WCSD: Mandatory homework may be coming to an end

The Washoe County School District may no longer mandate homework for its 64,000 students, but that doesn’t mean students can expect to be assignment-free once they leave class.

The school board Tuesday evening is expected to give preliminary approval to revise a long-standing district policy that mandates homework at all schools, instead handing the decision to assign after-class work to individual principals and schools.

The revision would then enter a 13-day public review, after which it will go back before the board for final approval.

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“We would like our schools to be able to make those decisions based on their own student populations, based on student needs and the culture of their school,” Curriculum and Instruction Director Kindra Fox told the Reno Gazette Journal before Tuesday’s meeting.

“Basically, it's creating the ability for each school site to create their own homework requirements, what is needed for their populations.”

And the amount of homework assigned at each school and each grade level will vary, Fox said. Elementary school students, for example, may just be assigned reading, while a senior Advanced Placement math student in high school can expect more rigorous after-school work.

Fox said the policy update will likely change very little at schools, which are already mostly following the new guidelines.

“Homework in the United States has really kind of ebbed and flowed based on what is going on in history,” Fox said. “When Sputnik went up, we decided we needed to compete so we added more homework. And then in the hippie era, people said, ‘No homework, we want more play.’”

“So it really kind of ebbs and flows with history, and I think right now we’re at this point where we’re at a happy medium.”

Instead of mandating homework, the new policy “encourages” schools to assign homework to extend “learning and/or provide practice in applying concepts initially presented in the classroom; provide opportunities for independent work; strengthen concept and skill development; and provide opportunities for enrichment,” according to the revised policy.

It also leaves room for the superintendent to provide further guidance to schools and teachers regarding homework, detailing grading procedures, average homework times and protocols for assigning homework over breaks.