Rethinking homework: Districts set limits, new goals for after-school assignments

The North Rockland school district is saying goodbye to homework and hello to "home learning."

The new lingo signals the district's commitment to taking a fresh approach to after-school assignments. Key changes for this fall include eliminating all home assignments on weekends and school breaks for grades K through 12 and setting daily time limits on home assignments through sixth grade.

"There was a concern about homework practices, the stress that it added and that it did not support classroom achievement the way it was supposed to," said Assistant Superintendent for Educational Services Kris Felicello. 

The district spent three years reviewing its traditional policy on homework and reached a conclusion that countless students and parents reached long ago: Rote homework assignments discourage student motivation and contribute little to learning. 

The point of home learning, by contrast, is to make after-school assignments both more limited and more purposeful. One goal is for students to understand why they are carrying out a particular assignment when they could be playing video games on the couch.

Home learning — a term that will require getting used to — will go into effect for the 2019-20 school year.

For James A. Farley Middle School students Christopher DeLeon, 11, and Nikolas "Niko" Keeley, 12, the new policies are surprising proof that student voices matter. The duo helped push the changes in North Rockland by starting a "No Homework" petition in 2017, while they were in fifth grade.

When Felicello received a 150-signature petition from Niko and Christopher, he had already been hearing growing concern, including from some teachers, about the district's homework policy. So the district got serious about reconsidering one of education's bedrock, if least popular, traditions.

"We put together teams of teachers, administrators, parents, board members and students," Feliciano said. "We did a lot of research, reading and examining what we were doing as a district."

Among other things, the district's committees found that homework was more beneficial to students at higher levels. 

Here are major changes coming for grades K-6:

• Total daily home learning assignments should take no longer than 15 minutes for K-3, and no more than 30 minutes for grades 4-6.
• Assignments cannot be factored into students' grades.
• Teachers can encourage students to read, but can't require them to keep reading logs.
• Activities like recess, field trips or assemblies cannot be taken away if a student doesn't do their home assignment.

For grades 7-12, changes will include:

• Home learning must be specific to each student's needs.
• Rote tasks are strongly discouraged, with the exception of some math courses.
• Teachers must provide students with timely feedback on all assignments.
• There will be no time limits, but students should be given a reasonable amount of work each day.

For all students, home learning assignments are to be given only Monday through Thursday and not at all during school breaks.

The district's guidelines emphasize that teachers need to be clear to students about why they are assigning each piece of home learning.

Felicello expects the plans to get the board of education's approval later this month. Board members served on the district committee preparing the policy change.

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Felicello said the shift to home learning was met with "mixed feelings" on the part of teachers, which is not surprising given that homework has long been a controversial topic. But he was adamant that the change is needed.

"There is no research out there that supports positive student achievement at the elementary level in terms of homework," he said.

Does homework help?

After reviewing 20 years of research on homework effectiveness, Duke University professor Harris Cooper found a stronger correlation between homework and achievement in middle and high school, and that too much homework can be counterproductive at all levels. 

His findings support the National Parent Teacher Association's "10-minute rule," which recommends 10 minutes of homework for first grade and increases by 10 minutes per grade level.

A separate 2013 study of 4,000 students at high-performing high schools found that excessive homework can cause a range of negative mental and physical health issues for students. 

Meanwhile, Niko and Christopher, now sixth-graders, are convinced that homework's day is done. After surveying other students, Niko found out he wasn't alone in his thinking.

"A lot of kids had sports and when they got home they wouldn't be able to do it," he said. "Then some kids would work hard on the homework and the teachers wouldn't check it."

Christopher said he saw how many hours of homework his sister had in high school. But he never thought that an elementary-school petition would help matters.

"We had no idea something would actually happen," he said.

Although officials believe home learning is the future, old habits are hard to break, said Tricia DeLeon, Christopher's mother and a special-education teacher in the district.

"It's something we've always done, give homework," said the 20-year teacher.

She said that her perspective has changed over the years.

"As soon as he (Christopher) got older, I saw the struggle," she said. "He'd get very anxious. As soon as I said the dreaded 'do you have homework?' I immediately saw a change in him."

She said she uses homework as "practice," which is an unconventional approach to some of her colleagues.

"We have to change along with the kids," she said. "The changes will now force us to change things and look for ways to do things differently."

Felicello hopes that North Rockland can start a domino effect in Rockland County.

"Each school is doing their own thing to foster a better educational environment for their students," he said. "With homework, we are ahead of the curve."

Nyack reviewing, too

North Rockland is not the only district in the county that's taking a new approach to homework. Similar changes are set to happen in Nyack.

Two years ago, a Nyack school district committee began reviewing their decades-long homework policy in an attempt to understand "how our current practices may contribute to unintended student and family stress," Nyack Superintendent James Montesano said last year.

The 11-person committee of teachers and parents found that students needed better balance between school, home and extracurriculars.

During an April 2 board meeting, they presented some proposed changes, including these for grades K-5:

• 10 minutes of reading nightly through grade 1; and 15 minutes from grades 2-5.
• Time limits on other homework, starting at 10 minutes for Kindergarten and increasing by five minutes each year through grade 5.
• Setting clearly defined roles for each assignment for teachers, students and caregivers.

For grades 6-8, changes would include:

• 20 minutes of reading nightly.
• Time limits for other assignments would be 40 minutes for grade 6, 45 minutes for grade 7 and 55 minutes for grade 8.

And for grades 9-12:

• Regents level classes would be limited to 10-20 minutes of homework per subject, up to three nights a week.
• Honors level classes could have 20 minutes of homework per subject, 3-5 nights a week.
• Advanced Placement classes would be limited to 30 minutes per subject, 4-5 nights a week.

Nyack district officials and committee members did not respond to requests for comment. A district spokesperson said a new policy is expected to go into effect for the upcoming school year.