Erin Anderssen
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 9:43PM EST
Faced with frenzied nights and kids overloaded with work, the Milleys decided to take matters into their own hands
Sherri and Tom Milley were exhausted by the weepy weeknight struggles over math problems and writing assignments with their three school-aged children. They were fed up with rushing home from soccer practice or speed skating only to stand over their kids tossing out answers so they could finish and get to bed.
And don't even get them started on the playground that their daughter, Brittany, had to build in Grade 3 from recycled materials, complete with moving parts. Or the time their eldest son, Jay, was told to cut pictures of $1-million worth of consumer goods from a catalogue.
So last week, after two years of trying to change the homework policy at the children's school, the two Calgary lawyers finally negotiated a unique legal contract: their kids will never have to do homework again.
“We have struggled constantly as a family with excessive amounts of homework,” said Ms. Milley, who left her practice to stay home with her children. “We just blindly accepted the way it was.”
But after many long stressful nights of getting 18-year-old Jay through his high school homework, they weren't prepared to repeat history with Spencer, 11, and Brittany, 10. Being lawyers, she and her husband decided to make it official.
The “differentiated homework plan” spells out the responsibilities of the students: to get their work done in class, to come to school prepared, and prep for quizzes. But their teachers will have to mark them based on what they do in class, and cannot send work home that factors into their grades.
For the Milleys, this means a school year that would make many homework-stricken parents envious: they are free to hang out as family without long division and English comprehension questions hanging over their heads.
“It was a constant homework battle every night,” Ms. Milley recalled. “It's hard to get a weeping child to take in math problems. They are tired. They shouldn't be working a second shift.”
It's not as if, the couple pointed out, they don't value education. They know firsthand the work involved in earning university degrees. But they wanted the academic work done at home to be on their terms, based on where they knew their children needed help. Brittany, for instance, was struggling with spelling, but “we never had any time to focus on that because she had so much homework,” Ms. Milley said.
And there were plenty of frustrating nights, she said, when her kids were so tired, “we'd stand over them, saying, ‘write this, write that.' ” If that's what families are doing, she asked, “how do the teachers even know whose work they are marking?”
Two years ago, Ms. Milley began collecting studies on homework, most of which suggest that, particularly for younger grades, there is no clear link between work at home and school performance. Working with the staff at St. Brigid Elementary Junior High School, she formed a homework committee, although no firm changes resulted. This fall, the couple began negotiating the legal document that decided the matter.
“We think it's a parent's right to choose what's in our children's best interests,” said Ms. Milley. “But we're thankful the school did the right thing.”
Prompted by issues raised by parents, the Calgary Catholic School District is officially reviewing its homework policy to create more concrete guidelines for schools. Other parents and teachers have worked out homework deals, although more informally. “We know it's not one size fits all,” said Tania Younker, a district spokesperson.
The contract the Milleys and their children signed doesn't go just one way. While preventing teachers from giving penalties when homework isn't done, it also puts clear expectations on the students and their parents – to practice a musical instrument, for instance, and read daily, two activities more clearly linked to academic success, Ms. Milley suggested, than racing through leftover schoolwork. And the parents agreed to make sure their children have “opportunities” to review class work and study for tests. (Although that may as well be homework, Ms. Milley observed wryly, noting that, by her count, Spencer, has had roughly 28 quizzes and tests in about 38 class days of Grade 7.) The bottom line: the Milley kids won't be doing any school-assigned work at home any time soon, although Jay, now in first year university, must resign himself to being a trailblazer for his younger siblings.
“Why were we putting our family through that stress,” wondered Ms. Milley. “If we don't want it all, we shouldn't have to have it.”
D
IFFERENTIATED HOMEWORK PLANWhereby the Milley children, with parental consent, are differentiating assigned homework, the
school, the parents and the student acknowledge the following:
For the purposes of this document homework is defined as any work to be done at home or
outside of the school setting.
Student Responsibilities
As students have a responsibility to take ownership of their own personal learning the school, the
parents and the student recognize that the student has a responsibility to:
•
Come to class prepared (textbooks, notebooks, pen/pencil, agenda, etc.) and ready to learn.•
Use the time given in class to complete assigned work.•
Seek teacher assistance if having difficulties with the work assigned or are feelingoverwhelmed with the amount of tests or quizzes. This may include accessing the learning
centre or seeking help from the teacher outside of class (i.e. recess, lunch, before or after
school).
•
To use their class time efficiently. If the children are not using their class time effectively bymisbehaving, refusing to work to their potential or are exhibiting other unacceptable actions,
consequences or disciplinary actions may result.
•
Prepare for tests and quizzes.•
Review class work.•
Read daily.•
Practice musical instruments at home.•
In the event of an absence, meet with the teacher(s) to find out what work was missed.Complete the work at home in a timely manner. If an exam is missed, it will be written as
soon as possible upon return.
Teacher Responsibilities
As teachers have a responsibility to their students the school, the parents and the student recognize
that for the purposes of this plan the teachers have a responsibility to:
•
Ensure reasonable notice and scheduling of tests and quizzes. When possible, a few daysnotice to a week notice will be given dependent on the type of test or quiz taking into
consideration the work load in other subjects.
•
Ensure that homework, as defined above, will not be used as a form of evaluation for thechildren.
•
Give adequate time in class for the children to complete work that is to be graded, evaluatedor assessed.
•
Grade, evaluate or assess the children only on assignments and work that have been workedon in class. Based on the teacher’s professional opinion, if substantially all of the students
complete and hand in an assignment which has been completed ‘in class’ then the children
will be graded the same as all of the students
•
Differentiate assignments that are sent home for partial or complete completion. Thechildren will be graded, evaluated or assessed on what they complete in the class time
provided and not out of the whole assignment.
•
Differentiate assignments that are graded, evaluated or assessed and may require partners/groups that have a component completed outside of class time.
•
Encourage the children to use their class time efficiently. If the children are not using theirclass time effectively by misbehaving, refusing to work to their potential or are exhibiting
other unacceptable actions and such behavior prevents them from completing the
assignment in the class time provided, no extra time will be given and that work which was
completed by them in the allotted time will be graded against the whole assignment.
•
Use a variety of other assessment tools such as tests, quizzes, rubrics, checklists, selfassessment,etc.
•
Use those reasonable efforts to determine if the children are having difficulties with the workassigned and offer assistance if needed.
•
Provide feedback to the parents regarding areas of improvement that the children may workon at home.
•
Continue to communicate by the agenda, email, eboard or phone calls home.Parent Responsibilities
Given that it is widely recognized that parent’s are the primary educators of their children, the
school strongly encourages and supports the following decisions made by the family to:
•
Provide opportunities to review and discuss class work•
Provide opportunities to prepare and study for tests and quizzes.•
Provide opportunities to practice math concepts.•
Assist with editing writing that may by choice be done in the home.•
Support and assist in areas of weakness or strength in consultation with the teachers.•
Support and provide opportunities for organization, preparedness and time management.•
In the event of an absence, provide opportunities and support in catching up at home on workmissed in class in a timely manner.
•
Understand that certain junior high option classes (band – practicing an instrument / drama –memorizing lines, etc.) require home practice in order to be successful.
•
Communicate with the teachers on the children’s progress._______________________________ ______________________________ ________________________________
Student signature Parent signature Teacher signature
Commentary by the OttawaMensCentre
Public Schools have a wide range of teachers from those
who are respected, admired and improve the lives of their students to those who
really should not be teaching and everything in between.
Good teachers achieve results in the classroom and don't clutter up children's
lives with hours of homework.
Other countries have half day elementary school classes, next to no homework and
achieve standards that exceed that of Canadian schools generally.
Those same countries start their education process far younger from around 2
years old, they are getting a very high quality education, be it only a few
hours a day but its not just the education, its the "personal development", the
ability to develop meaningful relationships, the very low teacher to student
ratio that allows quality education to create quality students from a very young
age.
Ontario needs to officially ban excessive homework and concentrate on a
universal child care that starts a quality education for children from about two
years of age.
Currently, Ontario children attend "daycare", the quality of that "education" is
often next to the that of supervised activities akin to a boarding kennel. Those
children, with developing brains and personalities, are deprived of what other
"third world" countries often provide at a significant cost to their economies
because they understand the importance of early childhood education.
Dalton has at least got a similar goal and lets hope it becomes a reality.
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