Oakridge Principal
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Anonymous
I don’t think that’s been completely settled. APS has take a direction that they feel is supported by research but nobody has “the answer.” It’s not in reasonable for parents and educators to have different points of view on this issue. Glad you are happy with the homework policy, though. |
Anonymous
And keep in mind, APS isn’t ending homework because it is never beneficial. No-HW policies are aimed at narrowing the achievement gap. |
Anonymous
Their homework is to read for at least 30 minutes. Always has been. Totally appropriate, too. As an Oakridge parent, I also appreciated the flexibility. If we had a busy night, I’d have mine skip it and read for an hour the next. The folks that get upset about the no homework never make their kids read and let them have iPads all night. Then they complain and blame it on the school when they’re not successful. |
Anonymous
Total over generalization. I don’t think kids in k-3 “need” homework, but in 4-5, meaningful practice of math or writing skills as a way to learn to manage time in advance of middle school (when middle school had homework) is not abhorrent to me. Im fine with the no-graded-homework policy because kids don’t control their schedules. There’s middle ground on this. |
Anonymous
Right, but that will never work. Parents with resources will always supplement — whether it’s assigned by the school or not. |
Anonymous
+1. And for the kids whose parents can’t or won’t supervise homework, that’s probably not going to change in later years when homework will be required. So I’m not sure that it’s really meaningful to eliminate elementary school homework (especially if it’s not graded) from an equity perspective. But that’s just a hunch, there may be something I haven’t considered. |
Anonymous
It’s definitely a lot of people I know. I keep thinking, maybe start with the reading, then worry about homework. Who’s stopping anyone from doing extra things with their kids, anyway? The county puts out tons of extension resources you can use with your kids if you want to. |
Anonymous
Yes, I think that this is the big place in elementary school homework where APS and other no-homework school districts have gone wrong. According to what I understand, giving all students the exact same math worksheet to complete at home doesn't improve student learning, which makes sense. But if a parent can see their kid totally unable to complete a worksheet that the teacher expects them to complete, a parent can intervene. A standards-based report card and an SOL only gives you so much information. Is this inequitable? Yes. Is it fair to let a kid who doesn't have a good grasp on concepts flounder? No, and I don't understand how that would help equity either. If the parents can offer help and the school can devote resources just to those kids who don't get as much help from parents or who are struggling for some other reason, it seems like that would help many more kids get the concepts before they blanket shove everybody into long division, when you really see math deficits from prior grades. Yes you can give parents access to canvas and send out mass email reminders to monitor progress, but I think you're going to get a much better response from a parent if you send home a worksheet once a week and you can see your kid trying to work through problems instead of just seeing a grade. Also, not homework is ineffective! For instance, if a kid's homework is to hand in a recording of them explaining a concept to someone (real or imaginary), that will have a significant impact on learning. |
Anonymous
Can you share where to find these free resources? We’ve been in APS for four years and I’ve never heard this before. |
Anonymous
Agree. Also it's more complicated than "homework is not effective." It's more like "homework that presents an appropriate level of challenge is helpful for student learning, as long as it isn't excessive and parents don't stress out about it because that makes the kids stressed too." I'm fine with it not being graded in elementary school (and even in middle and high school) and I don't think there needs to be a lot of it but it's untrue that homework is never good. |
Anonymous
This |
Anonymous
You both seem nice. |
Anonymous
Wrong. Some of you on here I think have elem kids and haven't been to middle school and are SO smug that your are following the science with no homework. Well good for you, but maybe be more open to what you don't know. I was upset about the abrupt change to no HW in elementary for my second kid. This is because the school had no explanation for how my executive function challenged kids was supposed to go from zero homework in 5th to heavy homework in 6th. I already knew about how heavy the HW was in 6th from my older one. No HW in younger elem is great. No HW in uppper elem leaves them totally unprepared for middle school. |
Anonymous
+1 I think the idea was that all schools are moving to no homework because of trends toward equity, and elementary is where it’s least necessary, so let’s start there. But no, not all schools have gotten rid of homework and sixth graders are expected to magically adjust. It was hell for my sixth grader, especially because she had ADHD but I didn’t know it because she never really had to do work in elementary school. I think they are going to keep doing this: reducing academic standards in accordance with an ideal that doesn’t exist, which serves them horribly as they keep progressing to the next phase of life. And I’m pretty leftist and I even buy into the idea that a lot of our school expectations come from arbitrary cultural standards, but for now if you want to survive in capitalist America you’d do well to learn to turn things in on time. |
Anonymous
We are also left leaning, but, are honestly considering leaving the area given all of the challenges with the schools here (behavior, drugs, violence--and yes, I know there is no utopia where it doesn't exist, but, the urban nature of this area seems to create an abundance of these issues not necessarily present in large suburbs in other parts of the country) and the bars just being continuously lowered for the lowest common denominator. We're not anti-equity, but, we want our kids to have solid academic foundations that enable them to pursue whatever they want in life. |