no assignment policy in school

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Statement on the no-homework policy bills

PASIG CITY, August 28, 2019 – With its issuance of the “Guidelines on Giving Homework or Assignment to All Public Elementary School Pupils,” otherwise known as DepEd Memorandum No. 392, series 2010, the Department of Education (DepEd) reiterates its commitment to the holistic development of learners inside and outside the classroom.

The said issuance aims to enable learners to have more quality time with their parents, family, and friends by limiting the homework/assignment to a reasonable quantity on school days and by eliminating the same during weekends.

It is in this regard that the Department supports the no-homework policy proposed by legislators from the House of Representatives. By ensuring that they complete all assignments and projects in school, the no-homework policy enables our learners to find balance between their academic development and personal growth by having ample time for enjoyable activities with family.

The Department will further study the other provisions of the bills to determine the repercussions on the current teaching and learning process.

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No Points Off for Late Work

A look at how one teacher adjusted her policies to encourage learners to turn in quality assignments, even if they were late.

When I think back on my school experience, I distinctly remember attempting to finish homework a few minutes before class. They were frantic, heart-racing moments where I was scribbling illegibly. I wasn’t focused on doing good work—just trying to get words on paper so I could get some credit.

As a student, I knew I was being punished for procrastinating. As a teacher, I implemented a policy that I thought was kinder: I always welcomed work, but students lost points based on the number of days the assignment was late. I reasoned that I needed to prepare them for the real world of deadlines and consequences. It also seemed to be a clear-cut way to incentivize on-time work while allowing for wiggle room when students struggled.

Allow Nuance in Accepting and Assessing Student Work

Then, the pandemic hit, and nothing was clear-cut anymore. The pandemic showed that there had always been nuances in some student absences, but now it was on a much larger scale and complicated my policy. I also saw that when I discussed my students’ skills, my late policy made it difficult to see a student’s actual skill level if their grade reflected lateness, not a lack of understanding.

Dr. Jeff Judd, an education professor I work with at Leeward Community College, experienced similar challenges, noting that it was hard “to make viable statements about whether my students were actually learning anything. Does a failing grade mean that the student didn’t learn anything or that the student couldn’t manage their own time well ?”

A few colleagues, including Dr. Judd, shared a new approach: allowing students to receive full credit on their assignments, no matter how late, and including a grade focused on their organization and planning. This allowed teachers to grade students on the skills their assignments were assessing. Judd appreciated the clarity, saying, “I no longer had to evaluate or confirm excuses on why it was late because they could still score full credit. If a student completed the assignments but received zero points for “on-time”/planning and organization [multiple times], I could intervene and focus on organizational and time management strategies rather than academic ones.”

Shift Your Late Policy to Encourage Quality Work

I was hesitant at first. The concept was outside my comfort zone. Then, I realized that my comfort zone was largely dictated by my own K–12 education experiences. I wanted to spare my students those frantic, heart-racing moments scribbling down words and instead try to get quality work.

So, this quarter, I informed students that I would no longer take off points for late assignments and they would also receive a separate “organization, planning, and preparedness” (“OPP”) grade in connection with each submitted assignment. The score was averaged into their overall class grade and used a rubric based on a percentage of late and missing assignments and student reflections so they could improve in the future.

Ultimately, my students and I both appreciated the change. It was more straightforward than my previous late policy. Instead of navigating excuses and calculating points to take off, I noted the assignment as “late,” knowing that I could consider it in the aggregate at the end of the quarter. This freed me up to provide more meaningful feedback to my students on the actual skills I was assessing with the assignment. 

A few weeks before the end of the quarter, I shared their current OPP grade based on their present work, so they had time to raise that grade if they had been struggling or ask questions if there was a discrepancy. At the end of the quarter, I was able to quickly calculate what percentage of assignments were late and only needed to investigate if it drastically changed a student’s grade, so I could provide a comment to students and families about why and how the grade was affected.

Students said the change allowed them to turn in their best work. One student shared that the policy “motivates students who haven’t planned and prepared for class to be more prepared and… to be the best version of themselves.” Another shared that “it allowed us to not rush our work to turn in things. Although it’s important to turn in homework on time, I believe it is more important to submit work that [shows] your best abilities.”

Additionally, my students shared that it made them feel more valued. “[The new grading system] reflects more of an overall student contribution,” one reflected. “Taking off points for each assignment turned in late almost defeated the whole purpose of the assignment.” Another felt that “[I] should keep doing it because it assesses us as a whole.”

Set Boundaries so You Can Submit Grades on Time  

While I was initially worried about getting a flood of work at the end of the quarter, I actually didn’t experience that. My mid-quarter check-in encouraged many students who had numerous late assignments to turn them in then. I also set a deadline for all work that gave me adequate time to grade work before I had to submit final grades to my school. This helped set boundaries so I could still assess work while giving students as much time as possible.

I’m glad I went outside my comfort zone to try this new style of grading. I’ve also appreciated learning from the work of other colleagues making similar changes, like Matthew R. Kay’s fantastic student-led reflective rubric for projects , which I want to incorporate into my classroom. In doing this, I’ve now reframed my classroom—not just to focus on assessing skills instead of timeliness, but also to worry less about punishing procrastination and instead find ways to look at my students in a more holistic way.

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NO ASSIGNMENT POLICY_A BOON OR A BANE

2019, International Journal of English and Education

Homework or assignment is widely known as an educational activity, which primary purpose is to help the students improve their performances however some studies showed that assignment has a negative impact on students’ social lives and more assignment increases stress level and physical problems. In the Philippines, a “No Homework Policy” during weekends for all student levels was issued by President Rodrigo R. Duterte. This study explores the possible effect of having and not having assignments on weekends on the transmuted mean scores and performance of high school students. The study was conducted at Central Mindanao University Laboratory High School (CMULHS), in Maramag, Bukidnon using two sections of Grade 11 students. The data was treated using the descriptive statistics. ANCOVA was used to determine if a significant difference exist. Result of the study reveals that class with assignments had a higher transmuted mean scores as compared to those without assignments. An increased performance from midterm to final term was noted in the with assignment group however, there is no significant difference in the performance of the students with and without assignments.

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The main purpose of this study was to explore the factors of Mathematics achievement of the students from their own perspectives. Mixed-methods approach was used in the study. The quantitative part was employed to define the level of Mathematics achievement of the students. On the other hand, the qualitative part of the study explored the student-related and teacher-related factors of the students' mathematics achievement. The participants of the study were the 247 and 10 of these Grade 7 students of Moonwalk National High School who are officially enrolled for the School Year 2019-2020. Qualitative data were gathered through a 6-item open-ended questionnaire developed by the researcher and through a Focus Group Discussion attended by ten selected students. Whereas, quantitative data were the first quarter GPA of the participants in their Mathematics class. Data analysis involved mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage for quantitative data while thematic analysis and a simple document analysis were employed for qualitative data. Results show that most of the Grade 7 students have fairly satisfactory achievement in Mathematics. Analysis of the qualitative data shows that student-related factor of Mathematics achievement include interest, self-confidence, attitude towards Math, motivation, perseverance and commitment, compliance, attendance, class participation, study habits, peer support, family support, technology aided learning, asking questions, math self-concept, math anxiety, talkativeness, English language comprehension, concentration/focus, health condition and nutrition, and computer gaming. Moreover, students reported that teacher-related factors of their mathematics achievement include traits such as being kind, energetic, strict, cheerful, positive, hardworking, patient, confident and responsible. Results further reveal that teacher's humor, motivation towards students, competence, mastery of content and teaching methods and strategies such as the use of varied learning activities (e.g. songs, manipulatives, games, etc.), code-switching, good explaining strategy, and collaborative learning positively contribute to their Mathematics achievement. However, teacher's anger, yelling at students, teaching too fast, teaching more than one lessons a day, teaching different lessons everyday and workload were reported by the students as factors that negatively influenced their Mathematics achievement. In addition, curriculum and noisy learning environment were other factors found to negatively impact mathematics achievement. As a result, teachers are encouraged to have awareness and to take into consideration these various factors that help and hinder their students' achievement in Mathematics.

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A quasi-experimental study was conducted to investigate the effects of differentiated instruction, a strategy that may cater to learners' diversity, towards their academic performance and engagement in Basic Calculus. It was participated by sixty Grade 11 learners in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) strand of Bukidnon State University Secondary School, Malaybalay City during the second semester of the school year 2017-2018. Lessons on differentiation and its applications were developed. Researcher-made academic performance test and engagement scale were evaluated by a panel of experts and underwent validity and reliability analysis. The gathered data were analyzed and interpreted using appropriate statistical techniques: mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentage, one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and paired t-test. The results revealed that the learners' academic performance when taught using differentiated instruction was Very Satisfactory; while learners taught with the conventional instruction was Fairly Satisfactory. There was a statistically significant difference in the academic performance between the two groups of learners, in favor of those taught with differentiated instruction. Moreover, the engagement level of the learners in the experimental group was Moderate before and after the intervention, and there was a statistically significant difference between them attributed to differentiated instruction.

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PERCEIVED INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ON THE BEHAVIOUR AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN AKURE METROPOLIS

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There have been noticeable changes in the academic achievements and behavioural outputs of secondary school students and this has been a major concern of parents, teachers and policy makers in education owning to their involvement on Social Networking Sites. However, Some researchers have argued that the introduction of social networking sites have negatively impacted the outputs of students both academically and in terms of their behaviours, while some posited that secondary school students turn out to be associates with their colleagues on social networks and are more likely to team up on assignments thereby leading to improved academic and behavioural output. The study employed a comparative design with the aid of well-structured questionnaire administered to 200 students drawn from major schools in Akure metropolis, this was critically analyzed using mean deviation. The findings of these research in chapter four reveals that the introduction of social networking sites has greatly affected the academic achievements and behaviours of secondary school students both positively and negatively, hence the chapter five proffers recommendations to influence positive use of social networking sites for efficient academic and behavioral output. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

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Teachers often complain that students show a negative attitude on their participation in class. They oftentimes go to school unprepared for the lessons, they showed passive attitude towards activities in the classroom, and their awareness on their own learning process is very limited. Thus, this study examined the effect of assignment on the performance of the grade 11 students. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design. Homework assignments were used in the study to determine if there is a significant difference between two groups namely, the with-assignment group with 57 students and without-assignment with 58 students. In addition, significant difference on the performance of the student when grouped according to gender was analyzed. Mean, standard deviation, t-test for independence and ANCOVA were used in the study. Results revealed that there is no significant difference on the performance of students for both with assignment and without assignment group. Findings also showed that there was no statistical significant difference in the mean achievement of male and female students exposed to with assignment.

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THE SUSPENSION OF HOMEWORK IN THE PHILIPPINES

• Temps de lecture : 16 min de lecture
• Auteur/autrice de la publication : education_south
• Publication publiée : 2 juin 2022
• Post category: Pédagogie
• Commentaires de la publication : 3 commentaires

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By Joreen Domingo Varly

To the 29 000+ Filipino readers/viewers over the past 3 months, Maraming Salamat po!

INTRODUCTION

Homework or homework assignment has been an inevitable part of a pupils’ academic journey. An academic task that includes a period of reading, writing that has to be completed, textbook exercises to answer, Mathematics problems to be solved, some information to review for the previous or next lesson, and some activities to practice skills.

The primary purpose of giving a homework is to reinforce and increase pupils’ knowledge and improve their learning abilities. This will encourage pupils to engage in active learning. This also promotes a pupil-parent communication and collaboration between pupils.

 But many schools are rethinking homework, some have cut down on the amount they give each week, and others no longer allow weekend assignments. Some have eliminated homework entirely.

Source : OECD (2014)

THE PHILIPPINES’ Suspension of Homework

In September 2010, a memorandum from the Department of education was circulated (and passed on to all the bureau directors, regional directors, school division/city superintendents and Heads of Public elementary school). The   Deped Memorandum No.392 S.2010 highlights the suspension of homework during the weekend. This is to address the concern of parents regarding the amount of time the pupils consume in accomplishing their homework, instead of having an enjoyable and quality time with their family. This memorandum also intends to ease the pupils’ burden about the thought of doing plenty of homework.

In August 2019, the 118 th Congress – Senate Bill No. 966 (authored by Senator Grace Poe) or the proposed “No Homework Law” has been filed. This is a senate bill banning teachers from giving homework to students from kinder to Grade 12 on weekends.

The bill stated that all primary and secondary schools in the country shall not allow teachers to give any network or assignments to students. Under the proposed measure, teachers may only assign homework to students on weekends provided that it be minimal and will not require more than four hours to be completed.  The policy will be applied on both public and private schools.

“Further, it looked at homework hours around the world and found that there wasn’t much of a connection between how much homework students of a particular country do and how well their students score on tests” , the bill read.

Citing a 2014 study from the OECD based on PISA data, the senator noted that additional time spent on homework has a negligible impact on the performance of students after around four hours of homework in a week.  In OECD countries, for example, advantaged students spend 5.7 hours per week doing homework, on average, while disadvantaged students spend an average of 4.1 hours per week.

No homework policy

The Department of Education (DepEd) expressed its support on this filed bill of “No homework policy” saying that it would help learners find balance between personal and academic growth. Since they had been advocating for an all-inclusive learning regime for Filipino students, to include out of the classroom schooling, a policy that will, in effect, restrict teachers from giving homework to students from kindergarten to Grade 12. In hopes that the concept will enable Filipino learners “to find balance between their academic development and personal growth by having ample time for enjoyable activities with family.”

Up to this date, the proposed bill is not yet approved. Apparently, there is need to be circumspect and judicious. The DepEd memorandum of 2010 is still the ruling guideline on giving homework to pupils.

Summary of pros and cons of homework

Let’s look into the summary of homework’s pros and cons:

Source : Joreen Domingo-Varly

NEWS : SEAMEO Secretariat and the Department of Education, Philippines commit to the next phase of SEA-PLM Programme

The SEAMEO Secretariat Director, Dr Ethel Agnes Pascua-Valenzuela, and the Secretary of Education, Philippines, H E Dr Leonor Magtolis Briones, signed the Memorandum of Understanding to spearhead the implementation of activities under the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) 5-Year Strategic Plan, including the SEA-PLM 2024 Survey. The MoU signing ceremony took place in the Office of the Secretary Building at the Department of Education in Manila on Monday, 02 May 2022.

Le système d’utilisation des manuels (ou livres scolaires) en classe

L’enseignement multilingue : les réalités d’un environnement pédagogique dynamique.

Des manuels pour les pays en voie de développement ? Oui, mais… un ensemble de défis !

Cet article a 3 commentaires.

Félicitations à Joreen d’évoquer un problème en émergence dans les pays africains. Au Cameroun où je passe la majorité de mes observations, le problème de” saturation des activités intellectuelle” gagne du terrain, encouragé par cette frénésie de faire avancer les enfants sans respecter le rythme bio-physiologique des enfants. Tenez par exemple, les congés c’est à partir du 10 juin au primaire. Immédiatement, les “saturalistes” ont déjà programmé des cours de rattrapage pour le mois de juillet. Quand est-ce que le cerveau de ces enfants va se reposer? Commençons à mener des réflexions dans ce sens. Châpeau Joreen/

Thanks! Actually I’ve been looking if it has been approved or not yet, then I saw you blog. I know the Finnish almost 100% do not give homework. As a math teacher, in my class, I started not giving them homework (years before the pandemic) even though the bill has not been passed yet.

https://news.yahoo.com/theres-only-far-them-why-123134730.html

Leave a Reply Annuler la réponse.

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Attendance Boundary Policies and the Limits to Combating School Segregation

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Bill aims to give students ‘no homework’ weekends

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MANILA, Philippines — Saying children are “overworked” with 10 hours spent at school on weekdays, Tutok to Win Rep. Sam Versoza has filed House Bill No. 8243 — the proposed “No Homework Law” — to stop teachers from giving homework to elementary and high school students during weekends so as to allow students to “rest and recharge.”

A 2010 Department of Education memorandum circular advised teachers to limit the giving of homework to public elementary school students to a reasonable quantity on weekdays, while no homework is to be given on weekends. HB 8243 sought to institutionalize this for all elementary and high schools across the country.

Since the 17th Congress (2016-2019), lawmakers have tried to institute a no homework policy on weekends, but such measures remained pending before the House basic education and culture committee.

Versoza, in a privilege speech on Monday, said students work extra hours to accomplish their homework. In some instances, parents themselves would finish their children’s tasks.

“The Filipino youth are overworked and yet the Philippines is trailing behind other countries,” Versoza said in his privilege speech.

He cited recent reports that the average intelligence quotient (IQ) of Filipinos was 81.64, while the global average IQ was 100. The Philippines ranked 111th out of 200 countries in terms of average IQ.

“This is alarming and proves that the Philippines is in the middle of an educational crisis. If the system is not working, let us improve the system,” Versoza said.

He noted that Finland, China, South Korea, Japan, and other progressive nations already cut back on giving homework to students and that the Philippines should consider this as well.

Versoza said an hour of homework a day was “sufficient to achieve satisfactory results” and that increasing the number of hours for homework “may cause stress to students and their families.”

The lawmaker also pointed to the disparity between the rich and poor in completing school tasks.

“Kids from wealthier homes are more likely to have resources such as computers, internet connection, dedicated areas to do schoolwork, and parents who tend to be more educated and more available to help them with their homework,” Versoza said.

On the other hand, children from disadvantaged homes are more likely to take on after-school jobs, be at home without parents’ supervision, or take care of siblings instead of doing homework.

He also cited data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, which showed that the Philippines had the highest dropout rate among Southeast Asian countries, with a lack of interest in school as one of the reasons cited.

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“This only shows that school is not fun anymore,” Versoza said.

RELATED STORIES

Deped to issue ‘more precise’ guidelines on students’ homework policy, homework ban to promote ‘holistic approach’ among families — solon, deped: no-homework plan to help students attain school-life balance.

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Student reassignments achieve diversity without academic adversity

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, thurston domina , thurston domina professor, department of education - university of north carolina-chapel hill @thaddomina deven carlson , deven carlson associate professor of political science - university of oklahoma, associate director for education - the national institute of risk and resilience @devencarlson james carter iii , james carter iii ph.d. student, school of education - university of north carolina-chapel hill, research analyst - wake county public school system matthew lenard , matthew lenard ph.d. candidate - harvard graduate school of education @kontinent andrew mceachin , and andrew mceachin director, collaborative for student growth - nwea, co-editor - educational researcher @ajmceachin rachel m. perera rachel m. perera fellow - the brookings institution, governance studies , brown center on education policy.

September 1, 2021

School desegregation works. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that federal efforts to enforce Brown v. Board of Education and dismantle separate and unequal systems of public education improved Black children’s life trajectories —driving gains in educational achievement and attainment , increasing employment , and reducing arrests and crime victimization . This body of research finds little evidence of offsetting effects for white children.

Nonetheless, school desegregation efforts have consistently faced intense political resistance. Images of this resistance are seared in the nation’s memory: crowds of angry white protestors spitting and jeering at the Little Rock Nine as they integrated Central High School; U.S. marshals escorting nine-year-old Ruby Bridges into her New Orleans elementary school; battles between desegregation advocates and their opponents in the streets of 1970s Boston.

We might like to think that opposition to desegregation efforts is a relic of the past. This backlash, however, continues to the present day, as illustrated by recent dispatches from San Francisco , New York City , Maryland’s Montgomery County , and North Carolina’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg County . Opponents frequently argue that school reassignments for diversity purposes—often referred to as “mandatory busing”—exact academic, social, and emotional costs from reassigned students.

As districts around the U.S. grapple with high levels of racial and socioeconomic segregation, and the Biden administration prepares to make a $100 million bet on a new generation of school desegregation efforts , we wanted to know whether historical and contemporary concerns were justified.

To find out, we took a close look at North Carolina’s Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) and the socioeconomic school desegregation plan the district implemented between 2000 and 2010.

WCPSS set a goal that no school’s enrollment would exceed 40% socioeconomically disadvantaged students or 25% below grade-level students. It sought to accomplish this with a “controlled choice” approach that gave parents opportunities to choose their children’s schools but allowed the district to manage the assignment process in ways that served its desegregation goals. It divided the district into geographic nodes containing roughly 150 students each and assigned each node to a “base” elementary, middle, and high school. While families had a menu of school choices, their node’s “base” school was their default school of attendance. To maintain socioeconomic and achievement balance, WCPSS annually reassigned several nodes—and the students residing in them—to different base schools, generally reassigning relatively high-poverty residential nodes to lower-poverty base schools and vice versa.

More than 20% of students enrolled in WCPSS experienced one or more reassignments under the policy during the decade in which it was in place. In Figure 1, we map WCPSS’s residential nodes, shading reassigned nodes according to their concentration of students of color. As the map illustrates, reassignments affected students across the district, including Black, white, and Hispanic students.

Figure 1: Percent of students in WCPSS residential nodes identified for reassignment between 2000-2010 who are Black or Hispanic

Our analyses , which have just been published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management , yield three main conclusions.

First, although WCPSS’s policy allowed families to opt out of their newly reassigned schools, most reassigned students attended their reassigned schools. This finding is important because it suggests that districts can create more diverse and inclusive school assignment boundaries even with policies that allow a considerable degree of school choice.

Second, despite widespread concerns about the potential harms of “busing” to achieve diversity goals, we find no evidence of negative consequences of reassignment for reassigned students. Indeed, as the findings reported in Figure 2 illustrate, our analyses indicate that reassignment had modest positive effects on reassigned students’ math achievement, in the range of 0.02-0.04 standard deviations.

Figure 2: Effects of reassignment on reassigned students’ mathematics and reading achievement, suspension, and chronic absenteeism

We further find that reassigned students’ rates of suspension drop by about 1 percentage point in the year of reassignment and the subsequent year, a decline of 20% off the base suspension rate. These findings indicate that, in this case at least, concerns about the academic and social costs of school reassignment are unfounded. Carefully designed and implemented school assignment policies like the one WCPSS implemented in the early 2000s can improve school diversity without imposing academic or disciplinary costs on reassigned students. Additional analyses indicate that the benefits associated with reassignment were relatively widespread and we found no evidence to suggest that academic outcomes declined white students or students initially enrolled in low-poverty schools after reassignment.

Third, we find that students who do and do not attend their base school have similar outcome trajectories post-reassignment. We are reluctant to draw firm causal conclusions based on this finding. Nonetheless, it suggests that students benefit from reassignment whether they attend their new base schools or transfer to a choice school.

Looking Ahead—In Wake County and Beyond

As trends toward socioeconomic segregation across public schools intensify across the U.S., and the COVID-19 pandemic sheds light on deep and persistent inequalities in our public schools, we believe now is the time for educational policymakers to undertake brave and ambitious new approaches to school desegregation. WCPSS’s 2000-2010 socioeconomic reassignment policy should be a touchstone in this policy conversation. This policy–which has attracted considerable academic attention over the years–was neither perfect nor uncontroversial. In fact, voter backlash to the policy led to the election of an anti-desegregation slate of school board candidates in 2010.

Today, as the district confronts rising levels of racial and socioeconomic school segregation, it is contemplating new approaches to use school assignments to boost diversity. We believe the story of Wake County’s socioeconomic reassignments should embolden equity-oriented policymakers in Wake County and across America. By building on the WCPSS model, policymakers can realize the profound benefits of educational diversity, even in an era when courts subject racially sensitive desegregation efforts to sharp scrutiny and school-choice plans provide new opportunities for students to avoid socioeconomically diverse schools. And—contrary to widespread worries about the costs of desegregation—our analysis suggests that educational policymakers can realize these benefits while simultaneously enriching the educational experiences of reassigned students.

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DepEd to issue guidelines regulating weekday homework of students

Ahead of the passage of a law, the Department of Education (DepEd) will issue a directive regulating the giving of homework to students during weekdays, Secretary Leonor Briones told GMA News Online.

Briones said the directive will contain guidelines including the number of homework that will be assigned, the subjects to be included and the students who will be covered by the policy.

The directive will also reiterate DepEd Memorandum No. 392 (series of 2010)  that prohibits homework or assignments during weekends “for pupils to enjoy their childhood and spend quality time with their parents without being burdened by the thought of doing lots of homework.”

Briones said the directive is being finalized for her signature.

“Right now, we are discouraging homework during weekends, but we need to issue a new directive, pending the approval of the bills, that will regulate or limit the homework given on weekdays,” she said.

“In principle, I am supportive of the pending bills in Congress because the final test of the pudding is not really on the homework, we cannot prove the effectiveness of our educational system through homework,” the Education chief added.

There are no guarantees that the kids themselves do the homework, Briones said.

“We know that in a number of cases it is the mother or father, lolo or lola, the tutors or even the yayas who accomplish these homework, so yung output na sina-submit sa school ay hindi output ng bata,” she said.

What should be encouraged within the classrooms is more time for discussions to hone the analytical thinking and assessment of students.

“Data changes, so we can’t always ask them to memorize information and figures.  What we should do is teach them discernment and analytical thinking,” Briones said.

Several bills seeking to implement a “no-homework” policy among kindergarten to Grade 12 students are up for deliberation at the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In House Bill 3611, Deputy Speaker and Sorsogon Representative Evelina Escudero also seeks to compel schools and teachers to implement a "more holistic and effective pedagogy" by conducting all lessons and activities in school.

Apart from a no-homework policy, House Bill 3611 also proposes that all kindergarden and Grade 6 students will deposit and leave their textbooks in school. No textbook will be brought home to "prevent the adverse effects" of carrying heavy bags to-and-from schools. —KBK, GMA News

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How to Reduce Student Absenteeism

Readers discuss the reasons for the spike since the pandemic and how to lure students back.

​Why School Absences Have ‘Exploded’ Almost Everywhere

The pandemic changed families’ lives and the culture of education: “Our relationship with school became optional.”

To the Editor:

“ Pandemic Effect: Absence From Schools Is Soaring ” (front page, March 30) highlights the persistent challenge of chronic absenteeism in U.S. schools. If pandemic-related “cultural shifts” are among the factors keeping students away from school, bringing them back may require us to rethink the culture of education itself.

Despite the efforts of many visionary educators, too many schools still offer a deskbound, test- and compliance-driven experience that leaves students passive, uninspired and flat-out bored.

Over the last two years, a pilot program in Salem, Mass. , has succeeded in cutting chronic absenteeism among middle schoolers in half by listening to students and designing learning with their interests in mind, including regular field trips, hands-on projects and mentoring with college students. Today, the chronic absenteeism rate among the pilot cohort of seventh and eighth graders hovers at 8 percent, in no small part because students don’t want to miss what’s on offer at school.

Educators can reset school culture by being adaptive, believing in teacher leadership and recognizing that powerful learning can happen outside classroom walls. Unlike the use of Band-Aids and gimmickry that do not result in long-term change, valuing a philosophy of “education everywhere,” as Salem has embraced, will result in improved attendance and academic growth.

Stephen Hinds Laura Tavares Stephen Zrike Chelsea Banks Mr. Hinds is president and Ms. Tavares is executive director of the WPS Institute, an education nonprofit. Dr. Zrike is superintendent and Ms. Banks is dean of innovation for Salem Public Schools.

This article brings light to an issue plaguing school districts across the country. As a former classroom teacher, I remember talking with students who returned to school after being absent. They would ask for the work they missed. While I could share the assignment, I could not possibly share the rest of what they missed, including the social and academic interaction with their peers, the instruction provided, the opportunity to ask questions while working through material and being part of a community.

When done right, school is more than a collection of assignments. It is a vibrant social fabric that provides a culture of belonging, and opportunities to grow and explore with trusted adults guiding the way.

The solution to the absenteeism problem is not easy. As the chief education officer at Mikva Challenge, a group that works to engage young people in the civic process and have their voices part of critical decision making affecting their lives, I know that for any solution to be successful, it must involve youth in the process.

Our default as adults is to make decisions in the best interest of children, without asking them what they think and whether an idea will work. Young people are not apathetic; they are uninvited. They care deeply about the issues that affect them. And when they are engaged in decision making, policy is better.

Jill Bass Chicago

We had mixed feelings when reading “Pandemic Effect: Absence From Schools Is Soaring.” On the one hand, it’s important for the public to understand that chronic absenteeism in America is no small problem. On the other hand, the article unwittingly minimized the deep struggle so many families experience, particularly those from underresourced backgrounds.

You quote a researcher who stated, “The problem got worse for everybody in the same proportional way,” but we question whether this accurately reflects the reality in America today. Based on our own and others’ research, we believe that families who struggled before the pandemic were much more vulnerable to its effects.

We cannot ignore just how much deeper Covid affected communities of color, communities with risk factors, communities in poverty and communities in rural areas. This does not negate anyone’s struggles; yet the struggle has been disproportionate. This cannot be ignored.

Zahava L. Friedman Keri Giordano Hillside, N.J. Dr. Friedman is an assistant professor and Dr. Giordano is an associate professor at the College of Health Professions and Human Services, Kean University.

My 12-year-old son has been absent from school most of this year and is a part of the chronic absenteeism statistics cited in the article. His attendance was excellent until he caught Covid twice in one year from school. He was 9 years old and has been chronically ill ever since.

It is shocking to me that the article never suggests that some absenteeism might be due to chronic illness from Covid.

One recent study suggested that as many as 5.8 million kids in the United States have had their health affected by long Covid. These statistics are highly contested, but given how reluctant our doctors have been to diagnose or treat our child for something that they cannot measure with any blood test, it is not surprising that we do not really know the full extent of this disease.

My child, and many other children like him, cannot go to school because they are struggling with the persistent life-altering symptoms of chronic illness. These children want to go back to school. Don’t leave them out of the story.

Sarah Mathis Pleasanton, Calif.

The root causes of chronic absenteeism in American public schools are as varied as the solutions needed to combat it. One often overlooked and underfunded strategy with the potential to re-engage students in learning is arts education.

A 2021 study on the benefits of arts instruction in the Boston Public Schools showed that increased access to arts education reduced student absenteeism, with a greater impact on students who had been chronically absent.

BPS Arts Expansion is a public-private partnership that has dramatically expanded access to quality arts education throughout the school district and enabled longitudinal research on its impact.

No one strategy will be the panacea for chronic absenteeism. But as districts across the country grapple with this issue, expanding access to in-school arts instruction warrants attention.

Marinell Rousmaniere Boston The writer is the president and C.E.O. of EdVestors, a nonprofit school improvement organization.

Polk County Public Schools set to refine policy on responding to book challenges

Polk County Public Schools is considering a new policy on handling challenges to books held in libraries and classrooms.

Superintendent Frederick Heid and the Polk County School Board discussed the proposed policy during a work session Tuesday. The draft largely responds to laws passed by the Florida Legislature since the district first adopted its policy in October 2022, as well as rules from the Florida Board of Education.

Among the changes from the current policy, the draft allows challenges to books in classroom libraries, not only in schoolwide libraries, as well as material used in classes or on assigned reading lists. The proposal also adds references to state laws defining prohibited sexual content.

The draft reflects one of three options for a revised policy provided by Neola, an education consulting firm contracted by the district.

Stacy Davis, the district’s library services director, said that the staff had made “a significant amount” of revisions in response to suggestions from an initial draft shared with School Board members at their March 19 work session.

Florida has seen a wave of complaints in recent years about books available in public schools, particularly those in libraries. Groups such as Citizens Defending Freedom, a conservative outfit based in Polk County, and Moms for Liberty have led the push, accusing some school districts of giving students access to books they consider to be pornographic or otherwise inappropriate.

Citizens Defending Freedom sued Polk County Public Schools in March over its policies on handling book objections. In an 11-page complaint, the conservative group alleged that the district was not following state law. Jason Geary, a spokesperson for the district, said that the proposed policy changes were not made in response to the lawsuit.

The Florida Legislature has passed bills in the past two sessions directing county school districts on how to manage challenges over books. While Gov. Ron DeSantis has amplified complaints about school materials, he said during this year’s session that some had taken advantage of the process.

The Legislature passed a bill in this year’s session restricting those who reside outside a particular county to one challenge per month of a book in that district’s libraries or classrooms. DeSantis has not yet signed the measure. There have been media reports of activists filing hundreds of challenges in counties where they do not reside.

Expanded grounds for challenges

An agenda item for the work session included the proposed policy, with color-coded suggestions for additions and deletions based on comments from the March 19 session. In one proposed change, anyone submitting a challenge must provide proof of Polk County residency.

Objections are first reviewed by a school principal, who may meet with a teacher, those making the challenge or both “in an attempt to resolve the objection, using an alternative instructional material,” the current policy states. If no resolution is reached that satisfies the challenging party, the principal will refer the matter to a district-level curriculum supervisor.

A proposed addition emphasizes that such a move is intended to initiate the school media committee review process.

The committee then receives a copy of the challenger’s submitted form. A proposed addition to the policy reads: “The school committee makes the recommendation to retain or remove the material.”

A list of reasons for objections inserts references to state laws defining pornographic content and descriptions of sexual conduct. The policy adds another basis for challenges — that a book “is inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used.”

In a proposed addition, any book facing a claim that it is pornographic or depicts sexual conduct must be removed within five school days and remain unavailable to students until the challenge is resolved.

Lake Wales Charter superintendent under investigation after employment grievances made

Parents have the right to read passages from any book that is subject to an objection, the policy states. If the district denies parental access because of content considered pornographic or sexual under state law or a Board of Education rule, the district must discontinue use of the material, a suggested revision says.

The draft clarifies that the superintendent must notify the School Board of a book complaint and then appoint a review committee. The proposal slightly alters the potential composition of such a committee.

Up to half of the panel would be parents of students with access to the material, instructional staff members (including certified library media specialists and English/language arts teachers) and non-employees with expertise in the subject matter. The draft deletes a mention of assigning one or more School Board members to a review committee.

In a proposed addition, the district would provide public notices of review committee meetings, which would be open to the public.

Just as the draft expands the criteria for challenges to include claims of pornography or sexual descriptions, committees would consider those elements in evaluating books, under the proposed revisions. Material found in violation could be removed pending the committee’s recommendation to the superintendent.

Committee recommendations would be due in writing to the superintendent within 15 business days following its formation, and the superintendent would report to the challenger within five days after that. An objector could then appeal the decision in writing within 15 days. The superintendent would forward the appeal and all relevant material to the School Board within five business days.

The School Board would then review the case during a publicly noticed meeting, taking a vote on whether to uphold the challenge. If board members find that the challenged book contains material barred under state law, it will be removed altogether or made unavailable to students in grades for which it is considered unsuitable.

The draft includes a final added section describing the rights of a parent who disagrees with the School Board’s decision. The challenger may ask the Florida commissioner of education to appoint a special magistrate, a lawyer with experience in administrative law, who would make a recommendation to the Board of Education within 30 days.

The Board of Education would then vote to approve or reject the recommendation at its next scheduled meeting. The school district is responsible for covering the fees generated by appointment of the special magistrate, the draft says, in keeping with state law.

CDF: Not enough change

Acknowledging a new state law, the proposed policy compels the district to file annual reports to the Florida Department of Education documenting all book challenges and the resulting actions.

The School Board must vote on all changes to policy. The earliest the proposal could be discussed at a meeting is June 11, Geary said.

In its lawsuit, CDF criticized the makeup of district’s review committees, said its meetings were not properly advertised and claimed that the district had not followed its own guidelines in reviewing appeals.

"We're happy that the school board is willing to change to their policy, however in the last two years the Board has never once followed their existing policy,” Anthony Sabatini, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit on behalf of CDF, said by email. “There needs to be substantial changes to bring the current policy in line with Florida law and statutes."

Robert Goodman, executive director of CDF's Polk County chapter, added: "While we are thankful that the Polk County School Board is considering potential changes to their policy, we are not seeing the changes needed to protect minor aged children from accessing books containing graphic rape, pedophilia, bestiality, incest and worse. If a parent wants their child to read about these subjects, they are able to purchase them." 

Stephanie Yocum, president of the Polk Education Association, an employee union, attended Tuesday’s work session and said the policy changes seemed to be mostly necessary alignments with state law. Yocum criticized the Florida Legislature and DeSantis for imposing what she called unnecessary restrictions on schools and teachers.

Yocum said that many teachers in Polk County have already removed their classroom library because complying with state laws and rules has become burdensome. The state requires that all such books match lists of approved materials.

“I think this is just another example of our state legislators and our governor not letting home rule do its thing,” Yocum said. “It’s just one more interference with how local government can operate and function.”

Gary White can be reached at [email protected] or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

Is Portland’s tradition of parent fundraising to add teachers at their child’s school near an end?

P ortland Public Schools parents will no longer be able to raise money to add educators at their own children’s schools, under a proposal that the district’s school board is poised to approve.

The proposed policy , developed after years of heated back-and-forth , centers on the money raised by independent and affiliated foundations at just over half of the district’s 81 schools, which totaled $2.5 million in 2022-2023. It would discontinue a decades-long tradition of parents at some schools raising thousands of dollars from school auctions and the like to hire extra teachers for their children’s classrooms.

Under the new plan, which has fervent backing from influential school board member and Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards, schools are encouraged to register with the district if they raise $20,000 or more and any money intended for staff positions must be contributed to a districtwide foundation.

Under the current system, parents at any school may raise as much as they are able, via jog-a-thons, pledge drives and auctions, and the money can be spent on staff as their principals see fit.

The only caveat is that a third of whatever they raise above $10,000 must be shared with other schools.

Schools that have been able to raise more than $10,000 have wound up getting to keep anywhere between an extra few thousand dollars and north of $200,000 in recent years. Schools that raised the most in 2022 include Lincoln High School and Duniway and Ainsworth elementaries.

Meanwhile, grants from the shared pot, awarded to schools with the highest needs, topped out at $21,000.

Parent-raised money has offset the cost of about 100 educators and support staff throughout a subset of the districts school’s, though for the majority of those employees, it makes up only a small fraction of their salary. There are 27 school employees whose salaries were funded at least 50% or more by foundation dollars, according to district data.

The draft policy doesn’t specify how the district’s existing foundation, the Fund for PPS, would be scaled up if school foundations continue to fundraise large sums even though they know their school can’t use it for staff.

It is also unclear how any money in the Fund for PPS will be distributed. A parent advisory committee would be convened to recommend a formula that would then need to be approved by the school board.

The Fund for PPS’s four board members have cautioned the school board that the change is likely to lead to an initial decline in donations.

Moving to a districtwide foundation model would align Portland Public Schools with every other public school district around Oregon that has a foundation, Brim-Edwards said at a recent school board meeting.

“Disrupting inequity is never easy and it is often controversial,” she said. “The vast majority of our schools don’t have any capacity to raise funds. Maybe they got a little crumb that was left over.”

At least four other school board members signaled during a recent meeting that they agreed with her, suggesting that the proposal has enough juice to pass, despite a last-minute lobbying campaign by foundation supporters.

They’ve launched an online petition to try to stop the process in its tracks, contending that the district shouldn’t sign off on taking money out of schools without a replacement plan firmly in place, even as budget cuts loom this year and into the future. They also say that their efforts help underserved students who attend their schools and are overlooked by the district’s ongoing efforts to direct extra general fund dollars to high needs schools, a model known as equity budgeting.

“This policy revision process has polarized and demonized the fundraising process when it should have galvanized PPS households and private donors to organize and build a strategic political action committee,” to lobby for change in Salem, Bridlemile parent Jazzmin Reece testified this week. “Instead, this process has caused households to tap out and leave the district.”

Critics say the current fundraising rules create an inherently unethical system that allows wealthier communities to insulate themselves from the brunt of budget cutbacks and that it robs parents at those schools of the impetus to join in lobbying for more state funding for the entire public school system. They have also circulated a petition in support of the move to a districtwide foundation.

Parent Ellie Russell, who has children at Marysville K-5 and Kellogg Middle School, said that her child’s elementary school is slated to lose up to five full-time employees next year due to budget tightening and has no foundation to try to patch the holes.

“A districtwide foundation will put the money where it is needed,” she told board members on Thursday. “Imagine what we could accomplish if the fundraising energy currently spent at individual schools went to one common goal to increase state education funding for all schools.”

At least two school board members have signaled that they are likely to be “no” votes: Andrew Scott and Patte Sullivan, both of whom live on Portland’s comparatively wealthier west side.

Scott was particularly vociferous in opposition, suggesting that while the existing system needed reform to be more equitable, Brim-Edwards’s proposal was underbaked and left the district exposed to potential legal challenges.

Brim-Edwards took umbrage at that assertion. But since their exchange, her proposal has been amended, removing the school board’s ability to directly appoint the Fund for PPS’ board members.

The proposal will come back before the full school board for a final vote in the coming weeks.

— Julia Silverman covers schools and education policy for The Oregonian/OregonLive. She can be reached via email at [email protected] . Follow her on X.com at @jrlsilverman.

Note: This story was updated at 4:30 p.m. on April 12 to reflect that, if the policy is enacted, schools will face stricter limits on paying salaries of school employees.

©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Public money for private school scholarships is bad policy

The fact that two recently elected state representatives, Representatives Steven Jackson and Joy Waters felt the need to vote with the Republican majority, is troubling and ill advised. The people who they represent will be the families most negatively affected by this law. Parents in their districts are not going to send their children to private schools. They are just not going to do it. The question is, what were they thinking, and who are they representing?

Frankly, they both should be ashamed of themselves for going along with people like Governor Landry and others, who have publicly and systematically tried to starve public schools of much needed funds. This governor and his friends in the legislature have been committed to the idea of these private school scholarships for a long time. We are talking about payments that range from 5,100 to 15,000 dollars.   

That is a lot of money being taken out of public schools and it will inevitably hurt the children whose schools are already struggling. The scholarships will also be available to wealthy families that can afford to send their children to private schools, which makes no sense at all.    

The best thing that we as parents, teachers, and policymakers can do for children is to assure that they have access to a quality education. Educating young people and instilling in them the love and appreciation for learning should be the primary mission.  

Although that is a noble mission, we know that not all our children have had access to a quality education. We all know the historical underpinnings of education, broadly in America, and specifically in the south, where there have always been two systems.  

Growing up, I saw the disparity in the education infrastructure that was apparent in the past. And yes, the past is the past, and the education of our children should be equitable, but we all know that has never been the case for poor and minority children.   

When Louisiana schools were integrated, many families took their children out of public schools and sent them to the new private schools that immediately sprang up all over the south. They were all “exclusive” and did not accept all children early on. Schools like Cedar Creek in Ruston and Trinity Heights in Shreveport were forerunners.  

During this time, many of these schools were created under the guise of being “religious schools.” And although the schools now accept “other” students, their history of being beacons of education for all children leaves a lot to be desired. Now, the legislature is bound and determined to make it possible for these schools to get public funds.  

Providing public funds to religious schools can be seen as a violation of the principle of separation of church and state, a foundational concept guaranteed by the establishment clause of the First Amendment. No, the words church and state are not in the Constitution, but it is understood that government should not be in the business of religious tests or loyalties.  

Using public money to support religious education can blur the lines between government and religion, potentially favoring certain faiths over others. Private and religious schools often have the autonomy to set their own admissions criteria and educational practices. 

This can lead to situations where students are excluded based on factors such as religion, socioeconomic status, or academic ability. Public funds should ideally support inclusive and equitable education for all students, regardless of background. 

Diverting public funds to private or religious schools can weaken the public education system by reducing the resources available for public schools. This could exacerbate existing inequalities in education, as private schools often cater to wealthier families who can afford additional tuition fees. 

Public schools are subject to various regulations, standards, and accountability measures to ensure they provide a quality education and use public funds responsibly. Private and religious schools may not be held to the same standards, which raises concerns about transparency, academic quality, and the use of taxpayer dollars. 

All the representatives that are pushing these so-called scholarships know that public schools serve as a common ground where students from diverse backgrounds come together to learn and interact.  

Channeling public funds into private or religious schools could fragment society along religious or socioeconomic lines, undermining social cohesion and fostering segregation. 

As I have often said to anyone who would listen, instead of funding private or religious schools, resources should be directed towards improving existing public schools and addressing systemic issues such as underfunding, overcrowding, and unequal access to educational opportunities.  

It just does not make sense what these politicians are trying to do to public education, which is why school boards like Bossier Parish, Caddo Parish and others are staunchly against this transferring of resources to private and religious schools.  

In the long run, this is all about money and privatization. Many of the critics of public funding to private schools warn of the broader implications for the privatization of essential services. The truth is that education is a public good and should be primarily funded and governed by the government to ensure equal access and accountability for all our children. 

Many of the proponents of public funding for private or religious schools often argue for greater school choice, parental empowerment, and educational innovation. I am concerned about what it does to society and how it systematically over time erodes public education.   

Ultimately, the debate revolves around balancing individual choice with the collective goals of equity, inclusion, and social cohesion in education. As I said earlier, the best thing that we as parents, teachers, and policymakers can do for children is to assure that they have access to a quality education. Educating young people and instilling in them the love and appreciation for learning should be the primary mission. And that’s my take. [email protected]