... if my district implemented these new rules:
1) teachers have to accept late homework without penalty,
2) ignore homework grades that lower a student’s semester grade, and
3) give retests to students who fail.
The rationale for this? Superintendent Michael Hinojosa says,
“We want to make sure that students are mastering the content [of their classes] and not just failing busy work. Our mission is not to fail kids. Our mission is to make sure they get it, and we believe that effort creates ability.”
There's a good debate going on in the comments, but as you might surmise by this post's title, I side with those who this idea is pretty much crap. As some note, part of teachers' job is to prepare students for the real world. This real world doesn't accept work whenever an employee feels like turning it in, nor does it allow an employee chance after chance to "master" a skill or knowledge until they "get it."
On the other hand, most teachers I know (including myself) aren't nearly that harsh. They'll accept work late (although with a penalty), and allow retests (but not interminably). I personally don't give retests; however, any homework I give is akin to a "take home quiz" and I allow corrections to be made on it.
A blanket edict where ALL homework must be accepted at any time and/or ignored if it lowers a student's grade (not to mention constant retests) is just educationist nonsense and will only serve to further decrease student motivation and necessary "real world" preparation.
Why? This is the easiest teaching job ever. Simply assign all homework, tests, papers and exams (take home) on day one. Students may complete the work at their leisure. Since the school does not do deadlines I wonder if the end of the year counts or if they can just attend school indefinitely w/o submitting anything.
Posted by: Duffy at August 19, 2008 10:55 AMHmm, y'know Duff, I never thought about it that way ...!!
Posted by: Hube at August 19, 2008 11:04 AMEducational standards just get worser and worser.
Posted by: Nancy Cleveland at August 19, 2008 04:00 PMLOL, Nance!
Posted by: Hube at August 19, 2008 04:15 PMMaybe this the beginning of the end of homework. Homework in generally is just busy work for children anyway and there are schools out there that don't assign homework to children today.
I just wish they'd stop assigning the work instead of making up some dumb rule.
Posted by: nemski at August 21, 2008 09:00 AMSome teachers make HW busywork. I detest that too. When used properly it's an excellent reinforcement. If it's busywork, my opinion is that it shouldn't count as a grade. The HW I give is akin to take-home quizzes, and once graded kids are allowed to make corrections on it -- the corrected version then counts as a grade.
Posted by: Hube at August 21, 2008 09:13 AM