Schools

Weekend Homework, New Grading Scale Among Topics Discussed During BOE Presentation

The plan would prevent teachers from assigning weekend and holiday homework, and would offer a numerical grading scale to further explain letter grades.

Galloway Township students wouldn't have to worry about homework on weekends or holidays under a plan presented at Monday night’s Galloway Township Board of Education meeting at the middle school. But, one school official warned, the plan doesn't mean the end of homework entirely.

The proposed plan also deals with the evaluation system for students, in which numerical grades would be used for certain grade levels in order to help parents better understand just how much of the curriculum their child is absorbing.

The presentation was made by Michael Hinman and Betty Napoli, both supervisors of curriculum, instruction and assessment.

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“The goal is to have fair and consistent assignments,” Hinman said. “Right now, 76-100 percent of students hand in their homework on time.”

They spoke with teachers, most of who don’t assign homework on weekends and holidays as it is. This plan would prevent all teachers from assigning homework on weekends and holidays.

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They also spoke with parents, who had a wider range of opinions on the issue. Some parents felt that parents and grandparents are more available to work with the children on their homework on weekends and holidays, and don’t want to miss that opportunity to be active participants in their child’s educational growth.

Not interfering in the recreational activities of the children was a chief concern for Hinman and Napoli, as was interfering in a child’s recreational learning, such as reading a book for fun.

“Kids are involved in so many activities, and we don’t want them bringing their books with them on vacation,” Hinman said. “There’s more leeway with projects being assigned during vacation, but we don’t want those projects to be due the day they come back.”

They also believed homework should be based on grade level.

“We want to take their grade and multiply that by 10 and that’s how much homework they should be getting,” Hinman said. “So a child in second grade should be getting 20 minutes of homework and a child in sixth grade should be getting 60 minutes of homework.”

Superintendent of Schools Annette Giaquinto was also involved in the presentation, and emphasized that the suggested times were maximum times, not mandatory. She also discounted rumors that this was an effort to eliminate homework altogether.

“There are rumors that we want to do away with homework altogether,” Giaquinto said. “We absolutely are not abolishing homework, but research doesn’t show that homework in second grade translates into achievement. We don’t see those results until sixth grade and later.”

Coordination between teachers at higher grade levels was a concern as well. Hinman and Napoli wanted to ensure children weren’t being buried by homework.

Student Council President Robert Mears was the representative in attendance, and had his own opinion on the topic.

“Sometimes you send homework and it understates the rigors of the day,” Mears said. “It makes it look easier than it is.”

Homework is given to everyone in the class, so it’s more generalized, Hinman said. There is a way to determine how much of what is being taught is understood by the child, though, and that is in the new grading system.

The plan is to present letter grades for children in third through fifth grades in language arts, math and science, and numerical grades for all subjects in sixth through eighth grades. Currently, letter grades are given in all subjects in grades 4-8. Younger students are rated on a Satisfactory-to-Not Satisfactory scale.

“The letter grade will still be available to explain the number grade,” Napoli said. “But rather than just saying your child got a B, the 85 would indicate the child understands 85 percent of what was taught.”


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