Thursday, September 13, 2012

Homework

I've gotten this question a number of times lately, so a bit on homework:
The Worcester Public Schools do have a homework policy. It can be found in the Student Policy handbook on page 65. (The handbook is online in various languages here.)
There's quite a bit here on theory and process (not bad reading), but here are the numbers:

  • K-grade 2 is to be an "introduction to homework. Students might be asked to finish papers that were started in school or rehearse early reading skills and math skills."
  • grade 3 is when formal homework is begun: "Students are assigned between 15 and 30 minutes on a daily basis."
  • grade 4 students "are assigned between 45 and 60 minutes of homework on a daily basis."
  • grade 5-6 students "are assigned between one and one-half hours of homework on a daily basis."
For secondary schools--which includes middle schools--the expectations rise to:

The combined minimum daily homework for academic assignments from middle school teachers should be 120 minutes. The average minimum daily homework assignment from the high school teachers should be 45 minutes per academic subject.
(shared without commentary or links to relevant research. We'll get there.)

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