Posted on 07/20/2018 10:14:26 AM PDT by TigerClaws
Homework will no longer be graded in Lafayette Parish Schools. The school board approved the rule as part of its Pupil Progression Plan Wednesday night.
That new rule affects students in 2nd through 12th grades. However, some are concerned about the school district's homework policy.
"I think in order for students to prepare for tests you need homework," Terrence Ruffins said. "You need to be reprimanded for the answers correct and incorrect."
Sarah Schexnayder added, "I think it's kind of ridiculous. I want to know if my child is doing good in school. Especially with homework."
Before the change, teachers could count homework as 10 percent of a student's grade.
"100 percent of the committee agree that homework should not count as a grade," Kathy Aloisio the district's director of elementary schools said. "The grade should represent the mastery of the standard and we shouldn't be checking practice."
Aloisio believes students grades shouldn't be impacted by homework.
"Students who do their homework, but they get something wrong, would not get a good grade because they got their homework wrong. We don't want to penalize kids for the practice along the way. So we think it's in the best interest of the kids," she said.
Under the new rule, students will be encouraged to complete homework and teachers can still notify parents that homework assignments aren't being completed.
When asked about concerns of students not being motivated to complete homework Aloisio said, "When they take a summative test and they haven't mastered the standards. They might re-think the process may be 'I need to work and do a little homework so that I'm better prepared in the end.' Maybe it will give them the motivation to do the practice."
During the board meeting, some expressed concern if homework would classify as essays or special projects that are usually graded.
The committee will clarify the definition of homework within the next few weeks. Still, some are worried the new rule will do more harm to students than good.
"I was the one that didn't ask a question and I would get it wrong on homework," Schexnayder said. "It teaches me even though I am doing it wrong it's always ways I can make it better."
The pupil progression plan approved last night makes other changes to the grading protocol.
Among them, spelling and handwriting assignments will no longer be graded because they do not align with state standards.
Academic dishonesty will no longer result in an automatic failure. Cheating will now be handled as a behavior referral and a student caught cheating will be allowed to re-test.
This is some truly awful writing. First off, article doesn't explain who Terrence Ruffins is and the last sentence in that quote shows either Mr. Ruffins is a complete idiot or the anonymous author is. I'm guessing it's the author.
Indeed it seems. Let those kids who want to learn gain their education at Costco and do away with schools altogether.
Homework hasn’t been graded in 99% of public schools in years...more and more “homework” is having a website teach you the material - especially math - that your teacher doesn’t know anyway. Much of public education today is self-taught with such websites; many teachers can’t even answer questions about the course work.
Why? Too many of those "perfect" HW papers were spoon fed to the student by parents or tutors. Other reason, struggling students would be discouraged from even trying if they knew they'd probably get it wrong.
The result of that approach? (1)EVERY student who met my criteria passed all their tests and quizzes. And I NEVER scaled grades. (2) Class average and median grades both increased dramatically (3) Administrators sometimes got really upset that my student grades weren't a "perfect" bell curve.
Much less, since no kid will do homework any longer.
Really, really, really, really believe you’ve done your homework and you have.
My nickname in school was “Curve Killer”.
I always thought homework should be graded on a pass / fail based on apparent effort, or lack thereof.
Homework is practice, the tests are what matters. Grading homework simply allows students who can’t produce on the tests an opportunity to salvage a passing grade.
If you can’t perform on the test, did you really pass?
https://www.lpssonline.com/board
Only two Blacks! I am amazed that White People in LA think like this.
You did it as I always thought it should be done. Not that what I think matters, but it seems like the best, most logical approach.
Well done.
I have a sibling who has a math PhD and is an actuary. He said years ago that the colleges and universities will give away bachelors and masters degrees but they won't give away doctorates. I wonder about doctorates now with all the educated idiots running universities.
> We don’t want to penalize kids for the practice along the way. <
As a high school math and science teacher, I actually agree with that. When I checked homework, it was always for effort, and never for accuracy.
And more than that. I always gave every homework problem answer ahead of time. That way, if a student attempted the problem and didn’t get the right answer, he could try again.
Grading for accuracy - that’s for tests, not for homework. And by the way, I was known as one of the toughest test graders in the school.
That’s why you should homeschool your kids. Or a Charter School where if they don’t get the homework right, they fail their test that week. There’s just no way I would want my kids in public or private school for that matter.
No, it’s because even the teachers don’t know the right answers.
Sigh. I am getting too old for modern life.
see my post #34
Yep that is definitely one part of it.Turning vices into virtues in a CYA mode.
Most homework has become nothing more than busy work that teachers only give a cursory glance to anyway. It has not shown to have any impact on overall performance. Parents are still free to review work done in school and to make their child study and prepare for tests. Parents working with their children on their schooling will produce better results than sheet after sheet of indoctrination.
A doctorate used to be earned, but with so many doctorate programs today they are now given away. There is always lots of “make work” involved, but the rigor is no longer sincere. Do enough work and a student will always be awarded the Doctorate.
Well we had a kid in ninth grade who we though was the dumbest kid in the school..
Algebra teacher says to him I looked at your records and you have the highest IQ in the school..
He got 4fs and an A in Algebra..she made him stay after school if he did not Dor hs homework..
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