(Aug. 25, 2016) Long before a single teacher in a Texas school started a social media firestorm by discontinuing additional homework outside of regular classwork, Snow Hill Middle School is on its second year of offering exactly that to all students in every subject, at every grade level.
There are conditions, and some minor changes to last year’s policy, for those parents who have new or returning students to that school. Students who do not complete the day’s assignments are still responsible for that work, pupils are asked to read at least 20 minutes per night and both seventh and eighth grade students may be assigned additional practice when new mathematical concepts are introduced.
Those practice assignments should take only 20 minutes to complete, Principal Mrs. Chris Welch said, and will never, by themselves, negatively affect a students’ grade.
“If a student does not understand the practice assignment, it is the responsibility of him or her to ask the teacher for assistance,” the policy reads. “At any time, a parent or student can request additional material/assignments for any subject to reinforce skills taught during the school day.”
Those assignments will be drawn from online and print sources that are consistent with the school’s curricula, and are not just busywork, Welch said.
“We’re trying to create the right community of learning for our students. When we first started examining this, we just thought we should do what’s best for kids,” Welch said.
The relative success of the program will be gauged by examining students’ grade point averages, she said.
Last summer, she explained, a group of teachers met to examine homework because they were frustrated by the many reasons students gave for not completing assignments.
“We examined how we handled homework and decided homework would only be assigned when a student didn’t give 100 percent in class,” she said. The teachers would judge the student’s day-to-day performance.
With a single school years’ worth of data in hand, the teachers and administrators approached the topic again this year and made the changes, based on teacher and parent feedback.
More than half of the respondents were in favor of keeping the policy, but some did show concern about math.
“There were concerns that the students wouldn’t be ready for high school, or learn the soft skills like responsibility. Parents were also concerned about losing their connection to what was going on in the classroom,” she said.
The research, Welch said, is contradictory. Therefore, the school would focus on things that have been shown to generate positive student outcomes.
“Dinner with your family, removing sleep deprivation, playing sports and getting outside” have all been shown to increase student success, she said.
Plus, the rural area and inequitable resource distribution also had local impact.
Welch said half her students are coming from poverty, with 50 percent of students enrolled in the free and reduced meal program. High-speed internet isn’t available everywhere, and modern technology is also a barrier, she said.
“The kids who couldn’t do the work felt like they were failing before they even walked through the front door. I didn’t want that here,” Welch said. “The kids work super hard for seven hours a day here. Instead, we want to foster natural curiosity.”
There are conditions, and some minor changes to last year’s policy, for those parents who have new or returning students to that school. Students who do not complete the day’s assignments are still responsible for that work, pupils are asked to read at least 20 minutes per night and both seventh and eighth grade students may be assigned additional practice when new mathematical concepts are introduced.
Those practice assignments should take only 20 minutes to complete, Principal Mrs. Chris Welch said, and will never, by themselves, negatively affect a students’ grade.
“If a student does not understand the practice assignment, it is the responsibility of him or her to ask the teacher for assistance,” the policy reads. “At any time, a parent or student can request additional material/assignments for any subject to reinforce skills taught during the school day.”
Those assignments will be drawn from online and print sources that are consistent with the school’s curricula, and are not just busywork, Welch said.
“We’re trying to create the right community of learning for our students. When we first started examining this, we just thought we should do what’s best for kids,” Welch said.
The relative success of the program will be gauged by examining students’ grade point averages, she said.
Last summer, she explained, a group of teachers met to examine homework because they were frustrated by the many reasons students gave for not completing assignments.
“We examined how we handled homework and decided homework would only be assigned when a student didn’t give 100 percent in class,” she said. The teachers would judge the student’s day-to-day performance.
With a single school years’ worth of data in hand, the teachers and administrators approached the topic again this year and made the changes, based on teacher and parent feedback.
More than half of the respondents were in favor of keeping the policy, but some did show concern about math.
“There were concerns that the students wouldn’t be ready for high school, or learn the soft skills like responsibility. Parents were also concerned about losing their connection to what was going on in the classroom,” she said.
The research, Welch said, is contradictory. Therefore, the school would focus on things that have been shown to generate positive student outcomes.
“Dinner with your family, removing sleep deprivation, playing sports and getting outside” have all been shown to increase student success, she said.
Plus, the rural area and inequitable resource distribution also had local impact.
Welch said half her students are coming from poverty, with 50 percent of students enrolled in the free and reduced meal program. High-speed internet isn’t available everywhere, and modern technology is also a barrier, she said.
“The kids who couldn’t do the work felt like they were failing before they even walked through the front door. I didn’t want that here,” Welch said. “The kids work super hard for seven hours a day here. Instead, we want to foster natural curiosity.”