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Credit: August de Richelieu

Does homework still have value? A Johns Hopkins education expert weighs in

Joyce epstein, co-director of the center on school, family, and community partnerships, discusses why homework is essential, how to maximize its benefit to learners, and what the 'no-homework' approach gets wrong.

By Vicky Hallett

The necessity of homework has been a subject of debate since at least as far back as the 1890s, according to Joyce L. Epstein , co-director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University. "It's always been the case that parents, kids—and sometimes teachers, too—wonder if this is just busy work," Epstein says.

But after decades of researching how to improve schools, the professor in the Johns Hopkins School of Education remains certain that homework is essential—as long as the teachers have done their homework, too. The National Network of Partnership Schools , which she founded in 1995 to advise schools and districts on ways to improve comprehensive programs of family engagement, has developed hundreds of improved homework ideas through its Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program. For an English class, a student might interview a parent on popular hairstyles from their youth and write about the differences between then and now. Or for science class, a family could identify forms of matter over the dinner table, labeling foods as liquids or solids. These innovative and interactive assignments not only reinforce concepts from the classroom but also foster creativity, spark discussions, and boost student motivation.

"We're not trying to eliminate homework procedures, but expand and enrich them," says Epstein, who is packing this research into a forthcoming book on the purposes and designs of homework. In the meantime, the Hub couldn't wait to ask her some questions:

What kind of homework training do teachers typically get?

Future teachers and administrators really have little formal training on how to design homework before they assign it. This means that most just repeat what their teachers did, or they follow textbook suggestions at the end of units. For example, future teachers are well prepared to teach reading and literacy skills at each grade level, and they continue to learn to improve their teaching of reading in ongoing in-service education. By contrast, most receive little or no training on the purposes and designs of homework in reading or other subjects. It is really important for future teachers to receive systematic training to understand that they have the power, opportunity, and obligation to design homework with a purpose.

Why do students need more interactive homework?

If homework assignments are always the same—10 math problems, six sentences with spelling words—homework can get boring and some kids just stop doing their assignments, especially in the middle and high school years. When we've asked teachers what's the best homework you've ever had or designed, invariably we hear examples of talking with a parent or grandparent or peer to share ideas. To be clear, parents should never be asked to "teach" seventh grade science or any other subject. Rather, teachers set up the homework assignments so that the student is in charge. It's always the student's homework. But a good activity can engage parents in a fun, collaborative way. Our data show that with "good" assignments, more kids finish their work, more kids interact with a family partner, and more parents say, "I learned what's happening in the curriculum." It all works around what the youngsters are learning.

Is family engagement really that important?

At Hopkins, I am part of the Center for Social Organization of Schools , a research center that studies how to improve many aspects of education to help all students do their best in school. One thing my colleagues and I realized was that we needed to look deeply into family and community engagement. There were so few references to this topic when we started that we had to build the field of study. When children go to school, their families "attend" with them whether a teacher can "see" the parents or not. So, family engagement is ever-present in the life of a school.

My daughter's elementary school doesn't assign homework until third grade. What's your take on "no homework" policies?

There are some parents, writers, and commentators who have argued against homework, especially for very young children. They suggest that children should have time to play after school. This, of course is true, but many kindergarten kids are excited to have homework like their older siblings. If they give homework, most teachers of young children make assignments very short—often following an informal rule of 10 minutes per grade level. "No homework" does not guarantee that all students will spend their free time in productive and imaginative play.

Some researchers and critics have consistently misinterpreted research findings. They have argued that homework should be assigned only at the high school level where data point to a strong connection of doing assignments with higher student achievement . However, as we discussed, some students stop doing homework. This leads, statistically, to results showing that doing homework or spending more minutes on homework is linked to higher student achievement. If slow or struggling students are not doing their assignments, they contribute to—or cause—this "result."

Teachers need to design homework that even struggling students want to do because it is interesting. Just about all students at any age level react positively to good assignments and will tell you so.

Did COVID change how schools and parents view homework?

Within 24 hours of the day school doors closed in March 2020, just about every school and district in the country figured out that teachers had to talk to and work with students' parents. This was not the same as homeschooling—teachers were still working hard to provide daily lessons. But if a child was learning at home in the living room, parents were more aware of what they were doing in school. One of the silver linings of COVID was that teachers reported that they gained a better understanding of their students' families. We collected wonderfully creative examples of activities from members of the National Network of Partnership Schools. I'm thinking of one art activity where every child talked with a parent about something that made their family unique. Then they drew their finding on a snowflake and returned it to share in class. In math, students talked with a parent about something the family liked so much that they could represent it 100 times. Conversations about schoolwork at home was the point.

How did you create so many homework activities via the Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program?

We had several projects with educators to help them design interactive assignments, not just "do the next three examples on page 38." Teachers worked in teams to create TIPS activities, and then we turned their work into a standard TIPS format in math, reading/language arts, and science for grades K-8. Any teacher can use or adapt our prototypes to match their curricula.

Overall, we know that if future teachers and practicing educators were prepared to design homework assignments to meet specific purposes—including but not limited to interactive activities—more students would benefit from the important experience of doing their homework. And more parents would, indeed, be partners in education.

Posted in Voices+Opinion

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A Teacher's Defense of Homework

If I didn't assign it, I'd never get through all the material I need to cover in a year. Plus, giving kids projects and deadlines is an essential way of preparing them for adulthood.

I am a parent, and I struggle daily with making sure my daughter does her homework. I can certainly identify with the anxiety Karl Taro Greenfeld describes in his essay “ My Daughter’s Homework Is Killing Me .” Here, however, I’d like to speak as a teacher rather than a parent. I’d like to explain why, in my professional opinion, American kids need homework.

I teach biology at the Charles School, a five-year early-college high school in Columbus, Ohio. I believe that my job is to prepare my students for college. In order to do that, I teach a wide variety of topics including cells, genetics, evolution, and ecology, using the National Science Standards . I teach each topic in depth so that the students understand and appreciate the information. I teach them about the scientific method, lab procedures, and scientific writing, all skills they will need in college. It’s a lot to fit into one short year, and my class requires a lot of effort from my students.

I require my students to read one chapter out of their textbook each week, and to complete a short take-home quiz on the material. It helps to supplement the notes I give in class, so that I can spend more class time on labs and other hands-on activities. I learned in college that hands-on work is the best way for students to learn, and that’s certainly true. However, it’s definitely not the most efficient way. So, if I’m going to offer interactive activities in class, I need students to put in some time and effort studying outside of class as well.

Other than the reading, most of the homework students bring home from my class is left over from the day’s activity. I often give time at the end of class so that students can begin on work when I’m there to help them. Our dean calls it “buying in”:  Students are much more likely to finish an assignment at home if I can convince them to start it in class. Unfortunately, many kids choose to socialize when I give them time to work on their own.  The students always say, “I’ll just do this for homework” and neglect to get much, if any, of the assignment done in class.  Then, they come home with a pile of homework, which many parents assume the teachers assigned at the end of class.

A few times a year, I require students to write a scientific paper. We spend a significant amount of time on these assignments at school, but effort outside of class is required as well. And I think that’s great. Schoolwork prepares students for work-related tasks, financial planning, and any project that ends with the feeling of a job well done. Long-term planning, projects, and deadlines are a key part of adulthood.

Nevertheless, some parents think their kids are getting too much work. One argument, which Greenfeld uses, is to compare American students with those in other countries. In his article, Greenfeld cites the fact that students in many overseas countries are scoring higher than American children, while being assigned less homework. He uses Japan as an example. In 2011, Japan was ranked fourth in science scores in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study . But according to a study cited in Greenfeld’s article, Japanese students are actually assigned less homework by their teachers. Why, then, do they achieve more? The answer comes when you look at the differences in our cultures and our views on education. Japanese teachers may not be assigning much homework, but it turns out that Japanese kids are doing plenty of homework anyway.   

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I spoke with Chris Spackman, who is the English as a Second Language coordinator at my school. Chris taught for 13 years in Japan, and served on the Board of Education in the city of Kanazawa. I asked him why Japanese kids are scoring so high on achievement tests despite having relatively little homework. “Because Japanese kids go to juku ,” he answered. He went on to explain that juku is a common after-school program that prepares Japanese kids for achievement testing. In Japan, senior high school is not required or guaranteed.  Instead, students compete for spots at prestigious high schools by scoring high on achievement tests.  “Some schools are for art, or college prep,” says Chris.  “You have to study hard in junior high to get into the high school that you want.”  In high school, Japanese kids continue to go to juku so that they can get into the college they want as well. So, Japanese kids do academic work outside of school, just not necessarily work assigned by their classroom teacher.

There is room for compromise on the homework debate. In their book Reforming Homework , Richard Walker and Mike Horsley state that while homework isn’t very beneficial for younger kids, it’s still beneficial for older students. I agree. I’ve learned, while preparing my students to start college early, that study skills become much more important than they were in primary school.  It’s also important for teachers to assign work that’s high in quality, instead of quantity.  The vast majority of teachers I know are careful to only assign work that’s important for student success.  Remember, teachers have to grade all of these assignments – we wouldn’t want to spend extra time grading papers that have no value.

In the comments on Greenfeld’s article, some readers assume that teachers don’t have our students’ best interests at heart. But usually, teachers who aren’t incredibly devoted to their students don’t last in the profession. The teachers who do stay are committed to giving the best education to their students. We wouldn’t be assigning that homework, giving that test, or reading that book if we didn’t truly believe it was worthwhile. All we ask is that you trust us, just a little.

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Homework: is it worth the hassle?

Parents and educators question the value of setting assignments for students. But what does the neuroscience say?

Like all teachers, I’ve spent many hours correcting homework. Yet there’s a debate over whether we should be setting it at all.

I teach both primary and secondary, and regularly find myself drawn into the argument on the reasoning behind it – parents, and sometimes colleagues, question its validity. Parent-teacher interviews can become consumed by how much trouble students have completing assignments. All of which has led me to question the neuroscience behind setting homework. Is it worth it?

Increasingly, there’s a divide between those who support the need for homework and those who suggest the time would be better spent with family and developing relationships. The anxiety related to homework is frequently reviewed.

A survey of high-performing high schools by the Stanford Graduate School of Education, for example, found that 56% of students considered homework a primary source of stress. These same students reported that the demands of homework caused sleep deprivation and other health problems, as well as less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits.

Working memory?

When students learn in the classroom, they are using their short-term or working memory. This information is continually updated during the class. On leaving the classroom, the information in the working memory is replaced by the topic in the next class.

Adults experience a similar reaction when they walk into a new room and forget why they are there. The new set of sensory information – lighting, odours, temperature – enters their working memory and any pre-existing information is displaced. It’s only when the person returns to the same environment that they remember the key information.

But education is about more than memorising facts. Students need to access the information in ways that are relevant to their world, and to transfer knowledge to new situations.

Many of us will have struggled to remember someone’s name when we meet them in an unexpected environment (a workmate at the gym, maybe), and we are more likely to remember them again once we’ve seen them multiple times in different places. Similarly, students must practise their skills in different environments.

Revising the key skills learned in the classroom during homework increases the likelihood of a student remembering and being able to use those skills in a variety of situations in the future, contributing to their overall education.

The link between homework and educational achievement is supported by research: a meta-analysis of studies between 1987 and 2003 found that: “With only rare exceptions, the relationship between the amount of homework students do and their achievement outcomes was found to be positive and statistically significant.”

The right type of work

The homework debate is often split along the lines of primary school compared with secondary school. Education researcher Professor John Hattie, who has ranked various influences on student learning and achievement, found that homework in primary schools has a negligible effect (most homework set has little to no impact on a student’s overall learning). However, it makes a bigger difference in secondary schools.

His explanation is that students in secondary schools are often given tasks that reinforce key skills learned in the classroom that day, whereas primary students may be asked to complete separate assignments. “The worst thing you can do with homework is give kids projects; the best thing you can do is reinforce something you’ve already learned,” he told the BBC in 2014.

So homework can be effective when it’s the right type of homework. In my own practice, the primary students I teach will often be asked to find real-life examples of the concept taught instead of traditional homework tasks, while homework for secondary students consolidates the key concepts covered in the classroom. For secondary in particular, I find a general set of rules useful:

• Set work that’s relevant. This includes elaborating on information addressed in the class or opportunities for students to explore the key concept in areas of their own interest.
• Make sure students can complete the homework. Pitch it to a student’s age and skills – anxiety will only limit their cognitive abilities in that topic. A high chance of success will increase the reward stimulation in the brain.
• Get parents involved, without the homework being a point of conflict with students. Make it a sharing of information, rather than a battle.
• Check the homework with the students afterwards. This offers a chance to review the key concepts and allow the working memory to become part of the long-term memory.

While there is no data on the effectiveness of homework in different subjects, these general rules could be applied equally to languages, mathematics or humanities. And by setting the right type of homework, you’ll help to reinforce key concepts in a new environment, allowing the information you teach to be used in a variety of contexts in the future.

Helen Silvester is a writer for npj Science of Learning Community

Follow us on Twitter via @GuardianTeach . Join the Guardian Teacher Network for lesson resources, comment and job opportunities , direct to your inbox.

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Should Students Have Homework?

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By Suzanne Capek Tingley, Veteran Educator, M.A. Degree

It used to be that students were the only ones complaining about the practice of assigning homework. For years, teachers and parents thought that homework was a necessary tool when educating children. But studies about the effectiveness of homework have been conflicting and inconclusive, leading some adults to argue that homework should become a thing of the past.

What Research Says about Homework

According to Duke professor Harris Cooper, it's important that students have homework. His meta-analysis of homework studies showed a correlation between completing homework and academic success, at least in older grades. He recommends following a  "10 minute rule" : students should receive 10 minutes of homework per day in first grade, and 10 additional minutes each subsequent year, so that by twelfth grade they are completing 120 minutes of homework daily.

But his analysis didn't prove that students did better because they did homework; it simply  showed a correlation . This could simply mean that kids who do homework are more committed to doing well in school. Cooper also found that some research showed that homework caused physical and emotional stress, and created negative attitudes about learning. He suggested that more research needed to be done on homework's effect on kids.

Some researchers say that the question isn't whether kids should have homework. It's more about what kind of homework students have and how much. To be effective, homework has to meet students' needs. For example, some  middle school teachers have found success with online math homework  that's adapted to each student's level of understanding. But when middle school students were assigned more than an hour and a half of homework, their  math and science test scores went down .

Researchers at Indiana University discovered that math and science homework may improve standardized test grades, but they  found no difference in course grades  between students who did homework and those who didn't. These researchers theorize that homework doesn't result in more content mastery, but in greater familiarity with the kinds of questions that appear on standardized tests. According to Professor Adam Maltese, one of the study's authors, "Our results hint that maybe homework is not being used as well as it could be."

So while many teachers and parents support daily homework, it's hard to find strong evidence that the long-held practice produces positive results.

Problems with Homework

In an article in  Education Week Teacher , teacher Samantha Hulsman said she's frequently heard parents complain that a 30-minute homework assignment turns into a three-hour battle with their kids. Now, she's facing the same problem with her own kids, which has her rethinking her former beliefs about homework. "I think parents expect their children to have homework nightly, and teachers assign daily homework because it's what we've always done," she explained. Today, Hulsman said, it's more important to know how to collaborate and solve problems than it is to know specific facts.

Child psychologist Kenneth Barish wrote in  Psychology Today  that  battles over homework rarely result in a child's improvement in school . Children who don't do their homework are not lazy, he said, but they may be frustrated, discouraged, or anxious. And for kids with learning disabilities, homework is like "running with a sprained ankle. It's doable, but painful."

Barish suggests that parents and kids have a "homework plan" that limits the time spent on homework. The plan should include turning off all devices—not just the student's, but those belonging to all family members.

One of the  best-known critics of homework, Alfie Kohn , says that some people wrongly believe "kids are like vending machines—put in an assignment, get out learning." Kohn points to the lack of evidence that homework is an effective learning tool; in fact, he calls it "the greatest single extinguisher of children's curiosity that we have yet invented."

Homework Bans

Last year, the public schools in Marion County, Florida,  decided on a no-homework policy for all of their elementary students . Instead,  kids read nightly  for 20 minutes. Superintendent Heidi Maier said the decision was based on Cooper's research showing that elementary students gain little from homework, but a lot from reading.

Orchard Elementary School in South Burlington, Vermont, followed the same path, substituting reading for homework. The  homework policy has four parts : read nightly, go outside and play, have dinner with your family, and get a good night's sleep. Principal Mark Trifilio says that his staff and parents support the idea.

But while many elementary schools are considering no-homework policies, middle schools and high schools have been reluctant to abandon homework. Schools say parents support homework and teachers know it can be helpful when it is specific and follows certain guidelines. For example, practicing solving word problems can be helpful, but there's no reason to assign 50 problems when 10 will do. Recognizing that not all kids have the time, space, and home support to do homework is important, so it shouldn't be counted as part of a student's grade.

So Should Students Have Homework?

Should you ban homework in your classroom? If you teach lower grades, it's possible. If you teach middle or high school, probably not. But all teachers should think carefully about their homework policies. By limiting the amount of homework and improving the quality of assignments, you can improve learning outcomes for your students.

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The Pros and Cons of Homework

Homework is a word that most students dread hearing. After hours upon hours of sitting in class , the last thing we want is more schoolwork over our precious weekends. While it’s known to be a staple of traditional schooling, homework has also become a rather divise topic. Some feel as though homework is a necessary part of school, while others believe that the time could be better invested. Should students have homework? Have a closer look into the arguments on both sides to decide for yourself.

Photo by  energepic.com  from  Pexels

Why should students have homework, 1. homework encourages practice.

Many people believe that one of the positive effects of homework is that it encourages the discipline of practice. While it may be time consuming and boring compared to other activities, repetition is needed to get better at skills. Homework helps make concepts more clear, and gives students more opportunities when starting their career .

2. Homework Gets Parents Involved

Homework can be something that gets parents involved in their children’s lives if the environment is a healthy one. A parent helping their child with homework makes them take part in their academic success, and allows for the parent to keep up with what the child is doing in school. It can also be a chance to connect together.

3. Homework Teaches Time Management

Homework is much more than just completing the assigned tasks. Homework can develop time management skills , forcing students to plan their time and make sure that all of their homework assignments are done on time. By learning to manage their time, students also practice their problem-solving skills and independent thinking. One of the positive effects of homework is that it forces decision making and compromises to be made.

4. Homework Opens A Bridge Of Communication

Homework creates a connection between the student, the teacher, the school, and the parents. It allows everyone to get to know each other better, and parents can see where their children are struggling. In the same sense, parents can also see where their children are excelling. Homework in turn can allow for a better, more targeted educational plan for the student.

5. Homework Allows For More Learning Time

Homework allows for more time to complete the learning process. School hours are not always enough time for students to really understand core concepts, and homework can counter the effects of time shortages, benefiting students in the long run, even if they can’t see it in the moment.

6. Homework Reduces Screen Time

Many students in North America spend far too many hours watching TV. If they weren’t in school, these numbers would likely increase even more. Although homework is usually undesired, it encourages better study habits and discourages spending time in front of the TV. Homework can be seen as another extracurricular activity, and many families already invest a lot of time and money in different clubs and lessons to fill up their children’s extra time. Just like extracurricular activities, homework can be fit into one’s schedule.

The Other Side: Why Homework Is Bad

1. homework encourages a sedentary lifestyle.

Should students have homework? Well, that depends on where you stand. There are arguments both for the advantages and the disadvantages of homework.

While classroom time is important, playground time is just as important. If children are given too much homework, they won’t have enough playtime, which can impact their social development and learning. Studies have found that those who get more play get better grades in school , as it can help them pay closer attention in the classroom.

Children are already sitting long hours in the classroom, and homework assignments only add to these hours. Sedentary lifestyles can be dangerous and can cause health problems such as obesity. Homework takes away from time that could be spent investing in physical activity.

2. Homework Isn’t Healthy In Every Home

While many people that think homes are a beneficial environment for children to learn, not all homes provide a healthy environment, and there may be very little investment from parents. Some parents do not provide any kind of support or homework help, and even if they would like to, due to personal barriers, they sometimes cannot. Homework can create friction between children and their parents, which is one of the reasons why homework is bad .

3. Homework Adds To An Already Full-Time Job

School is already a full-time job for students, as they generally spend over 6 hours each day in class. Students also often have extracurricular activities such as sports, music, or art that are just as important as their traditional courses. Adding on extra hours to all of these demands is a lot for children to manage, and prevents students from having extra time to themselves for a variety of creative endeavors. Homework prevents self discovery and having the time to learn new skills outside of the school system. This is one of the main disadvantages of homework.

4. Homework Has Not Been Proven To Provide Results

Endless surveys have found that homework creates a negative attitude towards school, and homework has not been found to be linked to a higher level of academic success.

The positive effects of homework have not been backed up enough. While homework may help some students improve in specific subjects, if they have outside help there is no real proof that homework makes for improvements.

It can be a challenge to really enforce the completion of homework, and students can still get decent grades without doing their homework. Extra school time does not necessarily mean better grades — quality must always come before quantity.

Accurate practice when it comes to homework simply isn’t reliable. Homework could even cause opposite effects if misunderstood, especially since the reliance is placed on the student and their parents — one of the major reasons as to why homework is bad. Many students would rather cheat in class to avoid doing their homework at home, and children often just copy off of each other or from what they read on the internet.

5. Homework Assignments Are Overdone

The general agreement is that students should not be given more than 10 minutes a day per grade level. What this means is that a first grader should be given a maximum of 10 minutes of homework, while a second grader receives 20 minutes, etc. Many students are given a lot more homework than the recommended amount, however.

On average, college students spend as much as 3 hours per night on homework . By giving too much homework, it can increase stress levels and lead to burn out. This in turn provides an opposite effect when it comes to academic success.

The pros and cons of homework are both valid, and it seems as though the question of ‘‘should students have homework?’ is not a simple, straightforward one. Parents and teachers often are found to be clashing heads, while the student is left in the middle without much say.

It’s important to understand all the advantages and disadvantages of homework, taking both perspectives into conversation to find a common ground. At the end of the day, everyone’s goal is the success of the student.

Related Articles

What’s the Purpose of Homework?

• Homework teaches students responsibility.
• Homework gives students an opportunity to practice and refine their skills.
• We give homework because our parents demand it.
• Our community equates homework with rigor.
• Homework is a rite of passage.
• design quality homework tasks;
• differentiate homework tasks;
• move from grading to checking;
• decriminalize the grading of homework;
• use completion strategies; and
• establish homework support programs.
• Always ask, “What learning will result from this homework assignment?” The goal of your instruction should be to design homework that results in meaningful learning.
• Assign homework to help students deepen their understanding of content, practice skills in order to become faster or more proficient, or learn new content on a surface level.
• Check that students are able to perform required skills and tasks independently before asking them to complete homework assignments.
• When students return home, is there a safe and quite place for them to do their homework? I have talked to teachers who tell me they know for certain the home environments of their students are chaotic at best. Is it likely a student will be able to complete homework in such an environment? Is it possible for students to go to an after school program, possibly at the YMCA or a Boys and Girls Club. Assigning homework to students when you know the likelihood of them being able to complete the assignment through little fault of their own doesn’t seem fair to the learner.
• Consider parents and guardians to be your allies when it comes to homework. Understand their constraints, and, when home circumstances present challenges, consider alternative approaches to support students as they complete homework assignments (e.g., before-or after-school programs, additional parent outreach).

Howard Pitler is a dynamic facilitator, speaker, and instructional coach with a proven record of success spanning four decades. With an extensive background in professional development, he works with schools and districts internationally and is a regular speaker at national, state, and district conferences and workshops.

Pitler is currently Associate Professor at Emporia State University in Kansas. Prior to that, he served for 19 years as an elementary and middle school principal in an urban setting. During his tenure, his elementary school was selected as an Apple Distinguished Program and named "One of the Top 100 Schools in America" by Redbook Magazine. His middle school was selected as "One of the Top 100 Wired Schools in America" by PC Magazine. He also served for 12 years as a senior director and chief program officer for McREL International, and he is currently serving on the Board of Colorado ASCD. He is an Apple Distinguished Educator, Apple Teacher, National Distinguished Principal, and Smithsonian Laureate.

He is a published book author and has written numerous magazine articles for  Educational Leadership ® magazine,  EdCircuit , and  Connected Educator , among others.

ASCD is dedicated to professional growth and well-being.

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Cougar Chronicle

Teacher opinion on homework.

How do teachers feel about homework?

photo provided by Ariana Shindell

by Ariana Shindell , Contributor

 Dec. 11, 2018

Homework is a task that is dreaded by students, usually due to procrastination or lack of time, which leads to a lack of sleep. In some classes such as AP classes teachers tend to assign homework almost every day, while other classes such as electives (like pottery,calligraphy and art) consist mostly of class work.

Mrs. Jackson, who teaches both civics and calligraphy, is able to speak her opinion on homework and for both electives and main courses of classes.¨If you are spending that much time on homework or have after school activities such as a job, homework can affect students sleeping habits and possibly even their health,” she said. “However, students that sign up for an AP course should be aware that they are going to be assigned a bit more homework.” This is why as Jackson claimed she only assigns a small amount of homework for students work on for a long period of time to ensure that students who have less time for homework can still finish the assignments in time for a good grade.

When considering the importance of homework in a certain class, it is necessary to understand that each teacher has a different grading system that defines final grades in the course. For example, Mrs. French (who teaches multiple math classes at the school) explained that homework only takes up 20% of the final grade and 80% goes towards tests and quizzes. She grades like this because as she stated, “homework shouldn’t just be busy work, it should support a certain skill.”

While some teachers put a lot of pressure on their students to do homework, Ms. Devnich ,who teaches AVID, US history and Women’s history, believes that only tests and class participation should be graded. She is aware that students are taking five other courses and that many students have after school activities that can conflict with homework.

Studies have shown that homework does more than just take up a students after school. Homework has ¨ improved the development of personal responsibility, good study habits and time-management skills¨ according to the American Psychology Association. However, they also stated that students should not do more than ten minutes of homework in grade school and high schools should not be spending more than two hours on homework every night .

While some teachers at this school still prefer to give homework every night to help the development of students in their class, there are some teachers that have come to an understanding that too much homework can cause more stress, leaving students unable to absorb the information successfully. The teachers that stop giving homework that they deem unnecessary in their classes are helping the students to have more time for classes such as AP classes. In the end, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

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Ariana Shindell is in the class of 2019, outside of school Shindell likes to hangout with friends and family and watch TV, Netflix and HULU. Shindell is...

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Teachers should give out less homework

Faisa Mohamed

Teachers should give out less homework because many students have other responsibilities outside of school and by reducing homework, students have proven to get more sleep which leads to better physical and mental health. So instead of benefiting students’ learning, it can actually be detrimental to it.

Faisa Mohamed , Staff Writer January 9, 2023

First and foremost, excessive amounts of homework can be detrimental to students’ mental and physical health. It can lead to increased stress and anxiety, as well as sleep deprivation and other health problems. When students are overwhelmed by too much homework, they may become burnt out and lose motivation to learn. I believe that teachers should give out less homework because many kids have work or responsibilities outside of school and don’t deserve to be overworked. By reducing homework, students have proven to get more sleep which leads to better physical and mental health. So instead of benefiting students’ learning, it can actually be detrimental to it. Homework doesn’t necessarily always equate to higher achievement.  

Muntaha Ibrahim, a student at South, thinks there’s too much going on in most students’ lives to stress about homework. “Teens are stressed and overwhelmed.” They are more likely to have problems focusing on topics for extended periods of time. Many students have family problems at home and some are babysitting their younger siblings when they don’t have time for homework. It can be difficult to make homework a priority when you have other responsibilities. Some students have jobs to financially help their parents. Students of color especially often have expectations from their families that they contribute to the household. When you consider inequities in students’ home lives, giving out the same homework to students becomes much more complicated. 

In addition, homework doesn’t motivate people, it just causes extra work and stress. In fact, it might make a student less interested in the subject because they feel overwhelmed. When students do end up doing homework, it is often only to get a good grade, not to actually learn the content. Aisha Ahmed said, “Too much homework can cause students to lose interest in the class because students doing a lot of homework, they’re not able to do their other work properly and wind up losing focus in class.” Despite this, there are also disadvantages to not giving students homework. In some cases, homework gives students the time that they don’t get in class to work and be independent on their own time. Giving homework is teaching in its own way, so students can learn on their time. As a teacher though, it’s effectively their job to do most of the teaching so students’ lives aren’t centered around school and homework.

A potential solution to this situation is that teachers give out homework only if students don’t finish all of their work in class. This way students can complete their unfinished classwork, but it is not so much that it is overwhelming or  too much stress. This may improve students’ mental health. This also benefits teachers because students are more likely to finish their work without feeling overwhelmed.

• Aisha Ahmed
• Muntaha Ibrahim

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Christian • Dec 6, 2023 at 10:21 am

Very interesting: I really appreciate your ideology and I completely agree with you.?

addman • Nov 2, 2023 at 3:45 pm

good research

Autumn • May 12, 2023 at 1:37 pm

This is a good article it really helped me with my assignment!

gobb • Apr 24, 2023 at 11:18 am

ate that up bro ong

Natalie • Apr 7, 2023 at 8:41 am

I think that this is a really good article and it helps me with what i am researching.

kim • Apr 3, 2023 at 11:15 am

ya girly pop

Dylan • Jan 18, 2023 at 1:57 pm

tell em queen

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Jay Caspian Kang

The movement to end homework is wrong.

By Jay Caspian Kang

Opinion Writer

Do students really need to do their homework?

As a parent and a former teacher, I have been pondering this question for quite a long time. The teacher side of me can acknowledge that there were assignments I gave out to my students that probably had little to no academic value. But I also imagine that some of my students never would have done their basic reading if they hadn’t been trained to complete expected assignments, which would have made the task of teaching an English class nearly impossible. As a parent, I would rather my daughter not get stuck doing the sort of pointless homework I would occasionally assign, but I also think there’s a lot of value in saying, “Hey, a lot of work you’re going to end up doing in your life is pointless, so why not just get used to it?”

I certainly am not the only person wondering about the value of homework. Recently, the sociologist Jessica McCrory Calarco and the mathematics education scholars Ilana Horn and Grace Chen published a paper, “ You Need to Be More Responsible: The Myth of Meritocracy and Teachers’ Accounts of Homework Inequalities .” They argued that while there’s some evidence that homework might help students learn, it also exacerbates inequalities and reinforces what they call the “meritocratic” narrative that says kids who do well in school do so because of “individual competence, effort and responsibility.”

The authors believe this meritocratic narrative is a myth and that homework — math homework in particular — further entrenches the myth in the minds of teachers and their students. Calarco, Horn and Chen write, “Research has highlighted inequalities in students’ homework production and linked those inequalities to differences in students’ home lives and in the support students’ families can provide.”

Put a bit more simply: The quality of students’ homework production is linked to their socioeconomic status. This alone doesn’t seem particularly controversial. As I’ve discussed in this newsletter, many measures of academic achievement wind up being linked to wealth. The authors go on to argue that since this is the case, teachers should “interpret differences in students’ homework production through a structural inequalities frame.” What they have found, however, is that teachers don’t think of homework this way. Instead, they tend to rely on the “myth of meritocracy” to explain “homework inequalities.”

Calarco, Horn and Chen are all respected scholars at top-tier universities. Their paper was published in Educational Researcher, a journal of the American Educational Research Association, one of the pre-eminent research organizations in the education space. Homework reduction, or abolition, is part of an emerging educational movement. And while the authors acknowledge that eliminating homework would be difficult in the short term, given how rooted it is in American pedagogy, I imagine that many public schools over the next decade or so will start to de-emphasize homework as these ideas start to make their way to school boards and curriculum writers.

Trying to assess the value of homework, reduce it or at least make less of it busywork might very well be a useful endeavor. But Calarco, Horn and Chen are questioning something much more fundamental to the American educational system than homework. Whether they intend to or not, they are, in effect, reframing the purpose of schooling itself. Is school a place where a select group of children can distinguish themselves from their peers through diligence, talent and the pursuit of upward mobility? Is it a place where everyone should have equal access to learning and opportunity, whatever that might mean? And are these two ideals mutually exclusive?

The authors of “You Need to Be More Responsible” are part of a movement that argues, sometimes convincingly, that a meritocratic vision impedes true equal opportunity. In regards to homework, what they are saying, in effect, is that the idea of responsibility itself — requiring students to be accountable for completing assignments — exacerbates inequality. And that rather than trying to run all students through a hierarchical educational system in the hopes that they will end up in the same place, it appears that the authors would rather de-emphasize anything that reinforces the idea that one student is better than another.

According to the authors, then, teachers should factor in students’ socioeconomic status when evaluating their homework. Teachers should acknowledge that, even with completed assignments, structural inequalities may be why students with access to fewer resources got more questions wrong than their better-resourced peers did. And if they want to help these hypothetical poor students, they shouldn’t appeal to messages of personal responsibility and individual agency because those concepts reinforce the myth of meritocracy.

This all sounds a bit abstract. Having taught at a variety of schools, I agree that students’ socioeconomic status will likely be a better predictor of how they do on their homework than any personal traits, but I still can’t quite imagine how a structural inequalities frame would operate in the classroom. How would you even talk to your students?

Teacher: Hey there. You got half the questions wrong on your homework.

Student: I’m sorry about that. What do you think I could do to improve my performance?

Teacher: Well, you could boost your socioeconomic status. Otherwise, the deck’s extremely stacked against you getting any of these questions right.

To help combat the myth of meritocracy, the authors suggest that teachers not assign overly challenging homework and stop rewarding or punishing students based on the quality of the homework they produce. They also suggest that some teachers, if so inclined, could go “a step further in attempting to reduce homework’s harm” and just get rid of it altogether. They write:

More research is needed to understand the consequences of these more “progressive” homework policies. Yet, we suspect that while optional and ungraded homework may reduce inequalities in homework-related rewards and punishments, it may not prevent teachers from judging those students (and their parents) who do not complete the optional or ungraded work. No-homework policies have greater potential for alleviating the kinds of unequal practices we observed in the schools in our study.

In short, teachers can’t even be trusted to give out optional homework because they’re too meritocracy-brained and will still judge the students based on the results. The easiest solution is to just stop giving homework altogether, so the wrong-thinking teachers don’t have as much of a platform upon which to prop up their meritocratic myths.

I want to be fair to the authors and acknowledge that even if I’m a bit skeptical about how their prescriptions could operate in a classroom, there might be other good reasons for doing away with homework.

Evidence about the effectiveness of homework is pretty scattered. There are studies and articles saying that homework helps students learn and that kids aren’t overly burdened with it. There are also studies and articles that say excessive homework shows diminishing returns and can be harmful to students’ mental health . Having read some of these studies, I think the fairest assessment right now would be to say that the evidence about the benefits of homework is pretty inconclusive because of the inherent difficulties in isolating one part of a student’s academic life and drawing huge conclusions about how it affects everything else.

From a theoretical standpoint, I mostly agree with Calarco, Horn and Chen’s diagnosis of the American educational system. It does largely function as a way to sort and stratify children into different socioeconomic bands, which, again, in theory, means that it would be helpful for teachers to approach their work with that in mind. Many richer kids go to private schools that feed into elite colleges that will more or less ensure their alumni will be on the glide path to staying rich. Many poorer kids go to poorer schools that provide them, in many cases, with fewer opportunities that might help them advance socioeconomically. Some portion of middle-class and working-class people, including a lot of immigrants and children of immigrants, pragmatically use the school system to achieve class mobility.

When you break it all down, the amount of class mobility our education system can grind out each year falls well short of what most people expect. The spoils of academic meritocracy, then, aren’t particularly widespread, which does bring up the question: If we all agree that everyone should go to school and if the class mobility part is working only for some families and not at all for others, why do we structure it in such a competitive way?

But there’s a defense of homework that doesn’t really have much to do with class mobility, equality or any sense of reinforcing the notion of meritocracy. It’s one that became quite clear to me when I was a teacher: Kids need to learn how to practice things. Homework, in many cases, is the only ritualized thing they have to do every day. Even if we could perfectly equalize opportunity in school and empower all students not to be encumbered by the weight of their socioeconomic status or ethnicity, I’m not sure what good it would do if the kids didn’t know how to do something relentlessly, over and over again, until they perfected it. Most teachers know that type of progress is very difficult to achieve inside the classroom, regardless of a student’s background, which is why, I imagine, Calarco, Horn and Chen found that most teachers weren’t thinking in a structural inequalities frame. Holistic ideas of education, in which learning is emphasized and students can explore concepts and ideas, are largely for the types of kids who don’t need to worry about class mobility.

A defense of rote practice through homework might seem revanchist at this moment, but if we truly believe that schools should teach children lessons that fall outside the meritocracy, I can’t think of one that matters more than the simple satisfaction of mastering something that you were once bad at. That takes homework and the acknowledgment that sometimes a student can get a question wrong and, with proper instruction, eventually get it right.

Jay Caspian Kang ( @jaycaspiankang ), a writer for Opinion and The New York Times Magazine, is the author of “The Loneliest Americans.”

Have feedback? Send a note to [email protected] .

Teacher Collaboration Often Means Analyzing Student Data to Boost Learning. But Does It Work?

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When teachers have used scarce professional learning time to analyze student-assessment data, achievement results have often been mixed. And that’s despite the fact that teacher collaboration itself has a record of improving student learning. As Harvard scholar Heather Hill noted somewhat delicately in 2020 , “The research in this area suggests that district and school leaders should rethink their use of state and interim assessments as the focus of teacher collaboration.”

Should school leaders throw out the practice? I can understand why that would be tempting not only from the research findings but from personal experience.

As a data coach for over 30 years, I still too often see teacher teams spend lots of time giving reasons for poor performance that are way outside their ability to have much impact, such as a difficult home life, students’ failure to study, or the unfair demands society puts on schools. There is little attention to students’ assets and their specific misunderstandings or to improving future instruction. No wonder analyzing student-assessment data hasn’t lived up to what some would call its hype but I would call its potential.

Data analyses often fail to have positive impact on student learning because district directors of assessment (I was one) and university faculty members (I am one) have not given educators the words or structure needed to redirect conversations to what the data show that students know, what students do not know, and what the adults on the team are going to do about it. In other words, leaders have too often told teachers to conduct data analyses but very seldom taught them exactly how to do it.

In her seminal 1982 study “Workplace Conditions of School Success,” sociologist Judith Warren Little found that in successful schools, teachers engage in “frequent, continuous, and increasingly concrete and precise talk” about “what teachers do, with what aims, in what situations, with what materials, and with what apparent results.” But “concrete and precise talk” does not occur automatically. Here are a few lessons the teachers in my educational leadership class and I have learned to move teams to a comfort level of being concrete and precise with one another about instruction.

First, a protocol for the conversation must be in place. Using “data dialogue” protocols helps school teams navigate difficult and uncomfortable conversations by providing a predictable series of questions or topics for members to discuss sequentially. Predictability builds teachers’ trust with the school leader who could be part of the conversation and with each other.

Leaders have too often told teachers to conduct data analyses but very seldom taught them exactly how to do it.

There are several good protocols in use. Some of the best are based on the premise that teachers are not responsible for their data but are responsible for their response to their data. My leadership students report that this slight wording change makes a world of difference in teachers’ attitudes and their commitment to their work.

Effective protocols are action-oriented, with predetermined facilitative moves that avoid the “blame game,” triangulate test scores with teachers’ and students’ observations (sometimes called “street data” or “local expertise”), and require teachers to follow up in their classrooms and report results at the next meeting. Classroom follow-up is often the weakest part of the process, my students say.

In the most helpful protocols, teams address classwide patterns of student performance first. The idea is to avoid fixating on the needs of individual (such as “watch list”) students too soon. Once teams head down the path of considering individuals, there is usually no end to the list, collaborative time runs out, and only a few students get attention, while team members whose students aren’t being discussed zone out.

My leadership students report that the best protocols aim for team consensus on the most effective, evidence-based responses—the type, timing, and extent of the interventions. Is the concept that was missed by many students so important that new instruction must stop right away and the concept retaught? Or should teachers integrate additional instruction on the weak content seamlessly over time into the next topic? Do students have a basic understanding of the concept but need more practice? Or is the next step reaching out to students ready for enrichment and to those who need additional time on the weak skills?

To empower dialogue participants to act, leaders must grant teams the autonomy not to be bound by standardized pacing charts that do not provide teachers flexibility for differentiated instruction. If a concept is essential for further learning and teachers have multiple data points indicating a widespread need and have identified a different way to teach it, it is, in my view, educational malpractice not to address it.

Once there is team consensus on the most appropriate follow-up, team members use their combined expertise to help each other plan instructional strategies, in as much detail as possible, so individual teachers don’t have to do this on their own time.

Lack of closure is often the missing ingredient to make meetings impactful, according to management expert Paul Axtell. Therefore, effective protocols include a three- to five-minute closing segment to validate individuals’ contributions, review the takeaways, and agree on what each person will do and by when.

As teams use practices such as these, they move toward concrete and precise dialogue. Members feel empowered, gain instructional insights from each other, and increase their respect for the protocol and for their professional colleagues. And when teachers return to the next dialogue session with evidence of student improvement, their positive feelings about collaboration and the value of data analysis grow even more.

So throw out team analysis of student-assessment data? Not so fast. School leaders have found that the practice works for teachers and students when teachers are provided with the structure and the autonomy to do it well.

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I quit my job as a teacher after 20 years. Schools are stealing our autonomy.

It's time to stop the increase in administrative oversight and allow teachers to do the jobs they know how to do..

I’m a big believer in our public schools and believe they lay the foundation for the future of our country. As go our schools, in time, the country. While I know that we have any number of pressing issues in America, if we don’t begin to have the difficult conversations about our schools , it’ll only be worse for future generations.

I want to praise the Iowa House for passing a bill to give teachers a pay increase . It’s both well-deserved and long overdue. While teachers are leaving the profession in record numbers, many states are now recognizing that all other issues in education won’t matter if this trend continues.

My concern is for every teacher I've ever had the privilege to know. For them, it was never about the money. A pay increase is merely a temporary fix. But the reality is that, as the autonomy of the classroom continues to dissolve, the best and brightest will continue to leave.

Relative simplicity in 2002 quickly evaporated

In 2002, I came into the profession as an eighth grade social studies teacher. Even then, veteran colleagues would share how much worse the job had become since they had begun their careers. I vividly recall my social studies counterpart (about 50 at the time) saying she would never recommend coming into the profession to anyone. Not what you want to hear as a first-year teacher.

The biggest complaint I heard was that they were losing more and more of the autonomy they had once had with each passing year.

At the time, I was given a curriculum for eighth grade social studies. That was it. It’s almost scary to think teachers had even more autonomy before I started. I created my own lessons and my own assessments, and taught at my own pace. So long as I followed and completed the curriculum, it was solely my choice regarding activities, lessons, assignments and pace of my classroom.

Even with such autonomy, I soon found out that the oversight was only just beginning.

Although I was a licensed teacher, I had three years to prove I could teach. According to a state-mandated evaluation via a portfolio, I had to provide evidence of 42 criteria based on eight standards. I was assigned a mentor whom I had to meet with once a week, as well as attend district meetings several times a quarter. I realize these were part of both state and federal mandates, but, as a professional, I found the constant supervision from mentors and administrators to be offensive.

After my portfolio was approved, I thought the oversight would subside, but the supervision only increased until I chose to resign years later.

We're failing our students. Why is standardized testing the lifeblood of education policy?

Teaching isn’t a career that believes you’re a professional until you prove you aren’t; you’re constantly having to prove you’re a professional.

Like all teachers, we were expected to attend “all the other” meetings: staff meetings, professional developments, professional learning communities, curriculum meetings, team meetings and many more. And again, over the span of 20 years, the numbers of meetings only increased while the autonomy of the classroom was becoming less and less.

Initiatives, administrators, instructional coaches pile up

With each passing year, new initiatives, policies and mandates would come and go from federal, state and district levels. Some, like No Child Left Behind , would diminish only to be replaced with the Every Student Succeeds Act . And while some were simply replaced with another, every year something new was added to the teachers’ plates. In 20 years, I don’t recall anything ever being taken off of that plate.

In addition, to ensure the districts were in compliance with these mandates and to oversee that teachers were also following these initiatives, there were increases in the numbers of administrators and “instructional coaches." In time, what was once my class became less uniquely mine and more the same as all others.

By the time I resigned, my own style of grading was replaced with Standards-Referenced Grading . This included new policies (though teachers objected) instructing all teachers to grade based on a 50% bottom. By doing nothing, students earned half credit. No longer was there a purpose to assignments, as I could no longer add them to a student's grade.

So yes, I could assign work, but students didn’t have to do it.

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As a result, more students failed assessments but, as they had unlimited opportunities to pass, I was spending more time grading than teaching. Not only were all tests, lessons and activities the same as all other classes, but the expectation was that all grade levels and subject areas would be paced within a few days of each other.

What was once my class became anything but. It became the same as all others. And while I agree that there is merit and it may have been well intended, I think it has done far more harm than good.

Today, there are obvious concerns about grade inflation, as was to be expected.

Low-bar positive reinforcement replaces discipline

Discipline was replaced with something called PBIS ( Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports ), which I adamantly opposed. Teachers were required to fill quotas by giving students positive “points” for doing what was expected of them: Walking down the hall appropriately, remaining seated at lunch, etc.

It was the exact opposite of the old quote, “You don’t give a man a medal for not robbing a bank.” For simply doing what was expected, students were rewarded, while consequences began to disappear.

In my early years of teaching, if a student was disruptive to the point of taking other students off task, after several warnings I’d send them to the office with the intent that they would make up that time after school. As school policies took that authority away from teachers, behaviors got worse. Teachers weren’t allowed to send students to the office. When they did, the students were simply brought back into the classroom.

A colleague once sent a student to the office as the student picked up a desk and threw it at another student while screaming obscenities. Within 10 minutes the student was returned to the class because it wasn’t appropriate to miss any “instruction time.” What message does that give to the other students in that class? And maybe more important, what does it say to a teacher?

Quite simply, teachers are the most accountable with the least amount of authority.

In my first year teaching, I made $30,000. I was single, no kids. The cost of living where I lived was relatively low compared with the rest of the nation.

Pay for teachers is based on two lanes: 1) years of experience and 2) level of education. I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English, but it was only after I earned my master’s degree that I became a teacher.

During my career I would continue to take classes to become an administrator (although I never did), which allowed me to jump more lanes as my career evolved. Most of my colleagues were busy raising families and never had the time to take advantage of the opportunities to increase their pay, like I did.

My pay increased, but the respect I received decreased

After 20 years, I chose to leave the profession at 47. At the time, I was making nearly $90,000 as both a teacher and (eventual) high school golf coach. Single, no kids, it was more than enough. If I had remained a teacher for 10 more years, I would have been making over $120,000 and would have hit the “rule of 88” (your age plus the number of years you worked must equal 88 to receive a full pension through the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System).

I can’t emphasize enough: While it was more than enough money, it wasn’t nearly enough given what I was being told to do and the lack of respect to do it.

What is clearly the most important, and I’ve yet to mention, was my students and their families. The amount of time I spent filling out template after template by the administrative oversight that made them should've been spent building relationships with those who matter most in teaching: the students.

After all, that’s why teachers choose this profession. What’s more, it’s the adults in the classroom, who know the faces and names of their students, who are the experts. Most of those from outside my class, who were telling me best practices, were the ones with the least amount of classroom experience. Each year, more is asked of teachers: A first-year administrator has no idea what it means and what it takes to be a teacher today.

It’s time to stop the increase in administrative oversight and allow teachers to do the jobs they know how to do.We can certainly pay teachers like the professionals they are, but until we start treating them like the professionals they are, the best and brightest will continue to leave.

Ben Stein is a former teacher and coach in the West Des Moines school district. This column originally appeared in the Des Moines Register .

As chairperson of the board for the Hillsborough Education Foundation and a businessman overseeing corporate strategy for a Nasdaq-listed company located in Tampa, I am deeply concerned about the state of education in Hillsborough County.

The reason for my concern is simple: There is an alarming exodus of educational talent taking place in our schools. Currently, there are 422 teacher vacancies in Hillsborough, leaving more than 10,000 students without the educators they need to grow, develop and prosper.

The reason for this exodus is also simple: Teachers in Hillsborough County are not paid enough for the crucial work they perform. In fact, 65% of our teachers have contemplated leaving their roles for better-paying opportunities nearby. This statistic underscores the urgent need for tangible support that allows educators to focus on their classrooms and students, instead of worrying about making ends meet.

So, what about our neighbors in Pinellas, Pasco and Manatee counties — do they also have alarmingly high levels of teacher vacancies? No, they do not. And that’s largely because those counties offer more competitive rates of pay supported by a small property tax that has brought their educator salaries more in line with the cost of living.

And the same could be true in Hillsborough County.

On Tuesday, the Hillsborough County Public School Board will vote whether to send a millage referendum to the ballot this November. This referendum, a modest property tax increase, would cost the typical homeowner $281 annually, averaging about 75 cents a day. In return, this would provide a $6,000 supplement for teachers and school leaders and a $3,000 supplement for support staff such as bus drivers and school counselors. Our school board members were elected to put the interests of our students and teachers first, and now is the time for them to do just that.

If the referendum passes the school board, it would be a critical first step on a journey toward ensuring that every student has access to quality education, every family has confidence in their children’s schools, and every educator feels valued and supported in their role. It would also put the matter into the hands of voters, which is where it rightfully belongs.

Public education is the cornerstone of any thriving community, and there is an urgent need for increased teacher compensation in ours. Passing this referendum is crucial. I strongly urge the school board to vote in favor of it.

Chris Taylor is chairperson of the board of the Hillsborough Education Foundation.

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Texas Math Teacher Rebrands as "Literally Anybody Else" for Bold 2024 Presidential Bid

A Texas man has done what some might call the unthinkable – he legally changed his name to Literally Anybody Else and launched a presidential campaign for the 2024 elections, challenging the political status quo and capturing the imagination of those fed up with the traditional two-party system.

This unconventional candidate, formerly known as Dustin Ebey, is a 35-year-old Army veteran and seventh-grade math teacher who resides in the suburbs of Dallas. His name change is not just a personal decision but also a strategic political move. As Literally Anybody Else, the new name on his Texas driver’s license stands as a testament to his dissatisfaction with the current political landscape, particularly with the expected front-runners of the 2024 presidential election – Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

“Three hundred million people can do better,” Literally Anybody Else said, pointing to the vast American populace as a treasure trove of potential leadership beyond the two dominant political parties. The candidate further elaborates on his campaign website, “For too long have Americans been a victim of its political parties putting party loyalty over governance. Together let’s send the message to Washington and say, ‘You will represent or be replaced.'”

His campaign is unique in that it does not center around him as an individual but rather as an embodiment of a broader principle—a call to action for Americans seeking change. He aims to serve as a vehicle for voter dissatisfaction, stating, “It’s not necessarily about me as a person, but it’s about literally anybody else as an idea.”

The challenges ahead for Literally Anybody Else are substantial. To get his new name on the ballot, he requires 113,000 signatures from non-primary voters in Texas by May, a steep hill to climb that he is fully aware of. Despite the odds, he is determined to give voters an alternative option, encouraging them to write in his name if he can’t secure a spot on the ballot.

Public sentiment may be on his side. A recent poll suggests a significant lack of confidence among American voters in the mental capacity of both Biden and Trump, with particularly strong skepticism emanating from independent voters.

Perhaps Literally Anybody Else’s most compelling argument is that he represents a “neither” option in a ballot that traditionally forces a choice between two. “We don’t have a ‘neither’ option on the ballot, and this kind of fills that role,” he stated.

With his legal name change and filed candidacy as an independent candidate, Literally Anybody Else has turned what could have been a mere publicity stunt into a legitimate political statement. His campaign may be perceived as a beacon of hope for those desiring innovation in the political process. His name change underscores his commitment to the cause, ensuring his message of political disruption is taken seriously—at least by those who have had enough of business as usual in politics.

While his bid for the presidency may seem quixotic, Literally Anybody Else has tapped into a vein of voter frustration that could, in theory, influence the national conversation about our political process and the leaders it produces. Whether his run will amount to more than a symbolic gesture remains to be seen, but for now, he embodies a sentiment that is all too common among the electorate: a desire for new choices and a break from the predictable cycle of political power.

Relevant articles:

– Man changes name to Literally Anybody Else and announces US presidential run

– Man changes his name to ‘Literally Anybody Else,’ is running for president , syracuse.com, Mon, 25 Mar 2024 09:00:00 GMT

– North Texas man legally changes name to “Literally Anybody Else” and files to run for president , Audacy, Mon, 25 Mar 2024 13:04:05 GMT

– Texas Man Named “Literally Anybody Else” is Running For President , FMX 94.5, Mon, 25 Mar 2024 13:37:20 GMT