The benefits and drawbacks of homework have been much debated at Milton High School.
High School Principal Mr. Michael Bergey said there is no ideal amount of homework nor official limits on it. He added that he trusts his teachers’ judgements and decisions “when it comes to what they believe will be good for their students, since they are professionals and know what they are doing.”
Milton’s teachers had been doing block schedule for years, so this year’s period schedule change is new for them as well, and “they are trying to adjust to the fact that they have an entire school year to complete everything instead of half a year,” Mr. Bergey said.
He added that teachers at first may have felt as if they needed to give more homework in the beginning of the year, but now realize they have more time and are reducing their homework amounts.
According to Mr. Bergey, whether homework is graded is the teacher’s choice. He explained that it would not make sense if it were not graded in any way because then students would feel like they do not need to complete it. He also said that consequences of not doing homework will be a lower grade, but if students continuously are not doing it, they may be assigned to learning lab or detention by their teachers.
“There’re different elements of the value of homework,” Mr. Bergey said. One of them is practicing content the student already learned, and another is being introduced to new content the student may not have known. “It gets students to think about the material they are given and find ,how to understand it,” he added.
Mr. Bergey explained that there were complaints earlier in the year from students about homework, and he had conversations with teachers about it. He added that the problems seem to have been resolved.
“Students can communicate with their teachers if they feel as if they are doing too much homework for their individual class,” Mr. Bergey said.
Math teacher Ms. Michelle Reichner said homework is meant for the students to practice concepts introduced to them. It “helps teachers assess where students are with their understanding of the material,” she said. She added that she knows students have many other commitments whether it is an after-school activity, job or other things.
“Students will have homework if they are not taking the time they have in class or Pride to do it and will have to do it at home,” Ms. Reichner added.
Business Teacher Jamie Emery-Seibert said homework can be “used as a tool to collaborate with students on projects applying real world applications to concepts learned in class.”
She added that students will only have homework if they are not using the time in class that is given to them to complete it wisely. “Too much homework can be overwhelming to a student and cause burnout,” Ms. Emery-Seibert said.
