Homework Policy

The District’s hosting of the movie Race To Nowhere, coupled with our on-going work to improve the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) environment for all of our students, brought us to review how consistent our current homework practices and policies are with today’s best practice research on the issue.

The research-based purposes for homework are to:

* Provide additional time to deepen student understanding of a specific learning concept

* Build rote memorization and automaticity

* Develop a regular communication tool between families and school

* Improve academic behaviors that enhance academic achievement

Grades K-2: 0-30 minutes per night

Grades 3-5: 30-60 minutes per night

Grades 6-8: 60-90 minutes per night

Research is clear that the positive impact of homework has diminishing returns for junior high and elementary students beyond 90 minutes in any single session. Nightly minutes spent on homework are inclusive of students’ time spent studying for tests; however, the expectation would be that students would not devote all time preparing for a test to only the evening preceding that assessment.

Homework is not to be assigned over extended breaks for any grade, K-8 (Thanksgiving Break, Winter Break, or Spring Break). Long-term assignments may be addressed and worked on by the student, if needed, over a break. These long-term assignments should not be due, however, immediately following the return from an extended break.

It is also recommended that homework not be given to K-5 students over a weekend, or for any student K-8 on “special” weekends (BLT Weekend for seventh-graders, Family-oriented holidays such as Mother’s Day, etc.) These decisions are at the discretion of the teacher.

Since both causal model studies (11 of 12 studies reviewed) and correlation model studies (27 of 35 studies reviewed) link time spent on homework to greater positive achievement, we recommend the use of the following guidelines when completing work at home:

• • A designated area should be defined in the home to be used on a daily basis.

  • A specific time frame, free from distractions, should be set aside daily for work completion.

  • When possible, the student’s work area should be located in a common area within the home.

Students should independently complete work to the best of their ability. If students are unable to complete the assignment independently, assistance may be given. Parents are not expected to be “experts” in curricular content; rather their primary role is to help and oversee the greatest degree of homework completion.

Parents should notify the classroom teacher if their son or daughter is consistently spending more time than the grade level time expectations or if the homework continually proves too difficult to independently complete successfully

Homework Should:

• Reinforce the curriculum, deepening the understanding of a focused topic.

• Define expectations clearly for students.

• Result in timely feedback from the teacher for student growth.

• Be engaging, purposeful, relevant, and provide students an opportunity to apply information they have learned.

Homework Should Not Be:

• Used as a punishment or reward.

• Work that does not deepen the understanding of the curriculum. (busy work, such as: word searches, coloring, etc.)

• Defined by the quantity of work, but rather the quality of the work assigned.

• Completed by parents. (However, assistance can be given when a student reaches a point of sustained frustration.)