child is not getting the material done during school. At semester our staff will review how our students are doing with these new guidelines.
We are going to ask that parents help us promote reading at home. Our school wide reading program, “Splish Splash,” will be a great way to encourage reading and will provide monthly reading incentives. Our children are making great gains in the area of reading. A key component to making these gains is the work that parents and children do at home. We do thank you for your help.
We would love to hear from you on your thoughts about homework as we explore some new guidelines. Again, thanks for everything you do to help our children, staff and school be a great place for learning.
Sincerely,
Christine Hendricks, Principal
Grant Elementary Teachers and Staff
This is a great post! My daughter’s school (in Victoria, Australia) has given homework since the kids were in prep - my daughter was four in that grade. I love encouraging her to read, but the homework was really not worth doing. I love the principal’s letter to the parents - how refreshing to see someone prepared to go out on a limb, and probably against the grain of what most people believe. Let’s hope lots of other schools follow suit. I found you through stumbling, and I’m really glad I did.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:43 am
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Absolutely perfect!!! I am a stay at home Mum….. and I have done two years of homework with my daughter. I am home, I would hate to see the strain cramming in ALL activities on a working Mum. The child also suffers at home with these deadlines and work they already do day in day out. Seriously, my daughter loves school…she is bright…loves learning…but over time, homework is always a rush…and something that just makes her negative and bored, and she knows how to do it all. The amount of learning crammed into a day AT SCHOOL SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT.
I would absolutely love for this to be introduced at her school.
September 24th, 2007 at 6:23 am
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I agree with Emma but….
I teach English and at the moment we are dealing with creative writing. During the lesson I teach the process and technique of writing as a homework they have to practise what they have (should have) learnt in the lesson. I’m sure a maths teacher would argue the same way, homework is the time when students practise what they should have learnt. Homework does have an important place in the learning experience provided that it is modelled to fulfill the needs of the educational theme.
Simply setting homework to cover what was not taught or because ‘it is expected’ is wrong and in that regard I agree with the school.
The knee jerk reaction is to say that the school decided to abandon homework to give the teachers an easier life, less stuff to mark for example. I don’t agree with that but I do think that homework is important as it can force students to learn how to self-learn such as finding the information they need, discovering new ways of doing a task and being creative in approaching a task.
Homework is good when it is properly guided, when it is set without thought it is bad but to not give homework at all is the worst.
Kind regards,
Milander
September 24th, 2007 at 6:55 am
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I’m tempted to MOVE to Wyoming after reading this! What a smart and forward thinking school. Children are in school for 7 hours a day and many schools are eliminating recess. You can’t tell me that teacher aren’t able to teach all that needs to be taught in 7 hours! When my kids arrive home after school, they are tired and cranky. They need time to play, ride their bikes, etc. Trying to cram another 1-2 hours worth of schooling into their evenings causes nothing but stress for the entire family. We have no time to socialize and hang out. I can’t even imagine how it would be if both parents work! I completely agree with this school, family dinner, reading time, playing….all will make for a better student the following day.
September 24th, 2007 at 8:24 am
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Milander,
It is true that children need time to practice what the teacher teaches. Children should still have assignments but they should be given time at school to work on the assignment, where they can ask the teacher for help, work with other students and if they don’t finish at school they have to finish it at home.
I hated homework and this it what I usually did. So much time is wasted in our schools and I found so much time to work on assignments during class and rarely ended up with homework.
September 24th, 2007 at 11:33 am
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Milander, I think that the knee jerk reaction is actually that the school did their homework and considered the available research. This is about returning family life to the realm of the family and refocusing teacher time on teaching rather than managing and administering homework.
I have heard a number of teachers say to me recently that they are more comfortable having students perform their work in the classroom (be it math, writing…) because they are there to observe and guide. Students can practice what they have learned in school, there is plently of time for that.
I am so encouraged by the approach that this school is taking. I hope that others will pay attention.
September 24th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
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Milander,
I think you might be missing the age group that is being addressed in this school. This is an elementary school - from Kindergarten to grade 6 (ages 5 to 12 here in the States). I doubt that many elementary school children are doing excessive amounts of creative writing or partial differential maths equations, so they certainly shouldn’t be bringing much, if any, homework home.
Kids in this age group *should* be doing exactly what the school suggests: playing outside, eating dinner with the family, reading, and getting enough sleep.
Cheers,
Dan Yocum
a certified, albeit non-practicing, physics teacher
September 24th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
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I am a teacher in high and middle school in the US. Personally speaking I like what this school in Wyoming did. The article does not say it eliminated studying, just homework. The time would be well spent as suggested. I would go one step further. I would extend this to the upper grades (high school and middle school).
I also think there should be some time for recess in the upper grades. Yes, a little down time where the pupils can get outside and have some recreation with their peers. After burning off some of that energy, they will be able to concentrate better on the studies in class.
I believe classes for these children should be 50 minutes long and there should be a minimum of five classes a day. In addition to the five classes there should be time for lunch and recess.
September 24th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
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[...] Grant Elementary School in Glenrock, Wyoming appears to be one of those brave schools. They have a “no homework policy.” [...]
September 27th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
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[...] Grant Elementary School in Glenrock, Wyoming appears to be one of those brave schools. They have a “no homework policy.” [...]
September 27th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
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Finally, somebody has figured it out!
Homework is useless. It was intended to be a time to practice what was learned during the day, and turned into the primary component of most grading scales.
My friends and I spent most of our class time doodling in notebooks, reading magazines, and generally ignoring the instructor. The only time I EVER did any homework was when I was told I could do it or fail the class.
I aced EVERY test, even the secondary “We think you cheated, take this surprise, significantly more difficult test to prove your innocence because we can’t prove that you did” tests I got on a regular basis. Yet my instructors refused to give me the grades I rightfully earned because it wasn’t fair to the other students who had done 10 times the work but scored 10 to 20 points lower on the tests. The “A’s” were reserved for the hard working nimrods, who wound up flunking out of the advance placement courses, while my like-minded friends and I received “C’s” and “D’s” because 2/3rds of the score was always based on “I won’t flunk you as long as you work hard” homework assignments.
Enough is enough - It’s high time EVERY school got on board with the no-homework philosophy.
September 30th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
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Much of this is what Maria Montessori taught in her schools. The Montessori method is very similar and we love our Montessori school. My children learn during school hours, have art, Spanish and PE once a week and NEVER have homework other than to read. They play when they get home. And we eat together at least 5 nights a week plus breakfast 5 mornings a week.
If it can’t be taught in a 7 hour day, something needs to change. Throw out the way testing is done and stop stressing young children so much. Very few adults would go to work for 7 hours a day and then come home and do another 2 hours of work and then go to bed! But it is what many schools ask of children under 10!! Crazy.
I am proud of this school because they are taking a huge risk in todays educational culture. BEST OF LUCK!!!
October 6th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
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I, a student myself , agree with the “no homework policy” because it is way to much, and useless, a waste of paper, and time. and there is this kid, in my grade who is pretty smart aces all of the tests, but he dosent do his homework, and chances r, he’s gonna flunk the one class that weighs homework more than tests !!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is horrid, right??!?!?!?
October 7th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
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I am sorry but I don’t agree with this policy. While homework “can” be useless in some cases, it is needed for many reasons.
1) It helps strengthen the students understanding of the lessons taught in class.
2) It helps get the parents involved in the teaching of their children.
3) It also helps keep the parents informed on what is being taught in class.
I do agree that the amount of homework could be curbed. One suggestion might be getting the students teachers to coordinate when they will be sending homework home so students won’t be overwhelmed.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
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Now if only they had done that when I was in highschool. :(
October 21st, 2007 at 9:52 pm
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Hello,
My name is Christine N. Wayman. I have been doing some research on the “No Homework Policy” for two main reasons.
1. I am on a curriulum reasearch committe for putting together an application for a Charter School in the Salt Lake City Valley in Utah.
2. I am doing a research paper for my writing class in USU college.
I have been teaching co-op homeschool for 12 years.
I have always had a strange belief that homework is not neccessary for children in oder for them to learn what they need to know in today world.
Some of the people that I am working with to found this Charter School have had alot of experence in the public school system and have founded their own Charter School in Arizona. They have a very strong view that they believe that they can not meet state standards without giving their students homework. They are very hard workers in their school and have made significate achivements with their students. They have received an award of recognition from the State of Arizona Charter School Board for having the best progress with their students this year. But, how can I convince them that this can be done with out homework. I know that alot of parents of the children that will be going to this Charter School, that we are founding, are very opposed to their children having homework. Considering the fact that most of these children are coming from a homeschool enviroment.
I would appreciate all the advise you can give me to address this problem.
Thank you very much,
Christine N. Wayman
November 8th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
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Christine: If you haven’t done so already, I suggest you start by reading The Case Against Homework. It should put to rest the idea that kids need homework to meet state standards. In fact, if kids were left alone at the end of the school day, did some reading on their own and pursued their own passions, they’d pass all state tests with no problem. (Those tests set a very low bar.)
And, watch for my blog entry on the follow-up in Wyoming. I’ll be posting the results of the school’s survey on its no homework practice.
November 14th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
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I am a student in Tuscon, AZ and we have homework every night. We would like a break once in a while.
November 19th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
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I am a student at cfms in Tuscon, AZ. We have homework every night and on top of that, we have to do a science fair project. We never have one night without homework.
November 19th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
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Aside from being a high school administrator in NJ, I am also a doctoral candiidate at Seton Hall University. I am considering a dissertation on homework policies and practices and the claim that positive student achievement is associated with homework. I became interested in the subject after reeading Alfie Kohn’s work, but I will also read your book as well.
I support the initiative of this Wyoming principal. She, and her BOE, are true renegades and trail blazers. Kohn (and you, I am sure) has done a great job of debunking the traditional arguments for homework (a la Damon’s post) as well as refuting the research that support homework.
As I get closer to my dissertation preparation, I would like to consult with you. Is this possible? I can be reached at my blog or via email.
November 20th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
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I’d love to discuss your dissertation with you. Just email me at sara@stophomework.com
November 21st, 2007 at 1:05 pm
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I am a student at Lakeside highschool. Having each class 90 minutes is not as easy as a 50 minute class, you guyz are lucky! In every class I have multiple assignments every day. That should not be “fair”. I think that the teachers need to rethink the assignments because we teens need to live life a little don’t you think?
December 10th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
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Incredible!! I was one of those students who did all my homework and more, simply because I believed that was the way to get good grades. But now I struggle with my daughter (9 years old) to do her homework every night. She is burnt out, we spend very little leisurely time together and the day usually ends poorly. Even with a half-done job most of the time, she scores well above grade level in everything except reading, which coincidentally often gets scratched from the agenda as HW takes too long. On a gut level I agree w/the premise completely. But tell me, as a bilingual teacher I’m curious if acquiring a second language can be accomplished without some rote memorization of vocabulary. What do you think?
January 5th, 2008 at 12:48 am
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hi
February 28th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
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My class (at this moment) is trying to convince my teacher to not have homework. BAN HOMEWORK! MAKE IT GONE FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
March 24th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
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I think that the work they do in school is enough
March 25th, 2008 at 8:51 am
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i agree with connor
March 25th, 2008 at 9:14 am
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I think that they shouldn’t have homework throughout junior high
March 28th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
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good no homework
March 31st, 2008 at 12:15 pm
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I have to do a report on homework. I am also making a petition for no hw. Who wants 2 sign it??????
Make it gone!?? :)
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:59 am
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Hi Max,
Please let me know what happens with your petition. Where are you located and what grade are you in?
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
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Ok, my 2 cents.
I don’t think that banning homework is wise.
Yes, and even in elementary school.
Homework is not just a standard boring thing, it can be fun.
My daughter is in Kindergarten and she has fun homework:
1. It’s very active( for example many times we have to go outside to do it, like find patterns outside, and choose your favorite one. Observe the weather and sky, clouds etc., collect different leaves in the Fall and… I cannot stop on giving examples) It’s truly fun. Both my daughter and I enjoy it.
2. it gives me an opportunity to see what they do at school, how much she understands;
3. most of the time it leads to a discussion.
4. even when it’s something she has to do by sitting at the desk, like writing some words or drawing a picture that describes a sentence she read; it teaches her to do some work by herself.
So, please don’t get me wrong, I’m not pro a huge amount of homework, that makes kids sleep deprived or takes their time from playing outside or spending time with their parents and friends. I think wise teachers give proper homework that promotes interaction between kids and parents, teaches kids to be explorers and investigators(go to library, surf the net) and making leaning process fun.
I’m both hands up for this kind of homework.
In my opinion it’s very common for a human nature to go to extremes . The world is not simply white and black, just like homework.
I can totally understand high school students who are oppose to any homework, been there and know what does staying late just to finish homework means, and I had tones of completely wasted homework, that had no sense of doing. I’m against that kind of homework and will fight for my daughter if she gets that kind of homework.
Oh, btw our kindergarten is just 3 hours a day, so she is not overwhelmed by 6 hours of school. But still I would love to spend 15minuts a day to do fun homework.
regards,
April 5th, 2008 at 12:03 am
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I very much agree children of all ages should not be required to have homework. When they are finished at school that should be it for the day. It isn’t any different than a JOB that is overtime for a child of all ages!!!!! You will burn them out. Why do you think so many children hate school and look at the dropout rate!!!!! There is a reason for that.
Now let these children be children their job is the time at school. The time at home is THEIRS.. Teachers use your HEADS!!!!! If you can’t teach them what they need to learn in the time they are in school you are a POOR teacher.
I have children and grandchildren who are up till wee hours of the morning trying to get all their homework done. You don’t have to wonder why children hate and drop out. My daughter can’t do anything with her son because he is doing homework ALL the time. That was 6th grade last year at Beaver Dam Junior High School in Beaver Dam Wi 53916
They ate to tired to pay attention the next day in school. That is like working a 14 or more hour a day job. Think about it. This teacher who is teaching the same subject for 5 to 40 years in a row I guess should know the subject without thinking. But this is new to these children make sure they know in class what they are doing. Not send them home thinking they can figure it out for themselves! Thank for listening. But we really have to do something about this. They need to learn IN school.
There are also parents who know nothing and couldn’t help their child if they wanted to. Our school system is in trouble because of this. Give them homework, send them home they can do it there, after being in school already all day. Each teacher does that. You have how many classes? How would you figure you could get that all done? 7 hours of school 7 hours of homework Pretty crazy right?
September 4th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
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I am a mother of 6. Several of my children suffer mental illness diagnoses. I am completely, one-hundred-percent for a no-homework program. Anxiety and depression make it next to impossible to do anything after school other than homework if my children are to maintain good grades. I also, however, believe in a good education. I think most things can be taught and learned adequately in the classroom. Occasional book reports and science fair projects should continue to be an effort worked on partially at home. Reading at home should always be required. And a parent should always talk to their kids about what they are learning, re-enforce those concepts, and strive to be as informed as possible. However, endless worksheets, papers, projects and deadlines are more than a child (particularly a special-needs child) and their families should have to deal with. There are a great many more aspects of life that have just as much value as education: family, personal goals, religion, and service just to name a few. I would be interested in a national experiment with charter schools to gage just how such a non-homework oriented education could benefit children. I would be the first to sign up.
ATTN: Christine N. Wayman
I also live in the Salt Lake Valley. If you happen to read this, please get in touch with me. We (my husband Tim and I) are in the phone book.
September 12th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
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Wow! I can not beleive I found this letter. I was just searching the web this evening at 11 p.m. regarding how much is too much homework. Like I said, it’s 11 p.m. and my 11 year old daughter just got into bed. Her homework tonight? Read a chapter of their reading book. Write a summary on it. Do the Vocab words & definitions from the story. Write 20 sentences from this weeks vocab words. Complete 2 pages from their spelling book. Complete a grammar worksheet. Complete 2 pages from their math book. Review multiplication, division, addition and subtraction facts, Complete a social studies paper. Helloooooooooo? Does anyone see anything wrong here? What about sports, playing outside, and spending time with the family? All things that I believe are just as important as academics. Something needs to be done, and I’m glad to see that this strong, intelligent woman has made the first step. Even if all schools do not ban homework, something needs to be done on the amount that is being sent home. And I’ve got news. I already went to school. I am done with homework. My parents never had to “do” my homework for me. Sometimes my daughter can’t even do her homework. Now you tell me. After almost 7 hours in school each day, 5 days a week………Why is that? I say, let the kids be kids again.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
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I myself am a sudent in 8th grade, so i have witnised and been part of this catastrophe. Some of my friends will call me crying at 3 in the morning needing help on work that wasnt well taught in class! Te y work all night just to go to school and get a D. I learned more today in school then actually doing the homework! Heck i learn more on the history channel then i do with homework. Think about this… an hour of home work per class, on some days 4 classes will all give out assignments, plus you have misssed a day so you have a P.E. make up do the next day. so you have to…. Do 40 problems in math, make 4 circles and split them in to 4 parts, then calculate the angles, the percents, and fraction of each mesurment( 2 and a half hours). Then you have to do a history assignment plus read 4 pages out of the history book( 1 and a half hours)
Next you have to write a 5 paragraph essay, review all the words from what you learned in class, and do the make up work you missed a few days ago ( 4 hours!) Now you have to do a P.E. make up.( 1 hour) Also you have to color pictures of organs, cut them out, then paste them the write place, then go on to the teachers website and copy the noes yoo missed ( 1 and a half hours) Finally you have to write a paragraph on a movie you watched in band which you barely remeber( half an hour) It all adds up to about 11 hours. Kids get home at usually 3 so they will have to eat and get some reast for an hour. So they start there homework at 4. So there done at 3 in the morning. But do you think a kid is going to be able to wake up at 6 in the morning now? Then go to school for the same thing? after a few days like that a kid is dying to get home, dying for the weekends and end up not doing there home work at all! so they get bad grades, even though they understand everything! now if a school can do that to a kid, then it obviously doesnt realize that its not even a school, more like a prison cell.
September 17th, 2008 at 12:29 am
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