LIMITS ON HOW MUCH HOMEWORK COUNTS

                                               

                                                                by Jim Buxton

              In 2011, Los Angeles, which has the second largest school system in the country, passed a decree that homework cannot count for more than 10% of the grade in a given course.  (The term homework, in this sense, would not include projects, papers or book reports.)  This decree applied to grades K through 12.  (LA Times: 6/27/11; Howard Blume)  This policy seems to be spreading as there are a number of RI high schools which have adopted similar policies.  South Kingstown HS has a 15% limit.  At Exeter-West Greenwich, it seems to be 10%.     The logic for this policy in many instances is sound, but I would argue that there are many situations where this policy is inappropriate.

               

                I’ll quote from a couple of defenders of this policy, who offer the following arguments:

                1) Judy Elliott, LAUSD’s Chief Academic Officer, stated that “some teachers weighted homework for as much as 60 percent of the grade. This led to an imbalance. Students who studied and received A’s in the classroom failed standardized tests. In turn, students who didn’t do their work failed the classes, and yet did extremely well on standardized test scores. Therefore, students and their families were not receiving a true measure of a child’s abilities.”  She continued, asserting that “many students, due to family issues, from babysitting for their siblings, working to help the family or having no area to do their homework – were punished tremendously in the classroom when homework was an unusually high part of their marks. It didn’t matter how well they did in the classroom or on classroom tests, they were still being dramatically marked down for lacking their homework.” (LA Times; 6/27/2011)

                2) Dr Cathy Vatterott, in her Blog, contends that “many well-established homework traditions just don't make sense in today's world, yet tradition dies hard.  We know that students differ in their ‘working speed’, yet many teachers assign the same amount of work to all students, expecting slower students to simply take the extra time to finish the task.”   She continues: “We know that students have responsibilities and activities after school, yet many teachers assign homework at the end of one day and expect it back the next day.”

                Vatterott also takes issue with the weight it carries in the grade:  “Most U.S. teachers grade homework. In other countries homework is graded much less often.  Within a single school the percentage homework counts in a student's grade can vary from 10% to 80%! Yet teachers have no way of knowing if the student actually did the work, or if they have favorable conditions at home to do homework.   Failing students for not completing homework unfairly punishes students who may be unable to work at home.”

               

                I can see the legitimacy in many of the arguments posed by Elliott and Vatterott.  Certainly, there would be situations where a 10% limit might be very reasonable.  However, I firmly believe that a one-size fits all policy” would hold back all too many capable students.  In my critique of the 10% limit, I will resign myself to high school Social Studies classes in communities very different than Los Angeles.

                I agree with Wheelock College associate professor, Janine Bempechat, who stated that “to make homework worthy of only 10% of a student's grade sends a message that it is not important."  Chris Johnson, who teaches Advanced Placement English in the LA system stated that “students need to realize that they're held accountable. They have to organize their time and be much more mature at a younger age than many students," Johnson said. "If it takes till midnight, then you burn the midnight oil."  Another issue I would bring up is if a teacher assigns a fair amount of homework and is limited to it counting 10%, then each individual homework counts minimally.  Therefore, inevitably, students will not do the homework consistently.  Hence, a teacher who  is planning the next day’s lesson cannot count on the majority of students being prepared for class.

                Aside from stressing the numerical importance of homework, I would suggest that a Social Studies teacher should do the following:

                1) Avoid the routine of walking from desk to desk, merely checking whether students did the homework and perhaps giving them a Check, Check-minus or Check-plus depending on how much was written on the page.  Not only does this routine make a mockery of the importance of homework, it also encourages cheating, as the teacher cannot discern cheating through a mere walk-by

                2) I’d recommend almost always collecting Social Studies homework, grading it to the level of a quiz grade, and returning  it with a lot of content and mechanics feedback. This was my routine, and by second quarter, in my mid-level classes, I would get about 85% of homework handed in on time.  The percentage was not as high first quarter, because it took some kids 3-4 weeks to realize that I do, indeed,  “quality control.”  There are those who contend that homework is a formative assessment, and that it should not be graded.  I’ll deal with that argument in a future post.  (See my post on “Flexible Deadlines” for further defense of my homework policies.) 

                Numbers 1 and 2 above may not apply in Honors or AP courses where the students clearly see the value in doing the homework because they are intrinsically curious, or because they see the connection with test grades.  

                3) Work hard to make all or parts of your homework intriguing.  Avoid busy work.  My son had a teacher in high school who merely assigned outlining the text for homework.  Tragically, grading seemed to be based on who had the most notes.  There was serious competition between the students as to who could come up with the most notes.  The homework policy didn’t promote learning; it promoted madness!  It was a travesty!  Again, avoid busy work!

                4)  One way to get around the limits on homework, which seems to be employed in schools with limits, is to give quizzes based upon the reading homework assignment.  It seems to have a positive effect on kids coming to class prepared, however it takes up class time, leading to less breadth of content covered.

                Additionally, I would argue for greater flexibility in the Social Studies realm vis-à-vis Math, for example, because homework for Social Studies often has a different purpose than homework for Math.  In Math class, you learn new concepts during class time, and then you practice those new concepts at home.  Social Studies, generally, is not as dependent on practice.  Thus, in History class, the student might learn about the long term causes of World War 1.  For homework, he reads and analyzes the short term causes (such as the assassination), and he prepares for a discussion the next day.  Indeed, the next day there is a discussion/debate as to which country was most at fault for causing the outbreak of the “Great War.”  That discussion/debate was only possible if at least three-quarters of the students did the homework. 

                So, in math class, you learn A, and then practice A at home, and the next day you learn B.   In History class, you learn A, for homework you learn B, and the next class you learn C.  Hence, homework can be used by the History teacher to cover more breadth.

                My view regarding the breadth of content covered is influenced by the following:

                                1)  The USA has just about the shortest school year in the industrialized world, which I consider to be completely irresponsible, seeing as how we are the most influential country on Earth.  The “world’s policeman” should have a citizenry that is the most knowledgeable.  If anything, we should have the longest school year.

Here are the school years of a variety of different countries:

220: South Korea 

216: Luxembourg and Israel

211: Russia

200: South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Philippines, Netherlands, Australia, Iran, Japan and Thailand

195: Hong Kong, United Kingdom and Germany

190-191: New Zealand, Nigeria, Switzerland and Finland

187: Canada

180: Sweden, Portugal, Costa Rica and Spain

180: most of the USA, although Maine has 175, and Michigan 170.

                               

                Lengthening the school year was proposed in the Nation at Risk report in 1983, and also by the Obama administration.  (“Should the School year be longer”; Amy Crawford; Boston Globe; June 2, 2013)

                Now, granted, just because a country has a longer school year, it does not mean the students learn more.  You’d have to take into consideration length of the school day, efficiency of the teaching, and many other factors.

                                2) A second influence on me is the drastic reduction in the breadth of Social Studies content delivered to students in the past 10 years.  For further thoughts on this issue, see my post on the loss of breadth of content in high school Social Studies classes.  You will find that post in the post archive.

                                3)  Lastly, a major concern is in regard to our democracy.  I think we’d all agree that an educated citizenry is vital to a successful democracy.  Polls measuring American political, historical and geographical illiteracy would indicate that we are far from an educated citizenry.  (See the post listing videos dealing with American illiteracy in these matters.)  Our low voter turnout rate is a significant indicator here.  (to be a subject for a future post)

                So, who does the policy help?  It certainly can help the student who, for no fault of his own, cannot spend more than an hour on homework per night, or who does not have the support at home which other students do. 

Who does it hurt?  It probably doesn’t hurt the AP students.  Most high schools, I would think, have a hands-off policy regarding AP workload.   It’s left up to the teacher, and if the teacher gets good AP scores, then that’s all that matters.  The students hurt the most, in my opinion, are the “upper-middles”, those not in AP courses, but who are capable of so/ much more, but who are held back by homework limits.  Who or what is the biggest loser?  I would argue that, from a Social Studies standpoint, it’s our democracy!!

                Bottom line:  I would argue that increasing the value of homework in many high school Social Studies classes, combined with intriguing assignments which are “quality controlled”, might well lead to greater breadth of content knowledge, and more legitimacy to our democracy!  Idealistic?   Yes, I won’t apologize for that!

Let's Replace Transcripts With Portfolios

By Starr Sackstein on January 24, 2016 6:48 AM

The transcript has been a tool long used by schools and colleges to assess students' ability to be successful in life.Seeing as it is a record of how they performed in every course, it seems like a good way to do it, right?

Wrong.

There are so many things wrong with grades, as I'm sure you know I've suggested that one document that puts them all in one place is a colossal waste of time.

Testing and transcripts further perpetuate the very wrongness of playing school and hurt those students who would likely flourish most in the university environment. Their past poor choices end up damning them twice. (First when they don't pass in school and have to repeat learning and then later when they don't have the grades to get into a school that offers the kinds of programs they may be successful in).

A better way may be to allow students to create an electronic portfolio that will allow them to show their growth with reflection. This too will ensure that colleges will see what the level of work is over time rather than just an average without seeing the work that contributed to a bunch of scores.

Give a listen to this short video:

The benefits to portfolios would be amazing.

Check out some possibilities:

• Student selected work shows what they are capable of now and since students would be selecting work they are proud of and attaching a detailed, standards-based reflection, the admissions officer would have an understanding of where the child is now in his/her learning.
• Rather than having numbers on a transcript with scores, the school can see the level of work the students are expected to complete, again giving a more precise idea of the ability to be successful at college level work.
• Although it would be a little more time consuming to select candidates for school, the understanding of each child would be a better indicator of success once he/she got to the college.
• Students would already be more metacognitive and would understand better how to represent themselves as learners rather than rely on their transcripts and test scores which largely doesn't paint an accurate picture. 
• Students can't cram and forget the work they display since they will have been working on it for a while and would have the entire process to share their progress.
• Students would be more prepared for interviews where they can discuss their portfolios in a meaningful way and connect it with what they'd like to do at the school of their choosing.
• A portfolio would allow for a more diverse look at a student's learning as he or she would have to choose from a variety of classes and if he/she didn't select from a class, that would be a space for talking or explaining.

As education begins to change and we reconsider how we assess students, we can't continue to do what is easiest for institutions at the expense of what is best for students. Testing and transcripts have never been very helpful to many students. They end up being accurate for only a very small percentage of kids. Using portfolios would be a far more beneficial way to show what kids know.

These changes won't happen unless more schools make a concerted effort to change the process and then a few colleges start taking a chance with something better. Could your school be the first?

In what ways can we start implementing portfolio assessment at the end of school years rather than testing? What are your current practices? Are they successful? Please share

12 things Rhode Islanders should know about the PARCC exam

by Dan McGowan, WPRI.com Reporter;   PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) 

NOTE:  THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED MARCH 9, 2015

So what should you know about the PARCC? Here’s an overview.

1. It’s not NECAP.

For the first time in nine years, public school students in Rhode Island will not take the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) exam, the standardized reading and mathematics assessments that were also administered in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine (though students will continue to take NECAP science test). The PARCC is considered more aligned with the Common Core State Standards (see more below), but one of the most glaring differences between the old test and the new test is when they’re given. Students in grades 3-8 and 11 took the NECAP each October, which led some to believe that summer vacation learning loss led to artificially low scores. Students in grades 3-8 and in high school – most 9th and 10th grade students, as well as some 11th graders – will take the first part of the PARCC between March 16 and April 10 and the end-of-year assessments will be administered between May 1 and June 4. 

2. It is computer-based.

While there is an option to take a paper version of the PARCC, the majority of students will take the test on computers – a significant shift from previous standardized exams. The test focuses on mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) and will require students to use critical thinking skills and explain their answers. There is a much larger emphasis on writing skills with the PARCC. For the first part of the exam, students will have two math sessions and three reading/writing sessions. The end-of-year assessments will include two sessions of math for all grades. Students in grades 3-5 will have one reading/writing session and students in grades 6 and up will have two reading/writing sessions. 

3. It is not a graduation requirement… yet.

At the end of the 2014 legislative session, state lawmakers approved a bill that placed a moratorium on using the results on a standardized test as part of Rhode Island’s high school graduation policy until the class of 2017 (the state’s current high school sophomores). Education Commissioner Deborah Gist has proposed delaying those requirements until the class of 2020 (current 7th graders). The state has not yet mapped out how well students will be required to perform in order to be eligible for a diploma. There are two other things you should know about how the PARCC will affect students. 1) Beginning in 2017, results in the PARCC will be included on a student’s college transcripts. 2) Results on the PARCC will not be reflected on a student’s report card, but they will assist schools in making course recommendations and offering support to their students.

4. There is a major difference between the Common Core and PARCC.

The Common Core State Standards are just that, standards. They were created by a consortium of government and education leaders in 48 states and Washington, D.C., and have been adopted in 43 states, including Rhode Island. The Common Core functions as a set of expectations – not a national curriculum – for what students should have mastered over the course of time at various grade levels (read the ELA standards here and the math standards here). The goal is to ensure that all students graduate from high school prepared for college and ready to enter the workforce. (It’s worth noting there is plenty of controversy around these standards; former assistant U.S. Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch is among the vocal critics.) The PARCC is an exam designed to test whether a student has mastered the Common Core standards for their grade level. The assessment will be used by 11 states and Washington, D.C. Other states will use the Smarter Balanced exam.

5. There is a controversy over opting out.

Rhode Island has no formal policy that allows students to opt out of taking the PARCC exam, but just as with any test given in school, teachers have no way of forcing a student to participate. In other states, there has been a groundswell of support for refusing to take the test. In New Mexico, for example, more than 1,000 students walked out of school on the first day of testing; the same thing happened in New Jersey. Generally, the argument for not taking the exam is that it takes away from actual learning time (see more below), but you can also read Ravitch’s blog post on other reasons why students should opt out. That doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences, however. Any school that receives Title I funds from the federal government (this is money that goes to schools with disadvantaged students) is required to have at least 95% of their students participate in annual standardized exams. Several school districts have warned that failing to participate could affect federal funding, but Gist’s office said it doesn’t believe that is the case. While Gist has recommended that all Rhode Island students participate in the exam, there are school districts that have asked parents to inform them if they plan to have their children skip the PARCC. In South Kingstown, for example, parents are required to submit a request in writing by March 11. Meanwhile, the state’s largest teachers’ union has asked the state to inform parents of their right to have their children opt out of the test.

6. Testing does take time out of the school day.

In Rhode Island, the first part of the PARCC is expected to take between six and nine hours and the end-of-year assessment is expected to between three and six hours. That’s assuming the state doesn’t face some of the same glitches New Jersey encountered a few weeks ago. By comparison, the NECAP took approximately 8.5 hours to administer. That does not include any preparation work happening in classrooms during the weeks and months leading up the exam.

7. The results will help teachers adjust teaching methods.

If the amount of time spent on testing is a downside to any standardized exam, the upside is that results should help teachers do more of what works and less of what doesn’t when in it comes to classroom instruction. Teachers and school leaders will be able to compare performance with other schools both in and out of the state. They’ll be able to look at schools with similar populations and share best practices. Compare that with the NECAP, which wasn’t administered in Connecticut or Massachusetts, and you can see why some education leaders do see potential with the PARCC.

8. Students are being used as guinea pigs.

When students across the country participated in field testing for both the PARCC and Smarter Balanced exams last year to help iron out any kinks before full implementation of each assessment, Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post referred to them as guinea pigs. That’s still the case this year, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The Common Core probably isn’t going anywhere any time soon and the exam will give schools the first comprehensive look at how close (or far) students are from mastering those standards. The PARCC will help schools build interim assessments and inform them on how to set the bar when it comes to the Common Core. School leaders in Rhode Island have taken to referring to PARCC as an “educational GPS system,” designed to help teachers and parents understand where a student is academically and find the best route to get them to where they’re supposed to be.

9. Teachers evaluations will eventually include PARCC.

As it stands now, results on the PARCC assessment are expected to be used to calculate student growth scores for teachers. But educators will first need three years of test results in order to measure growth, so the PARCC won’t be a factor in teacher evaluations until the 2016-17 school year. During the 2013-14 school year, 98% of all teachers in Rhode Island were rated effective or highly effective.

10. There are lots of accommodations for students who need it.

Schools are allowed to give students with learning disabilities or English language learners more time to complete the exam. Certain students are also allowed to take the exam in small groups, have frequent break periods, test at different time of day or in a different location or use adaptive or specialized equipment or furniture. And of course, for those school systems that aren’t quite prepared for the technology associated with the exam, paper tests are available.

11. Massachusetts is replacing the MCAS with the PARCC.

Our neighbors to the north are widely considered the model for public school systems in the United States and even they’re moving away from the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam that they’ve used for two decades in favor of the PARCC exam. High school students will still use the MCAS for graduation policy purposes until the class of 2019, but education officials have said they believe the PARCC exam will ultimately help Massachusetts close achievement gaps between poor and wealthy students. (No surprise, Ravitch thinks this is a bad idea.) New Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker also isn’t completely sold on the PARCC.

12. We have no clue how students will do.

Teachers and school leaders are pointing to the abysmal scores on Common Core-aligned exams in New York as an example of what Rhode Island could face, but no one quite knows exactly how students will perform during the benchmark year. The results from the field exam last year weren’t released at all. Here’s what we do know: 1) Roughly 71% of principals in Massachusetts think the PARCC is more demanding than the MCAS. 2) There have been complaints that the questions are worded in confusing ways. 3) Rhode Island’s track record on other standardized exams is mixed. The state has made improvements on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), but 36% of students in the class of 2015 scored substantially below proficient on the math or English section of the NECAP exam last year (if the state’s high school graduation policy was in place this year, those students would have forced the retake the exam).

Dan McGowan ( dmcgowan@wpri.com ) covers politics, education and the city of Providence for WPRI.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter: @danmcgowan

Item #5 has been updated to reflect that while several school departments have said a failure to participate could result in a loss in federal funding, the Department of Education does not believe that is the case.