Students who hoped for an end to homework got their wish at Orchard Elementary School in South Burlington.
“It’s true,” confirmed principal Mark Trifilio. “We just went to being a homework-free school this year.”
Trifilio announced the no-homework policy in a newsletter to parents last Friday. The school enrolls almost 400 children in pre-kindergarten to fifth grade. South Burlington has three elementary schools, and so far Orchard is the only one to go homework-free.
Teachers voted to ban homework for the year at a training shortly before school opened, with Trifilio’s approval. The superintendent of schools also OK’d the change.
Homework does not help elementary school students learn, and instead robs them of time to play outside, pursue their passions and enjoy relaxed evenings with their families, Trifilio said.
“There is little or no research that supports any kind of academic achievement with homework,” Trifilio said. “If that’s true, what is the purpose of homework?”
So far, parents seem enthusiastic, Trifilio said. He’s received about a dozen emails, most of them with a thumbs-up. Many parents agree with the philosophy that children should not do a “second shift” of academic work at home after spending a full day in school. If there’s any concern, Trifilio said, it’s that the policy might weaken student preparation for middle school.
He will address that and other questions about the no-homework rule Thursday night during a curriculum session with parents.
Other schools are experimenting with the no-homework approach both in and outside Vermont. Last year, Bellows Free Academy Fairfax in Franklin County stopped assigning homework for middle school students. There are several books on the topic, including The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing by Alfie Kohn. Trifilio mentioned that title in his newsletter to parents.
Not everyone agrees that homework is pointless. A Duke University review of 60 research studies on homework concluded that homework helps spur student achievement. The benefits are more clear for students in grades seven through 12, and less so for younger students, according to the study.
Orchard will revisit the policy in six to eight weeks.
Students will still be asked to read at home.
One more assignment, directly from the principal: “We also are asking everybody to get outside and play.”
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Homework helps build student responsibility as long as the teacher treats it with importance i.e. Has a consistent structure for it (Monday through Thursday), makes the assignments clear and corrects the assignments, grades them and passes them back promptly. Is realistic according to grade level i.e. A half hour for grade three. Students should copy their own assignments in a notebook. It should be on the report card. No big project assignments for at-home. Most parents end up doing most of those. Homework should be practice of what is being taught. Have occasional no homework nights and don’t start until the end of September and end at the end of May. All good methodology. Reading should be a given. No homework will mean more computer game time.
Sue – thank you for sharing your opinion about how homework could be handled in a constructive manner and what might become of the extra free time for the students at Orchard School.
I encourage you to read some of the books referenced in the article, as well The Schools Our Children Deserve. They all site studies that demonstrate that homework, and a lot of other parts of our school tradition, are rarely helpful in the long run.
I couldn’t be more jealous! Come on Burlington, read the research!
The 8 hour work week began for adults in 1914 and it was noted that production went way up. I think we will find that the kids will do better academically with one caveat: the teachers teach.
I am so thrilled…may there be a domino effect, right up to the high school!
If the children read and have active play, instead of doing homework, this makes sense. If they just watch TV or play video games, there won’t be any benefit.
hmmmm not sure this passes the common sense test. The one size fits all approach has never worked in education. We are dealing with individuals. Some kids like homework, what about them. How about we meet kids where they are and move them forward. Remember this idea of closing the achievement gap does not mean bringing everyone to the middle. Our job as educators is to move each kid forward.
Right and we’ll see how these kids from VT do when it comes time to apply to college. The competition is fierce and asking an elementary school child to do an hour of homework a night is not asking too much. Stop babying our kids–ridiculous!
As a parent and a teacher of young children I applaod South Burlington for taking this leap. The public has been brain washed to believe the Homework has some value, but in Elementary school is courses stress for many families. Families are already under enough stress. If there is no evidence that homework has ANY affect on student performance in Elementary school, then why are we encouraging it? Let kids be kids! Encourage families to spend time together; instill the love of learning and reading; play games together; play outside. This is what young minds need. As a Kindergarten teacher, I can tell you that kids are working hard all day long! So hard, that on most days there is little time to play and build social skills. Kinds still need to play! I fully support he NO Homework Policy (aside from playing and reading). More schools should consider this approach. Maybe, then out children will be better able to handle the school day.
I think that this is a good thing. To be honest the first couple years of kids life in school should be them basically learning there table manners. I’m not saying that they should not be reading writing, or doing math, they should be taught all those things still. They should be developing there social skills, and learning how to properly communicate. I feel that homework would be blocking them from developing these skills, they need to learn how to properly communicate and be properly be social with other people. Homework is an independent activity, and at these ages, they don’t know how to be fully independent.
This is a district, who not so long ago decided to go on a lengthy strike for more money and benefits instead of spending that time in the classroom teaching those kids. Now it sounds like they no longer want to grade homework with that pay raise your hard earned tax dollars are paying for. Just my opinion, but a reasonable amount of homework allows me to see what my child is learning during the day, and to see that my child is grasping the concepts that are taught. Learning doesn’t stop when they leave the school. Involved parents who help reinforce what is being learned at school, help develop the child as a whole. I feel team teaching with the teachers at school, and the parents at home is important. The homework is one way the parents stay involved in their children’s education. It reinforces what they learn. It helps develop a sense of responsibility, helping prepare the child for the future. Just my opinion.
Scotty B, I highly doubt that this decision was the result of teachers wishing to avoid grading elementary school level homework. You, like many other Americans, clearly have some kind of vendetta against teachers. Feel free to relocate to a nation without public education where your “hard earned tax dollars” will not line the pockets of those evil, greedy teachers.
My young grandson has school all day, comes home, has assignments, school projects that absolutely require an adult’s help, and totals an extra 2 to 3 hours every evening. Is that necessary? Where does that leave time for family or just “down” time? Oh, and sports once a week. I agree with the no homework rule. I think the children get enough when they are at school with a good accountable teacher which puts the emphasis back on TEACHING…perhaps a reading project with a report or a research of a topic that sparks their interest should be in place every two weeks instead of 2+ hours of homework every night….Ridiculous!
Folks we are talking about elementary school. These kids are under 10. We have people worried they won’t get into a college (which, by the way, is as fiercely competitive as the amount of money you are willing to spend) and people blaming greedy teachers who are trying to shirk work. Making sure your kids run around so they don’t turn into little butterballs is just as important as anything else.
We love this policy! It’s less stress for students, parents and teachers. I have a 4th grader at Orchard and a 6th grader at Tuttle. Last night we had a family reading hour from 8-9 that was absolutely blissful. We all gathered in the living room, got comfy with personal books and devoured them. Thank you Mr. T for following the data and challenging the status quo.
Here’s the scenario: these kids eventually reach 6th grade, and in their first week of classes are overloaded with this crazy new concept called “homework”. They are befuddled. Others in the classroom seem to take it in stride, but these kids take weeks/months to develop a methodology for handling this strange new requirement. Their grades suffer, especially relative to other students with past experience with this “homework thing”.
No brainer – fire the Principal. End of story.
As a teacher for 30+ years in elementary education, this is an excellent development, and I hope it catches on. What does homework offer children? Befuddled parents, kids and parents fighting over “did you do your homework?”, control over children’s personal time and imaginative, creative play-life. What does time to play offer children? Healthy exercise, happiness, interactions to develop social skills with friends and siblings, time to reflect and create, imagine, real life learning about natural consequences, social interaction, introspection, rest and leisure to pursue personal interests. Time to play makes for creative, happy, healthy kids who grow up to be creative and flexible thinkers. Good for you, South Burlington!
AGAIN, VERMONT IS A LEADER! I have said this since my son was in graded school some 40 odd years ago! They need PLAY FOR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DEVELOPMENT! Ok parents get those kids moving now! That is your parental assignment in the development of your child and I DO NOT MEAN COMPUTER GAMES-PHYSICAL. For their coordination in development of their minds and bodies! YEA FOR VERMONT!!! I grew up in Vermont and raised my son in Vermont. Proud of our background!
This is Winooski’s second year without homework. I have two middle schoolers and a third grader. My 7th grader had homework all throughout elementary school and it still didn’t help with ‘middle school’ homework seeing y’all are so keen to say that it will get us in the end (meaning the parents who think it’s a great idea). These young children’s frontal lobe isn’t even delveloped enough to handle even more time working on packets at home. Sorry but I’ve seen the difference in my children’s learned and attitude towards school without a 10 page packet coming home for the week, and it’s def for the better. I’ve read the studies, I’ve done the research to make MY OWN opinion about this and oh I’m living it.
My only thing is why now that everyone else is following suit is this being written about?
I agree that kids need more time to play, develop their interests and have meaningful exchanges with their parents. I’d love to see that half hour or so being spent exercising, playing strategy games or learning a new hobby. It would also be time well spent with parents either reading to kids or talking about what’s going on in the world. I hope it’s not spent with video games or TV. It is also interesting that several studies indicate that having a student practice a short time (IE two problems of math) at home has as much benefit as practicing 20 problems at home.
For anyone struggling to support a no homework and more play for students approach – I encourage you to watch the movie The Race to Nowhere. I think it’s important to use science based research to guide our decisions about what is best for children and not our personal values.
I agree that there is not a one size fits all. I also do agree with the science that has stated there is no evidence proving that more is better.
With that said, how can supporting the science of play and passionate interest be advocated for so that kids are actually getting it. Tv and screen time is becoming an overwhelming problem ichildren’s learning.
I don’t believe parents intentionally do things to ruin their child’s development. I think most simply do not know the impact. And, more people are living in survival. Which means adults are not getting play time. It will takes all of us to turn this around!
😊
i dont agree with this
No homework is great but kids @home with tabs n play video games how about that?
I think this idea is great! When I was a kid, I don’t remember homework in Kindergarten. I remember nap time. I turned out just fine. I graduated a junior and 4 year college. I remember one year in school when I had all this homework. While my siblings were outside playing, I was struggling to finish up my homework. I just wanted to be outside. Giving kids no homework will give them the chance to play outside. No all kids have tablets. They can bond with their family. They can have a stress free afternoon and evening. Teachers can move onto other things in the class as well. Not all kids are stronger readers, are good with loads of work, taking test, etc. I sure wasn’t in school and had to bust my butt all the time. I have a learning disability. Giving me more homework would have made school even more harder on me. I’m more of a visual learner. Giving kids homework doesn’t prove that they will do better in school. The same goes with test. Some kids need more visual and hands on work. That should be taught in a classroom. In my 4 year college we read a lot of books and did a lot of writing. Then we talked about it in our seminar classes. I loved it! I did really well in college because I wasn’t given a test every week or homework every day. We read, we got to write and discuss. It was a great learning tool! Kids should be given all types of learning tools in school. Not just the same routeen of taking a test, doing homework. Doesn’t work for all kids.
My homeschooled kids have never needed homework (or assignments or curriculum) to learn rampantly. Kids who spend their day at school are already obligated for a good number of their waking hours. Why take more?
I noticed that several commenters mentioned that the time not spent on homework shouldn’t be spent on TV, video games, or “screen time.” But kids learn from everything. Mine have learned to read, to speak and write some Japanese, a great deal about nature, weather, history, writing, art, home economics, politics, laws, ethics, and more from having free access to television, games, and internet resources.
For instance, our mutual family fascination with “Hamilton” has led to research online, alternative fiction, visits to Philip Schuyler’s country home and Saratoga Battlefield (fortunately very local to us). Next week, we’ll be seeing the premier of “Hamilton’s America” at our state museum. My daughter, 12, and I will go to the Schuyler Mansion for a tour, and my son and I to Fort Ticconderoga.
Without media resources, they wouldn’t have the same interest in all these related activities. A lovely fall day exploring a battlefield together, and musing on the realities of the lives lost and the history changed there, might not have held any appeal.
There’s no telling exactly what will become a passion, or where those passions will lead a child. Maybe don’t be quite so quick to dismiss the potential of things that may not look like traditional learning tools.