One elementary school in Massachusetts is shaking things up this year, and will not be giving their students any homework at all. Kelly Elementary School in Holyoke plans on providing their more than 550 students all the instruction, and any additional help they may need throughout the school day.
The principal of the school, Jackie Glasheen, told ABC News, “We want kids to go home tired; we want their brains to be tired.” When the students return home after school, Glasheen continues, “we want them to engage with their families, talk about their school days and go to bed.”
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Glasheen and her staff are among the growing number of teachers and educators that have been taking steps to eliminate homework for youngsters. Most recently, news spread of a teacher in Texas who made a similar decision to ban homework for her students. Brady Young, a 2nd-grade teacher sent her students home with a letter for the parents writing that she would not be giving any homework other than assignments that were not completed during the day.
“Research has been unable to prove that homework improves student performance,” Young wrote in the letter earlier this year on August 16. The letter continued, “Rather, I ask that you spend your evenings doing things that are proven to correlate with student success. Eat dinner as a family, read together, play outside and get your child to bed early.”
At Kelly Elementary School in Massachusetts, Principal Glasheen found the most resistance coming from some of the teachers. “The toughest stakeholder group was the teachers,” she stated. “Some of them felt [students] need that extra practice. They need that extra work.”
While schools in the Holyoke district may not be assigning homework this year, they have extended the school day for 2 hours. Making the changes from 9am-3pm school hours to 8am-4pm.
Only time will tell if the changes make an impact on the standardized test scores, but Glasheen and most of her staff are confident that banning homework will have extremely positive results.
Do you think elementary school students should be assigned homework?
[H/T ABC News]
