Homework Preferences: Teachers and Parents State ...

A Look at One District

—

Homework Preferences: Teachers and Parents State Their Opinions By Alvin

C. Rose

This school district faced rising parent and teacher concern about discrepancies in the amount of homework assigned to students. The resulting homework policy is general, based on

recommendations,

not

requirements.

B oth

parents and teachers in Cheatham County, Tenn., had expressed concerns about wide variations they perceived to exist in homework practices among various teachers and the several schools in the system. Some teachers had been giving noticeably different amounts of homework than had other teachers in the same grade or the same subject area in the same school. Teachers in some grades, particularly the seventh grade, had been giving less homework than had teachers in earlier grades. Some educators and parents expressed a need for a homework policy that would be less general in nature than the existing one. As a result, board of education members requested that a study be done and a new policy be submitted to them for consideration and possible adoption. The superintendent of schools appointed a homework committee, consisting of two instructional supervisors and eight classroom teachers, to conduct the study. The committee memAlvin C. Rose, a former principal, is secondary education supervisor, Cheatham County Schools, Ashland City, Tenn. Downloaded from bul.sagepub.com at University of Ulster Library on March 31, 2015

65

66

questionnaire that

bers

developed

was

sent to teachers and

a

parents

to

learn their views about homework.

parents said students should always be

given such time. majority of both groups, how-

The

ever, were more moderate in their assessments. Thirty-nine percent of

How

Many Nights

Per Week?

At a minimum, how many nights per week should teachers typically assign homework? Sixty-two percent of the teachers and 65 percent of the parents said homework typically should be assigned at least two to three nights per week. One percent of the teachers and 4 percent of the parents preferred homework to be assigned a minimum of five nights per week. At a maximum, how many nights per week should teachers typically assign homework? Seventy-four percent of the teachers and 72 percent of the parents believed homework typically should be assigned three to four nights per week at a maximum. Only 1 percent of the teachers and 2 percent of the parents felt that homework should never be assigned at all.

Time at School? Should teachers typically give students time at school to work on independent practice or homework? Independent practice often becomes homework if it is not completed at school. Four percent of the teachers and 1 percent of the parents said students should never be given time to work at school. Seventeen percent of the teachers and 9 percent of the

teachers, and 41 percent of the parents said this should be done occasionally. Thirty-nine percent of

the

the teachers and 39 percent of the parents said it should be done fre-

quently. &dquo;I feel that it is important to have the students begin their assignment in class so I can give the individual attention that some so desperately need. A lot of parents cannot help their children with homework once they reach the middle school level, so the only assistance they may receive is from me before they leave

class,&dquo;

wrote

one

eighth grade

teacher. How

Many Minutes?

How many minutes per class period should teachers typically allocate to students to work in class on independent practice or homework?

Varied responses were given by both teachers and parents. Two percent of both groups felt that students should be given no time to work at school. One percent of both groups said students should be allocated 45 minutes of each class period to work on homework, but when would instruction take place if this were done? A majority of both groups stated a preference for 10 to 15 minutes per class period to be allocated for home-

Downloaded from bul.sagepub.com at University of Ulster Library on March 31, 2015

67

work at school. Sixty-four percent of teachers and 58 percent of parents favored 10 to 15 minutes. Thirteen percent of teachers and 16 percent of parents preferred that students be given 20 minutes of each class period to work on independent practice or

homework. How

Long

at Home?

How many total minutes should students typically be expected to spend working on homework at home on any given school night? Only one teacher and one set of parents felt that students usually should spend more than two hours a night working on all homework as-

signments. At the other extreme, 9 percent of the teachers believed that students normally should spend no more than 10 minutes on a given school night working on all homework. None of the parents supported such little time.

The times

generating the

most

support from both teachers and parents were 30 minutes and 60 minutes. Twenty-five percent of the

teachers and 19 percent of the parents favored students spending about 30 minutes a night working on homework. Sixty minutes was the preferred time given by 26 percent of the teachers and 39 percent of the parents, who were more supportive of the one-hour time than were the teachers. Thirteen percent of the parents supported a time of 90 minutes. Only

5 percent of the teachers preferred 90 minutes. Typically, parents, more than teachers, wanted students to spend longer amounts of time working on homework at home.

Should Homework Be Checked? Should homework be checked? Should it be checked for effort, or correctness, or both? Both teachers and parents strongly agreed that homework should be checked at least for effort. Eighty-nine percent of the teachers said this should be done either frequently (25 percent) or always (64 percent). Sixty-one percent of the parents said it should always be done, while 29 percent said it should be done frequently. Speaking from the perspective of a parent, as well perhaps as a teacher, one fifth-grade teacher declared, &dquo;One of my children was given a minimum of one or more hours (of homework) per night in one subject. The papers were never

graded. They (the students) were told if they did their homework, they would be given (a grade of) 100, regardless of whether their work was right or wrong. This did not, in my opinion, teach anything but dislike for school, frustration, and reinforcement in doing skills incorrectly, if it (the homework) were not graded or at least looked over.&dquo;

A seventh-grade teacher said, &dquo;For homework to be effective, it should count for something and not be tossed into the trash. I personally


68

know teachers who never count homework. I think that’s wrong!&dquo; Parents, more than teachers, believed homework should be checked for correctness. Eighty percent of the parents said this should always be done, but only 54 percent of the teachers agreed. Thirty-three percent of the teachers said homework should be checked for correctness on a frequent basis, while only 16 percent of parents were content with but a frequent assessment for correctness.

Twelve percent of these teachers believed homework should be checked for correctness only occasionally. A mere 4 percent of the parents concurred with this. Should Homework Be Graded? Parents were much more insistent than teachers that homework should be graded. Sixty-nine percent of parents said homework should always be graded, as compared with 32 percent of the teachers. Six percent of the teachers said homework should never be graded, as compared to only 2 percent of the parents. Twenty-nine percent of the teachers said homework should be graded

only occasionally, yet only 8 percent of the parents agreed with this infrequent amount. One parent wrote, &dquo;If an assignment is worth giving, it is worth grading.&dquo; Who Should Grade Homework? If homework is to be graded, who should grade it? May students be

permitted to grade their own homework ? May students be allowed to exchange papers and grade each other’s homework? Should teachers grade the homework? Would a combination of these methods be acceptable ? Eighty-one percent of the teachers and 63 percent of the parents felt that a combination of these would be

appropriate. Thirty-one percent

of

the parents believed that homework should always be graded by teachers. Not surprisingly, only 13 percent of the teachers agreed. One parent wrote, &dquo;Most homework should be graded by the teacher. If students grade each other’s papers, there is always the possibility of unfairness.&dquo; Another parent asked, &dquo;How can a teacher know if the students are understanding what she is trying to teach if she doesn’t check the papers herself ?&dquo; A contrasting view was given by this eighth grade teacher: &dquo;I believe that it is to the benefit of the students to grade their homework in class. By grading it orally and discussing the material as we grade, they can see what mistakes they made and learn how to correct them. In the past, when I have graded their homework, they just looked at their grade and tossed the paper away, not caring what they missed or how to correct it. I also feel that teachers spend enough time outside the class-

preparing, and, by having to grade all homework assignments, we would have less time to give to other room


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important teaching.&dquo; What

matters associated with

wrote, &dquo;If

systemwide an policy, please important enough percentage so we

adopt

a

make homework

Percentage of the

Grade?

that students learn it can do real damage to their grade if not com-

Homework should count what percentage of the students’ six-weeks

pleted.&dquo; Twenty-five percent of the grade

(or nine-weeks) grade?

was

This question generated a wide range of responses from both teachers and parents. Seven percent of the teachers said homework should not count for any part of the six-week grade, but 1 percent of their colleagues said it should count for 90 percent of the grade. As a rule, elementary teachers were more op-

quently supported by parents (29 percent). Twenty percent of the par-

posed to giving significant grade weight to homework than were secondary teachers, saying much of the homework supposedly done by elementary students was actually done by their parents. This middle level teacher shared her concern, writing, &dquo;Anything done outside the classroom should be considered invalid, gradewise, for too often too many parents and friends get involved in helping or actually doing the work. I would have to be considered a real ’dummy’ to give an actual grade for work done at home.&dquo; Twenty-five percent of the teachers said homework should count for 25 percent of the grade. Twelve percent of teachers declared homework should count for 50 percent of the grade. Ten percent of teachers gave homework a preferred weight of 20

percent. school English teacher her view about the matter. She gave A

high

also the percentage most fre-

ents wanted homework to count for

percent of the grade. Eighteen percent of the parents supported a weight of 50 percent for homework. 30

New

Learning as Homework? Should new learning be sent home as homework? (New learning was defined as material that had not yet been taught in class.) A strong majority of teachers (79 percent) and parents (61 percent) said new learning should never be sent home as homework. Some teachers (19 percent) and parents (35 percent) felt that new learning could be sent home as homework on an occasional basis. They apparently were saying students sometimes could be challenged to work independently on material that had yet to be taught by teachers in class. Advanced

or

Honors Courses

Should teachers of advanced or honors courses in the secondary grades be allowed to assign different amounts of homework than teachers of other courses? Teachers supported this idea


70

more so

than did parents.

Only

8

percent of parents felt teachers should always be allowed to do this, while 24 percent of teachers said this should always be permissible. Thirty-seven percent of teachers said it was all right to do this on a frequent basis, but only 16 percent of the parents supported this being done frequently. Parents were more receptive to this being done on an occasional basis. Sixty-one percent of them stated such agreement. Twelve percent of the parents said this should never be done. Only 8 percent of the teachers were totally opposed to allowing this flexibility in advanced or honors classes. A Uniform Homework

Policy?

Should our school system have a uniform homework policy? Only 28 percent of teachers said it should, while 68 percent said it should not. A high school English teacher said, &dquo;I do agree that possibly there should be some general consideration for a homework policy. Our students coming from (the mid-

dle school) are obviously less and less prepared for high school.&dquo; More teachers were opposed to such a policy. Several statements were like this one: &dquo;We are being told how much time to spend, what to teach, and what to test. It is as though we are becoming robots, with everyone pushing a button to tell us what to do, because we are either not intelligent enough to teach on our

do not know what is best for students.&dquo; Parents were evenly divided on the issue. Forty-nine percent of them favored a uniform homework policy, and 49 percent were opposed to such a policy. Two percent gave no opinion. A parent of a student at the system’s middle school favored a consistent homework policy, at least within the same grade. She wrote, &dquo;Since each grade level has teaching teams, I believe a uniform policy within those teams is needed. I should expect, for the most part, the same amount of homework for my child in the sixth grade no matter which team he or she is assigned to.&dquo; This parent of a fourth grader opposed a systematic homework policy. &dquo;Let the teachers decide what is needed. I’ve never had a problem concerning my children’s homework. Some years have seen more homework than others, depending on the teacher. My children haven’t been hurt one way or the other.&dquo; If there were such a policy, should it be general or specific? Eighty-one percent of the teachers and 63 percent of the parents said to keep it general. Even though there was strong opposition to a uniform policy, there was strong support for homework. Seventy percent of the teachers, and 82 percent of the parents said they were &dquo;pro-homework.&dquo; Only 23 percent of the teachers and 12 percent of the parents said they were &dquo;anti-homework&dquo; people. Several teachers and parents own or

our own


71

wrote comments about homework. A

sample of their responses follows. &dquo;Pro-Homework&dquo; Parents &dquo;Homework is important. It should be a follow-up of what they have been taught in school. It should also be graded to make sure they did it correctly.&dquo; &dquo;I do think my kids need more homework. Any at all would be an

improvement.&dquo; &dquo;Homework should be mostly a reinforcement of skills learned in the classroom. This lets parents know what the child is being taught, if the child has comprehended the concept, and what the parent can do to sharpen the skills being learned.&dquo; &dquo;I am very much in favor of homework.&dquo; &dquo;Anti-Homework&dquo; Parents &dquo;The child leaves home at 6:55 a.m., arrives at home at 3:30 p.m.

When he gets home, he should have freedom from over-involvement unless there is a special project. There is more to being a child than school learning. He spends 12 years under a mandatory system. He needs at least a portion of his life to have learning experiences with his family and other activities of his choice.&dquo; &dquo;One day last semester my son came home with about eight hours of homework. I didn’t think this was possible, so I called the homework hotline, and the teacher explained all the work that was to be done. My

mouth dropped. We started at 4:30, and at 10:00 that night we still were not finished. I was very upset.&dquo; &dquo;Children should not dislike school because of homework. Teachers are noted on who gives the most homework and who doesn’t. If time were allocated in school, students would be free to enjoy their childhood more.&dquo; &dquo;Pro-Homework&dquo; Teachers &dquo;I believe in the

use

of homework

parent involvement parent tutoring for those

to encourage

and

even

skills which

a

child has

a

hard time

understanding in a group setting. I send an assignment sheet home with each student at the beginning of each week to alert parents to assignments and tests. I encourage parents to frequently check to see if students

completing assignments-even they assure parents they have completed it at school.&dquo; &dquo;As in learning piano or learning to play a sport well, repetition is needed for longer retention. I believe homework does this, and, therefore, is a must in most subjects.&dquo; &dquo;I feel homework should satisfy the following objectives: to practice or reinforce skills already taught in the classroom; to help the student develop the responsibility for completing and returning work on time; are

if

and to involve parents in the educational process and keep them abreast of what skills are being worked on in the classroom.&dquo; &dquo;There is simply no way one can


72

learn grammar, math, etc., without practicing it. Some homework must be given if our students are to compete with others educationally. The key to this is necessary homework, &dquo;

not ’busywork’.&dquo; &dquo;I think homework is a valuable tool. It gives extra practice in a sub-

ject. It also teaches self-discipline. How will students ever learn to budget time to get assignments done in college if they are never given homework?&dquo; &dquo;What hurts our kids the most is the teenage work ethic. We adults, especially teachers, need to educate the parents on the grave harm that working in the evenings does to their kids’ education and learning ability. For most of today’s kids, school is their last priority, and it shows.&dquo;

&dquo;Anti-Homework&dquo; Teachers was not until my oldest child in the fifth grade that I realized

&dquo;It was

teachers had a totally unrealistic idea of homework. Every night, including weekends, my child had hours and hours of homework, much of which was ’busywork,’ much of which was never considered for grades. Children are people, and they need time to relax and enjoy life outside the school environment.&dquo; &dquo;The lifestyles of today do not encourage schoolwork at home. Parents do not supervise their children because of time limitations, other commitments, or simply lack of interest. This makes it almost impossome

sible to get positive results from homework.&dquo; &dquo;Homework should never be graded by peers, used as punish-

ment,

or

given on Fridays.&dquo;

&dquo;I don’t believe in giving homework for any other reason than enrichment or practice. I give daily assignments in each subject and usually require that these be done in class in order to check any problems students may be having. If the work is taken home, I don’t know whether the student truly knows the skill or whether Mom or Dad helped.&dquo; &dquo;I also think teachers should consider special times, activities, etc., when assigning homework. We ask students and parents to support ball games, homecoming week, band specials, etc., and then we pile on so much work at that time that the students have trouble. Even though education is more important, we should consider a situation and adjust homework accordingly.&dquo; &dquo;Times have changed. My mother was always home for me and had the meals cooked, the house clean, and the clothes washed and ironed. Many of our children now go home to an empty house, a mother at work, younger children to watch, and supper to cook. When do they have time for lots of homework, much less the energy for it?&dquo; &dquo;I find that personally my time with my own children has become more

important

as

they’ve

grown

older. I know that these middle school years are the ending of the young child. They get older, develop


73

differences, and want to go out with friends instead of parents. My time with them is more precious. Many other parents feel the same way. I want this time to be pleasant, not full of ’missing-homework’ fussmore

ing.&dquo; &dquo;I recently read that the latest research on homework has shown that it has virtually no effect at the elementary school level, other than establishing study habits. I believe this, because I believe that practice makes permanent, not perfect. If a child does have the proper supervision while working at home, he or she may be reinforcing the wrong skills.&dquo; The New

Policy receiving the completed

After questionnaires from the teachers and parents, the homework committee compiled a report of approximately 75 pages. Using the data from the survey, from homework policies of neighboring school systems, and from educational research, the committee members wrote a new homework policy. At two stages of the writing, all teachers and administrators in the school system were given an opportunity to review the proposed policy and make suggestions for changes. The policy was submitted to the school board members in midsummer. The board members spent a month studying the proposed policy before officially adopting it. The policy recognizes education to

be

lifelong process that extends beyond the school, urging teachers to understand that learning also occurs in the home and community. The policy broadly defines homework to comprise any learning-related activity assigned to be done at home. The policy permits teachers to assign homework for any of six reasons. These include: completing work begun in class; providing ada

ditional practice and/or further study in previously introduced material and subjects; building interest in reading and learning; making up work missed due to absences; en-

couraging parental

awareness of and learning; developing inhabits and the abildependent study to and ity organize complete ashomework tasks. signed Eighty-one percent of the teachers and 63 percent of the parents had said that if a homework policy were adopted, it should be more general than specific. Keeping this in mind, the policy gives recommendations, not requirements, to teachers. The recommendations are based on areas of consensus as determined from responses to the survey. 1. The policy asks teachers to typically assign homework from two to four nights per school week. Teachers should usually expect their students to spend from 30 to 60 minutes working on all homework at home on any given school night, recognizing that homework time generally increases as students advance in grade levels. 2. The policy says teachers should

student


74

provide students an opportunity to begin work on homework at school on an occasional to frequent basis, normally giving 10 to 20 minutes per class period for this purpose. 3. The policy reminds teachers to frequently check homework for effort and correctness and to grade homework at least occasionally. 4. While teachers

reminded that many parents prefer teachers to grade homework, the policy tells teachers that homework may be graded by a combination of: students grading their own work, students exchanging papers and grading other’s work, and teachers grading students’ work. 5. The policy invites teachers to follow a general rule of counting homework from 10 to 50 percent of students’ six-week grades. The wide range is designed to accommodate preferences from both elementary and secondary teachers. 6. The policy expects teachers to rarely send new learning, that is, material that has not yet been taught in class, home as homework. 7. The policy allows teachers to assign homework more for some subject areas than others. 8. The policy permits teachers of secondary advanced or honors courses to assign different amounts of homework from regular courses. The policy directs principals to convey to teachers their expectations of homework practices. At the beginning of each school year, teachers are to submit in writing to their students and their students’ parents their are

proposed homework policies for that school year. The policy encourages teachers who teach the same grade and/or the same subject within the same school to strive for consistency in their homework practices. Teachers are not to significantly decrease homework for students as students advance in grade levels. Conclusion It is

virtually impossible

to

require

every teacher within a school or school system to carry out identical practices pertaining to homework. Opinions vary too widely. A school system almost would have to employ an assistant principal or curriculum coordinator for each teacher, and have these administrators monitor every class taught, if the system expected all teachers to comply totally with specific homework policies. The Cheatham County homework policy was designed to &dquo;keep it general&dquo; and to offer recommendations, not requirements. The policy, however, does call for teachers to strive for consistency in homework practices and not to significantly decrease homework as students advance in grade levels. Teachers are to submit in writing their homework policies to students and parents for each school year. Principals, by reading these written homework policies for all teachers, can monitor the extent that teachers are following the board policy recommendations ; whether consistency


,

75

exists among homework policies for teachers who teach the same grade and/or the same subject within the same school; and whether teachers are decreasing or increasing homework for students as the students advance in grade levels. The superintendent of schools

and/or his

her

designee can monif principals are principals teachers. The policy conmonitoring siders the accountability factor. The policy does not address the effectiveitor

or

to

see

of homework. This is another issue to be dealt with at another time. ness
