Giving Compass' Take:

• A parent's letter to her daughter's first-grade teacher was successful in convincing the school that homework at the elementary school level is unnecessary and possibly damaging to students' academic success. 

• Do you agree with the parent? Do you think that optional homework is an effective system?

• For an alternative perspective on homework, read about Getting Smart's piece on how homework helps family engagement. 

The following letter was written at the request of my daughter’s first-grade teacher, whose name has been changed for anonymity, so that she could have something in hand when taking my concerns, with which she agrees, to her superiors. It worked. Below is a small portion of the document:

Dear Ms. Case,

I can’t thank you enough for your persistent kindness in dealing with us parents and the kids you skillfully shepherd. You’re inculcating a love of both school and learning in my daughter, a priceless gift if ever there was one.

Unfortunately, one issue has been weighing on our family: homework.

Each night you assign 20 minutes of reading, either solo or with a parent. My daughter easily meets this flexible requirement, but there’s also the nightly page of math. She has no desire to do it. She also often can’t complete it without help. Sometimes I take a look, and I’m unable to figure out what’s being asked of her despite my postgraduate education.

Recent research shows that elementary school homework is at best unnecessary and unproductive. Specifically, there is no evidence that homework reinforces academic lessons at the elementary level, even in math, according to a meta-analysis of nearly 200 studies on homework.

Assigning it can even be detrimental. Homework can have a negative impact on children’s attitudes toward school and damage family relationships. Time spent doing homework also displaces activities shown to help with brain growth, like cooking with a parent, playing outside, or — possibly the most worthwhile of the bunch — being bored.

In light of our personal experience and the research I provided,  I ask that you move toward getting rid of homework entirely, raising the issue with your teaching team and school administration.

Read the full article about homework by Gail Cornwall at The 74