Galloway, a mostly middle-class community northwest of Atlantic City, is part of a wave of districts across the nation trying to remake homework amid concerns that high-stakes testing and competition for college have fueled a nightly grind that is stressing out children and depriving them of play and rest, yet doing little to raise achievement, particularly in elementary grades.
Such efforts have drawn criticism from some teachers and some parents who counter that students must study more, not less, if they are to succeed. Even so, the anti-homework movement has been reignited in recent months by the documentary Race to Nowhere, about burned-out students caught in a pressure-cooker educational system. "There is simply no proof that most homework as we know it improves school performance," said Vicki Abeles, the filmmaker and a mother of three from California. "And by expecting kids to work a ’second shift’ in what should be their downtime, the presence of schoolwork at home is negatively affecting the health of our young people and the quality of family time. "
So teachers at Mango Elementary School in Fontana, Calif., are replacing homework with "goal work" that is specific to individual student’s needs and that can be completed in class or at home at his or her own pace. The Brooklyn School of Inquiry, a gifted and talented program, has made homework optional. "I think people confuse homework with rigor," said Donna Taylor, the Brooklyn School’s principal, who views homework for children under 11 as primarily benefiting parents by helping them feel connected to the classroom.
Research has long suggested that homework in small doses can reinforce basic skills and help young children develop study habits, but that there are diminishing returns. Still, efforts to roll back homework have been opposed by those who counter that there is not enough time in the school day to cover required topics and that homework reinforces classroom learning. In Coronado, Calif. , the school board rejected a proposal by the superintendent to eliminate homework on weekends and holidays after some parents said that was when they had time to help their children and others worried it would result in more homework on weeknights.
Homework wars have divided communities for over a century. In the 1950s, the Sputnik launching ushered in heavier workloads for American students in the race to keep up with the Soviet Union. The 1983 report "A Nation at Risk" and, more recently, the testing pressures of the No Child Left Behind law, also resulted in more homework for children at younger ages. A few public and private schools have renounced homework in recent years, but most have sought a middle ground. In Galloway, the policy would stipulate that homework cover only topics already addressed in class. Dr. Giaquinto, Galloway’s superintendent, said the goal of the proposed policy was to make homework "meaningful and manageable," noting that teachers would have to coordinate assignments so that a student’s total homework would not exceed the time limit.
The school board in Coronado believes that（）
A. reduction in homework does harm to students’ acquisition of basic skills
B. students should have enough time in school day to study the required topics
C. eliminating homework actually benefits nobody other than parents
D. parents feel connected to school when their children do schoolwork at home
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