Pages

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Districts Reevaluate Amount Of Homework Students Given

The New York Times (6/16, Hu, Subscription Publication) reports on a "wave of districts across the nation trying to remake homework amid concerns that high-stakes testing and competition for college have fueled a nightly grind that is stressing out children and depriving them of play and rest, yet doing little to raise achievement, particularly in elementary grades." Despite criticisms that less work it the wrong answer for low achievement, the "anti-homework movement has been reignited in recent months by the documentary 'Race to Nowhere,' about burned-out students caught in a pressure-cooker educational system." Districts are placing time limits on homework and making basic changes to its definition, "because, as one administrator said, 'parents want their kids back.'" However, AFT president Randi Weingarten "views policies dictating how to do homework as 'taking something that should be professional practice and making it into an assembly-line process.'"

No comments:

Post a Comment