Some Highly Competitive Schools are Reducing Homework Loads

According to an article by a Wall Street Journal reporter, some of the most elite elementary and high schools across the country are changing their homework policies, limiting the amount of work assigned by teachers or eliminating it altogether in lower grades.

In Greenville, South Carolina, the 74-school district reduced the amount of time students had to spend on assignments each night and limited how much homework could count toward a final grade. At Sparhawk, a private school in Amesbury, Massachusetts, homework was eliminated until January of third grade. At Wellesley High School in Wellesley, Massachusetts, juniors will now spend 10 days in history class writing a required thesis–work which they previously did at home. At Harvard-Westlake, an independent middle and high school in Los Angeles, homework now has a three-hour per course, per week limit, and anonymous surveys are given out every semester to gauge the workload.

The movement towards reduced homework, according to the article, is being fueled by both The Case Against Homework and The Homework Myth. Still, though, national statistics show that the amount of homework is continuing to grow.

Read the entire article to get more ideas on what you might want to ask for at your school.