I was quoted in the Chronicle today in an article discussing homework. The article appears below. For prior posts on this blog regarding homework, including the Board's Resolution and Parameters for the Homework Task Force, please click here.
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Aug. 25, 2008, 1:55AM
How much homework is too much?
Amid debate, some districts limit assignments; a few are banning them
By ERICKA MELLON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
After a summer of resting and water-skiing, 15-year-old Charlie
Russell dreads the hours of homework that come with today's start of
school.
"I'd rather spend my time outside," said Russell, a freshman at
Memorial High School in Spring Branch. "I get enough learning at
school."
Russell might catch a break this school year. The Spring Branch
school board has ordered a committee to review the district's homework
policy to make sure students are benefiting, rather than burning out,
from the extra assignments.
In school districts across the country, educators and parents are
debating the value of homework as schools face growing pressure to meet
state and federal testing standards and to prepare students for college.
While most students still can expect a backpack full of spelling
words to memorize, math problems to solve and maps to label, a few
schools nationwide have gone as far as banning homework.
"There was this trend where the amount of homework was equated with
how rigorous your program was," said veteran teacher Steve Antley,
president of the Congress of Houston Teachers. "What you're seeing in
Spring Branch and in other places is a backlash to that."
Spring Branch's current homework policy spells out time limits for
homework at the elementary school level — no more than an hour for
grades 2-5 and half that for younger students. But some board members
want to place stricter rules on what teachers can and cannot assign.
"I'm not a believer in sending home 25 algebra questions as homework
when five would let the teacher know if the student gets it," said
trustee Mike Falick, who has two school-aged children. "Homework, to be
useful, has to be graded and has to have prompt feedback. It can't be
done for completion only."
The 10-minute rule
Charlie Russell and his 13-year-old
sister Sarah Jane offered this suggestion: Decrease the nightly load by
assigning homework in different subjects on different nights.
"An hour or two of homework is reasonable," said their mom, Carla
Russell. "It would be really nice to have some family time in the
evenings — to unwind, to talk about your day."
Harris Cooper, author of The Battle Over Homework: Common Ground for Administrators, Teachers, and Parents, said his research shows that too much homework at any grade level can be detrimental, turning students off from school.
"That doesn't mean that young children shouldn't be doing some
homework," said Cooper, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at
Duke University.
"But the assignments should be short, lead to success, involve
parents, and demonstrate to kids that the things they are learning in
school have applications to things they enjoy doing at home," he said.
Cooper said his research generally supports the 10-minute rule,
which means that students should get no more than 10 minutes of
homework per grade level.
For example, a third-grader's load should not exceed 30 minutes, while a 12th grader should be limited to two hours.
Local policies vary
The policies in Houston-area districts
vary. Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, for example, promotes 20 to 45 minutes a
night in elementary school, 60 to 90 minutes in middle school and up to
two hours in high school.
The guidelines in Dickinson ISD say middle schoolers will get math
homework nightly, while elementary and middle school students are
expected to read or be read to 20 minutes a day.
"Anything that goes home for homework cannot be new material," said
Robert Cobb, principal of Dickinson's Dunbar Middle School. "It has to
be something they have done before in class. There's just not enough
time in the day with all of the things we have to do to practice."
The Houston Independent School District leaves the decision up to
individual schools. Karen Garza, HISD's chief academic officer, said
she expects teachers to coordinate so they don't overburden students
"In college," she said, "students certainly are going to be expected
to get things done on their own, so that's an important skill."
Teachers already are dishing out homework at YES Prep Public
Schools, which started last week. Many of the students enter the
charter school a few grade levels behind academically.
"It's kinda hard, but that's my job to do it," sixth-grader Julio
Ceja said, smiling, as he organized his worksheets in a binder.
Bill Durbin, principal of the YES campus at Lee High School, said
his general rule is 30 minutes per subject a night. Students get a
study hall period to start the work and get help from teachers. He also
lets parents know in advance that students will get no homework on a
designated weekend and on one Wednesday each month.
Let kids be kids
In rural Wyoming, Christine Hendricks,
principal of Grant Elementary, became one of the few school leaders to
enforce a no-homework rule last year.
"I don't think we're rebelling," she said."We're trying to get back to — we want kids to be kids."
While some parents still request homework, Hendricks deemed the
policy a success, noting that her school met the federal academic
standards last year.
Mike Feinberg, co-founder of the Knowledge is Power Program, a
charter school chain started in Houston, said he doesn't buy into the
no-homework philosophy.
"Asking children to work more doesn't have to be a boring, horrible
way to pass time," he said. "It's possible to find ways for learning to
be interesting and fun so the kids actually look forward to doing work."
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