Are there any exceptions for advanced, honors or AP courses?
The committee talked through the advanced, honors and AP courses and decided there was no need to specify anything different for those courses since we have not specified a specific amount of time for any course's homework. We've just emphasized "quality over quantity", which would apply to any course including advanced courses. It's okay for advanced courses to have more homework than "regular" courses, but all the other expectations for homework should also apply to advanced course homework. Summer assignments for any advanced course must be used directly in the class in the fall semester and should not be used to 'screen' students.
What does "complete homework successfully without help" mean?
The "successfully without help" expectation is a general rule. Some students will always need a little help on homework, but the idea is to not assign any homework for which the material/skills have not yet been taught directly in class. It should not be the case that a student has to complete homework for a topic or skill that they haven't yet encountered in class. And this is why we also stipulated that homework assignments should be assigned at the beginning of class, with a thorough explanation of the directions, and whenever possible, to allow students to start the homework in class so they have some time to try it and ask the teacher questions or for help while still in class. As much as possible, teachers should try to ensure homework assignments won't require students to seek help, in general.
What does "some flexibility in how and when students complete homework" mean?
The word "flexibility" on page 3 could apply to 'reasonable time' or it might also apply to 'how' students complete the homework. For example, 'flexibility' might mean turn in an assignment within a two-week window or by the end of a unit, or it might mean students have some choice in how they do the homework -- maybe they only need to complete 10 of the math problems instead of all 30 math problems, if they've shown they get it. Also, the word 'some' precedes the word 'flexibility', so teachers can use discretion with this and do not need to apply this all the time.