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Yes, You Can Opt Your Kids Out of Homework—Here’s How

One mom says her kids haven't been doing homework for years. Here's how she opted them out and what experts say.

Guille Faingold / Stocksy

When Juliana Porter thinks about the feeling that homework induces, one word comes to mind: dread. With afternoon and evening time constraints, the North Carolina mom of three wants her kids to have some time to relax and unwind, so homework is often pushed until during or after dinnertime.  

“The subject we’ve found to be the most challenging is math, in large part because strategies and ‘show your work’ are often required to get correct answers,” says Porter. “But as parents who are not in the class to learn new methods, we’re not able to help. Or we can help, but it’s not the correct method being taught and adds to our child’s confusion. These at-home cram sessions usually end in frustration for both child and parent.”

The Porter family’s experience isn’t unique. Research published in the Child & Youth Care Forum found more than 25% of parents and kids say homework “always or often interferes with family time and creates a power struggle,” while more than 36% of kids say homework sometimes forces them to get less sleep in grades 3 to 6. According to Stanford research , 56% of students surveyed say homework is a primary source of stress.

While many families do their best to help their children complete homework with as little frustration as possible, my family has chosen a different option: to simply skip it. And I don’t mean just skipping it on the nights it's difficult either. For four years, my family has totally opted out of homework, which I’ve learned doesn’t produce enough benefits for the stress it causes. And I want other parents to know that opting out of homework is an option for their kids, too.

Homework: How to Opt Out

If your child goes to an open admissions public school, opting out of homework can be something you consider. While it may be a particularly good choice if homework is causing major household stress, you don’t have to wait until your child is miserable to act if they (or you) would simply prefer to spend the time in other ways. There are no legal requirements that students complete work outside of school hours and, for many children, the actual determinants of homework outweigh the theoretical benefits. 

To opt out, I send a note to each of my children's teachers at the beginning of the year letting them know that my child will not be completing homework, that their overall grade should not be impacted, and that they should not be penalized in any way for not turning in homework assignments.

I also let them know that we're committed to our kids' education, that we read together most evenings, and that, if my child is struggling or needs extra support in any subject, we're happy to brainstorm solutions to help them get the practice they need. Though no teachers have pushed back yet (and several have told us they wish they were not required to assign homework and that more families knew they could opt out), we have a small folder of research on the detriments of homework that we could share with an administrator if needed. 

Opting out has worked well for our family but implicit bias might mean that other families don't receive the same neutral or positive reaction that our white family does. 

"Many minoritized and historically marginalized families never consider opting out of homework, even when they know that it's not meaningful," says Sequoya Mungo, Ph.D. , an educational equity consultant and co-founder of BrownLight Inc. , a company helping to create positive diversity and inclusion results in educational, nonprofit, and corporate environments. "When white families make these types of educational choices, they are viewed as forward-thinking and seen as advocates for their children's education. Teachers and others often think that they're being proactive and identifying other enrichment opportunities for their kids. When non-middle class and non-white families opt out, the assumption is that parents don't value education and don't want to, or are unable to, help their kids with homework.” 

According to Dr. Mungo, coming with research or policy can be helpful as even some school level administrators are unaware that opting out is within your rights as parents. “The more prepared you are, the more likely you are to not be met with pushback.” 

Why Families May Want to Opt Out of Homework

Since homework is so prevalent, many assume it's vital, or at least important, to kids' academic growth. But the reality is murkier. "There's really no good evidence that homework completion positively impacts kids' academic growth or achievement," says Samantha Cleaver, Ph.D. , a reading interventionist and author of Raising an Active Reader: The Case for Reading Aloud to Engage Elementary School Youngsters . 

A 2006 meta-analysis of homework and achievement found moderate correlation in middle school and little correlation in elementary school, while there was negative correlation (that is, more homework means less learning) in third grade and below.

While research shows homework can help high school kids improve grades, test results, and likelihood of going to college, the reality is academic pressures in the U.S. have increased over the last two decades, and so too has the amount of homework that kids are assigned. The National Education Association (NEA) recommends no more than 10 minutes of homework per night per grade level, but that's often not what's happening. According to a 2015 study, elementary school students are being assigned more than is recommended , sometimes almost triple the amount. And, often, even when educators are assigning homework they think falls in this window, it can take some students, particularly those who are “behind” already or who have learning disabilities, much more time to complete. 

Excessive homework can negatively impact sleep, mental health, and stress levels. It’s also important to note homework is an issue of equity, since not every child has the same opportunities at home. "When kids are doing work in school, the classroom environment serves as somewhat of an equalizer,'' says Dr. Mungo. "Kids have access to the same teacher and generally the same resources within the classroom setting. At home, kids have different environments, different access to resources, and different levels of support." This means kids with less support and more challenges often end up getting lower grades or being penalized for not turning in work for reasons totally outside their control.

Making Change on Homework

Parents who don't want to be the only ones opting out can work to change the homework culture at their school. Consider reaching out to your principal about your homework concerns or connecting with other parents or the PTA to help build support for your cause.

And if you do opt out, don't be shy about letting other parents know that's what you've chosen to do. Sometimes just knowing there is an option and that others have opted out successfully can help families decide what's right for them.

What to Do With the Extra Time

When Porter thinks about what a life without homework would be like, she envisions a much more relaxed evening routine. “I imagine a scenario where my kids can do their after-school activities, read more, get outside, and generally just decompress from the daily eight-hour grind that is school with no more dread and no more crying,” she says.

If you opt out of homework and find your family with more time for other sorts of learning, leisure, or adventure, be thoughtful how you’ll structure your new routine and talk with your kids about the value of doing nothing, the importance of family time, or how to spend their time in ways that matter to them.

And if you want to be sure they're getting in some valuable post-school learning, consider repurposing your previous homework time to reading with your kids. "Reading aloud has benefits long after your kids can read on their own," says Dr. Cleaver. "Encourage them to choose books about subjects they're interested in, snuggle up together, and enjoy watching them learn through active reading."

But reading isn’t the only way to reap benefits. "There are lots of things that kids can do after school that will positively impact their growth and development that don't involve sitting down to do more of the work they've done at school,'' says Dr. Cleaver. "Time to decompress through play or relaxation isn't just fun, it actually helps kids' brains and bodies relax, making them more open to learning."

clock This article was published more than  4 years ago

I’ve opted out of homework for my young children. Here’s why, and how you can, too.

Each year the complaints start to trickle in from friends and co-workers right around the second week of school: “Little Johnny has so much homework. In first grade! He’s exhausted already.” “I spend all of my free time after work trying to help my third-grader figure out his math homework. It leaves us both in tears.” “There is just too much. Why is there so much? When I was a kid, we didn’t have this many work sheets.”

I support the sentiment behind these complaints. What I don’t understand is why so many parents continue to go along with it.

“Just opt out,” I say.

This seems like a common sense and practical approach, yet many friends I’ve spoken with have not considered it, and they say, “What do you mean, opt out?”

Last year, my kindergartner was given a monthly calendar filled with daily assignments. I promptly emailed his teacher a version of the note I’ve sent on behalf of my older child for several years: “Dear [teacher]: My little guy sure adores you! I want to let you know that our family does not support homework for children in elementary school. Research indicates that it does not improve school performance, and I would rather my children have time for free play after a long day at school. As such, we are opting him out of homework. Please don’t bother to send the work sheets home.”

When I tell friends this, I’m met with incredulity, but it’s not because they disagree. “Wait. You can do that? How can you do that? I thought homework was mandatory.”

But the truth is, most teachers have agreed with me. Enthusiastically, in many cases. And not once has a teacher pushed back or insisted I make my child do homework. One teacher responded that he was thankful I sent the note, so he could share it with the district. Another informed me that she only gives so much homework because some parents protest if she doesn’t properly train their children to commit to completing daily work sheets. How will they ever survive in the “real world?” these parents ask the teacher. We laughed together, but I was horrified.

For my 6-year-old and my 10-year-old, this is the real world. They are already working hard — learning everything from how to do fractions to how to share to how to stand up to bullies to how to not be a bully. By the time they get home each afternoon, they are thrilled to battle each other with light sabers, race in circles around the backyard, or sink onto the sofa with a book they have chosen. I can relate — most days I long to do that myself. I know I’m not alone at feeling overwhelmed with my workload. So why, then, do grown-ups feel the need to push our smallest ones, who still find joy in pretend kitchens and climbing trees, into an adult world where homework is purportedly required to survive — or to succeed?

Too much homework? Some parents are just opting out.

Some research has indicated that homework is not helpful in elementary school — and could actually be harmful . Several years back, this conversation was rampant — and many parents and teachers pushed back to the point where districts started banning homework . Yet a few short years later, the buzz is dying down, and it’s business as usual for many of our small, overloaded kids.

Our district in a large metropolitan area is still issuing massive amounts of homework at some of its elementary schools. And few parents I know have considered opting out. As a child in the 1970s, I never had homework outside the occasional diorama, insect collection or balsa wood Viking ship. Yet somehow I managed to muster my way through high school, college and graduate degrees with great grades — and a love of learning that remained unhampered by rote memorization and painful work sheets.

I understand my privilege; school was fairly easy for me, and I was a teacher’s kid who undoubtedly learned extra tidbits at home after school and all summer. But for those kids who need extra help or who lack support at home, I have seen no evidence that these constant homework assignments help. Instead, one could argue that all we are doing is adding an extra burden onto the shoulders of working parents who struggle to find enough minutes in the day to feed their kids, let alone practice spelling C-A-T after their tired child has spent seven hours in full-day kindergarten, and often after-care as well.

I imagine that there are still parents who think their kids need homework despite research that indicates otherwise. Here’s what I say: You be you. I won’t judge. There is far too much judgment happening toward parents these days.

But to my friends who agree with me, yet are surprised by our ability to opt out, I say: Remember that you are the parents. Your opinion matters. And for every one teacher (if any) who may push back, I suspect there are another 10 who will cheer you on.

So give it a try. Instead of spending every free moment searching through your child’s Thursday folder and weeping over all those pictures of clock faces with the hands pointing every which way, you can rejoice at the empty homework section. Then you’ll have plenty of time to focus on the sneaky flier stuffed into the front: School Fundraiser! Don’t forget to dress your child in a (very specific) (wacky) outfit (that no one actually owns) every day next week!

Rebecca Swanson lives in Colorado with her husband and two sons. Follow her on Twitter @RebeccaLSwanson.

Follow On Parenting on Facebook for more essays, news and updates, and join our discussion group here to talk about parenting and work. You can sign up here for our newsletter.

More reading:

Coming to terms with being an imperfect dad

A child raised by many mothers: What we can learn about parenting from an indigenous group in Brazil

How learning to listen (with my heart) helped me help my son

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What does it mean to opt out?

Many parents are asking about the option of opting out of certain types of instruction. When it comes to “Social and Emotional Learning,” commonly referred to as “SEL,” we are receiving an increasing number of requests for what opting out means, how to opt out and what parents’ rights are regarding opting out. Depending on the state in which you live, you may have the option of opting your child out of specific curriculum – or even testing. A federal law, the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), allows all students to opt out of surveys. 

Should you wish to opt your child out, all requests should be made in writing – and need to be resubmitted annually.

Do parents have a right to opt children out of aspects of school?

Opting out is exercising your parental right to have your child not participate in certain types of instruction. Opting out is a formal process that typically requires written notification or completion of an opt-out form distributed by your school. School districts have differing policies on whether or not students can opt-out of social and emotional learning. It can be difficult to opt out of this type of instruction because we are increasingly seeing the instruction make its way into all aspects of the curriculum.

What is the process to opt out?

Parents should ask their principals what the opt-out process is in their district. Many have district-specific opt-out forms that simply need to be signed and turned in to school officials. Keep a copy of your form. If your child has a phone, have your child take a picture of the form. Follow up with your school to make sure the form was recorded. If your district does not provide an opt-out form, ask how to opt out. Some districts do not want students to opt out, so they do not make the opt-out forms readily available and they do not publicise your right to opt out.

As it relates to social and emotional surveys, like those conducted by Panorama Education, parents do have the right under PPRA to opt out. Your school should provide the option to opt out with a link to the opt-out form. If they do not, contact your school and ask where to obtain the opt-out form. The opt-out forms can be submitted anytime but it is advised to opt out as soon as the surveys are announced — usually in September at the beginning of the school year. There is often a data-share aspect of the survey process where school districts share students’ personally identifiable data with the companies that will be conducting the survey. The earlier in the process you notify your school of your desire to opt out, the less data may be shared about your child with the outside vendor. Ask your school what personally identifiable data will be shared with outside companies and consultants. 

Parents should follow school communications to be aware of what social and emotional learning is planned at your school and when, so you can discuss the schedule with your child. For students who opt out, parents should communicate with your school and find out what your child will be doing during the time that is carved out for SEL. Students who have opted out of SEL typically stay in the classroom and read during the SEL lesson or leave the classroom and report to the library, cafeteria or theater.

What are my rights regarding opting out?

Unfortunately, the ability to opt out of educational material is not universal. The majority of state laws were written specifically with sex and health instruction in mind. Some states – like Idaho , Missouri and Massachusetts – drafted their laws to apply only to sex-ed. California law expressly limits opt outs to very narrow categories within sex-ed. Other laws, like in Iowa , apply more broadly to any health topics. And a few states have very narrow opt-out protections for AIDS-prevention instruction only.

Parents should ask their school what their district policies are on opting out of SEL instruction. Parents have the right to ask to see lessons and material, including copies of the SEL surveys, prior to instruction. Under Federal Law, parents do have the right to opt their students out of surveys. The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment , commonly referred to as PPRA, gives parents this right.

What if my child attends a private school?

The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment only applies to schools that receive federal funding, so it does not apply to all private schools. But private school parents can still take steps to protect their children from harmful ideologies in the classroom.

Most private schools recognize that parents have the primary responsibility for educating their children and expect parental involvement and close communication. It is reasonable to ask to be notified and to have the option to opt your child out of any surveys, lessons, readings, classroom presentations, or pedagogical practices that you feel violate your child’s human dignity or your parental rights. Requests should be made in writing. See tips for writing an opt-out letter to your child’s private school here .

What does the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) say?

opt out of homework

Should I opt my child out of taking surveys at school?

Well, that depends. 

Some school surveys are harmless. An example of this would be: “What do you prefer for a Senior Gift” or “What should the theme of Homecoming be this year?” These types of surveys are fun and can contribute to school spirit and camaraderie. There is nothing intrusive about them and parents are not entitled to an “opt out” under the law.

Parents may want to opt their child out of other more invasive surveys that ask invasive and personal questions and, under federal law, they have a right to do so. 

The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) guarantees parents this right if a survey includes the questions about the following subjects:

  • political affiliations or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent
  • mental or psychological problems of the student or the student’s family
  • sex behavior or attitudes
  • illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior
  • critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close family relationships
  • legally recognized privileged or analogous relationships, such as those of lawyers, physicians, and ministers
  •  religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or student’s parent
  •  income (other than that required by law to determine eligibility for participation in a program or for receiving financial assistance under such program). 

The best way to determine if you would like to exercise your rights under federal law to opt your child out of certain types of surveys is to review the survey BEFORE it is given to your child—which you also have a right to do under the PPRA. You can set up a time with the school to review the survey and decide if you think it has value or is appropriate for your child.

Schools often send an email about an upcoming survey with very little notice—sometimes it’s barely 24 hours notice. This practice does not allow sufficient time for a parent to review the survey to decide if they prefer to opt out their child. 

Ask your school what surveys will be administered and when. Then ask to review those surveys.

opt out of homework

Additional Resources

  • State-Specific Public School Opt-Out Forms , Pacific Justice Institute 
  • Parental Consent Letter , America First Legal
  • The legal balancing act over public school curriculum , Phi Delta Kappan
  • Question & Answer Guide On California’s Parental Opt-Out Statutes: Parents’ and Schools’ Legal Rights And Responsibilities Regarding Public School Curricula , California Safe Schools Coalition
  • The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment: A Toolkit For Parents , America First Legal
  • Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) , United States Department of Education Student Privacy Policy Office
  • Data Mining Your Child: What You Can Do To Stop It (Opt Out) , Courage Is A Habit

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How to talk to your child’s teacher about opting out of homework

preschool, kindergarten

Alexander Dummer | Pexels

Conversations with neighborhood acquaintances often leave me with a lot to think about . And a recent conversation about homework left me thinking that the topic might be significant to a lot of families.

One of my neighbors has a daughter the same age as mine, and our girls enjoy playing together when we run into each other. Recently, I saw her at the playground and asked how her daughter’s kindergarten year had gone at our local public school. 

She said she liked the school alright, but the homework was a real drag. Her daughter brought home 5 to 10 pages of homework, and getting it all done ate up their evenings as a family.

As she described it, I realized that she spent more time doing homework with her daughter than I spent in formal lessons to homeschool my daughter for the same level in school.

To be clear, the little girl was in kindergarten . This mountain of homework was being assigned to 5-year-olds.

Call me crazy, but homework in kindergarten seems excessive. This unnecessary busywork takes away time that could be spent on things that are much more important for young children, such as playing, reading aloud, getting outside , and spending time as a family.

But parents have options, and often a lot more say over their children’s education than they may realize. I was inspired by the example of my friend Candace, who encountered a similar homework situation at her son’s kindergarten and took a head-on and genius approach.

Candace learned that experts agree that playtime and outdoor time are very important for children’s development, while there’s no evidence of an academic benefit of homework in elementary school. 

So she sat down and had a friendly conversation with her son’s kindergarten teacher explaining that her son would not be doing any homework that year.

I told his teacher, “We prefer that he spend his afternoons on outdoor time, family time, and free time at this age, so we don’t plan to do homework.  If there’s any specific subject you think he needs more time on or projects the class is working on, please let me know; we can be flexible.” I followed it up with a note in his folder that said the same thing. 

I think this is such a wonderful way to handle the issue. Hopefully if you take a similar approach, you might inspire a few other parents to jump on the no-homework bandwagon with you.

Candace had a few tips for parents who want to take the same approach:

It helps to approach the teacher with friendliness and confidence, rather than feeling defensive or contentious. For our family, the main benefit was time spent outside or on other interests instead of on worksheets.  An added bonus was zero time spent arguing over homework. 

Ultimately, every family has a unique situation. But she’s so glad she took the no-homework route. It was the right decision for her family.

“You know your child best,” she said. “I know my son thrives when he has plenty of play and movement and fresh air in his day.”

As do all children, honestly. So if you find yourself spending all evening on homework for a young child, I hope Candace’s example can inspire you to opt out completely. I don’t think you’ll regret it for a minute.

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Response to Opting-Out of Homework

Last week, I passed along a blog post by Heather Shumaker, a mom who has chosen to opt her children out of homework until age 11. In response, I received a thoughtful letter from a well-respected colleague. Martin Kirkwood is the director of guidance and college counseling for St. Theodore Guerin High School near Indianapolis, IN. His school is now in their 4th year of using SOAR.

He politely wondered if I was sending mixed messages. Below is his very insightful letter…followed by my detailed response. Thanks to Martin for sharing his thoughts and allowing me to share them with you.

Letter from Martin Kirkwood:

I just finished reading your recent article, Can You “Opt Out” of Homework , and felt the need to offer you some feedback from my perspective. As I hope you may recall, we have talked about my own son’s struggles with school. One of the challenges was that it was taking him a long time to complete his homework.

I met with his second grade teacher a few years ago to share some of my concerns; she offered me some of the best advice I had received on this topic. She said my son was very bright and capable, but that he could be more focused in school. She thought would help him get a better understanding of his work and that he would then be able to get more of his work done at school so he would not have to spend so much time on homework.

She even suggested that I tell him I would only help him for 30 minutes each evening and only answer two questions during that time. She correctly ascertained that he had become very dependent on the adults in his life when he was ready to pay attention and get his work completed. She said that he needed to form the proper habits of paying attention and using his time more efficiently at school so he would not continue to be frustrated and find school so challenging and discouraging.

These words were tough to swallow at first as we had recently experienced the death of his mother and my wife. I felt like he needed more understanding and support from his teacher. Instead of letting me focus my efforts in this direction the teacher challenged me to try to help empower him to develop the proper habits that would be more effective and serve him well in his future.

In fact, I was just reading one of your previous articles, Shifting Out of Low-Gear Learning and found this quote: “Very few students really understand that paying attention in class during the day may actually save them a lot of time on their homework later that night.”

It was only when I was encouraged to *empower* my son to solve his challenges with effective study habits that he grew in his confidence and re-gained his spirit. This is also why I originally chose to adopt your study skills curriculum for our school. I see this empowerment as the best way to help our students meet with success in school and prepare for their futures.

I am happy to report that I did follow her advice and over the past five years. My son, like yours, tends to be challenged with paying attention and would much rather play with his Legos and use his creative gifts than sit down and work through his homework and assignments. However, as you know, school requires certain skills in order to be successful. By helping him be more efficient with his time he has developed these better habits that will serve him well in school and life.

I understand your intention of trying to pay attention to the creative side and self-exploration of our students and kids. This spirit of the child is probably the most important thing to be concerned with in helping educate and raise our children. However, I have experienced both first hand with my own son and with numerous students in my twenty years of education, that the best way to help students fulfill this spirit is to develop the proper habits that you teach in your study skills curriculum.

So, when I read your article referenced above, I feel like you may be sending mixed messages to parents who are challenged with similar circumstances of our sons. I recognize and support your desire to not let school take the spirit out of our children, but I am afraid this article may send the wrong message.

If students are spending an inordinate amount of time on homework, I think the first question should be, “Why?” If the reason is that they are not using the proper habits and being efficient, then I think that should be where the focus is in addressing the issues. If the student is truly using the proper habits and the work load is unreasonable, then it might be appropriate to consider “opting out.”

Please know this feedback is meant as constructive as I truly value what you provide. I hope you find this helpful.

Martin Kirkwood Director of Guidance & College Counseling St. Theodore Guerin High School Noblesville, IN

My Response:

I most certainly remember you and appreciate your detailed response . It is very valuable!

First, please let me offer my sincere condolences over the loss you and your son suffered over your wife and his mother. I know that was not the focus of your email, but I simply wouldn’t feel right without acknowledging the major strain that must have had (and has) on your life. I’m very sorry and have a tremendous amount of respect for your will to carry on and be such a strong father for your son. I’m sure you would say you weren’t given much choice, but you still deserve some sincere acknowledgment for the hurdles you have overcome!

Secondly, I love the suggestion you shared from your son’s 2nd grade teacher! She was very perceptive and extremely wise to recognize how to offer strength through a period of grief. Most people would not have the insight or confidence to recommend a “tougher” approach to managing homework in light of your circumstances at that time. Her advice is fantastic for *anyone,* but especially significant for you and your son.

I do understand how my support of the “Opt Out of Homework” blog may seem like a mixed message. From one perspective, I supposed it is. However, my perspective in sharing Heather Shumaker’s blog was simply to empower parents in recognizing that they can put limits on homework.

I speak with countless parents in my work and have noticed a disturbing trend of several different things: complaints of too much homework, accepting it without providing feedback to the teacher, a general -yet overwhelming- sense of “parent guilt” and insecurities, and increased complaints over “unmotivated and lifeless” children and teens.

Meanwhile, I have also had some very powerful experiences that are very clearly pushing me in the direction of promoting respect for the child’s spirit…loudly and clearly! Your point, however, is very well taken; that spiritual development can -and should- be provided in light of promoting responsibility and empowering our children to handle that responsibility.

I was thinking many of your same thoughts as I read Heather Shumaker’s blog and probably should have made my intentions more clear in last week’s newsletter. I should have also shared how Ms. Shumaker successfully convinced me to consider things a bit differently.

Ms. Shumaker made a very strong case for respecting the importance of “home learning.” Our society places such a tremendous value on academic learning, but almost no “outward” value on a home education. I believe we can all use a good dose of encouragement to recognize the value in the education we provide simply by being a family and spending time together.

She also feels that homework is very valuable, but she prefers to keep homework out of the “responsibility-development” equation until age 11. She chose age 11 as the ideal transition point because that gives her children a couple of “practice” years for doing homework and building those skills of responsibility before reaching high school.

This element of her argument was a tipping point for me; I have always found that age 11 is the ideal time to introduce study skills to a student. This a prime age where they are ready, and able, to handle these strategies independently. Prior to age 11, I am usually (although, not always) coaching parents and teachers on how to cultivate these skills, not the students.

Prior to age 11, Ms. Shumaker wants to fill her children’s after-school hours with solid “home learning” and proper sleep. She believes that proper nights’ sleep is a top priority. In order to ensure a full night’s sleep, her children are in bed at 8PM. They get home from school at 4PM, so they only get four hours out of the day for family time, dinner, household chores, practicing the piano, reading books of their own choice, and play time. Her concern is that homework interrupts this limited time of home learning.

These points hit a nerve with me after personally speaking with hundreds of families who have told me, in one way or another, “Homework is destroying our family.” I wanted to share how one mother chose to stop that cycle. I wanted to encourage parents to recognize that they have a choice and they must speak out to protect the boundaries of their home life. They must be an advocate for developing the part of their child that can only be nurtured at home.

However, there are a lot of well-intentioned parents that carry heavy loads of Parent Guilt! Far too many parents second-guess themselves, think they are inadequate, wish they could be doing better out of a sense that they are never doing enough…its a vicious cycle! (This cycle is one reason why parents are too shy about speaking up over heavy volumes of homework.)

When homework becomes a serious strain on the family, many parents feel like they are doing something wrong. They don’t realize that many other parents are in the same situation. The poor teachers don’t *want* this for their students’ families, but they are rarely given feedback about what is happening at home…because parents don’t want to admit that they are doing something wrong.

Personally, every time I’ve had to stand up and say,”Sorry! This is simply too much homework,” I have felt very lonely! (After all, no one else is speaking up.) I do it because I have to respect my family’s boundaries AND I have the professional background to speak up with confidence. But, it is never comfortable!

My hope in sharing Ms. Shumaker’s insights and plan was that it might provide a couple of parents with permission to do what they believe is right for their family, and completely opt out of homework. But, my guess is that most parents will not be comfortable with this extreme approach. Therefore, I hope sharing Ms. Shumaker’s “dramatic” stance against homework would make a request to *limit* homework seem much less difficult. Hopefully, she can inspire parents to have more confidence in setting limits on homework and feel more comfortable in protecting their family from a deluge of having to suffer through too much!

You brought up an essential point, however…and that is that parents should first be asking, “Why is there so much homework? “ In my mind, I was thinking about the hundreds of scenarios where I have exhausted all study skills and parent strategies…and *I’m* concluding there is simply too much homework. You are right, however. It certainly would be prudent for parents to evaluate the skills their children are using (or are NOT using) before determining if they should opt out of homework.

In conclusion, Martin, I value your feedback and sincerely appreciate your time in sharing it. You’ve provided good information and perspectives that will be very valuable to the SOAR community. You’ve also helped me realize that I omitted a very important part of my thought-process when I passed Ms. Shumaker’s blog along.

I think it is safe to say that we both want the same thing…to see young children and adolescents grow with a strong and happy spirit that is grounded in a solid sense of responsibility and discipline; we both know this is the key to a happy, rewarding life! Hopefully, our “discussion” will provide helpful insight to parents as they make decisions towards accomplishing this goal for their children.

Most sincerely,

Susan Kruger

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The end of homework? Why some schools are banning homework

Fed up with the tension over homework, some schools are opting out altogether.

No-homework policies are popping up all over, including schools in the U.S., where the shift to the Common Core curriculum is prompting educators to rethink how students spend their time.

“Homework really is a black hole,” said Etta Kralovec, an associate professor of teacher education at the University of Arizona South and co-author of “The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning.”

“I think teachers are going to be increasingly interested in having total control over student learning during the class day and not relying on homework as any kind of activity that’s going to support student learning.”

College de Saint-Ambroise, an elementary school in Quebec, is the latest school to ban homework, announcing this week that it would try the new policy for a year. The decision came after officials found that it was “becoming more and more difficult” for children to devote time to all the assignments they were bringing home, Marie-Ève Desrosiers, a spokeswoman with the Jonquière School Board, told the CBC .

Kralovec called the ban on homework a movement, though she estimated just a small handful of schools in the U.S. have such policies.

Gaithersburg Elementary School in Rockville, Maryland, is one of them, eliminating the traditional concept of homework in 2012. The policy is still in place and working fine, Principal Stephanie Brant told TODAY Parents. The school simply asks that students read 30 minutes each night.

“We felt like with the shift to the Common Core curriculum, and our knowledge of how our students need to think differently… we wanted their time to be spent in meaningful ways,” Brant said.

“We’re constantly asking parents for feedback… and everyone’s really happy with it so far. But it’s really a culture shift.”

Father helping daughter with homework

It was a decision that was best for her community, Brant said, adding that she often gets phone calls from other principals inquiring how it’s working out.

The VanDamme Academy, a private K-8 school in Aliso Viejo, California, has a similar policy , calling homework “largely pointless.”

The Buffalo Academy of Scholars, a private school in Buffalo, New York, touts that it has called “a truce in the homework battle” and promises that families can “enjoy stress-free, homework-free evenings and more quality time together at home.”

Some schools have taken yet another approach. At Ridgewood High School in Norridge, Illinois, teachers do assign homework but it doesn’t count towards a student’s final grade.

Many schools in the U.S. have toyed with the idea of opting out of homework, but end up changing nothing because it is such a contentious issue among parents, Kralovec noted.

“There’s a huge philosophical divide between parents who want their kids to be very scheduled, very driven, and very ambitiously focused at school -- those parents want their kids to do homework,” she said.

“And then there are the parents who want a more child-centered life with their kids, who want their kids to be able to explore different aspects of themselves, who think their kids should have free time.”

So what’s the right amount of time to spend on homework?

National PTA spokeswoman Heidi May pointed to the organization’s “ 10 minute rule ,” which recommends kids spend about 10 minutes on homework per night for every year they’re in school. That would mean 10 minutes for a first-grader and an hour for a child in the sixth grade.

But many parents say their kids must spend much longer on their assignments. Last year, a New York dad tried to do his eight-grader’s homework for a week and it took him at least three hours on most nights.

More than 80 percent of respondents in a TODAY.com poll complained kids have too much homework. For homework critics like Kralovec, who said research shows homework has little value at the elementary and middle school level, the issue is simple.

“Kids are at school 7 or 8 hours a day, that’s a full working day and why should they have to take work home?” she asked.

Follow A. Pawlowski on Google+ and Twitter .

Should Your Family Opt Out of Homework?

Should Your Family Opt Out of Homework?

Have you ever sat at the kitchen table trying to get your frustrated child to complete his or her homework after a long day of school and extracurricular activities? As a parent, you may have felt conflicted in those moments. On one hand, you want to respect your child’s teacher and their approach to learning. But, on the other hand, your intuition might tell you that nightly struggles with homework aren’t helping your child — and may even be hurting him or her.

That’s the conclusion Heather Shumaker , author of “ It’s OK to Go Up the Slide: Renegade Rules for Raising Confident and Creative Kids ,” came to when her son started school. She realized that completing assignments at home wasn’t contributing to her son’s academic achievement, so she decided her family would opt out of homework altogether.

“I knew as a mother and because of my background with early childhood development that my oldest, when he hit first grade, had other things to do after being told what to do all day — playing piano or just playing on a log outside, having his own spirit come out and having emotional support from the family in his off hours, which aren’t very many,” Shumaker says.

There’s no standard policy regarding homework across districts, or even individual schools, so it’s typically up to teachers to decide how much to assign. Many teachers, particularly those who are new to the profession, pile on the homework because they are under pressure to cover too much material in order to drive standardized test scores.

“Studies show we can’t teach every aspect of every standard that is expected,” says Eric Carbaugh, a professor and faculty member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development . “So if we have all this content, it becomes more vital that students do some of that learning outside of school just because we don’t have time for it.”

Education consultant and author Mike Anderson  says that in some schools, teachers assign homework to appease parents, who want a signal that the curriculum is sufficiently rigorous. But, Anderson, who never gave homework when he was a teacher, says at-home assignments don’t have the effect on learning that some parents and teachers believe they do.

The best learning occurs in what Anderson calls the “zone of proximal development.” That is when a person is learning something that isn’t so difficult that it’s frustrating, but not so easy that it can be completed without assistance. After all, if you can do a task completely independently, you’ve already mastered it. Homework of that nature is nothing more than busy work, which Anderson says is not a good use of students’ after-school energy.

“Homework that is assigned by a teacher, if it is truly in that learning zone, it is left to parents to be the coaches,” Anderson says. “But it can be very hard for parents to support kids in that way because they don’t have the time and they don’t have the training that teachers have.”

The research backs up what many parents already know in their guts. Anderson says Alfie Kohn ’s book “ The Homework Myth ” does a good job of analyzing research that has been done about the effects of homework.

“The research about the correlation between homework and achievement is pretty clear — there’s really no correlation in elementary and middle school. You start to get light correlation at the high school level, but I have never seen a study that shows causation,” Anderson says. “In some studies, there’s even shown to be an inverse relationship in elementary school.”

Parenting coach Eirene Heidelberger  says that plenty of public elementary schools in the Chicago area dole out hefty amounts of homework. She has clients who come to her for advice because their children are having tearful nightly struggles to get assignments done.

“School gets out at 3 p.m., then a kid might have soccer practice until 4:30 p.m., dinner is done at 6 p.m., and then it’s time to do homework when the kid has been awake for 12 hours,” Heidelberger says. “It frustrates kids, and takes away from their downtime and family time.”

So, if not homework, what should kids be doing after school? Good old-fashioned playtime is likely better for their development, according to Shumaker. They need to move their bodies, get fresh air, use their imaginations and have quality time with mom and dad.

“There’s a lot of childhood depression and anxiety and that is because they don’t play,” Shumaker says. “They need to be part of a family — doing chores , having dinner, reading bedtime stories and going to bed early.”

If parents want to make sure children’s after-school hours are valuable, Anderson recommends encouraging them to read. But, there’s a catch: They should be allowed to read books they find pleasurable, and the reading shouldn’t be homework in disguise.

“We shouldn’t layer it with accountability, like having parents sign off on it or keeping journals of pages read,” Anderson says. “That kind of beats the joy out of reading.”

Shumaker says sleep is one of the most critical factors that affects how well students master the lessons they learn in the classroom. Staying up late to finish homework defeats the purpose.

“Most children are sleep deprived,” Shumaker says. “When they get sleep, memory is improved, focus is improved — all of these skills they need to be successful in school. Homework doesn’t have that benefit, but sleep does.”

If you feel that your children are bringing too much work home from school, Shumaker says your job is to be their advocate. She recommends scheduling a meeting and having an honest conversation about the stress that homework is creating in your home.

“You are the one raising your kids,” Shumaker says. “The school is not in charge, they cannot tell you what to do in your own family time in your own living room.”

Shumaker says her kids’ teachers had mixed responses to her family opting out of homework. Even if you disagree with their approach to homework, most teachers have good intentions, and there are plenty of other ways you can support them — volunteering in the classroom or bringing them dinner during parent-teacher conferences, for example. And, Shumaker says just because you’re not requiring your kids to do homework, you can still be very involved in their studies.

“When my kids came home from school, we would talk about what they learned that day, have a snack and debrief,” she says. “If they wanted to talk more about it, they would, and if they learned about, say, butterflies, we might go to the library and research butterflies or go outside and look for them.”

Photo: School photo created by pressfoto – www.freepik.com

10 Ways

Should Kids Get Homework?

Homework gives elementary students a way to practice concepts, but too much can be harmful, experts say.

Mother helping son with homework at home

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Effective homework reinforces math, reading, writing or spelling skills, but in a way that's meaningful.

How much homework students should get has long been a source of debate among parents and educators. In recent years, some districts have even implemented no-homework policies, as students juggle sports, music and other activities after school.

Parents of elementary school students, in particular, have argued that after-school hours should be spent with family or playing outside rather than completing assignments. And there is little research to show that homework improves academic achievement for elementary students.

But some experts say there's value in homework, even for younger students. When done well, it can help students practice core concepts and develop study habits and time management skills. The key to effective homework, they say, is keeping assignments related to classroom learning, and tailoring the amount by age: Many experts suggest no homework for kindergartners, and little to none in first and second grade.

Value of Homework

Homework provides a chance to solidify what is being taught in the classroom that day, week or unit. Practice matters, says Janine Bempechat, clinical professor at Boston University 's Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.

"There really is no other domain of human ability where anybody would say you don't need to practice," she adds. "We have children practicing piano and we have children going to sports practice several days a week after school. You name the domain of ability and practice is in there."

Homework is also the place where schools and families most frequently intersect.

"The children are bringing things from the school into the home," says Paula S. Fass, professor emerita of history at the University of California—Berkeley and the author of "The End of American Childhood." "Before the pandemic, (homework) was the only real sense that parents had to what was going on in schools."

Harris Cooper, professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University and author of "The Battle Over Homework," examined more than 60 research studies on homework between 1987 and 2003 and found that — when designed properly — homework can lead to greater student success. Too much, however, is harmful. And homework has a greater positive effect on students in secondary school (grades 7-12) than those in elementary.

"Every child should be doing homework, but the amount and type that they're doing should be appropriate for their developmental level," he says. "For teachers, it's a balancing act. Doing away with homework completely is not in the best interest of children and families. But overburdening families with homework is also not in the child's or a family's best interest."

Negative Homework Assignments

Not all homework for elementary students involves completing a worksheet. Assignments can be fun, says Cooper, like having students visit educational locations, keep statistics on their favorite sports teams, read for pleasure or even help their parents grocery shop. The point is to show students that activities done outside of school can relate to subjects learned in the classroom.

But assignments that are just busy work, that force students to learn new concepts at home, or that are overly time-consuming can be counterproductive, experts say.

Homework that's just busy work.

Effective homework reinforces math, reading, writing or spelling skills, but in a way that's meaningful, experts say. Assignments that look more like busy work – projects or worksheets that don't require teacher feedback and aren't related to topics learned in the classroom – can be frustrating for students and create burdens for families.

"The mental health piece has definitely played a role here over the last couple of years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the last thing we want to do is frustrate students with busy work or homework that makes no sense," says Dave Steckler, principal of Red Trail Elementary School in Mandan, North Dakota.

Homework on material that kids haven't learned yet.

With the pressure to cover all topics on standardized tests and limited time during the school day, some teachers assign homework that has not yet been taught in the classroom.

Not only does this create stress, but it also causes equity challenges. Some parents speak languages other than English or work several jobs, and they aren't able to help teach their children new concepts.

" It just becomes agony for both parents and the kids to get through this worksheet, and the goal becomes getting to the bottom of (the) worksheet with answers filled in without any understanding of what any of it matters for," says professor Susan R. Goldman, co-director of the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Illinois—Chicago .

Homework that's overly time-consuming.

The standard homework guideline recommended by the National Parent Teacher Association and the National Education Association is the "10-minute rule" – 10 minutes of nightly homework per grade level. A fourth grader, for instance, would receive a total of 40 minutes of homework per night.

But this does not always happen, especially since not every student learns the same. A 2015 study published in the American Journal of Family Therapy found that primary school children actually received three times the recommended amount of homework — and that family stress increased along with the homework load.

Young children can only remain attentive for short periods, so large amounts of homework, especially lengthy projects, can negatively affect students' views on school. Some individual long-term projects – like having to build a replica city, for example – typically become an assignment for parents rather than students, Fass says.

"It's one thing to assign a project like that in which several kids are working on it together," she adds. "In (that) case, the kids do normally work on it. It's another to send it home to the families, where it becomes a burden and doesn't really accomplish very much."

Private vs. Public Schools

Do private schools assign more homework than public schools? There's little research on the issue, but experts say private school parents may be more accepting of homework, seeing it as a sign of academic rigor.

Of course, not all private schools are the same – some focus on college preparation and traditional academics, while others stress alternative approaches to education.

"I think in the academically oriented private schools, there's more support for homework from parents," says Gerald K. LeTendre, chair of educational administration at Pennsylvania State University—University Park . "I don't know if there's any research to show there's more homework, but it's less of a contentious issue."

How to Address Homework Overload

First, assess if the workload takes as long as it appears. Sometimes children may start working on a homework assignment, wander away and come back later, Cooper says.

"Parents don't see it, but they know that their child has started doing their homework four hours ago and still not done it," he adds. "They don't see that there are those four hours where their child was doing lots of other things. So the homework assignment itself actually is not four hours long. It's the way the child is approaching it."

But if homework is becoming stressful or workload is excessive, experts suggest parents first approach the teacher, followed by a school administrator.

"Many times, we can solve a lot of issues by having conversations," Steckler says, including by "sitting down, talking about the amount of homework, and what's appropriate and not appropriate."

Study Tips for High School Students

High angle view of young woman sitting at desk and studying at home during coronavirus lockdown

Tags: K-12 education , students , elementary school , children

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opt out of homework

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Why do parents allow children to continue doing homework when they can just opt them out?

‘we are so conditioned to believe that we are in trouble if we don’t do our homework’, says one parent.

opt out of homework

The short answer is, yes. Opting children out of homework is at the parents’ discretion.

Homework is back with a bang, bringing with it the familiar sense of dread for children and parents alike. It encroaches on precious and limited family time and it can establish an unhealthy work, rest and play balance in our children. You won’t often hear someone say to an adult, “do you know what you should do after a day’s work? You should go home and do some more work.”

So why, knowing this, do we allow children to continue doing homework? And can we, as parents, just opt them out?

The short answer is, yes. Opting children out of homework is at the parents’ discretion. But, as one parent pointed out, “we are so conditioned to believe that we are in trouble if we don’t do our homework”, that parents don’t take control as they can.

“Empathetically, life is busy and more children than ever before are struggling with anxiety and we need to prioritise wellbeing”, says a primary school principal and mother. However, there is strength in the parent voice, she explains, suggesting that parents considering opting their children out of homework “bring it to the parents association. Perhaps if feelings are common among the parents, we as a school community, could review the current homework policy so that it would reflect the needs of parents, children and teachers.

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“Teachers and principals need to remember that parents are the primary educators, as per our Constitution, and they can and should make decisions on what is best for their child.”

opt out of homework

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said 'all policies and decisions regarding homework are school-based. Schools are free to have their own policy on homework'.

Marie Christie is a primary schoolteacher and a mother of two. She has chosen to opt her children completely out of homework. “I used not give an awful lot of homework. I don’t believe in it. I believe it’s extra work. Even when I had sixth class — let’s say if we were doing long division sums I would give them two. If you can do two, you can do 10.”

Marie says if a child can learn tables, and do their reading, that should be the priority, but adds that there is “a new school of thought saying, that’s not how you do it”.

“Nobody knows what goes on at home for children. You have children sitting in front of you who might not have had a breakfast. They might have had loud music from the neighbours the night before. They might have separation going on in the house. Nobody knows what exactly is going on in a house and whether they’re sleeping, eating, being minded.”

Marie’s personal situation is that she often has to take her daughter to appointments in the evenings “and she would have to do the homework the following day”. Her children are autistic and attend mainstream school. While her son Conor didn’t mind doing homework in junior and senior infants, her daughter Abi has always hated it. “When [Conor] went into first class I could see the stress level in him, even though he was very good. I always gave mental maths for homework as a teacher, but as a parent you’re going, ‘Holy Jesus, they have to read them and they have to do them’.

“It’s a different kettle of fish when you’re a parent versus a teacher. When you’re trying to actually do it at home — not that it wasn’t work that they couldn’t do or anything like that — but he was just overwhelmed by the end of it.

“Parents, I suppose are often afraid to go against the plan, because they might feel that the teacher might have a thing against them. But I genuinely feel that most people would be agreeable. For my children, my aim for them is to have them happy in school. My children don’t do homework, and absolutely, Conor, it has not affected his performance in any way, shape or form.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said “all policies and decisions regarding homework are school-based. Schools are free to have their own policy on homework” adding that “there are no Department circulars or guidelines regarding homework for primary school pupils”.

Tara Foy says parents are made feel they’re “actually being a bad parent and that you’re letting your child away with murder almost, because they’re not pulling their weight”.

One of the most important things we can ever do is genuinely stand beside our children and have their back and it’s a lot easier said than done

While Tara hasn’t fully opted her children out of homework, she takes it day by day and decides based on how things are going on any given afternoon or evening. “It’s going to take principals and teachers to go ‘you know what, we’re doing this’. Tough to the parents who don’t agree, they don’t agree with lots of things. But that doesn’t mean you have to bend to everybody. You look at the facts, you look at the research ... and you go ahead and try it.”

One of Tara’s children is dyslexic. “When you have a child, and so many children have learning difficulties, be it from mild to extreme, and when you have that kind of pressure on you as a parent to conform ... it’s very damaging to the parent child relationship. You end up fighting so much.”

Tara decided as the school year progressed that she wasn’t going to fight with her child any more. She decided to take the approach “whatever gets done, gets done”.

“I said to the teacher and the principal if there’s a problem, come to me, not my son ... please don’t pull him up, come and talk to me. I got the courage to say, this is not working for my son. It’s making him miserable, it’s making me miserable.”

Tara would also like to see an end to homework for her other children, who are not dyslexic mentioning how she can see “a little dimming of [another child’s] light because of homework. I don’t want to make those mistakes again.”

Psychotherapist, Bethan O’Riordan says “the message nowadays in everything in life is ‘it’s okay to be you’, but homework, in my experience working with clients, and opinion in having three kids in primary school, is that the homework doesn’t allow them to be them because it’s one style of learning and one style of teaching. It’s fine to say you’re not going to do the homework, but if the school don’t support you in that it can be really isolating and really detrimental to a child’s mental health.

“I get to talk with a lot of parents, and when children really explain to me what school is like, only then do we really understand the mental load that they’re under. There are so many rules and there is always somebody watching you to see what you’re doing or not doing. As an adult we never have anybody following us around. I either do my work, or I don’t do my work, and there’s a consequence for whatever I do.

“But there’s no fear of failing because I was really tired and maybe I didn’t prepare the dinner the day before and so we’re going to get chips on the way home. With the kids it’s huge. It weighs so heavy on the mind and they’ve so much to think of.”

O’Riordan says when it comes to homework, parents need to ask “well what do we want for my children? Is it that we only want them to be really academic and keep pushing them that way? Or is it okay that they’re these really rounded children where they have a few hours every night to do what they want to do — to meet friends, to do hobbies, to read a book, to do nothing?

“We so badly as a society want our children to do well,” O’Riordan continues. “But we have to really consider what being and doing well is and how we get them there.

“I’d love to see an end to homework”, she says. “One of the most important things we can ever do is genuinely stand beside our children and have their back and it’s a lot easier said than done.” O’Riordan says parents in approaching the school with the intention of explaining why their children won’t be doing homework can find the prospect more difficult than anticipated. “They come out and they’re like ‘I was kind of just a bit nervous when I got there, so I said ‘oh it’s fine. I’ll just reduce it by five minutes instead’. It’s really hard to stand up for your child, because it brings up all your memories of being in school and fears.”

“Kids really need to see their parents advocating for them, regardless of how uncomfortable it feels. There’s lots of talk out there about teaching primary schoolchildren to say no ... it’s okay to say no ... is it okay to say no? It’s okay to say no as long as you still do your homework. If parents can be really courageous within themselves, and not see themselves as rebels and going against the grain, and just genuinely knowing and supporting their child and advocating for them. It counts for so much within the relationship.”

Jen Hogan

Jen Hogan, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes about health and family

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April 12, 2019 Teaching & Learning

Standardized testing and parents’ right to opt out.

opt out of homework

State law allows parents to opt out of state-mandated testing for their child. (The federal Every Student Succeeds Act affirms this right.) However, California also has specific regulations about what an educator can say to parents about opting out: Educators can inform parents of their right to opt out of high-stakes testing for their child, but cannot solicit or encourage parents to do so.

The state’s system of mandated and optional assessments is known as CAASPP (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress) and includes Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments, California Alternate Assessments, and the California Science Test. CTA believes tests should be used to inform instruction and improve student learning. A true assessment of student achievement and improvement is always done through multiple measures and can never focus on just one test score. To learn more about CTA’s position on testing and opting out, and to access resources to help educators have conversations with parents (including materials in multiple languages), go to cta.org/optout .

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More parents, students saying 'no' to homework

Amy Clipston had a request that was a new one for her daughter's first-grade teacher. Many parents had marched in to demand that their children, even those who couldn't tie their shoes yet, get more homework. Clipston was the first to request the opposite - that her daughter opt out of homework altogether.

Amy Clipston had a request that was a new one for her daughter's first-grade teacher.

Many parents had marched in to demand that their children, even those who couldn't tie their shoes yet, get more homework. Clipston was the first to request the opposite - that her daughter opt out of homework altogether.

"I felt my child was doing quite fine in school," said Clipston, a chemist with three children, noting that her daughter's schoolday in the highly competitive Lower Merion School District was 61/2 hours, with a 20-minute recess. "I felt 10 to 20 minutes of homework a night was not accomplishing anything."

Her request, which the teacher approved, represented one small step for a movement slowly gaining momentum in schools in the Pennsylvania suburbs, New Jersey, and around the country: questioning, scaling back, or, in a handful of schools, even eliminating the nightly homework ritual once thought as all-American as junior proms and cafeteria food fights.

For decades, homework's value has been hotly debated.

But now a growing legion of critics say the notion that America can close the learning gap with China or India by stuffing kids' backpacks with math worksheets as early as kindergarten is backfiring - creating a nation of stressed-out, sleep-deprived children, despite scant scientific evidence they are actually learning more from the reams of homework.

Some school administrators are starting to listen. Radnor School District has unveiled a policy stating that homework shouldn't "interfere with the student's health and wellbeing."

Several New Jersey districts, including Princeton Public Schools and the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District, are experimenting with banning take-home assignments on designated nights or weekends and school vacations.

An elementary school in Gaithersburg, Md., has banned homework altogether in favor of 30 minutes of nightly reading. And under the radar screen, parents such as Clipston - she says there are others in Lower Merion - are quietly opting their kids out of the daily grind.

That is all music to the ears of Vicki Abeles, who triggered widespread debate on test and homework pressure with her 2010 documentary, Race to Nowhere , and is back with another film and book, Beyond Measure , to look at schools that are breaking the mold. She said educators should be seeking work-life balance for students just as some high-tech companies are doing for employees.

"A lot has been written about adults having real time off from the workday, and that it improves creativity and productivity," Abeles said. "We're doing the exact opposite with kids. It's insanity."

The anecdotal complaints from parents and teachers about the harmful impact of students emailing completed assignments at 3 a.m. or kids spending sunny weekend days inside on a laptop are increasingly supported by scientific research. The 2013 American Psychological Association survey, for example, found that 45 percent of U.S. schoolchildren were stressed-out by school - and homework was the leading cause.

Many schools try to stick to 10 minutes for each grade level, but some, particularly private ones, load on a lot more. For example, St. Joseph School in Downingtown has a policy of starting with 30 minutes for first and second grade up to 120 minutes for seventh and eighth grade.

"The kids are overwhelmed," said Tom Di Giulio, a Latin teacher at Cedarbrook Middle School in Cheltenham. "It's too much. I'm getting work sent in to me at 12 o'clock at night," sometimes 1 and 3 a.m.

Zach Masterman, 15, a sophomore at Lower Merion's Harriton, knows what Di Giulio is talking about. After putting in a full day of school, after-school activities, and choir practice, he comes home and dives into three hours of homework nightly. "I'm really busy," he said. "I have a ton of things to do."

While high schoolers are expected to hit the books every night, Stephanie Brant, the Gaithersburg principal, said she was surprised when she initially got pushback from some parents when she eliminated homework.

They were worried, she said, that their kids wouldn't be prepared for middle school. But now, not only have other schools in her district jettisoned the worksheets, a middle-school principal also thanked her for sending him devoted readers.

"We demand so much of our students during the day," said Brant. "You can often be doing homework that is rote - addition or whatever - and the second you do one wrong problem, you're doing 25 wrong."

But conventions are hard to break. Cathy Hall, assistant head of school at elite Episcopal Academy, said teachers there are keenly aware of the "homework dilemma" and are being "intentional" in what they assign students. Yet at a school that boasts of its Ivy League admissions, time spent on homework is ultimately a personal decision, she said.

And in Lower Merion, opting out of homework - even with a teacher's blessing - is "a violation of policy," said spokesman Doug Young. "Homework is part of the school experience."

It doesn't have to be, say some critics.

Alfie Kohn, who wrote The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing a decade ago, said that numerous studies fail to find any link to improved learning.

"There's really dubious academic benefit to homework at any age, especially in younger kids," Kohn argued.

What's more, he and Abeles argue, too much homework can cause considerable harm, raising levels of frustration, anxiety, and family tension while robbing time for imaginative play and outdoor exercise, and - most importantly - crushing the potential to get excited about learning.

More parents are asking the same questions. "Many feel homework has kind of taken over, especially at the high school level," said Cheryl Masterman, Zach's mother. "I just had a situation with my fifth grader the other night, and he was up really late and totally freaking out and melting down."

Anne Heffron, principal of Merion Elementary in Lower Merion, explained: "We're trying to build habits with kids, and get children into a pattern of being independent, taking responsibility and developing organizational skills."

Heffron said she gets mixed reactions from parents on the homework issue: Some want more, some less, and some are bothered when they see their child struggle with an assignment. "I think sometimes homework is a bigger stressor for parents than for the kids," she said.

But Abeles said it's the stress on kids that concerns her the most. She said she was inspired to launch Race to Nowhere after school pressures were blamed for the suicide of a 13-year-old California girl.

Abeles noted that she opted her son out of homework in elementary and middle school, and now he's doing well with his high school assignments.

"How many hours a day can they be spending on academics?" Abeles asked. "They need to develop in other ways. They need time with families and friends. They need time to do nothing."

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  1. Yes, You Can Opt Your Kids Out of Homework—Here's How

    Yes, You Can Opt Your Kids Out of Homework—Here's How One mom says her kids haven't been doing homework for years. Here's how she opted them out and what experts say. By Julia Pelly...

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  3. Legal Homework Rights: What's the Limit on Homework?

    - Dawn, SOAR ® Parent The answer is a resounding, Yes! You have legal rights to put limits on your child's homework time. When homework begins to erode family relationships and/or increases the students anxiety, its time to make modifications. First, try communicating and working collaboratively with teachers and administrators.

  4. Too much homework? How to talk to your child's teacher

    How to talk to your child's teacher — and opt out if necessary Here's how you can have conversations with your child's teacher to create boundaries around homework — or opt out all together. Amber Leventry Published on: November 3, 2023 Homework is a rite of passage for most students.

  5. Opting Out

    Opting out is a formal process that typically requires written notification or completion of an opt-out form distributed by your school. School districts have differing policies on whether or not students can opt-out of social and emotional learning.

  6. More parents are saying 'no' to homework and teachers might agree

    While opting out of homework is the new trend for many parents, others feel it should be the teachers who ultimately have the final say. "The teacher is the boss of the class," Kristi Moore, a mom of three from Buda, Texas, tells Care.com. "The kid's job is [to] learn the lessons from the teacher. [We've] had both exceptional and terrible teachers.

  7. How to talk to your child's teacher about opting out of homework

    Alexander Dummer | Pexels Theresa Civantos Barber - published on 08/22/22 Playtime is very important for children's development, and there's zero benefit to homework in elementary school....

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  9. Why more teachers are joining the anti-homework movement

    Tollison is part of a growing movement that believes learners can thrive academically without homework. According to Alfie Kohn, author of " The Homework Myth ," there's never a good excuse for...

  10. Can You "Opt Out" of Homework?

    Susan Kruger Winter, M.Ed. • September 24, 2012 • Parents We get a lot of phone calls from parents of elementary students, complaining about the volume of homework their child gets from school. We specialize in study skills and homework management, so it's natural that parents would call us.

  11. Response to Opting-Out of Homework

    Response to Opting-Out of Homework Susan Kruger Winter, M.Ed. • October 1, 2012 • Parents Last week, I passed along a blog post by Heather Shumaker, a mom who has chosen to opt her children out of homework until age 11. In response, I received a thoughtful letter from a well-respected colleague.

  12. DC area parents ask if students can opt out of homework

    Opting out of homework? Some parents told Fox 5's Ayesha Khan, they want more homework, others want less and some are bothered when they see their child struggle with an assignment. Other...

  13. Schools try no-homework policies amid complaints about overload

    Sept. 8, 2014, 6:44 AM PDT By A. Pawlowski Fed up with the tension over homework, some schools are opting out altogether. No-homework policies are popping up all over, including schools in...

  14. Should Your Family Opt Out of Homework?

    Shumaker says her kids' teachers had mixed responses to her family opting out of homework. Even if you disagree with their approach to homework, most teachers have good intentions, and there are plenty of other ways you can support them — volunteering in the classroom or bringing them dinner during parent-teacher conferences, for example ...

  15. Should Kids Get Homework?

    Too much, however, is harmful. And homework has a greater positive effect on students in secondary school (grades 7-12) than those in elementary. "Every child should be doing homework, but the ...

  16. Why do parents allow children to continue doing homework when they can

    The short answer is, yes. Opting children out of homework is at the parents' discretion. But, as one parent pointed out, "we are so conditioned to believe that we are in trouble if we don't...

  17. Should parents opt their children out of homework?

    Swanson's sons are 6 and 10 years old. She has said no to homework with all of their teachers. "You can just opt out," she said. "Tell the teacher that your kid is not going to do it ...

  18. PDF OPT OUT OF HOMEWORK LETTER

    responsible children without time-out, spanking, punishment or bribery" and the new DVD "Plugged-In Parenting: Connecting with the Digital Generation for Health, Safety and Love." www.professionalparenting.ca 403-714-6766 or [email protected] Judy is also co-founder of Attachment Parenting Canada www.attachmentparenting.ca 403-667-4557

  19. Opting out of homework : r/ScienceBasedParenting

    Opting out of homework Learning/Education Has anyone here opted their kids out? My son just started third grade and his teacher will assign homework, although she has not yet. So I am drafting my email to her to let her know in advance that we are opting him out. I've read The Homework Myth by Alfie Kohn and sifted through tons of articles.

  20. Opting Out of Homework

    Opting out of homework. Dear [name of teacher], First of all, I'd like to tell you how pleased I am that you're Sandy's teacher this year. Sandy experiences you as very kind, which couldn't be more important to me. I respect you as my child's teacher, so I want to take the time to tell you why I'm going to pull Sandy out of the ...

  21. Standardized Testing and Parents' Right to Opt Out

    State law allows parents to opt out of state-mandated testing for their child. (The federal Every Student Succeeds Act affirms this right.)

  22. More parents, students saying 'no' to homework

    Published Oct. 26, 2015, 3:01 a.m. ET. Amy Clipston had a request that was a new one for her daughter's first-grade teacher. Many parents had marched in to demand that their children, even those who couldn't tie their shoes yet, get more homework. Clipston was the first to request the opposite - that her daughter opt out of homework altogether.

  23. Opting out of homework : r/Parenting

    Opting out of homework : r/Parenting. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. (EDIT: Spelling) "My precious snowflake isn't going learn to work like everyone else because I wouldn't want her to feel anxious until after I've helicoptered her through college and she finally has to get a real job, then she can learn to deal with it."

  24. Cricket Bork on Instagram: "Send to a friend that's also opting out of

    136 likes, 6 comments - cricketbork on September 21, 2023: "Send to a friend that's also opting out of the rat race of childhood I often get asked ..." Cricket Bork on Instagram: "Send to a friend that's also opting out of the rat race of childhood 🙌🙌 I often get asked why we call it homeschool at this age when plenty of kids stay home in ...