Students, teachers feel homework policy is ineffective

PHOTO: Students use online tools like Khan Academy, Collegeboard, and Quizlet to study for tests and complete homework.

By Leyla Bolkan,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

The schedule for remote learning last year had students taking just three or four classes at a time. The adjustment to taking six or seven courses this year has been a struggle for many students.

“I have a lot more classes at once compared to last year, so it’s harder for me to complete my homework because the workload has grown,” junior Yazmeen Bayaan said.

AP Art History teacher Doug Wright is worried about how the feeling of increased workloads has affected the mental health of students.

“If this is causing kids to be more stressed and mentally unstable, then what are we doing?” Wright said.

In an effort to support his overwhelmed students, Wright sent out an email to his fellow teachers asking them to give students more time to adjust after not having in-person school for two years.

“These students aren’t light switches,” Wright said.

As an AP Art History teacher, Wright understands how he and many other teachers need to prepare students for the AP test in the spring. He thinks there should be homework, but for the well-being of students, teachers need to reflect and talk about what is most healthy for kids.

“Sometimes we need to tap the brakes a little bit and ease into this year a little bit better so we can have more success,” Wright said.

According to the DJUSD Homework Policy, for a regular English and math course, teachers may assign up to 30 minutes a day. Other non-honors or AP academic courses may assign up to 20 minutes per day.

The homework policy does not apply to AP and honors classes. Teachers of these classes may assign homework over weekends and holidays, and there is no limit to how much homework the teacher is allowed to assign.

This policy was approved in 2010 and revised in 2013. Since then, the policy has not been updated.

“Not all teachers even know that there is a homework policy until a student or a family member mentions it,” said Troy Allen, Director of Secondary Education and Leadership for the district.

The homework policy was developed after parents expressed concern about whether the amount of homework benefited students. Parent complaints included too much homework and inconsistencies of workload between grade levels. 

This led to the forming of a district committee made up of teachers, parents and other community members to create a consistent district-wide policy. This policy de-emphasized weekend homework, put a time frame on length of study time per class and banned homework during holidays for non-AP classes.  

Many teachers objected to the homework policy, says Pam Mari, who was head of the committee who designed it. She says high school teachers were especially impacted, and had to change their teaching habits to fit the new requirements.

“Teachers understood the concern and contributed ways to minimize the potential lost time and still move forward with the area of study in a timely way. The policy implicitly encourages teachers to plan homework well in advance to ensure covering material within the bounds of the policy,” Mari said.

The current policy encourages teachers to plan out homework and classwork in a less stressful yet comprehensive way.

According to Mari, the policy was developed using related research to create a consistent, public, “incrementally progressive and largely predictable” policy.

In a survey of a junior class and a sophomore class, 20% reported having about two hours of homework a day and 36% reported having over two hours of homework a day.

Many students forget that the AP and Honors classes do not have homework limits, and they take multiple AP or Honors classes, increasing their work load.

Math teacher Kiby Fuchslin thinks that the homework policy should be applied for accelerated integrated three math because of how fast-paced the course is, as it covers the equivalent of two years of math in one.

“On a normal school day, (students) had more time to do homework than now,” Fuchslin said.

Fuchslin thinks that the homework policy cannot be properly enforced due to the individual needs of students.

“What takes one kid half an hour might take another kid two hours,” Fuchslin said.

After having kids in high school, Fuchslin sees homework differently. Now she spreads her homework out in chunks so kids have time to be kids.

“I never want kids to do three hours of homework ever,” Fuchslin said.