And when I thought things could not get worse. We tie teachers' hands and continually lower the bar for our kids regarding their education. We deserve to become a thrid world nation with this kind of poor attitude. I onlly hope articles like this bring to light that the problem with our schools is not funding. is not teacher and is not the students. It is the lack of strong parenting and demand that their children excel.

While I see the necessity of homework, I see first graders coming home with over two hours of homework a night. That is excessive and I think what they are targeting. 10 minutes is too little, but children have families and they have the right to participate in activities other than school.

I strongly agree with giving kids homework--but not elementary school kids. You rob them of their youth--it is that age where they develop the healthy habit of playing , i.e. exercise, after school. Because teachers bog them down at 6, 7, 8 years old, they begin to develop bad habits and start weight gain.

I have two kids in school - 1st grade and 6th grade. None of them have any time for extra-curricular activities. I am a working mom and no not have time to ferry them around. The 1st grader has a minimum of 45 minutes homework time plus reading everyday. At school there is almost no exercise or outside activities.

The 6th grader arrives home at 4:20 and does homework for the next 2 - 2 1/2 hours. During school hours there's no recess and maybe 10 minutes sitting down for lunch (when the line is not too long). Then it is dinner time. Then she has to read for another 30 minutes, or practice her band instrument. Then at 9pm it is bedtime. she has no time for any relaxation during the week, and I seriously agree that she should not have homework during the weekends. By the way, she's no slacker: she's in the gifted program and doing 8th grade math. No time for anything else, thanks to FCAT madness. This is not quite "the life" - and we wonder why some of them start hating school?

Cindy, you obviously do not have a child in school. I have a similar situation as Patricia. My son is a 7th grader who is in the gifted program. He often has to spend between 2-4 hours per night doing homework, plus typically several hours over the weekend. He gets home from school around 4:30 p.m., and after an hour or two of play time (he is a kid after all) and dinner, he is off to his room for several hours of homework. He often does not finish until 10:00 p.m. or later, which leaves him virtually no free time before his 10:30 p.m. bedtime. Extra-curricular activities are out of the question. Much of the time he seems to be working harder than I did in college! I am all for challenging kids and ensuring that they can compete academically in the world, but a coordinated homework policy is definitely necessary.

We are in the same boat as Patricia & Bill. However, I do not have a problem with the daily homework. My daughter is in 7th grade, in advanced classes and Honors Algebra (a high school course). We should expect a lot of homework from those classes because of their fast pace. The problem I have is assigning homework or projects over long weekends or holiday breaks. That makes it very hard to spend a weekend away or with the grandparents. We have had to scrap many family mini-getaways at the last minute because of school projects.

Another problem I have is the teacher who assigns a map, labeled and colored in, the night before an Algebra midterm and Science exam. The exam was already taken so the map wasn't part of the exam. Come on. You know those kids had important exams the next day. That's just one example that sticks in my brain, but things like that continue to happen.

I have another comment to add. There are many that complain about the teacher's in Florida, the kids don't know anything, etc. How can so many kids not know anything when they have so much homework? The kids who aren't passing are those kids who have too many newfangled gadgets to play with and are not getting their homework done. It has nothing to do with the teachers! It's because of the parents who don't make sure the homework gets done.

Sorry, should have typed "about the teachers in Florida". No apostrophe!

US students already score near the bottom in tests compared to other advanced industrial nations in the West. What the heck, let's make 'em even dummer! Maybe we can come in last! Now that's a goal to shoot for! The worst educated students in the civilized world! Broward County should be proud to do their part to dumb down US education! Idiocracy will be our reality! Here we come!

Kids who aren't assigned homework in middle and high school are going to be shocked in college. Let's be easier on elementary students. Their homework is akin to the busy work your jerk boss has you doing.

I do see the importance of homework and feel the kids should get some, however, I think they do get too much. They are entitled to have time to themselves too. Whether they participate in after school activities, or play video games that is their business but they do need a much needed break from schoolwork. Weekends are for families spending time together and having fun, not doing schoolwork. Give the kids a break!

The cry babies are going to be SO frustrated when they enter the job market and find out their employer expects them to WORK for their money.
And you cry baby parents?
You're the ones that create the cry baby kids.
How pathetic of you.

1. A 7th grader with a 10:30pm bedtime: crazy -that's not enough sleep.
2. Maybe kids are taking too long to do homework because they are not focused. Give them a timer and teach them to work quickly AND efficiently.
3. Sit with yor kids and read or do bill while they are doing homework. Make it interactive.
4. Do not create cry babies! Raise the bar!

I have two teens. One is 17 a junior in HS. One is 19 a junior at university. (she graduated early - gifted). She has a full load, Dean's list, etc and has less homework (volume, not time needed to complete) than my son in HS. I think homework is important for learning, but some of it is excessive and some is busy-work. Yes, they need to learn discipline to enter the workforce, however, do adults spend most weekends and evenings doing work? or do adults go home from work and golf, ski, hike, go to movie, etc? I work full time, but I don't work every night for 2 hours and every weekend for 6 hours on "work". If we are to be "well rounded" we need to have personal time to exercise, reflect, etc. Social time. It is quality, not quantity of the schoolwork that matters. One more thought, in college, I would look at the syllabus and coordinate my work for each class... ie: in college you have more control over when you do the work that is anticipated... it isn't usually sprung on you. So you can coordinate your projects a little easier. Just a thought.

My son is in third grade and has about an hour and half a nite...this is RIDICULOUS for a third grader after being in school already 7 hours that day..cmon...its excessive and robs the children of their childhood that earlly. I am a firm believer of reinforcement , but the no child left behind is RIDICULOUS...talk about crushing the creative child . URGH!!

I am a teacher and I am so tired of hearing people complain about homework, teachers and the school system. When are parents going to start being more involved with their children to ensure their success. Homework is a reinforcement to the lessons taught in school, and parents should be involved with their child's school. We can't do it alone. If kids were encouraged to focus on their school work, and were not being permitted to do 100 things, maybe homework might not be a problem. I have students to take 30 minutes to do their homework and others take 2 hours to do the same work. What is te difference? Too many distractions and not enough guidance and support. Stop blaming the teachers and the schools and let's put the responisbility back on the parents. We can't do it all!

Eliza, you clearly don't have a kid in middle school. 10:30 bedtime SOUNDS crazy, but when school STARTS at 9:15 am? You don't think 9.5 hours of sleep is enough?

Others here talked about the same gifted program my kid is in. I understand GEM is extra work every night - no problem at all with that (great program). But the teacher today that assigned the Miami Herald Geography Quiz for overnight homework? When they're getting ready for a test on Europe that covers FOUR chapters in their book? What is the point of that busywork? Assign that the last week of school, for (educational) fun, not because the teacher is too lazy to make a lesson plan.

And the other teacher who told the kids today that they were dropping everything to concentrate on the FCAT material, "but it's not busywork since you're going to get a grade on it." PU-LEEZE!

If you're not a parent of THIS age of kid, or at THIS school, I would be thinking the same thing I say about everything else in life, that we need to raise the bar, not lower it. But trust me, in this case (at this level, at this school, in this program), the kids spend WAY too much time on homework (often busywork).

Some of this homework is crazy. Home-schooled kids are done in 3-4 hours. Public school kids are in school 6 hours and then they add 3+ hours of homework.

What are they (teachers) doing during the day?

I agree with the decision. After all, our kids are in school for several hundred hours per year. If the teachers can't educate the children during school hours, then they aren't teaching effectively.
Just like my job, I look forward to the evening, when I don't have to think about work; kids can do something other than what they've been doing in school all day - dance classes, bible study, or whatever interests him/her.

Are you kidding me Leslie? Please! Teachers cannot do it all. Education is a partnership between the teacher, student and the parent. Each must do their part. As with anything else, in order to get better, you must practice. As an educator, I assign homework from Monday to Thursday. I do not overwhelm my students with homework because I know they have other classes. I am also a parent. One of two children (a 5th grader) gets so much homework it's affecting me. I stay up with him every night helping him. After he's gone to bed I am up grading papers, writing lessons, etc. I try not to give homework over the weekend or holiday breaks because as a parent, I hate when my children get them. As I type, my son has three projects that he must complete while doing tons of homework every night. I firmly believe that teachers should work collaboratively to ensure that students are not overloaded. Parents need to play an active role in the educating of their children and the children must learn to be responsible enough to complete the assignments.

You parents and teachers are bickering about too much or too little homework being assigned to our kids, why not just do away with this education system that doesn't seem to work for this generation.Why not start teaching kids how to really make a difference in their community. Homework could be something that the child did for someone, an act of kindness. But for God sake allow children to be children.

I am a high school teacher who is also a mentor to teachers is my district. I am currently working on principal certification.

Many parents do not realize that the homework question is not at all tied to how American students measure up against students from other countries. The fact is, no other country in the world tests EVERY CHILD as we do in the U.S.! They each have a tracking system, and only the students in the highest track (college bound) are measured. Our test scores cannot be compared to theirs, because literally every U.S. child must be tested (and by the mandates in the No Child Left Behind Act, even the lowest functioning child must show progress!)- except to say that, considering that our test scores include children with every disability, we score pretty well in comparison! The children in our educational system who are the strongest students are easily able to compete with those same students in other countries.

We do a great job of teaching everyone, and that is what America is all about!

Younger children in our public schools are definitely being assigned too much homework, and not enough credence is being given to the fact that two hours of healthy physical activity is necessary for the young brain to process information. Even in my high school classes, where students claim they learn more than in most classes in the broad curriculum, my students only take work home that has not been completed in class. Assignments that do not include some component of class-centered work are not at all helpful to the student who is not understanding the information. They need the teacher as a resource and guide. Young children need the teacher as a CONSTANT resource and guide. Homework will not help them if it is not initiated in the classroom.

I am for banning homework until fourth or fifth grade. In middle school, there should be no more than one hour of homework per day, except for an occasional project. My own three kids went to a school that had this philosophy, and all three were honors students in high school, along with all of their former classmates. They played sports and did other outside activities in high school, as well, and they worked part time! Today all three are excellent college students.

The brain is ready for a lot more intense intellectual reasoning after age fifteen, and children look forward to that sort of activity if they have not been burned out with excessive time in intellectual pursuit before that age.

Too much homework in the early grades is quite simply wrong-headed; it leads to school burn-out.

Here's the question: Is homework a valuable tool in student learning? Does more homework mean higher student achievement? The research on homework suggest that kids need to be READING, and that meaningless art (interdisciplinary) projects, decorating shoe boxes, etc have no value at all on student achievement. Replace busy work with READING!

Hours of homework does not make a student smart. Also more $$ per student doesn't make them smart. A lot has to do with the quality of teachers.

As mentioned in a previous comment: "Home-schooled kids are done in 3-4 hours. Public school kids are in school 6 hours and then they add 3+ hours of homework. What are they (teachers) doing during the day?" I couldn't agree more. My children go to a Montessori school, where they only have about an hour of traditional "homework" a week. Yes, a week. Their other homework is to get physical exercise every day, read every day, and make their own lunches. They actually have time to be kids. And to top it off, the Montessori kids continually score at the highest levels on standardized tests, without being taught to the test. Seriously, what DO public school kids/teachers do all day? I just don't get it.

This is an interesting conversation. I'm wondering if any of the parents or teachers commenting here would speak to me for a story. If so, e-mail me at akjohnson@sun-sentinel.com. Thanks

Limiting homework is NOT lowering the bar for our kids.
If teachers can't teach what they need to during school hours, they should be considered ineffective. Time at home in the evening is for families to share. That time is short and shouldn't be spent teaching children things that should have been taught during the school day. My kids' are in a private school -- partially because of this homework issue in the public "schools."

It's obvious that we've lost the battle against ignorance. Parent's haven't a clue and the education field doesn't exactly attract the best and brightest. As a teacher, let me assure you that the majority of high school students are not spending enough quality study-time. As a result, our children have difficulty competing at real universities that don't give away degrees like high schools give away diplomas. This has actually become a point of concern in the area of math and science considering that we are producing far fewer scientists and engineers than will be needed to bring our country forward.

I've been a public school science teacher for 11 years. I've never given "homework". To start with...English/Language Arts is the first and most important subject/skill our children must master. Without effective communication skills, our children will never begin to succeed or excel in school or life. With that said....In my science class, children must be able to write effectively (formal lab write-ups). The only "homework" the must complete in my class are these formal lab write-ups. When a lab exercise is completed in class, students have three school days to complete the write-up and submit it to me. The lab must be typed, original, and written scientifically. If the lab is submitted by the due date (many submit early), it will be returned and graded with personalized comments within two school days. A student may resubmit the lab (with corrections) for a better grade, however, they can only do this if it was submitted by the due date. This is an example of mastery learning and it's proven very successful with my students. I usually have 95% or more pass the NYS Regents exam without students being barred from taking the exam due to lab deficiencies. Of that 95%, over half pass at a mastery level of 85% or higher on the exam.
I have never been a fan of busy work homework. If a students doesn't understand the material by the time they leave class, doing an hour of more wrong work has helped no one. I often was called on the carpet by my administrators and co-workers because I didn't give enough homework, however, my end results were just as telling (often better)than the teacher who gave hours of homework. A major bonus....my students LOVED Earth Science and went on to enjoy using the information they learned in my class.
In summation, I have homework, but students had to budget their time and they could do the lab all in one night or a little over several nights. They had to use the ultra-important skill of communication to express their knowledge of the subject matter. They were given the opportunity correct mistakes and it often reinforced the correct retention of the material.
I don't think a district should place a time constraint on homework levels, rather encourage their teachers to make the homework useful learning...not busy work.

A lot of the homework is simply "busy work", with little to no redeeming value. Worse, kids still need to be kids! At a time when schools are cutting back on lunch and recess and handing out more homework, our kids are beginning to turn into miniature adults, minus having to pay the bills! Let them live a little; you'll never get your childhood back once it's gone.

My daughter attended very ethnically diverse schools. Her graduating class had approx. 1200 students. The top 10 and,more than 50% of the top 10% are of Asian descent. Texas guarantees admittance to the state's foremost public universities (UT, TAMU) only to top 5%-10% of HS grads. I do not hear much complaining from these top students despite the enormous amount of work they put into their education. These are the same students that also participate in many school activities (athletics, music, drama, student government, NHS, JSA, community volunteer work, etc) and still have time for fun and social activities. Excellence in academics is expected out of them from the home. Excellence in both academics and social life is what they deliver for themselves. That is the reason why these students succeed. I do hear a lot of whining about too much homework, difficulty of science/math classes, etc. from the average and below average students. To those parents whose kids are in "gifted" programs, and are complaining about the above average academic work load, why not pull them out and put them in with the regular students? Why dumb down the "gifted" programs with kids and parents who are not willing to devote the time to do the work?

My 1st grader definitely gets too much homework! There is too much rushing & pressure in the evenings, & I am barely able to cook a good rounded meal, get her bathed, & get all the H.W. done in order to have her in bed by a decent early time! There seems to be no time for family time, Bible reading time, or much time even allowed for her to get to sleep without compromising necessary sleep time. I hear many other moms complain of the same fact. Their kids have so many projects & time consuming H.W. that they can't get to bed til late. Please let something be done! Thanks, Lee Booth

I am all for waiting to give kids H.W. til 5th or 6th grade.

I am in High School,and I get so much homework.It almost seems like teachers think that they are the only teacher giving out the homework, when in reality, all teachers usually are.It takes around two to three hours to complete my homework sometimes, and I get mean, irrated ,and frustrated because there is so much.

Angela, I got a lot of wonderful feedback on the two blogs I did on this topic. My son is going into High School next year and I may soon be eating my words! I'm already anticipating that he'll have to curtail some of time-off things he does, just so he'll keep up - and that isn't even including homework yet!!!
thanks for your comment!

Yeah i hate homework i am a student and it is all i have time to do after school it is so overwhelming i even find myself just doing homework all weekend we go to school all day 5 times a week isnt that enough? were kids we need a life to

As a teacher and parent with children in both high school (honors and AP classes) and middle school, I have concluded that homework is not necessary. Only a small precentage of students actually benefit. It's only useful for a few subjects (and should still be limited). Homework is too time-consuming, mostly busywork,interferes with family time, and learning is not taking place. If parents, educators, school districts, and school officials really want to know the effects of homework, discuss it with those who have to do it, your children. They will give you honest straight forward answers about how overwhelming homework is... And then parents, educators, school districts, etc, will ignore them. All of my students do better in class, participate more, simply because I elimated homework completely, I purposely didnot mention what grade or subject I teach because that point is not important. What is important is that until educators incorporate and try a "No Homework" policy, they may never know the harm that is done to students and their families.

The school board has it RIGHT. Check out the evidence, published in Principal magazine: http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/rethinkinghomework.htm.

I remember when my two sons were in elementary school and how shocked I was at the amount of homework they were assigned on a daily basis! It would sometimes take 3 hours or more a night to get homework done. And both of my sons would very often become very tired and frustrated and their frustration would turn into crying and temper tantrums. I was a single dad for part of their childhood too and I also would become quite stressed out at the prospect of so much homework every night and sometimes on weekends. My boys are grown and I'm in my 50's now and when I was in elementary school in the early 60's, I don't ever remember our teachers giving us homework. We didn't start getting homework until around 7th grade or so. I really believe that elementary school age kids are way too immature and their attention spans are way too short for massive amounts of homework! I think a little homework or special projects are fine now and then and I agree that school should be a partnership between a parent and teacher and the child but I also really believe that teachers have to take into consideration the stress and burden too much homework places on the child and the parents. It's very hard on a parent who has been working all day and is tired and who has to come home and deal with crabby stressed out kids and the battle over doing the homework. I think home projects for elementary school age kids (once and a while!) is fine and could be something that the parents and the child can both be involved in and could also be fun too, as long as it isn't excessive or puts too much of a strain on everyone. After all, kids are already in school 7 or 8 hours a day and parents work 8 or more hours a day, I think it's a bit too much when the parents and the kids then have to spend an additional 2 or more hours every evening on excessive homework.

I am a 9th grade student. I don't play sports or have any extracurricular activities. But I still feel like i have to much homework. Homework is important for students to learn. But it can be to much. We need to find a balance of homework. Too much will discourage a student and he/she might just give up for the night. I if have excessive homework and im not going to learn anything or improve in that area, im not going to do it.

Austin, you have a good point. Sometimes, it must feel like you're actually so bogged down with homework that you can't "look ahead" to study in advance of a lesson or for a test or work on a project - or of course, relax a little even in the middle of the week. Even adults have trouble with time management. Hopefully, you'll find a balance for several reasons - one, you're older now and can speed up some of your tasks because you get it better. and two - maybe teachers are communicating with each other better now so they don't over assign homework. Of course, if you're in a magnet program, that might mean you are doing some extra work. We had to stop The Kid's extra sports activities because of school for now too - it is a balancing act...