District officials to review policy
The value of homework can be viewed in multiple ways, serving as both a supplement to the classroom and a preview of the workload expected in college.
It can also at times be a preview of sleep deprivation experienced in college.
Angeli Agatep is the mother of a junior at Malibu High School, a student who spends roughly three to four hours a day on homework for four advanced placement courses.
Her daughter was forewarned about the intense demands associated with four AP classes, hoping it would help her college resume, but Agatep said she believes the course load has taken away from a well-rounded high school experience.
“I just wish that the harsh reality of sleep deprivation and schoolwork were things that would be learned in college rather than in high school,” Agatep said.
The Malibu High School student’s experience is among the many stories being collected by the Educational Services department at the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, which is currently conducting a survey to determine whether it should change its homework policy.
56F,“It’s been on the books awhile,” Maureen Bradford, the director of assessment research and evaluation for the district, said last week. “The guidelines are not hard and fast, but the rule of thumb is about 10 minutes per grade level.”
The survey, which went online last week, asks parents questions on how much time their children typically spend on homework each night, whether they receive assignments for the weekend and how much assistance they require. More than 200 parents have responded to the survey, which will continue through the end of April.
The issue seems to center on the disparity in the amount of homework assigned to students taking the same course but in different sections, a result of teachers that might not be communicating with each other, according to school officials.
“There’s also the amount of time any given student needs to complete an assignment,” Bradford said. “With two students sitting in the same class — one might take 40 minutes, another might take 10 or 15 minutes.
“There’s a lot of variability,” she said.
Students agree there isn’t much consistency in the amount of homework they get.
“Sometimes it’s barely any and other times it’s a whole lot,” Justin Clark, a student at Franklin Elementary School, said on Monday while enjoying the afternoon at The Cove Skate Park. “My mom would say sometimes we do get a lot, and sometimes we don’t.”
“My mom would say sometimes we do get a lot, and sometimes we don’t.” — The Cove Skate Park
School officials decided to conduct a survey after the Health and Safety District Advisory Committee (DAC) raised concerns about the amount of homework being assigned to students. Bradford noted that some parents had also been contacting the central office, complaining that their children either received too much or not enough assignments.
William McCarthy, vice-chair of the DAC, said committee members became concerned after noticing considerable differences in the amount of homework that was being assigned for the same subjects at the high schools.
“We felt that at minimum, teachers should be speaking to each other what their homework assignments are in terms of requiring hours outside of the classroom in order to make it likely that a teacher inadvertently wouldn’t be piling on (assignments),” McCarthy said.
McCarthy also pointed to a possible social justice issue with homework assignments, noting that students in Malibu and north Santa Monica are usually more affluent than their peers in the southside off the district. These are the students who have the advantage of being able to afford a tutor, he said.
“There does seem to be a socioeconomic divide here,” McCarthy said.
Elizabeth Anthony, the mother of three children — a sixth and eighth grader at Malibu Middle School and a fourth grader at Point Dume Marine Science School — said she doesn’t have an issue with the amount of homework, but would like to see more of an emphasis on writing and critical reading.
“I think you could never do too much writing,” Anthony said. “That is an important skill, especially if a teacher is able to provide feedback on writing assignments.”
Jon Haber contributed to this report
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Suggested pullquote - “I just wish that the harsh reality of sleep deprivation and schoolwork were things that would be learned in college rather than in high school.”
Angeli Agatep
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 26, 2008. Read the original PDF.