One of our goals at PKS is to instill a love of learning in our students and for them to be curious, connected, and engaged with the world. We nurture these characteristics in the classroom through authentic learning experiences, and encourage it after school by limiting the amount of homework, thereby allowing for more unstructured time to pursue passions and interests.

While many of us grew up with hours of homework each night, there is no correlation between homework and academic achievement. In fact, a 2005 study by professors Gerald K. LeTendre and David P. Baker of Penn State found that some countries like Japan and Denmark that have some of the highest scoring students on the Third International Study of Mathematics and Sciences (TIMSS) assigned the least amount of homework. Like so many things, more is not always better. In fact, more homework can have some serious negative consequences on student well-being.

Our homework policy in PKS Elementary is that students will have no more than 10 minutes of homework a day starting in 1st grade, increasing by 10 minutes each grade. So a 5th grade student would have no more than 50 minutes of homework a day. There will also never be homework for the sake of homework. If homework is assigned it will be meaningful and should bolster student learning. If the homework assigned is too hard for a student to do alone, we encourage the student to talk with his/her teacher.

While homework in elementary school does not have correlation to later academic achievement, one thing that does is reading. We encourage all students to read every night to build vocabulary, get lost in imaginary worlds, and to experience the fun and wonder of language and literature.

We know that homework is only one of myriad ways to engage students in meaningful learning and practice outside of school. When children chase bubbles, they are building sensory connections that will help them track text when reading. When you cook together from a recipe, students are reading, measuring, sequencing, and experiencing cause and effect. When they work toward a goal in music or athletic performance, they are building the value of commitment and sustained effort. And when students spend time with their friends playing and exploring the world, they are building and practicing social-emotional skills. While homework helps develop healthy routines and learning habits, these life experiences are just as important in nurturing children who are curious and engaged in the world around them.