MANATEE — Sure, the first day of school is exciting for students: Seeing old friends, meeting new ones; new clothes, new teachers. But going back to school also means facing the inevitable: homework.
And the Manatee County school board has recently adopted policies on how much time students should spend on homework each night. Younger students should spend less than an hour a day, depending on grade level, according to the new district policy. Middle schoolers should spend an hour to 1 hours and high schoolers up to two hours.
"Most school districts in the nation have a homework policy," said Lynn Gillman, the district's executive director of academics. "We need to look at the philosophy of homework and how much homework they are able to do."
The homework guideline is part of the district's efforts to streamline lessons across schools. In 2007, the board agreed to spend $4.6 million rewriting the district's curriculum for sixth through 10th grades.
The plan is to roll out the middle school portion this year and the high school one next year, she said.
The guideline is nothing new to teachers, who say they try to keep homework assignments reasonable.
Parents say they don't think the recommended time is unreasonable, but are quick to point out that they would oppose anything more. Many students say they spend that amount of time already on schoolwork at home. And they grudgingly agree that it helps them keep up in school and avoid cramming for tests.
"It gets annoying, but it's really helping," said Southeast High senior Amanda Agines. But is it really?
No consensus on value
Experts can't agree on whether homework helps students do better academically, according to the Center for Public Education. But most agree it does help form healthy work habits and instills discipline.
Some studies show homework helped raise test scores. Some say it benefits older students, but doesn't do much for younger ones. Some see homework as cultivating a work-oriented culture that puts family and personal well-being on the back burner, according to a 2007 article in a magazine Educational Leadership.
Some educators and parents are opposed to after-school work for younger students.
"Children need to be playing, socializing," said Stephen Rushton, an associate professor of education at the University of South Florida and a father of two children. "Of course, if a child needs extra help, they need extra help. But a lot of the homework is not challenging the child's prefrontal lobe, inquiry part of brain."
Homework should be meaningful, and not add to a child's frustration, said his wife, Anne Joula-Rushton, a first-grade teacher at Wakeland Elementary.
"You can't hand a child a ditto sheet, and give them to 20 students and believe that will meet the need of 20 kids," she said.
The best type of homework should make children explore their surroundings, to tie in the lessons they learn in the classroom.
"Otherwise, you will have a child frustrated, or it means nothing to them," Joula-Rushton said.
Email Story
Printer Friendly 
Quick Job Search
@Nyx.replyAnswerText@