Public invited to take survey about homework
From the Roanoke County Public Schools Website:
The Public is invited to take a survey about homework.
On the issue of school assignments designed to be completed beyond the school day, national trends have historically swung back and forth between two competing beliefs: (1) the belief that teachers have an obligation to assign homework in order to promote higher standards, discipline, and responsibility; and (2) the belief that grades should not be assigned based on work done outside of school because parents and students should make their own decisions about how to spend their time outside of school. The intention of current Roanoke County Public Schools policy is to adopt a balanced approach; however, the input of parents, teachers, and students is needed to help the schools recalibrate policy and practice within the context of current societal shifts.
Please use one of the survey links below to provide your opinion on this topic. You may choose from the full version of the survey which takes approximately 15 minutes to complete or the abbreviated version which takes approximately 5 minutes to complete.
The deadline to complete this survey is March 8.
Parents who have children in more than one grade level: Since your perspective and experience may be different with each child’s classes, you may complete this survey for each child if you prefer. You may, however, experience some technical difficulties if you try to log back into the survey using the same computer. Try using a different computer, contact Dr. Ken Nicely to request a second survey link (knicely@rcs.k12.va.us or 562-3900 x10131), or request a paper copy from your child’s school.
FULL VERSION (approx. 15 minutes): https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CWHXR7B
OR
ABBREVIATED VERSION (approx. 5 minutes): https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CSVGMBH
TECHNICAL ISSUES: Depending on the browser on your computer, you may experience some initial difficulty with accessing the survey link. If so, try copying the web address above and pasting into your browser. If you need a paper copy of the survey, please contact your child’s school.
March 5, 2013 - 5:41 PM
I’ve been following homework news around the world for several years, and I can say with reasonable confidence that, if your community is like most communities, you’ll have about as many people thinking there should be more homework as there are who feel there is too much homework, with most people saying they are okay with the homework that is given. Eventually, you’ll come up with a compromise policy. The problem with that result is that there are some children for whom homework is okay. And there will be some who are getting seriously harmed by the systems that are in place. Even if you arrive at a compromise, it is likely that you will still have somewhere between ten and twenty-five percent of all children who cannot get their work done and get misperceived as being unmotivated. They’ll act out in response to demands they cannot meet, and get treated for having behavioral problems. Without an approach to the needs of those kids, you’ll have children who suffer greatly, and parents who feel helpless to protect their children. Given that the research gives fair to poor marks for homework as a teaching technique and that teachers are not taught to give homework in their schools of education, I think it is essential, whatever policy you develop, that you don’t end up harming those homework-challenged students. I talk about this on my website, http://www.thehomeworktrap.com.