Poll: Does your child get too much homework?
With summer vacation just days away, homework may be the last thing on families' minds....unless your child attends one of those schools that sends home assignments to do over July and August.
For school administrators, however, summer is a planning time and in at least one school district in New Jersey, principals are hoping to curtail the "nightly grind that is stressing out children." The New York Times reports that the school board in Galloway, NJ "will vote this summer on a proposal to limit weekend homework to 10 minutes for each year of school....and ban assignments on weekends, holidays and school vacations," at least for grades K-8.
At one citywide gifted and talented elementary school in New York City, the Brooklyn School of Inquiry, homework is already optional. Principal Donna Taylor told The Times that homework is less about rigor and more about parents who like to feel "connected to the classroom." Most NYC teachers do assign homework, even over the winter holidays, according to an Insideschools unscientific poll. But more than half of the nearly 2,000 parents who took our follow-up poll said they would prefer homework-free holidays.
Is it time for a homework revolution? Have your children gotten too much homework this year? Or, has homework been a useful tool, helping your children practice skills learned at school and helping you stay on top of what they are learning? Does the answer lie somewhere in between? Take our poll and share your ideas.
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