Homework Information & Policy

Issaquah Council Homework Project 

In the fall of 2012, the Issaquah School District wanted to review its homework policy. Superintendent Rasmussen and Assistant Superintendent Thiele asked the PTSA Council to partner with the district for purposes of getting parent feedback on Issaquah’s policy surrounding homework as well as the implementation of that policy in schools across the district.  Click the link above for details on the project.

Issaquah School District (ISD) Homework Policy 

• Homework Policy
• Homework Procedures
• Homework Draft Plan  – ISD’s plan for implementation in Fall 2013
• Questions for Parents

ISD Research

• Visible Learning Homework
• Research Findings on Homework – by  Thomas Haller and Chick Moorman; authors of The 10 Commitments: Parenting with Purpose. Chick has also written Spirit Whisperers: Teachers Who Nourish a Child’s Spirit. Chick and Thomas are two of the world’s foremost authorities on raising responsible, caring, confident children.
• NW Ed Lab Homework  – research done by NW Regional Educational Library
• Case Against Homework – article in Educational Leadership – March 2007 / Volume 64 / Number 6

Related Articles / Links

• Seattle Times Article on “Flipped Classes”  For those of you unfamiliar with the idea, this article explains the concept well. http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019920197_flipping17m.html
• Washington Post article “Study:Homework linked to better standardized test scores”
• SmartBlog on Education, a teacher who quite assigning homework, “Homework: It fails our students and undermines American Education”
• What research says about the value of homework: The Center for Public Education. Research review.http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Instruction/What-research-says-about-the-value-of-homework-At-a-glance/What-research-says-about-the-value-of-homework-Research-review.html
• Homework: Is it worth it? Fiona McPherson. http://www.memory-key.com/improving/strategies/children/homework
• Changing the conversation about homework from quantity and achievement to quality and engagement, (no author given, Challenge Success article) http://www.challengesuccess.org/Portals/0/Docs/ChallengeSuccess-Homework-WhitePaper.pdf
• Rethinking homework. Alfie Kohn.  http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/rethinkinghomework.htm
• The truth about homework: Needless assignments persist because of widespread misconceptions about learning. Alfie  Kohn. http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/edweek/homework.htm
• Homework research and policy: A review of the literature. Harris Cooper.http://www.hisparks.com/MathHelpers/Homework_Research_and_Policy.pdf
• Spare the child: Excessive homework assignments don’t deepen or enrich anyone’s education. Houston Chronicle News Release August 27, 2008. http://www.chron.com/opinion/editorials/article/Spare-the-child-Excessive-homework-assignments-1633056.php
• Homework: What the research says (brief). Harris Cooper.  http://www.nctm.org/news/content.aspx?id=13814
• Does homework improve learning?, Alfie Kohn. http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/hwach.htm
• Is homework bad for kids? Gerald LeTendre. http://www.rps.psu.edu/probing/homework.html
• The trouble with homework. Annie Murphy Paul. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/opinion/sunday/quality-homework-a-smart-idea.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
• News Release:  Piling on the homework: Does it work for everyone?, Binghamton University News Release August 18, 2008.http://www2.binghamton.edu/news/news-releases/news-release.html?id=69
• News Release: Spare the child: Excessive homework assignments don’t deepen or enrich anyone’s education. Houston Chronicle News Release August 27, 2008. http://www.chron.com/opinion/editorials/article/Spare-the-child-Excessive-homework-assignments-1633056.php
• Great Website for Parents to download additional worthwhile articles:  http://www.homeworklady.com/ Cathy Vatterot~  Homework myths,  The principal – There’s something wrong with homework,  What is effective homework,  Mom and dad aren’t taking Algebra this year,  Five characteristics of quality homework
• Focus on Effectiveness: Research-Based Strategies
• References for non-academic aspects of homework:
  •  Hazardous Homework? The Relationship Between Homework, Goal Orientation, and Well-Being In Adolescence. Mollie K. Galloway and Denise Pope. http://stophomework.com/pdflinks/ENC204print.pdf
  •  The relationship between how much time high school students spend on homework and their levels of anxiety, depression, anger and other mood disturbances. In Kouzma, N.M., and Kennedy, G. A. Psychological Reports 91 (2002) pp 193-98.
  •  Alfie Kohn’s book, The homework myth, cited below includes references for all of the following:  Homework creates a burden on parents,  Homework is associated with increased rates of anxiety, depression, anger and other mood disturbances in teens,  Kids develop negative behavior (e.g., overeating, using screens as rewards, prescription drug abuse) as a result of stress associated with homework,  Homework contributes to sleep deprivation,  Homework interferes with students’ participation in other activities,  Homework may contribute to less interest in learning
• Books and articles available from non-online sources:
  • Conner, J., Pope, D., & Galloway, M. (2009), Success with Less Stress, Educational Leadership, 67(4), 54-47.
  • Galloway, M., Pope, D., & Osberg, J. (2007). Stressed-out students – SOS: Youth perspectives on changing school climates. In D. Thiessen & A. Cook-Sather (Eds.). International handbook of student experience of elementary and secondary school. (pp. 611-634). Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
  • Galloway, M., & Pope, D. (2007). Hazardous Homework? The Relationship between homework, goal orientation, and well-being in adolescents, Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice (20)4, 25-31.
  • Kohn, Alfie. (2006). The homework myth: Why our kids get too much of a bad thing.  Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.
  • Osberg, J., Pope, D., & Galloway, M. (2006). Students matter in school reform: Leaving fingerprints and becoming leaders, International Journal of Leadership in Education, 9(4), 329-343.
  • Pope, D. (2001). Doing School: How we are creating a generation of stressed out, materialistic, and miseducated students. New Haven: Yale.
  • Pope, D. (2005). Teaching Qualitative Inquiry: How Elliot Eisner Makes Sense. In B. Urmacher & J. Matthews (Eds.). Intricate Palette (pp. 153-161). New Jersey: Pearson.
  • Pope, D. (2010). Beyond ‘Doing School’: From ‘Stressed-Out’ to ‘Engaged in Learning, Education Canada, 50(1), 4-8
  • Pope, D. (2007). Peshkin’s Problematics: Teaching the nature of interpretation in qualitative research, Qualitative Research Journal 6(2), 173-182.
  • Pope, D., Batenburg, M., Intrator, S., Verducci, S., & Hill, D. (1998). Struggling to learn better II: Portraits of two middle school service learning programs. Palo Alto: Service Learning 2000 Center.
  • Pope, D., & Simon, R. (2005). Help for Stressed-Out Students, Educational Leadership, 62(7).
  • Verducci, S., & Pope, D. (2001). Rationales for Integrating Service-Learning in Teacher Education. In J. Anderson, K. Swick, & J. Yff (Eds.), Service-learning in teacher education: Enhancing the growth of new teachers, their students, and communities (pp.2-18). Washington D.C.: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.