Dear Teachers Network Leadership Institute (TNLI) MetLife Fellows:

It’s time once again to begin our TNLI monthly listserv reading program—-in order to make the most out of our connection as a national group, and also help ensure we all stay up-to-date on relevant field literature. Given everyone’s time constraints, you’ll be happy to know that we try our hardest to keep these readings as manageable as possible; directly applicable to our work; and, we provide you with a URL/link so you can access this information directly online.

Just as we have done in past years, TNLI listserv discussions will run from November through May (so you’re not particularly overwhelmed at the beginning or end of the school year). During each month, a different affiliate will “host” the conversation—and one fellow from that affiliate will serve as moderator throughout that month to help prod and cajole the conversation & elicit as much participation possible. Please remember that the TNLI listserv serves as our major forum for discussion as a national group—so while you may feel hesitant at first to chime in, the whole point is to share amongst ourselves, learn from each other, and advance “the teacher’s voice”—representing teachers throughout the country—and THAT’S YOU!

**Having said this, New York City has agreed to host the November listserv reading and discussion. Our moderator will be NYC TNLI MetLife Fellow Mary Whittemore—and the reading is as follows: "Abusing Research: The Study of Homework & Other Examples," Phi Delta Kappan, September 2006.   You can find the article by clicking on the list of articles from Alfie Kohn’s website: http://alfiekohn.com/articles.htm.

Thanks so much—and please join us in supporting Mary in getting this November reading and discussion off to a great start!

Ellen, Peter, and Jenn
New York City
11/1/06

Hi everyone!  I am Mary Whittemore, a fellow in the New York affiliate and the moderator for this month’s discussion.  I am also a high school English teacher at The Beacon School in Manhattan.

As Jennifer mentioned, the article for this month is: "Abusing Research: The Study of Homework & Other Examples," by Alfie Kohn.  (Published in Phi Delta Kappan, September 2006. Also available from Alfie Kohn’s website:
http://alfiekohn.com/articles.htm.

There are many layers to this article.  I’ll pose a brief outline of the ideas, followed by a few questions.  I look forward from hearing from you throughout the month.

"Abusing Research"
The title and the first paragraph suggest Kohn is skeptical of the place of research in education policy-making.  He begins by outlining typical abuses of research in the field of education.  To avoid excessive reliance, he says, we need to avoid “the assumption that all true knowledge is scientific,” and realize that “skepticism, which is supposed to be the cornerstone of science, sometimes needs to be applied to science.”  Applying a strictly scientific method to education can ignore the idea that “good teaching…is not just about using whatever science says ‘usually’ works best.

  It is about finding what works best for the individual child and group of children in front of you.”  While the common reality is that research is “hardly used at all by the people who formulate and carry out education policy,” Kohn acknowledges that in some cases “even if there aren’t any studies to justify changes, there’s no reason not to give them a try.”  When research is available, we “need to understand it and take it seriously.” 
Too often, research is misrepresented with statements like “studies show”
and “research supports.”  Kohn tracks down studies cited in a book by E.D.
Hirsch to make this point; “the references Hirsch cited didn’t support claims at all.”  Just as Hirsch’s claims misunderstand research, too often studies make false claims by “the tendency to invoke or ignore research selectively, depending on whether it supports ideas one happens to like,” or by “commissioning a study but then refusing to release it if the results fail to support a predetermined conclusion.”

Kohn turns his critique to homework to show how abuse of research has resulted in the misinformed practice of giving homework, a practice that “everyone takes for granted.”  Homework, as a policy, is “accepted by an overwhelming majority of schools.”  And Kohn argues that intuition and data can’t provide a rationale for this pervasive policy.

He gives an overview of his findings, first published in his book, The Homework Myth.  He offers five reasons:
“There is no evidence that any amount of homework improves academic performance of elementary students.”
“At best, homework studies show only an association, not a causal relationship.”
“Homework studies confuse grades and test scores with learning.”
“The result of national and international exams raise further doubts of homework’s role.”
“No evidence supports the idea that homework provides nonacademic benefits.”
  Because homework is a foregone conclusion, we fail to ask: “What does it make sense to do with kids?”

Kohn goes on to scrutinize “phantom findings” in specific texts where he found not only vague support in the cited studies, but bald misrepresentation of conclusions.  He exposes false claims made by Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock and Harris Cooper.  These authors'  “pseudoreliance” on research “suggests a determination to find some justification for defending the practice of giving homework to all students.”

All too often, Kohn concludes, research has been clouded by pre-conceived notions which “insult all of us.”  Regarding education policy, Kohn says we need to be “skeptical readers in general.”

Here are my questions:
1. Is homework a case “where the need for supporting data is most acute” and a policy “that carries potentially serious disadvantages”?  Or, is it possible that even if we can’t prove homework is good policy, it is still a policy worth adhering to?

2. Kohn clearly raises questions about homework by showing the need for homework and its effectiveness have been misconstrued through academic studies. What does this question suggest?  He ends by saying that we should be more skeptical readers.  Has he cast legitimate doubt on the practice of assigning homework through his discussion of abusing research?  Or should we be skeptical of how he casts doubt on homework?

3.  How do we view homework as a policy in our classrooms?  What relationships does this policy impact?  How does school culture impact this policy, and vice versa?  How do our observations/experiences measure up to the doubt Kohn casts on homework?

Mary Whittemore
New York City
11/02/06

Hi everyone,
We need some agreement on definitions. Assigning reading, especially at the secondary level, is homework that must be given if we are trying to teach critical thinking in the short time we have in the classroom.

Robert Ferrera
Santa Clara, CA
11/2/06

I found the article by Alfie Kohn on homework research to be timely and very interesting.  So often we hear from the body politic in education that the latest trend in education is “research-based.”  I have often wondered and have recently asked what research? 

In my school district in Lompoc, California, Middle School math and science teachers have been forced into participating in something called Sheltered English Observation Protocol, SIOP.  Because we have large numbers of students who speak English as a second language, and our test scores are not wonderful, our school district initiated SIOP.  We were told that SIOP was research based.  I asked what research was conducted by whom in what setting?  It turns out that one research study was conducted in an ELD language arts classroom and the only student outcomes measured were student writing samples at the beginning and end of the school year.  There simply is no research correlating SIOP with positive student outcomes in math and or science. 

I wonder if the district is just shooting in the dark?  Maybe something else is keeping test scores from improving?  Maybe it’s not the teachers’ fault after all?

Kristen A. Lewis
Lompoc, CA
11/2/06

Yes, I echo Jim's comment "reflect on our own practices." Is each
assignment worth doing or just busywork?

I do believe in homework but only with certain stipulations. First, it
has to be justified and limited practice. If students practice 10 math
problems like the day's new lesson to be sure they understood and
remember it, it sticks better. We have so little time for each subject.
However, just because the publisher arranged 20 -50 of said problems on
the page, doesn't mean they have to do that many. Usually 10 is more
than adequate.

Second, the students have the right to find out the next day if their
work was correct and ask questions. All too many teachers collect it
but the kids don't get any feedback for days, weeks or never. The kid
learns that homework must not be important. So I schedule in the first
15 min of each subject area to review and discuss the homework.

As a parent, I valued homework. I allowed me to observe the content of
what was happening in the class and be supportive when needed. Kids
are home longer than they are at school. Our school has invested a lot
of time and money establishing homework support groups after school.
The kids who get that support do make better gains. It was one of the
ways we raised our test results enough to get out of API. But the
support has to be quality, not just spoon feeding of answers.

PS
It was so great to meet so many of you in Delaware and put faces with
names!

Oranne Lee
Santa Barbara County, CA
11/6/06

I agree it's a great article for all its nuances. I also wonder which
students were shown to have made no gains with what homewok? The
problem with quantitative research is the assumed omnipotence of the N
as in large N=truth. My second language students invariably do better
on vocabulary tests when they make the flash cards I assign for
homework. Learnning vocabulary increases their ability to read with
comprehension and communicate. I know from my own language learning
that langauge acquisition takes practice and repetition. I also know
that language is power.

I surveyed my 8th graders and found out that they prefer to read alone
at home. So I assign reading for homework and discussion and analysis
in class. I can't imagine, given a daily 48 minute period, that we
would be able to read more than three books a year without reading
homework. Yet Kohn is telling me that this has minimal correlation to
learning. Learning what? My students come back to visit and still want
to talk about the novels we read. They must have gotten something out
of it.

I would like to know more about the studies, but truthfully, I haven't
checked out one of the references he cited. Too busy assigning and
grading homework, I guess.

Susan Gold
San Francisco, CA
11/7/06

When it comes to the issue of literacy, I agree with Susan's practice of assigning reading for homework. Reading as homework is particularly significant for students reading below grade level as a way to catch up.

Dick Allington's (2001) research on reading reveals that students need time to practice this skill and they become more fluent,powerful readers when they spend more time on task. So not only is it important to have time for reading in class, students that are low-achieving also need to read at home.

This was something that took me a while to wrap my head around because I couldn't understand why someone wouldn't want to read for pleasure. But as I got to know more about my students' lives at home, I realized that they didn't have books or even a quiet space to read. I found out that students weren't read to at night and the habits that I developed around reading just weren't there. No reading at night or on the weekends for pleasure and certainly, no reading from textbooks. One might argue that lack of reading habits and lack of practice are two reasons why students are poor readers.

So, in thinking back to Kohn, when I look at many of the students in front of me,
I see students who can become more powerful readers with research-based support that includes strategies and practice time. My instruction is explicit and the homework is prescriptive. They maintain reading logs, take notes on their reading and share with partners about last night's reading when they come to class. If high level of engagement is an indication of evidence of academic performance, than I feel confident that this policy has an impact on my students. I'm less concerned with test scores in this work and more concerned with helping my students grow their reading lives.

On the other hand, for the small group of students who are reading at grade level, I'd like to believe this homework is a "gift" because they're probably doing it anyway, but I'd need to do surveys and look at this more closely. Kohn's article did help me realize that I should take a look at how this policy impacts that grade-level readers. Perhaps
differentiation in assignments can address this area.

It seems that Kohn is asking educators to take a look at homework policy, the research behind it and even the research within the research. I appreciate how he calls me to task and it forced me to dig into my cabinet find the reading research, reread it and google some of the references!

Amber Moss
New York City
11/7/06

Amber's comments about using reading logs make me wonder if research on
homework in general is too broad. Perhaps there has been research on the
benefits of particular at-home assignments-- for example-- independent
reading. I wonder if Kohn considered these more specific kinds of studies
when he stated that there had not been clear, definitive results on the
benefits of homework. What research have you come across regarding specific
kinds of at-home work that 'seems' to counter Kohn's assumptions about
homework?

A number of people commented on the skepticism Kohn promotes. I agree; his
arguments make me re-think all of the "truths" of good teaching I have
culled from others' studies over the years. It makes me wonder: How will
this skepticism inform our own approach to action research and policy
recommendations? What pieces of Kohn's caveats do we think we will heed?

Going back to the first question I posed (and something Amber and Greg also
addressed), do we need to rely on policy when it comes to homework? Or, is
our intuition as teachers enough?

For those who were just added to the list, we are discussing "Abusing
Research and: The Study of Reseach and Other Examples" by Alfie Kohn. You
can access the article from Alfie Kohn's web site:
http://alfiekohn.com/articles/htm.

Thanks everyone for weighing in,
Mary Whittemore
New York City
11/7/06

As an eighth grade general math and algebra 1 teacher at a primarily ELD school, I believe homework is not only essential, but absolutely a crime not to give in math. I have a very limited amount of time with my students each school day. If they don't practice at home, they don't learn, plain and simple. I further believe that homework is part of the culture shift that must happen with second language students if they are to be successful in American schools. We take homework and doing the school thing for granted. We don't consider that homework and the school culture may be totally foreign for some of our immigrant students and their families. Homework is one way that I teach out to the parents of my students. I don't really care what homework does for standardized test scores, and neither does my district. In fact, we are not allowed to count homework in our grades!

Kristen Lewis
Lompoc, CA
11/8/06

Hi
From a math teacher in Wyoming (an experienced one), I agree. Math
without practice doesn't work.

Nancy Merrill
Wyoming
11/8/06

I've kept out of this discussion as long as I could, but now feel I have to chime in. As a kindergarten/first grade teacher, I asked my families to read nightly with their children. For children whose families couldn't/wouldn't/didn't read with them, I arranged for older student buddies or adult mentors to read daily with them,. one-on-one. There is a lot of reputable research to support a stance that reading with the support of a more competent other helps young readers become competent readers themselves. It's not a silver bullet, but it is one important piece of supporting young readers.

However, as a parent, I must weigh in on the other side in relation to math homework at the high school level. I don't disagree with the idea that "practice makes perfect." However, I do disagree with assigning X number of problems to every student in the class. My son is blessed with extraordinary math abilities. When the teacher was explaining a new math concept to the class, for my son, it was like déjà vu--he processed the info so quickly that he felt as if he already knew it. He earned 100+ (extra credit was usually offered) on every math test, but never received A's in math b/c he received 0's for not doing his homework. As a parent, I asked his teachers, "Why do you expect him to spend time practicing something he already understands as evidenced by his perfect test scores?" Their reply, "It wouldn't be fair to exempt him from the homework." My reply, "Then why not give him something challenging to do as homework, something to enrich/extend his understanding?" Their answers varied from "It wouldn't be fair" to "I don't have time to differentiate." As a professional, I am embarrassed that fellow teachers would have such inadequate responses, especially since we are all well aware that there are different kinds of learners out there. Since my son didn't really care about grades or his grade point average, as a family we decided to accept the consequences of his decision not to waste his time on meaningless homework. Two interesting codas to this story:
1. My son's senior year, the math department gave out several awards--my son did not earn one; however, three of the people who did earn awards had been tutored by my son.
2. My son is now a highly-paid computer engineer.

IMHO, teachers should assign homework that is worth doing, that will help the child get better at doing/understanding whatever the topic/concept is.

Gail Ritchie
Fairfax County, VA
11/8/06

I agree that superfluous math homework is not necessary---however, there is
a point at which every student, no matter how gifted, can benefit from the
process of having to practice a few problems to improve the skill. Without
the discipline of following through, your son could not be a computer
engineer. I am confident that at some point, he found doing the "homework"
necessary to perfect his skill.

Nancy Merrill
Wyoming
11/8/06

Thanks for re-stating some of the questions, Mary.

Neither policy nor intuition are going to lead us to "best practice." We need to prove for ourselves and for our students what works for the students we're teaching. We can start by looking -- skeptically ;) -- at what other other teachers say has worked for them and looking -- even more skeptically -- at what "Researchers" may be saying works, and, of course, looking at what has worked for us in the past. Who's the expert?

Jim Carvalho
TNLI Sacramento
11/8/06

Thank you, Nancy, for reiterating the point I was trying to make about superfluous homework.  Homework IS necessary for perfecting a skill, but when the skill is already perfected, homework is unnecessary and, I would argue, unfair.  (Yes, my son did actually find that he needed to work on projects outside of class time when he was in college--not sure they called it homework at that level, but to my mind that's what it was.)

You raise another interesting point.  Is the purpose of homework to teach concepts/skills or to establish a disposition of "following through" or a little of both?  Either way, the homework assigned needs to be worth the students' time and effort, not just busywork.

Gail Ritchie 
Fairfax County, VA
11/8/06

I have been sitting back reading all the comments on Kohn’s article that I read a while ago due to the fact that my entire action research was on homework. No one should or can make a generalization about homework and if it is needed or not. Each class is obviously different as is each group of students that are being taught. When I did my action research I wanted to know if infusing students’ culture into the homework would get the parents involved. As Kohn points out in his article the homework needs to be meaningful and purposeful. When I did my action research, students were going home with questions to ask their family and then they were required to journal write. I primarily teach Haitian students and their parents truly believe that “it is in your hand and gods” and do not get involved much in their education. When I infused the students’ culture into their homework assignments I had one student return and tell me that his father says, “Your home work touches his heart”. Infusing the students’ culture into the homework peeked both the interest of the student and parents. I think all teachers need to consider the reasons they are assigning the work and not just because it is mandatory.

Patti Ward
Miami Dade County Public Schools
11/8/06

UFT's blog, EDWIZE. [If you want to read some Kohn defenders dispute my argument, you can see the whole thing here: http://edwize.org/work-play-and-alfie-kohn].

Work, Play and Alfie Kohn

Filed under: General — Leo Casey @ 9:51 pm Edit This

Reading anti-homework evangelist Alfie Kohn is a very predictable experience, not all that different from taking the same bus, on the same route, over and over again. No matter the specific destination, no matter the particular educational topic, it is not very difficult to predict in considerable detail what Kohn will have to say on it, before you have read his first sentence. This is so because there is a simple formula which underlies all of his writing on education.

For Kohn, there are two modes of human activity around which one could organize education – work and play. In Kohn’s hands, work and play are a polarized dualism: play embodies the spontaneous, creative and liberating side of human activity, voluntarily undertaken, while work is alienated and oppressive drudgery, done in the service of the ‘other.’ We play because it gives us pleasure; we work because we are forced to do so, usually to provide the essentials of life. Real learning takes place, Kohn believes, when we are engaged in creative, self-directed play, and not stuck in alienated work.

Kohn is the latest incarnation of an ultra-libertarian, anarchistic tradition of educational thought, perhaps best represented by A. S. Neill’s Summerhill. Every educational issue he has addressed has been seen through the same prism of the anarchic celebration of play and derogation of work. Take assessments. Virtually every test and every form of assessment – not just excessive and misused standardized testing – is a form of oppressive work to Kohn. Even a rubric for a performance based assessment is something to be avoided, because it imposes external standards on the creative act of writing or speaking.

The distinction between standards and standardization – so central to most educators – is a distinction without a difference to Kohn; for him, standards lead invariably to standardization and the stifling of creative play. And Kohn’s latest obsession, homework, is understood literally, as work at home. It has to be boring and unimaginative toil.

Kohn’s educational philosophy is problematic in a number of important respects. There is a role for play in schooling, but it is a developmentally appropriate role, not a universal one. Play is a central component of early childhood education, when students are transitioning into schooling. Among other functions, it is fundamental in socializing young children into their roles as students. One of the negative effects in the current NCLB induced climate has been the diminishment of play time, as academic subjects are more and more pushed down into early childhood grades – the ‘kinder’ is increasingly being taken out of ‘kindergarten.’ But as students develop, socially and academically, their activities should assume more and more the form of intellectual labor, and the role of play should diminish.

The transition to academic work can, of course, involve sheer drudgery, the robotic memorization of disconnected facts and the mindless completion of meaningless exercises. What, after all, is the infamous work sheet, if not just the latter? But there is no law that says academic work must be so, that it can not be meaningful and purposeful intellectual labor. This would seem a rather obvious, almost commonplace observation, but it is still lost on Kohn. When he discusses homework, for example, he provides only examples of poorly conceived and thoughtless ‘busy work’ assignments, as if this was something intrinsic in this category of work, and nothing else was possible. Yet would this be a fair characterization of a Social Studies homework assignment that had students read selections from oral histories of life under American slavery, and then write a poem or a rap song about the experiences of enslaved African-Americans? Or another Social Studies assignment that had student s read about the First World War and the conditions on ‘the front,’ and then write a letter home from a young soldier to his family? Don’t these assignments, which could be multiplied endlessly with similar examples, require imaginative, thoughtful intellectual work on the part of students, and involve real learning?

In fact, Kohn’s polarized dualism of creative, imaginative, self-directed play, on the one side, and alienated, oppressive and thoughtless work, on the other side, excludes the middle term which is the actual ground of education – meaningful, purposeful intellectual labor. The most profound of educational thinkers, from Socrates to Dewey, have always understood it in such terms. What American students need is not freedom from homework in a world of perpetual play, but homework thoughtfully crafted to engage their minds and their imagination.

Leo Casey
New York City
11/8/06

I find it to be very interesting that everyone who has responded about the math homework has completely ignored the cultural adaptation to academic norms in the U.S. issue…..?  Perhaps none of you faces multiple classrooms of immigrants, both legal and illegal, every day?

Of course homework of all kinds should be meaningful and reasonable.  I use the fifteen minute rule; if the homework I give takes longer than fifteen minutes, my students are asked to tell me so that I can adjust my assignments. 

Kristen Lewis
Lompoc, California
11/9/06

Yep, Kristen. Our school is 72% ELD. Only 4 of my 33 speak English at home. Numerous parents do not read in any language. This is why we have several after-school tutorial programs for support. But those who do their homework make much faster gains in many regards. I feel that helping them develop the routine, organization, and discipline of being responsible for their assignment at the elementary level is more important to preparing them for the future than is the content of the actual assignment.

Oranne Lee
Santa Barbara County, CA
11/9/06

Thank you…I was beginning to believe that I am all alone in my teaching circumstances.

Kristen Lewis
Lompoc, California
11/10/06

You have just described what my middle school, RSP 'LD'  ,students lack most, a sense of responsibility for completion of their assignments both in and out of school. It isn't the homework, when it is relevant, that is causing them to fail, nor is it their abilities as they have an abundance of support.  Our classes are constructed so that anyone who does 80% of their assignments will pass regardless of test scores.  When students fail, it is because it is their choice.  Why they make this choice and what is the payoff for them I don't always understand.  For those who choose to fail, I hope at some point, that they will remember that there were people who believed in them and their capability to succeed.

Diane Dimond
Sacramento
11/10/06

Diane, You are so right about that! I teach 1/2 credit technical related courses at Sussex Tech in lower DE and I find the students who fail my class are those with the most number of missing grades! When I have called parents for support, there have been some responses that went like this, "My son doesn't need your class to graduate and his job is more important than your class!" Makes it very difficult to motivate the unmotivated student when the parent sides with their child and says that it's okay to fail!

Catherine Young
Delaware
11/10/06

Dear Diane,

In Lompoc Unified, homework can only have 10% weight in our math grades. The majority of our students' grades must be based on standards mastery as demonstrated on tests. This is a district-wide policy. You want to talk about instilling responsibility in your students; we are facing a tremendous challenge because our students know their homework doesn't count.

We give no homework detentions, call home, and take away classroom and school privileges, but are having little success with a large number of students.

I guess times are tough everywhere!

Kristen Lewis
Lompoc, CA
11/10/06

What was the rationale for making this change??? Do you think its lack of success will force a change in policy?  Showing the students they can be successful by completing assignements is a my primary tool in changing their perceptions of themselves.  Clearly this policy was created by people far removed from the realities of motivating students.
Thanks so much for your e-mail.

Diane Dimond
Sacramento, CA
11/10/06

I would also add that homework may be assigned to prepare students for the next lesson - to give students some background knowledge, prior knowledge , before they are asked to learn new content.

Tara Redican
New York City
11/10/16

For the teacher who replied about Math homework,I have the same problem with my child, he's naturally gifted in Math, and he would go without completing his assignment. He's seven, though, so I, as his first educator, am instilling in him the value of responsibility, as that would help him in life. Now, as a teacher, if a parent came to me asking for more challenging HW, I would give it; but as a parent, if I did not get the results needed from the teachers, I would challenge my son first, to DO HIS HW, and then to complete assignments at his level... I would not feed into him the idea that his school success depends on others... For those who say that HW or HL (home learning) disrupts family time, if used effectively, it really enhances a conversation at the dinner table. What parent does not care about what his/her children are learning in school? Isn't HL a way of instilling values and discuss topics or just simply learn about the difficulties they are facing in a given subjects area? By the way, with the way things are going in schools nowadays, it is really crucial parents HEAR FROM THEIR CHILDREN ABOUT THE THINGS TAUGHT AT SCHOOL. I have been reading the book "The ACLU Vs. America," and I think parents need to make it a habit to discuss school topics with their children.

Frida Flores
Language Arts/ESL

I feel that helping them develop the routine, organization, and discipline of being responsible for their assignment at the elementary level is more important to preparing them for the future than is the content of the actual assignment.

I would agree that in the early grades, I use homework in kindergarten and first grade for helping students establish independence and routines.  In my kindergarten class, I believe that homework should be an extension of what they have already learned in class, nothing brand new. I assigned two kinds of homework: work they can do with little or no help (name practice, letter formation, count and fill in), and family homework (family reading , reading logs, sharing stories, simple projects). 

I think it is also important to know who your students are and who their families are.  As an immigrant myself, I remember the moment in time when my mother could no longer help me with my homework. She did not have the literacy skills to assist me.  As an educator of English Learners, I always keep that thought in the back of my head. Four years ago, I had a class with students from 10 different home languages and translating newsletters, let alone homework, was impossible.  So what can I do to support my students that do not have access to information or resources at home?  I encourage parents to read (or talk) to their child in any language that they choose. I provide an open class library with both read aloud books and leveled readers.  I provide materials that students do not have at home (glue, scissors, pencils). 

Although our school district lists homework as an area for grading, I always take in account that not all students have equal access for completing their homework.  And this is only for kindergarten!  I can only imagine the gap growing as they go into middle and high school.

I do agree that practice helps with mastering a skill and I am guilty of sending home practice handwriting sheets.  With the demands of the classroom today, I would rather spend my time in the classroom reading, writing, talking, singing, dancing, and exploring with students than making them practice writing their names over and over again.

Happy Saturday!
Jane Fung
Los Angeles
11/11/06

In my school, assigning homework (including summer reading assignments) is an equity issue.  We are a college-prep high school, so most students are already academically driven and have the skills to manage nightly homework. 
By assigning homework and summer reading, we implement extra practice and enrichment for all students, not just the ones who happen to come from homes where extra reading and academic practice might happen anyway.  Yes, we do have students without a quiet place to work, or extenuating circumstances that prevent them from getting their work done.  We also have students in the building until it closes, and students there early in the morning. 
Because homework is part of the school culture, I believe (or hope) it helps students take critical thinking and learning more seriously.  While perhaps the school and teachers can’t always address why a student has those extenuating circumstances, we can provide an academic structure that gives a kind of cultural capital to our the students.  Sometimes, that’s enough to keep them learning.

The points about Kohn’s article and our discussion that continue to intrigue me are (1) the ideas about how and why to structure a homework policy and
(2) the intersection of education and politics.

Judging from the conventional wisdom shared in previous posts, we feel that

• Other concerns, besides academics, dictate the effectiveness of homework. 
Kristen brought up the point of “cultural adaptation to academic norms in the U.S.” and how that impacts how and why we assign homework. Patti made the point that, in her research, it helps to “infuse students’ culture” into the curriculum: “When I infused the students’ culture into their homework assignments I had one student return and tell me that his father says, ‘Your home work  touches his heart.’ Infusing the students’ culture into the homework piqued both the interest of the student and parents.”

• Homework can accomplish more than just getting students to practice a skill; Homework can be a way of “helping students establish independence and routines.”  As ‘’Orannelee’ said: “I feel that helping them develop the routine, organization, and discipline of being responsible for their assignment at the elementary level is more important to preparing them for the future than is the content of the actual assignment.”

• Yet, homework is only one way to measure ability.  As Gail suggested, homework should not be used as an empty justification for grades; demonstration of ability in assessments should be valued above completion of homework: “My son is blessed with extraordinary math abilities.  When the teacher was explaining a new math concept to the class, for my son, it was like deja-vu-he processed the info so quickly that he felt as if he already knew it.  He earned 100+ (extra credit was usually offered) on every math test, but never received A's in math b/c he received 0's for not doing his homework.”

Many of our remarks acknowledged politics that affect our own policies around homework: Environment, local/state/national standards, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors.  In Kohn’s polemics against academia and national education policies, I am not sure he is doing much to address these factors.

I looked at the replies to Leo Casey’s remarks on the UFT web site, and the remarks made me think of the politics inherent in so many conversations about education, political ideas that perhaps hide behind “research” (as Kohn shows) but are polarizing nonetheless.  One reader lambasted Leo for an inaccurate characterization of Kohn and other “social constructivism” thinkers like Paulo Freire.  Another reader claimed Kohn is “one of a very few who has been willing to speak out bravely and consistently against the excesses of the educational right.”

A similar article by Kohn is the cover story in the Fall 2006 issue of “Rethinking Schools.”  [It’s interesting to me that this article gets more attention than the issue’s  special report on New Orleans after Katrina.]   Kohn uses NCLB to further characterize abuse of research.  In the article, he asserts that NCLB is the latest attempt to push tougher standards on public education. He aligns NCLB with the push for privatization and the push for homework.  All are in pursuit of higher standards and the demise of public education: “The tougher standards movement that has brought us standardized testing has also been responsible for more homework.”

Throughout the article, I wondered if he was critiquing NCLB, homework, or the unhappy marriage of politics and education that often results in tougher, arbitrary standards.  Similarly in “Abusing Research,” I wondered if he was critiquing educational research, homework, or both.  I’m beginning to wonder if Kohn oversimplified the issue of homework in order to critique broader policies.

Clearly as classroom teachers, we can’t separate the politics of our students’ lives from what we do and why we do it. Yet often discussions of policy tend to whitewash these factors.  To me, arguing about defining “standards” and “research” is one way of whitewashing these factors.

So, a few questions:

How do we as educators keep the political issues that impact our students’
lives in the forefront of policy discussions in our schools? Districts?

What do we look for in any discourse on education to assess its value and validity?

Mary Whittemore
NYC
11/11/06

The conversations that we are having about this article are indicative of how multi-layered the practice of homework is. In recent weeks I also have noticed articles in the newspaper, in magazines and even on the early morning news about homework.....and how parents feel about it and how they deal with it.  So the topic is hot for everyone, not just Alfie Kohn.

My experience in both New York and Atlanta is that parents expect students to have some homework. In both of these situations most of the parents were unable (through language or education) to provide much assistance to their children. This becomes an
important issue in the primary grades and it becomes a real challenge to teachers to give homework that is re-inforcement and that the child can complete independently.....with success. In a previous comment Jane addressed this well.

One of my big concerns is that the after-school tutoring programs provided through NCLB and run by private companies do not provide any time for homework. These companies have a program which they want to get data on and so the children leave school at 5:30 and head home, still to complete homework. It is my experience that many of these children do not complete the regular class assignments at night......and I understand why. In the recreational after school programs, there is a period of about 20-30 minutes in which a child has the opportunity to do homework, but if he or she chooses not to, that is acceptable. As one of the workers said to me "we are not the homework police". And absolutely, frequently our students need a break from the academic.

So personally I continue to wrestle with the right amount of routine, organization and re-inforcement, and the actual living situations of our students.  Again I am looking at this through the eyes of a primary grade teacher. When I check homework and it is carelessly and incorrectly done.....I ask myself what was wrong with the assignment.....how can this be done in a better way?

Maureen Connelly
New York City
11/12/06

Thank you Frida for your comments on home-school involvement.  It is my belief as a math teacher, science teacher, and the parent of a gifted young man, that schools and teachers should work to facilitate communication between parents and their children.  Homework should not attempt to teach new topics or simply give redundant, extensive practice.  I personally enjoyed having academic conversation with my family when I was a child; I enjoyed having academic conversation with my son when he was a child.  I care deeply about my students and their families.  I want to give them every advantage that I had and my son had.  That is why I make every effort to include parents in homework activities.

Many of my students’ parents either did not attend school or only went through third grade.  It is my responsibility as a teacher and public servant to reach out to the families of my students and help them to help their children.  I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for the immigrant families who have endured great hardship just to be here in this country.  I plan to work very hard to keep learning and creating as a teacher in ways that will embrace these new families into American life.

Kristen Lewis
Lompoc, CA
11/12/06

Tara Redican wrote: "I would also add that homework may be assigned to prepare students for the next lesson - to give students some background knowledge, prior knowledge , before they are asked to learn new content."

This is one of the ways in which I use my homework. I find that there are fewer skills in Earth Science than there are complex concepts. Given the structure of my year and the sheer volume of material I must teach my students in a short time, it's imperative that they come to class having already had an experience trying to understand a concept.

Mary asked, "How do we as educators keep the political issues that impact our students' lives in the forefront of policy discussions in our schools?" I don't know that I can come up with a generalizable answer. There is no one particular forum in which it is appropriate to discuss the big issues - the non-talkables that don't get discussed at staff meetings because (I'm guessing) they would take too much effort to resolve in the time allotted. There are smaller contexts (grade level teams, content area teams) I have found, though, where it is appropriate to raise bigger issues. It's really important to seek out those appropriate forums and to engage in the conversations with our colleagues and administrators. I'd be interested to read what others have to say on this one...

David Rothauser
New York City
11/12/06

After having read this discussion I agree with many of the points that have been presented. I think homework can often be misused, and may not serve as the best vehicle for promoting knowledge retention. As for "lengthening the school day on the cheap," homework may work in this capacity when students have the necessary support at home to complete assignments. What about the children whose parents aren't fluent in English or have the ability to perform complicated math processes? Too often are children of immigrant families not considered in these types of intellectual debates. The irony here, however, is that many decades ago schools performed the great "civilizing/assimilationist" function for recent immigrants. That era was also when schools' primary purpose was to prepare youngsters for regimented work conditions. I wonder how homework factored into the equation when schools were miniature factories.

David Myrie
New York City
11/14/06

Homework can be interpreted in another way also.  Children needing the closeness of their parents.

Homework, also gives parent and child quality time together.  Children love their parents and often times do not know how to communicate with them.  However, homework time gives them the closeness that they need from their parents without asking for it. Parents are often busy with their own agenda and frequently forget about the needs of their children.

Esther Roberts
Delaware
11/14/06

I have given some thought to Mary's question "How do we view homework as a policy in our classrooms?" My philosophy on homework isn't in agreement with the "implied policy" of my school. Actually, I don't know what my philosophy is, but I know it is not the same as my school's policy or lack there of. I discovered this contradiction in philosophies my first year teaching at my present school. During dismissal on the first day of school a parent opened her child's backpack looking for homework. She became irate and said, "When are you going to give them homework?" I thought, "He is a first grader and it is the first day???!!!" Confused by this incident I sought help from a fellow teacher who gave the following advice, "At this school parents think good teachers give a lot of homework." I think it is a matter of quality and relevance verses quantity.I don't think the "What is good homework?" question has been addressed adequately by teacher education programs. As a result, teachers seem to adopt their own philosophies that may be based on research, personal experience or school mandates. At my school were adhere to the "ten minute rule" which explains how long how work should last (ten minutes multiplied by the child's grade). We give the math homework that is assigned by the city's mandated math program. However, as a Teacher's College Reading/Writing Project School literacy homework has been left up to the teacher's discretion. In this area we are left on our own. No professional development, no examples of best practice, no support. I think each school should consult teachers and come up with homework policies. These policies should consider what the children can do developmentally and what would be the most useful in increasing academic success. Lastly, if we give homework, than we could be given adequate time to plan and assess homework. In my school we can't use instructional time to check homework. So we spend our entire prep checking homework. This year we decided to use one prep a week for planning homework, which means we are checking homework during lunch. The teachers at my school are exhausted by homework. I can only imagine how the kids and parents feel. Teachers who look to research for help with the "homework dilemma" may get more than they bargain for. There are several studies and recommendations to support (or dispute) any homework policy. So what is a teacher to do?

Lesley Morris
New York City
11/14/06

I struggle with the issue of homework. Some kids and parents want it and want lots of it. Other kids and parents want none. It is my experience that families and kids are so busy after school that often there is no time for homework. They go to sports practice, music lessons, have dinner, want to play their video games and watch T.V. Their parents are very busy with work and want to relax in the evening instead of wrestle with their kids to get them to complete homework. I require 30+ minutes of reading each day at home plus usually about 15 minutes of math homework that is reinforcement/practice oriented. The kids also work on an "exploration project" on a topic of their choice with their parents serving as facilitators for this project. The kids are required to research their topic and write up their findings in a creative way. They then plan a presentation complete with visuals and audience involvement and present to the class. The preventatives are generally phenomenal lasting from 1/2 hour to 3 hours and these "kid teachers" teach the class so much that I would never have time to research and teach. This, I think, is the most valuable homework (along with the daily reading).

Joan Kay James
Wyoming
11/15/06

We have just a few more days on this topic before we shift to next month’s article.  Thanks to everyone for their sincere and passionate comments.

With the flurry of emails on NCLB, I am thinking about the intersection of these two issues.  As I said in my last post, Kohn (in a recent article) conflates homework with the pressure for higher test scores and standardization of curricula.  He says that more homework is used to ensure accountability and instill more rigor in schools (where educators have failed).

It’s interesting—homework is a lightning rod on both sides of the argument. 
It’s either the panacea for instilling quality education, or the embodiment of meaningless standards that rob students of real opportunities for learning.

All of this makes me wonder:

Do we agree with Kohn’s ideas about homework, standards, and NCLB?

If the reauthorization of NCLB is close at hand, how can we help direct a discussion on these policies?  (I feel Kohn uses the relevance of NCLB to push his “homework myth” agenda.  He may be accurate, but how can we use the reality in our schools to make sure the discussion on NCLB is focused on the right issues?  And what are those issues?)

Does the argument over homework represent the rift between the theory of policy and the reality of the classroom?  If so, can understanding this discrepancy help us connect our practice to policy?

Mary Whittemore
New York City
11/20/06