Reply to FCPS forbids student showing homework to another student?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is about HOMEWORK?  My view is that the action the school took is over the top.  It is one thing to cheat on a test by copying someone else’s work.  But HOMEWORK?  The purpose of homework is to gain practice in learning certain skills and concepts.  If someone copied your daughter’s homework, the one that loses is the person who copied it.

And, as for the Madison HS honor code - maybe I missed it, but where does it address HOMEWORK?

I would begin by asking the school what the purpose of homework is.  Is it graded?  If it is, that is interesting because I would wonder how the school knows WHO completed the homework.  If the parent helped the student, then who is really getting the grade - the parent or the student?  How can the school know, for certain, if the student actually completed the homework independently, thus earning the grade he/she is given. 
[/quote]

Yes, sometimes in MS and HS homework counts for a chunk of the grade. Think less nightly math homework, and more a math project. For example, in Algebra last year, my DC was given lists of equations that became lines, and then based on this underlying pattern, had to add more lines of his own, come up with the equations for those lines, and create a picture that he colored in. A great, creative way to learn this concept.  They were given a couple weeks to do this-- at home, and it carried about as much weight as a unit test. If OP's child had completed the homework a week out, it sounds like it falls more into this long term project category and less into routine nightly homework, which is usually just checked for completion.

And no, the school probably had no way of know whether he did this himself (he did).  The same way that they have no way of knowing whether he really practiced his instrument when I sign practice logs and he turns them in. Hence the honor code.  But if I had done the work for him, then he wouldn't have learned the concept, and would have bombed the unit test.  So in the end, there would still have been a consequence. [/quote]

I would say that the assignment was a creative way to reinforce a concept, but to assign it as homework and to assign a grade equivalent to a unit test, is the issue.  
If a student does not complete homework then the consequence is that he/she bombs the test, as you said.  So, why assign a grade to the homework?  Just like if a student does not practice his instrument, he will not learn to play accurately - the consequence of not practicing.  And his grade for performance, in class, would reflect that. 
I am not against homework.  I think short, meaningful assignments that reinforce skills are good for students.  But, grading homework is totally inappropriate.  Homework should give students an opportunity to practice, and even sometimes fail, so that the teacher knows what he/she needs to help a student with.  If a student does not fully understand something, the homework will reflect that.  But, when homework is graded, a student seeks assistance from his/her parents who may, or usually, may not, help the student with understanding of that concept.  Homework has instead become an extension of the school day and a time for parents to show their knowledge of the school work their kids should be doing.    [/quote]

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