The goal is to eliminate homework that isn't relevant and meaningful, the district said.
WOODBRIDGE -- A New Jersey elementary school is de-emphasizing homework this school year and telling parents their children should spend more time playing, doing household chores and eating dinner with their families.
Robert Mascenik School #26 in Woodbridge Township is testing the importance of homework by giving fewer traditional assignments, principal Judith Martino wrote in a message to parents.
The goal is to make school work at home a more meaningful experience and not an exercise in compliance, Martino wrote. Studies have shown that there is no link between homework and academic achievement for elementary school students, she added.
"The most important things students can do when they go home each day are play, eat dinner with their family, engage in conversations, help with family responsibilities or chores and read by themselves or with a family member," Martino wrote. "The skills of responsibility, time management and creativity are all fostered through the aforementioned activities."
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The change comes as a small number of schools nationwide have recently done away with homework, mostly in elementary schools, and some New Jersey districts have scheduled "no homework" nights or weekends throughout the year.
"It's not that there's no homework," Woodbridge Township School District Superintendent Robert Zega said of School #26, which has about 300 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. "The homework that students will be coming home with is a little bit different."
Students will likely see fewer worksheets asking them to fill in the blank or circle the correct answer, Zega said.
Some reading assignments may no longer be tied to a specific written response, and students might be asked to read a book of their choosing rather than a specific passage, he said.
Students may be assigned homework if they are unable to complete assignments they were given time to do during class or it they miss a day of class, the school said.
Long-term projects will still be assigned and students will expected to study for test and quizzes at home. Students will also be required to read every day and keep a reading log.
The departure from traditional daily homework assignments comes as part of a district-wide shift toward making homework more relevant and creating a more positive learning experience, Zega said.
In some instances, homework has been counterproductive, especially for students participating in multiple activities after school, Zega said. Students otherwise earning high marks have seen their grades drop solely because they were not completing homework, he said.
"If you think back to your own educational experience, how many homework assignments did you do to get them done just so that you didn't get a bad grade?" Zega said. "And how many of them did you really learn from?"
Another district elementary school, Port Reading School #9, will also participate in the pilot program testing the importance of homework, Zega said.
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