6154

Instruction

Homework

The Seymour Board of Education believes that homework must be deliberately and carefully planned in order to be meaningful and relevant to what is occurring in the classroom.  Homework should only be assigned when necessary and should never be given as busy work or as punishment.

The Seymour Board of Education encourages student participation in making choices about their learning, therefore, when possible teachers shall take into consideration student choice when creating and assigning homework.

The Seymour Board of Education values family time, balanced student lives and individual student needs, therefore, homework should be flexible enough to accommodate a wide variety of learning styles, achievement levels, family circumstances and outside activities.

The most important home learning occurs when a child is being read to or is reading.  To instill the love of reading in a child is a gift that will benefit that child for a life-time.  The Seymour Board of Education encourages parents to take time every night to sit and read to or with your child.

Legal References:  Connecticut General Statutes

10-221 Boards of Education to prescribe rules, policies and procedures.

Policy adopted:  February 2, 2004

Policy revision:  November 3, 2010

6154

Instruction

Homework

The Purpose of Homework

The most important purpose of homework is to monitor student progress in order to individualize instruction.

Instructional Goals For The Purpose Of Homework Are:

1.  Practice - reinforce understanding and help students master what is taught in class.

2.  Preparation - introduce material to be presented in future lessons in order to provide the maximum benefit when the new material is covered in class by providing background information or experiences.

3.  Extension - involves the transfer of previously learned skills to new situations.  This often requires the application of abstract principles to circumstances not covered in class.

4.  Skill Integration - Integrative homework requires the application of many separately learned skills and concepts to produce a single product.

Non-Instructional Goals For The Purpose Of Homework Are:

1.  To promote good work habits

2.  To develop independent study and organizational skills

3.  To increase parental awareness of the school program

Creating Homework That Has Value:

Teachers' attitudes toward homework play a key role in students' homework efforts.  Educators must be thoughtful about what they assign as well as the purpose of the assignment, the time it will take to complete the assignment, and the value of the completed work.

1.  Homework assignments should be well planned, have a clear purpose and be aligned with current instruction.

2.  Homework directions should be explicit.

3.  Homework assignments should encourage ownership by customizing tasks to fit student learning styles, interests and abilities.

4.  Homework should challenge, motivate and entice students to learn.

5.  Homework should be structured so students can accomplish it independently with relatively high success.

6.  Homework assignments should not require parents to have to purchase excessive resources not typically found in the home.

Amount Of Time Spent On Homework:

The quality of homework assignments is more important that the quantity of work a student is to complete or the amount of time a student must put in to complete the work at home. Homework assignments should be aligned with a learning goal with a focused strategy for increasing understanding.  Time is a necessary consideration when assigning homework, but should not be the goal.  The following items should be taken into consideration when assigning homework:

1.  Instructional objectives of the class

2.  Capabilities of the student

3.  Grade level

4.  Additional homework assignments of the student

5.  Other responsibilities and obligations

Guidelines for Administrators:

1.  Include this homework policy and regulations in all teacher handbooks

2.  As part of the teacher supervision and evaluation process; support and review homework assignments as they relate to improved student achievement

Guidelines for Teachers:

1.  Homework should be given when appropriate and aligned to the planned learning objective.

2.  Homework directions should be clearly understood by students

3.  Homework may be differentiated by class, group, or individual assignments.  The type of homework should vary according to the abilities, interests, learning styles and educational background of the children.

4.  Assigned homework should be discussed/checked and when appropriate, corrected and returned to students in a timely fashion in order to monitor student progress and to individualize instruction.

5.  Homework assignments must be posted on teachers' webpage.

6.  Teachers have the responsibility to communicate with parents of children who are falling behind in completing homework assignments.

7.  Homework should not be used as punishment.

Regulation approved:  June 18, 2012