Broward County School Board sets homework limits

By Kathy Bushouse | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
February 19, 2009

FORT LAUDERDALE – The Broward County School Board is giving a new assignment to teachers for the upcoming school year: Take care when you’re handing out homework.

The School Board on Wednesday unanimously approved homework guidelines that urge teachers to assign academically challenging work while also being considerate about not assigning too much homework.

While the policy doesn’t stipulate time limits for homework, the district’s guidelines suggest 10 minutes of work for each grade level. A first grader’s assignment would take about 10 minutes to finish, while a high school junior’s total homework load would take 110 minutes.

Board member Phyllis Hope said she sympathizes with overloaded students, and the parents who help them. She watched her 12-year-old grandson Tuesday night, and spent four hours helping him with a project.

The policy also requires teachers to provide “timely and appropriate feedback” on assignments, be sensitive about the costs of materials for projects, and collaborate with other teachers so projects are not assigned at the same time.

Though board members approved the policy Wednesday, it will take effect in the 2009-10 school year.

Jeanne Jusevic, chairwoman of the District Advisory Committee and parent of two Monarch High School students, said she thinks parents will find the new guidelines helpful.

Though many teachers try not to overwhelm students with too many assignments, “occasionally, parent complaints fall on deaf ears,” Jusevic said. “Now we have a policy and procedures that we can point to.”

Let’s just keep dumbin’ them down.

Broward County School Board sets homework limits