Discussion of students, homework
I’ve worked in education since 1996 and from my first classroom to today, the discussion of homework is forefront in the conversation of a quality education. To offer homework, no homework, grade homework or require homework; the conversation is always contentious and often unfounded in research.
My daughter attended a local school where homework is necessary and lengthy — often requiring three hours of work each night. I worked in a local alternative high school where homework is never offered. In both schools students learn. Bright students with supportive families and a positive work ethic flourish while remedial students with little support at home struggle.
After researching the works of Alfie Kohn, Ken O’Connor and Tom Shimmer, my leadership team decides to create a homework policy based on true research and academic knowledge. Understanding that each student has a different opportunity to complete homework based on the family structure, time-availability and access to resources, we agree to offer homework only for practice, not for a grade and if a student struggles beyond the caretaker’s ability to help, the student may stop working on the homework and ask the teacher for help the following day.
We also acknowledge the importance of teacher-feedback on homework. When a teacher places a grade or percentage correct on a piece of student work the child accepts the grade — good or bad — and moves on. When a teacher offers prescriptive feedback on student work, the child reflects on the feedback, makes corrections and learns from his or her mistakes.
The research is clear; every student has a different opportunity to be successful or unsuccessful completing homework dependent on one’s household situation. A student with little home-support has a less than optimal opportunity for success completing homework than a child with an academically supportive home. Furthermore, a child should not be punished because he or she does not have an academically supportive household.
When grading a child, an educator must look at what the child knows, not what work the child completes. A child who does well on assessments and poorly on homework should not be punished. A child must be rewarded academically for what the child knows; what the child has learned. A child’s grade should reflect the child acquisition of knowledge, not what a child completes while outside the educational setting.
Does a child’s homework reflect the child’s work, or the work of a supportive parent feeding the child the right answer to homework questions? This question is often asked by educators who see adult handwriting on student work. When an adult questions the homework grading process of a teacher, the parent often is very involved in the child’s homework. Parents supporting a child’s work is important. A parent doing a child’s work is damaging — the child does not learn and struggles when asked to repeat the work in class.
Tom Shimmer offers the following research-based thoughts and feelings on grading the homework of students.
“You’d think by now we’d have the whole homework thing figured out. Should it be assigned? What is the purpose of homework? How much is too much? How much is too little? Should it be graded? Is it formative? What if my students don’t do it? What if only half of my students do it? Why do we continue to act surprised by the fact that some students don’t master the intended learning the first time they practice it? These (and so many other questions) fuel a continual debate over where the actual sweet spot of our homework routines is.
Is homework the means or the end? In other words, does homework present students with an opportunity to further advance their proficiency with regard to specific curricular standards or is it an event all unto itself? While some might be tempted to answer both, it is challenging to come up the middle on the means vs. end discussion.
As a means, homework tends to be about practice. Inherent in this practice paradigm is the elimination of points and their contribution to an overall grade. In other words, as practice, homework is formative. As an end, homework is just the opposite; it tends to be an event that independently contributes (even in a small way) to a report grade.
While subsequent new evidence of learning may emerge, homework as an end remains a contributor to what could eventually be an inaccurate grade. And that is the bigger point. Whatever we report about student learning — and however we determine the substance of what we report — must be as accurate as possible. Previous evidence (homework) that no longer reflects a student’s current level of proficiency has the potential to misinform parents and others. When homework counts, we are emphasizing points over practice.
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Send comments or other suggestions to William Rutherford at bprutherford@hotmail.com or visit pensiveparenting.com.