Homework - Self Assessment Policy

HOMEWORK

(also known as Extra Practice)

The purpose of homework is to have more exposure to the concepts discussed in class to enhance their procedural fluencies independently. Completing homework is an opportunity for students to reflect on their learning while developing strategies to problem solve and persevere. About 20 problems will be assigned nightly either on the content from that day’s lesson or spiral review problems. It is a rare occasion that homework is not assigned.

HOMEWORK IS NOT BUSY WORK!

Answers do little to reveal the extent of student understanding or misconceptions, for this reason students should be writing formulas, showing appropriate work, and explaining any reasoning they used to complete the problems.

Answers to ALL homework problems are provided. Students should check their solutions against the answer, and if their end result does not match the provided answer, they can rework the problem to find their error. By doing this students receive immediate and formative self-assessed feedback of their work. It is the students’ responsibility to check answers and identify what they understand or what help they will need prior to entering class the next day.

Practice sets are assigned every night with the exception of the night preceding a chapter test. It is an expectation that students are completing these practice sets nightly. Whether the practice problems are assigned from the book or on a worksheet, the students should be self assessing. When assignments are collected, problems will be spot checked for correct answers. If the questions that are being spot-checked are incorrect, the student will only receive ½ on that assignment. (Assignments are typically 5 or 10 points each for a total about 50 - 80 points per chapter).