According to a report authored by Arthur Levine, former president of Teachers College at Columbia University, and as reported in The Seattle Times, teachers emerge from college unprepared for their jobs. “The coursework in teacher-education programs is in disarray nationwide, the report says. Unlike other professions such as law and medicine, there is no commonContinue reading ““Teacher Training is Chaotic””
Category Archives: In the News
Too Often, Homework Doesn’t Work
In an article in The Washington Post, As Homework Grows, So Do Arguments Against It, a staff reporter writes that the controvery over homework is growing every year. “[E]lementary school students get no academic benefit from homework — except reading and some basic skills practice — and yet schools require more than ever.” In theContinue reading “Too Often, Homework Doesn’t Work”
Homework helps parents develop “good nagging habits”
A parent from British Columbia, Canada, Chris Corrigan, has issued a call for a Great Canadian Homework Ban, according to an article in the National Post of Canada, and his online campaign is stirring up support from like-minded parents across Canada. “The whole evening centres around this mad dash to get the homework done —Continue reading “Homework helps parents develop “good nagging habits””
NY Times Unskeptically Reviews Homework Web Sites
Whatever happened to the idea that children should be able to do homework on their own? Forgotten, it would seem, what with the proliferation of Web sites designed to give students help, feedback, and answers to common homework questions. An article in today’s Business section of The New York Times, If You Can Click aContinue reading “NY Times Unskeptically Reviews Homework Web Sites”
Time Magazine on The Case Against Homework: “What could be more welcome”
The Case Against Homework and Alfie Kohn’s, The Homework Myth, are the subject of an article in this week’s Time magazine. The author, Claudia Wallis, writes: Sachem was the last straw. Or was it Kiva? My 12-year-old daughter and I had been drilling social-studies key words for more than an hour. It was 11 p.m.Continue reading “Time Magazine on The Case Against Homework: “What could be more welcome””
Texas School District Still Suspending Students for Not Doing Summer Homework
For the second year in a row, students in Lancaster, Texas, were suspended for not doing their summer homework, according to an ABC News Report, 519 Students Suspended for Not Doing Homework. In The Case Against Homework, we report that, in January, 2006, nearly 1,000 students were suspended for not completing their Christmas assignments andContinue reading “Texas School District Still Suspending Students for Not Doing Summer Homework”
Unique Homework Advice: The Homework Shirt
Here’s some unique advice from an associate professor of pediatrics at Saint Louis University—the homework shirt, Before-School Assignment: Find a Homework Shirt. “What a child is wearing can really help him get in the mood to buckle down and study,â€? says Dr. Haller, who also is a pediatrician at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. “ThereContinue reading “Unique Homework Advice: The Homework Shirt”
Coordination Among Middle School Teachers in One California School District Is “Not an Easy Sell”
Most middle school teachers who responded to a survey in the Las Virgenes School District in California stated that their homework should take between 16 and 30 minutes to complete each night, according to an article in The Acorn, Local Middle School Teachers Respond to Homework Survey. With each teacher handing out that amount theContinue reading “Coordination Among Middle School Teachers in One California School District Is “Not an Easy Sell””
High School Teachers in One California School District Don’t Want to Coordinate Assignments
Seventy eight percent of high school teachers in the Las Virgenes Unified School District in California admitted in a recent survey that they don’t see any need to coordinate their assignments, according to an article in The Acorn, Teachers Sound Off in Homework Study. Moreover, “53 percent don’t want to consider other department’s ‘major unitContinue reading “High School Teachers in One California School District Don’t Want to Coordinate Assignments”
They call this kindergarten….
No more blocks, dress-up areas, show and tell time, naps, or recess for kindergarteners in an East New York Charter School says The New York Times (In Kindergarten Playtime, a New Meaning for “Play”) (subscription required). While the mission of the school is to close the achievement gap, the children who attend this school missContinue reading “They call this kindergarten….”
Stop Homework 