Sorry, Teach: LAUSD Says You Can Eat That Excess Homework

Photo by squarepants2004j/auntyhuia via Flickr

If you thought you heard a loud cheer in youthful voices erupt across the city this morning, well, it's because the Los Angeles Unified School District has just put in place a new policy that limits homework to just 10% of a student's grade.

"The policy is intended to account for the myriad urban problems facing the district's mostly low-income, minority population," explains L.A. Now. Plus, you know, you can't generate a test score based on getting homework done, right?

The LAUSD justifies the move by saying that students should not be penalized unilaterally when not everyone goes home to the same support system.

Obviously, being asked to do less homework--or having less emphasis be placed on homework in tabulating grades--is exactly what our low-achieving public school students need.

Many teachers say they are afraid the new policy "will encourage students to slack off assigned work and even reward those who already disregard assignments."

The view supported by research is that students who do their homework do better in school.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@laist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Lindsay William-Ross in News on June 27, 2011 1:30 PM

Comments [rss]

Stuart Goldurs

LAUSD tries to regulate homework when it should regulate testing

http://www.examiner.com/public...

cookiebandit

So now tests and quizzes count for a lot more? That would royally suck. Now students may have lower grades, but I guess we can count on LAUSD to come up with a cure-all for that as well.

I wonder if LAUSD realizes that kids don't have to wait until they get home in order to do homework - they could take the time in between classes, at lunch, on the bus, to do homework. That's what the kids in my school did (although not everyone did). So it doesn't matter a whole lot what the family situation is at home because you could finish a good portion of your homework even before you got home. I mean, if you actually wanted to.

So glad I did not go to an LAUSD school and am even more glad I'm already out of school!

James Dabbagian

Or maybe this will motivate teachers to get off their ass and TEACH, instead of reading their teacher's editions and then assigning a crap-ton of homework that essentially serves no purpose other than keeping students busy.

Spokker

It actually doesn't matter if homework is graded or not. If you don't do your homework then you won't pass the test.

This might actually make things harder. The reason is that homework is often busy work that you must do even if you already learned the underlying concepts. They are really easy points to get. This puts more pressure on doing well on the exam.