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Nobody knows what the point of homework is

The homework wars are back.

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As the Covid-19 pandemic began and students logged into their remote classrooms, all work, in effect, became homework. But whether or not students could complete it at home varied. For some, schoolwork became public-library work or McDonald’s-parking-lot work.

Luis Torres, the principal of PS 55, a predominantly low-income community elementary school in the south Bronx, told me that his school secured Chromebooks for students early in the pandemic only to learn that some lived in shelters that blocked wifi for security reasons. Others, who lived in housing projects with poor internet reception, did their schoolwork in laundromats.

According to a 2021 Pew survey , 25 percent of lower-income parents said their children, at some point, were unable to complete their schoolwork because they couldn’t access a computer at home; that number for upper-income parents was 2 percent.

The issues with remote learning in March 2020 were new. But they highlighted a divide that had been there all along in another form: homework. And even long after schools have resumed in-person classes, the pandemic’s effects on homework have lingered.

Over the past three years, in response to concerns about equity, schools across the country, including in Sacramento, Los Angeles , San Diego , and Clark County, Nevada , made permanent changes to their homework policies that restricted how much homework could be given and how it could be graded after in-person learning resumed.

Three years into the pandemic, as districts and teachers reckon with Covid-era overhauls of teaching and learning, schools are still reconsidering the purpose and place of homework. Whether relaxing homework expectations helps level the playing field between students or harms them by decreasing rigor is a divisive issue without conclusive evidence on either side, echoing other debates in education like the elimination of standardized test scores from some colleges’ admissions processes.

I first began to wonder if the homework abolition movement made sense after speaking with teachers in some Massachusetts public schools, who argued that rather than help disadvantaged kids, stringent homework restrictions communicated an attitude of low expectations. One, an English teacher, said she felt the school had “just given up” on trying to get the students to do work; another argued that restrictions that prohibit teachers from assigning take-home work that doesn’t begin in class made it difficult to get through the foreign-language curriculum. Teachers in other districts have raised formal concerns about homework abolition’s ability to close gaps among students rather than widening them.

Many education experts share this view. Harris Cooper, a professor emeritus of psychology at Duke who has studied homework efficacy, likened homework abolition to “playing to the lowest common denominator.”

But as I learned after talking to a variety of stakeholders — from homework researchers to policymakers to parents of schoolchildren — whether to abolish homework probably isn’t the right question. More important is what kind of work students are sent home with and where they can complete it. Chances are, if schools think more deeply about giving constructive work, time spent on homework will come down regardless.

There’s no consensus on whether homework works

The rise of the no-homework movement during the Covid-19 pandemic tapped into long-running disagreements over homework’s impact on students. The purpose and effectiveness of homework have been disputed for well over a century. In 1901, for instance, California banned homework for students up to age 15, and limited it for older students, over concerns that it endangered children’s mental and physical health. The newest iteration of the anti-homework argument contends that the current practice punishes students who lack support and rewards those with more resources, reinforcing the “myth of meritocracy.”

But there is still no research consensus on homework’s effectiveness; no one can seem to agree on what the right metrics are. Much of the debate relies on anecdotes, intuition, or speculation.

Researchers disagree even on how much research exists on the value of homework. Kathleen Budge, the co-author of Turning High-Poverty Schools Into High-Performing Schools and a professor at Boise State, told me that homework “has been greatly researched.” Denise Pope, a Stanford lecturer and leader of the education nonprofit Challenge Success, said, “It’s not a highly researched area because of some of the methodological problems.”

Experts who are more sympathetic to take-home assignments generally support the “10-minute rule,” a framework that estimates the ideal amount of homework on any given night by multiplying the student’s grade by 10 minutes. (A ninth grader, for example, would have about 90 minutes of work a night.) Homework proponents argue that while it is difficult to design randomized control studies to test homework’s effectiveness, the vast majority of existing studies show a strong positive correlation between homework and high academic achievement for middle and high school students. Prominent critics of homework argue that these correlational studies are unreliable and point to studies that suggest a neutral or negative effect on student performance. Both agree there is little to no evidence for homework’s effectiveness at an elementary school level, though proponents often argue that it builds constructive habits for the future.

For anyone who remembers homework assignments from both good and bad teachers, this fundamental disagreement might not be surprising. Some homework is pointless and frustrating to complete. Every week during my senior year of high school, I had to analyze a poem for English and decorate it with images found on Google; my most distinct memory from that class is receiving a demoralizing 25-point deduction because I failed to present my analysis on a poster board. Other assignments really do help students learn: After making an adapted version of Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book for a ninth grade history project, I was inspired to check out from the library and read a biography of the Chinese ruler.

For homework opponents, the first example is more likely to resonate. “We’re all familiar with the negative effects of homework: stress, exhaustion, family conflict, less time for other activities, diminished interest in learning,” Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth, which challenges common justifications for homework, told me in an email. “And these effects may be most pronounced among low-income students.” Kohn believes that schools should make permanent any moratoria implemented during the pandemic, arguing that there are no positives at all to outweigh homework’s downsides. Recent studies , he argues , show the benefits may not even materialize during high school.

In the Marlborough Public Schools, a suburban district 45 minutes west of Boston, school policy committee chair Katherine Hennessy described getting kids to complete their homework during remote education as “a challenge, to say the least.” Teachers found that students who spent all day on their computers didn’t want to spend more time online when the day was over. So, for a few months, the school relaxed the usual practice and teachers slashed the quantity of nightly homework.

Online learning made the preexisting divides between students more apparent, she said. Many students, even during normal circumstances, lacked resources to keep them on track and focused on completing take-home assignments. Though Marlborough Schools is more affluent than PS 55, Hennessy said many students had parents whose work schedules left them unable to provide homework help in the evenings. The experience tracked with a common divide in the country between children of different socioeconomic backgrounds.

So in October 2021, months after the homework reduction began, the Marlborough committee made a change to the district’s policy. While teachers could still give homework, the assignments had to begin as classwork. And though teachers could acknowledge homework completion in a student’s participation grade, they couldn’t count homework as its own grading category. “Rigorous learning in the classroom does not mean that that classwork must be assigned every night,” the policy stated . “Extensions of class work is not to be used to teach new content or as a form of punishment.”

Canceling homework might not do anything for the achievement gap

The critiques of homework are valid as far as they go, but at a certain point, arguments against homework can defy the commonsense idea that to retain what they’re learning, students need to practice it.

“Doesn’t a kid become a better reader if he reads more? Doesn’t a kid learn his math facts better if he practices them?” said Cathy Vatterott, an education researcher and professor emeritus at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. After decades of research, she said it’s still hard to isolate the value of homework, but that doesn’t mean it should be abandoned.

Blanket vilification of homework can also conflate the unique challenges facing disadvantaged students as compared to affluent ones, which could have different solutions. “The kids in the low-income schools are being hurt because they’re being graded, unfairly, on time they just don’t have to do this stuff,” Pope told me. “And they’re still being held accountable for turning in assignments, whether they’re meaningful or not.” On the other side, “Palo Alto kids” — students in Silicon Valley’s stereotypically pressure-cooker public schools — “are just bombarded and overloaded and trying to stay above water.”

Merely getting rid of homework doesn’t solve either problem. The United States already has the second-highest disparity among OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations between time spent on homework by students of high and low socioeconomic status — a difference of more than three hours, said Janine Bempechat, clinical professor at Boston University and author of No More Mindless Homework .

When she interviewed teachers in Boston-area schools that had cut homework before the pandemic, Bempechat told me, “What they saw immediately was parents who could afford it immediately enrolled their children in the Russian School of Mathematics,” a math-enrichment program whose tuition ranges from $140 to about $400 a month. Getting rid of homework “does nothing for equity; it increases the opportunity gap between wealthier and less wealthy families,” she said. “That solution troubles me because it’s no solution at all.”

A group of teachers at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, made the same point after the school district proposed an overhaul of its homework policies, including removing penalties for missing homework deadlines, allowing unlimited retakes, and prohibiting grading of homework.

“Given the emphasis on equity in today’s education systems,” they wrote in a letter to the school board, “we believe that some of the proposed changes will actually have a detrimental impact towards achieving this goal. Families that have means could still provide challenging and engaging academic experiences for their children and will continue to do so, especially if their children are not experiencing expected rigor in the classroom.” At a school where more than a third of students are low-income, the teachers argued, the policies would prompt students “to expect the least of themselves in terms of effort, results, and responsibility.”

Not all homework is created equal

Despite their opposing sides in the homework wars, most of the researchers I spoke to made a lot of the same points. Both Bempechat and Pope were quick to bring up how parents and schools confuse rigor with workload, treating the volume of assignments as a proxy for quality of learning. Bempechat, who is known for defending homework, has written extensively about how plenty of it lacks clear purpose, requires the purchasing of unnecessary supplies, and takes longer than it needs to. Likewise, when Pope instructs graduate-level classes on curriculum, she asks her students to think about the larger purpose they’re trying to achieve with homework: If they can get the job done in the classroom, there’s no point in sending home more work.

At its best, pandemic-era teaching facilitated that last approach. Honolulu-based teacher Christina Torres Cawdery told me that, early in the pandemic, she often had a cohort of kids in her classroom for four hours straight, as her school tried to avoid too much commingling. She couldn’t lecture for four hours, so she gave the students plenty of time to complete independent and project-based work. At the end of most school days, she didn’t feel the need to send them home with more to do.

A similar limited-homework philosophy worked at a public middle school in Chelsea, Massachusetts. A couple of teachers there turned as much class as possible into an opportunity for small-group practice, allowing kids to work on problems that traditionally would be assigned for homework, Jessica Flick, a math coach who leads department meetings at the school, told me. It was inspired by a philosophy pioneered by Simon Fraser University professor Peter Liljedahl, whose influential book Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics reframes homework as “check-your-understanding questions” rather than as compulsory work. Last year, Flick found that the two eighth grade classes whose teachers adopted this strategy performed the best on state tests, and this year, she has encouraged other teachers to implement it.

Teachers know that plenty of homework is tedious and unproductive. Jeannemarie Dawson De Quiroz, who has taught for more than 20 years in low-income Boston and Los Angeles pilot and charter schools, says that in her first years on the job she frequently assigned “drill and kill” tasks and questions that she now feels unfairly stumped students. She said designing good homework wasn’t part of her teaching programs, nor was it meaningfully discussed in professional development. With more experience, she turned as much class time as she could into practice time and limited what she sent home.

“The thing about homework that’s sticky is that not all homework is created equal,” says Jill Harrison Berg, a former teacher and the author of Uprooting Instructional Inequity . “Some homework is a genuine waste of time and requires lots of resources for no good reason. And other homework is really useful.”

Cutting homework has to be part of a larger strategy

The takeaways are clear: Schools can make cuts to homework, but those cuts should be part of a strategy to improve the quality of education for all students. If the point of homework was to provide more practice, districts should think about how students can make it up during class — or offer time during or after school for students to seek help from teachers. If it was to move the curriculum along, it’s worth considering whether strategies like Liljedahl’s can get more done in less time.

Some of the best thinking around effective assignments comes from those most critical of the current practice. Denise Pope proposes that, before assigning homework, teachers should consider whether students understand the purpose of the work and whether they can do it without help. If teachers think it’s something that can’t be done in class, they should be mindful of how much time it should take and the feedback they should provide. It’s questions like these that De Quiroz considered before reducing the volume of work she sent home.

More than a year after the new homework policy began in Marlborough, Hennessy still hears from parents who incorrectly “think homework isn’t happening” despite repeated assurances that kids still can receive work. She thinks part of the reason is that education has changed over the years. “I think what we’re trying to do is establish that homework may be an element of educating students,” she told me. “But it may not be what parents think of as what they grew up with. ... It’s going to need to adapt, per the teaching and the curriculum, and how it’s being delivered in each classroom.”

For the policy to work, faculty, parents, and students will all have to buy into a shared vision of what school ought to look like. The district is working on it — in November, it hosted and uploaded to YouTube a round-table discussion on homework between district administrators — but considering the sustained confusion, the path ahead seems difficult.

When I asked Luis Torres about whether he thought homework serves a useful part in PS 55’s curriculum, he said yes, of course it was — despite the effort and money it takes to keep the school open after hours to help them do it. “The children need the opportunity to practice,” he said. “If you don’t give them opportunities to practice what they learn, they’re going to forget.” But Torres doesn’t care if the work is done at home. The school stays open until around 6 pm on weekdays, even during breaks. Tutors through New York City’s Department of Youth and Community Development programs help kids with work after school so they don’t need to take it with them.

As schools weigh the purpose of homework in an unequal world, it’s tempting to dispose of a practice that presents real, practical problems to students across the country. But getting rid of homework is unlikely to do much good on its own. Before cutting it, it’s worth thinking about what good assignments are meant to do in the first place. It’s crucial that students from all socioeconomic backgrounds tackle complex quantitative problems and hone their reading and writing skills. It’s less important that the work comes home with them.

Jacob Sweet is a freelance writer in Somerville, Massachusetts. He is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker, among other publications.

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CITIZENSHIP & IMMIGRATION

What is california's no homework law.

By Teo Spengler, J.D.

August 20, 2019

Reviewed by Michelle Seidel, B.Sc., LL.B., MBA

Learn About Our Review Process

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We write helpful content to answer your questions from our expert network. We perform original research, solicit expert feedback, and review new content to ensure it meets our quality pledge: helpful content – Trusted, Vetted, Expert-Reviewed and Edited. Our content experts ensure our topics are complete and clearly demonstrate a depth of knowledge beyond the rote. We are incredibly worried about the state of general information available on the internet and strongly believe our mission is to give voice to unsung experts leading their respective fields. Our commitment is to provide clear, original, and accurate information in accessible formats. We have reviewed our content for bias and company-wide, we routinely meet with national experts to educate ourselves on better ways to deliver accessible content. For 15 years our company has published content with clear steps to accomplish the how, with high quality sourcing to answer the why, and with original formats to make the internet a helpful place. Read more about our editorial standards .

• Pro & Cons of Child Labor Law

Don't get too excited, kids. "No homework" laws are not current California homework policy. But there was a "no homework" law in the state at the beginning of the 20th Century that the children of that era probably appreciated. Today the question of whether homework helps or hurts kids is widely debated in California.

No Homework Law in California

Is there a "no homework law" in California today? There is not today, but there was 100 years ago. The Ladies' Home Journal magazine crusaded against homework at the turn of the century, and medical professionals and doctors testified against it, saying that it was harmful to a kid's health. Some say that the actual reason society (and parents) frowned on homework was because school kids needed time to help with chores around the house.

As a result of that, a number of big-city school districts around the country eliminated homework from the school menu. California's three biggest cities – San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento – passed regulations forbidding teachers from assigning homework. And in 1901, the state passed a law banning all homework for school kids in kindergarten through eighth grade and imposing limits on the amount of homework that could be assigned to high school students.

California Homework Policy Changes

California's no-homework laws were repealed in the 1950s. That was the Cold War period and educators and politicians felt that the country needed better-educated students to create a skilled workforce, especially in the sciences. The launch of Sputnik in 1957 boosted the call for homework, since it appeared that Russian students might be more advanced than U.S. students.

The end of the Second World War also brought great changes to the United States and significant upheaval socially. Men in the military returned to their families, more people moved from agricultural lifestyle to urban areas and children were no longer expected to do as much physical work at home.

Since then, homework has crept back into the education system. People attacked progressive education as anti-intellectual, lax and dangerous for the nation. Then, in the 1980s, the United States Department of Education came full circle, publishing a pamphlet about the techniques that work best for creating smarter students, concluding that homework was a must.

California Homework Questions Today

Today, California kids from the youngest age through high school can expect homework assignments. But that doesn't mean that the homework/no homework debate is over. Various school districts or individual schools have eliminated homework in California, and while that approach makes some people happy, it makes others very unhappy.

Some educators and researchers argue that children would be better off if homework were abolished. They argue that the research does not demonstrate any tangible benefits for students, and this is especially true for younger students. In fact, studies have shown that elementary school students get no academic benefit from any amount of homework. And, the anti-homework crowd claims, excessive homework stifles a kid's natural curiosity.

However, not all parents agree. In the competitive atmosphere in schools today, just the suggestion of abolishing homework has some parents up in arms.

And high school students in the United States – who spend 5.5 to 6 hours a week on homework – are in the middle of their peers around the world. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 15-year-olds in Shanghai spend the most amount of time on homework, averaging 13.8 hours per week, while students in Finland spend the least time, at just 2.8 hours per week. It is noteworthy that Finnish kids perform just fine on academic tests despite the small amount of homework they do in comparison to teens in other nations.

• SF Gate: History of Homework
• SimpleGrad: Who Invented Homework?
• Time Magazine: Why I Think All Schools Should Abolish Homework
• The Telegraph: Homework Around the World

Teo Spengler earned a JD from U.C. Berkeley Law School. As an Assistant Attorney General in Juneau, she practiced before the Alaska Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court before opening a plaintiff's personal injury practice in San Francisco. She holds both an MA and an MFA in English/writing and enjoys writing legal blogs and articles. Her work has appeared in numerous online publications including USA Today, Legal Zoom, eHow Business, Livestrong, SF Gate, Go Banking Rates, Arizona Central, Houston Chronicle, Navy Federal Credit Union, Pearson, Quicken.com, TurboTax.com, and numerous attorney websites. Spengler splits her time between the French Basque Country and Northern California.

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California Today

Explaining a Major Education Settlement in California

The state has agreed to use at least $2 billion meant for pandemic recovery to help students hurt most by remote learning.

By Sarah Mervosh

The State of California settled a lawsuit last week that had been going on for more than three years, since the height of the debate around pandemic school closures. The case was notable nationally; there have been few others like it. And the settlement included an eye-popping number: $2 billion.

Several families in Oakland and Los Angeles had sued the state, accusing it of failing in its constitutional obligation to provide an equal education to all children in the state, because lower-income, Black and Hispanic students tended to have less access to remote learning in the spring and fall of 2020 than other students did.

It’s important to note that the state — meaning taxpayers — will not pay out any new money under the settlement. Instead, it will take money that was already set aside for pandemic recovery — no less than $2 billion of it — and will direct schools to use it to help students who need it most to catch up. There will be requirements to spend the money on interventions that have a proven track record. You can read more about the settlement here .

Why does this matter?

Because new national data released last week, in a study led by researchers at Stanford and Harvard, made it clear that students across the country are nowhere close to catching up on learning lost during the pandemic .

That is true for students of all backgrounds, but especially for poor students. Schools in poor communities tended to stay closed longer than those in more affluent areas, and when they did, students lost more ground. Once schools reopened, students from richer families have tended to catch up more quickly than students from poorer families in the same districts, according to the new data.

Yet there have been some surprising variations.

In California, Compton Unified , near Los Angeles, and Delano Unified , north of Bakersfield, are examples of lower-income school districts that have recovered remarkably well, at least judging by standardized-test scores. You can read more about bright-spot districts, including Delano Unified, in an article I wrote with my colleagues Claire Cain Miller and Francesca Paris.

Some more affluent districts have had lackluster recoveries in reading, math or both, including Santa Monica-Malibu Unified , Menlo Park City in the Bay Area, and Arcadia Unified in the San Gabriel Valley, northeast of Los Angeles.

Look up your school district and see how it compares with nearby areas and the rest of the state. (Note: This data includes scores for students in third through eighth grades for most public school districts; some small ones are not included. The graphics show only math scores.)

Lakisha Young, the founder of Oakland REACH, a parent organization that worked closely with some families involved in the lawsuit, told me that the plaintiffs would not receive any personal compensation from the settlement.

She said she hoped that the settlement will mean that more students across the state will get the help they need.

“We have a lot of families who are not opening up The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times — they will never know that this lawsuit happened,” she said. But if those parents see their children advancing in reading and math, she said, “then they have won.”

Sarah Mervosh is an education reporter for The Times, focusing on K-12 schools.

The rest of the news

A ferocious atmospheric-river storm that has battered California for days has started to taper off, though forecasters warned that there was a continuing danger of mudslides .

Climate change is leading to dangerous bouts of severe weather happening more and more often .

Judson Jones, a meteorologist and New York Times reporter, explains the intricacies in tracking the record-breaking storm that hit California on Sunday.

Southern California

An accountant for the San Diego City Treasurer’s Office has agreed to accept a settlement of $250,000 after reporting that she was fired after refusing to sign off on findings her bosses had changed , The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

The ninth-oldest person in the world, Pearl Berg, died in Los Angeles yesterday at 114 , The Los Angeles Times reports.

Central California

Several Fresno gun dealers have noted a jump in their ammunition sales after a federal court ruled that California’s law requiring background checks for ammunition purchases was unconstitutional, The Fresno Bee reports.

Northern California

Mayor London Breed of San Francisco is promoting a pair of public safety proposals, including one that would require that single adults on welfare be screened and treated for addiction to illegal drugs , that are on the March 5 ballot, The Associated Press reports.

A ban on street vending on Mission Street in San Francisco, originally set to last 90 days, has been extended for an additional six months in light of a decrease in reports of assaults and robberies in the area, The San Francisco Examiner reports.

The new Sixth Street Bridge in L.A. The Sundial Bridge in Redding. The exceptionally long San Mateo-Hayward Bridge.

Which California bridge is your favorite, and why?

Tell us at [email protected] . Please include your name and the city in which you live.

And before you go, some good news

A recent study in the scientific journal Nature showed that sea otters had helped slow erosion in marshland near Monterey, The Associated Press reports .

The study measured the impact that sea otters had on erosion in a tidal estuary called Elkhorn Slough, where the once-dwindling otter population has started to recover in recent decades thanks to habitat restoration efforts.

The study compared rates of erosion in the estuary before the otters’ return with more recent data and found that the animals had helped stem erosion significantly by eating crabs that burrow deep in the marshland and make its banks less resistant to storms and rough water.

In addition to slowing erosion, sea otters have also been shown to help restore kelp forests by eating sea urchins whose seaweed diets similarly compromise the forest habitat.

Thanks for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow.

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword .

Soumya Karlamangla, Maia Coleman and Briana Scalia contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at [email protected] .

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Sarah Mervosh covers education for The Times, focusing on K-12 schools. More about Sarah Mervosh

California Bans Book Bans and Textbook Censorship in Schools

Published: Sep 25, 2023

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Governor Newsom signed AB 1078 (Jackson) to ban book bans and textbook censorship in the state’s 10,000+ schools.

SACRAMENTO — Building on his Family Agenda to promote educational freedom and success, Governor Gavin Newsom today signed AB 1078 by Assemblymember Dr. Corey Jackson (D-Moreno Valley), which bans “book bans” in schools, prohibits censorship of instructional materials, and strengthens California law requiring schools to provide all students access to textbooks that teach about California’s diverse communities.

WHAT GOVERNOR NEWSOM SAID: “From Temecula to Tallahassee, fringe ideologues across the country are attempting to whitewash history and ban books from schools. With this new law, we’re cementing California’s role as the true freedom state: a place where families — not political fanatics — have the freedom to decide what’s right for them.”

“When we restrict access to books in school that properly reflect our nation’s history and unique voices, we eliminate the mirror in which young people see themselves reflected, and we eradicate the window in which young people can comprehend the unique experiences of others,”  said First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. “In short, book bans harm all children and youth, diminishing communal empathy and serving to further engender intolerance and division across society. We Californians believe all children must have the freedom to learn about the world around them and this new law is a critical step in protecting this right.”

“It is the responsibility of every generation to continue the fight for civil and human rights against those who seek to take them away,” said Assemblymember Dr. Corey Jackson. “Today, California has met this historical imperative and we will be ready to meet the next one.”

“AB 1078 sends a strong signal to the people of California — but also to every American — that in the Golden State — we don’t ban books — we cherish them,” said   State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond . “This law will serve as a model for the nation that California recognizes and understands the moment we are in – and while some want to roll back the clock on progress, we are doubling down on forward motion. Rather than limiting access to education and flat out banning books like other states, we are embracing and expanding opportunities for knowledge and education, because that’s the California way.”

Governor Newsom and Assemblymember Dr. Corey Jackson 

AB 1078 provides the Superintendent of Public Instruction the authority to buy textbooks for students in a school district, recoup costs, and assess a financial penalty if a school board willfully chooses to not provide sufficient standards-aligned instructional materials for students. The law also prohibits school boards from banning instructional materials or library books on the basis that they provide inclusive and diverse perspectives in compliance with state law.

While other states ban books, California is making tens of billions of dollars in strategic investments to improve education outcomes and literacy. California outperformed most states — including Florida and Texas — in mitigating learning loss during the pandemic, and through historic levels of school funding, the state is building a cohesive structure of support for educators and students that reflects a focus on equity, inclusion, and academic success.

As part of the Governor’s Family Agenda, California is ensuring parents and caregivers have the opportunity to actively participate in their children’s education. Parents in California have a seat at the decision-making table for key budget, programmatic, and curricular decisions, including the creation of Local Control and Accountability Plans. In the past two years, in partnership with the Legislature, Governor Newsom has required schools to make it easier for working parents to participate in school decisions, invested $4.1 billion to convert one in four schools into community schools with deeper parent engagement, and invested another $100 million in the Community Engagement Initiative for more proactive collaboration with parents.

California provides instruction and support services to roughly 5.9 million students in grades transitional kindergarten through twelve in more than 1,000 districts and over 10,000 schools throughout the state. Education funding in the state is at a record high, totaling $129.2 billion in the 2023-24 budget.

Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in.

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas about workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework. 

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says, he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy workloads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold , says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace , says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression. 

And for all the distress homework  can cause, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says, homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night. 

"Most students, especially at these high achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends, from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no-homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely but to be more mindful of the type of work students take home, suggests Kang, who was a high school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework; I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial 

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the past two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic , making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized. ... Sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking up assignments can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

More: Some teachers let their students sleep in class. Here's what mental health experts say.

More: Some parents are slipping young kids in for the COVID-19 vaccine, but doctors discourage the move as 'risky'

The Surprising History of Homework Reform

Really, kids, there was a time when lots of grownups thought homework was bad for you.

Homework causes a lot of fights. Between parents and kids, sure. But also, as education scholar Brian Gill and historian Steven Schlossman write, among U.S. educators. For more than a century, they’ve been debating how, and whether, kids should do schoolwork at home .

At the dawn of the twentieth century, homework meant memorizing lists of facts which could then be recited to the teacher the next day. The rising progressive education movement despised that approach. These educators advocated classrooms free from recitation. Instead, they wanted students to learn by doing. To most, homework had no place in this sort of system.

Through the middle of the century, Gill and Schlossman write, this seemed like common sense to most progressives. And they got their way in many schools—at least at the elementary level. Many districts abolished homework for K–6 classes, and almost all of them eliminated it for students below fourth grade.

By the 1950s, many educators roundly condemned drills, like practicing spelling words and arithmetic problems. In 1963, Helen Heffernan, chief of California’s Bureau of Elementary Education, definitively stated that “No teacher aware of recent theories could advocate such meaningless homework assignments as pages of repetitive computation in arithmetic. Such an assignment not only kills time but kills the child’s creative urge to intellectual activity.”

But, the authors note, not all reformers wanted to eliminate homework entirely. Some educators reconfigured the concept, suggesting supplemental reading or having students do projects based in their own interests. One teacher proposed “homework” consisting of after-school “field trips to the woods, factories, museums, libraries, art galleries.” In 1937, Carleton Washburne, an influential educator who was the superintendent of the Winnetka, Illinois, schools, proposed a homework regimen of “cooking and sewing…meal planning…budgeting, home repairs, interior decorating, and family relationships.”

Another reformer explained that “at first homework had as its purpose one thing—to prepare the next day’s lessons. Its purpose now is to prepare the children for fuller living through a new type of creative and recreational homework.”

That idea didn’t necessarily appeal to all educators. But moderation in the use of traditional homework became the norm.

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“Virtually all commentators on homework in the postwar years would have agreed with the sentiment expressed in the NEA Journal in 1952 that ‘it would be absurd to demand homework in the first grade or to denounce it as useless in the eighth grade and in high school,’” Gill and Schlossman write.

That remained more or less true until 1983, when publication of the landmark government report A Nation at Risk helped jump-start a conservative “back to basics” agenda, including an emphasis on drill-style homework. In the decades since, continuing “reforms” like high-stakes testing, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the Common Core standards have kept pressure on schools. Which is why twenty-first-century first graders get spelling words and pages of arithmetic.

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• by Heather Kemp
• July 23, 2021 July 21, 2021

New report considers California’s homework gap

• Closing the Achievement Gap

More than 1.6 million children across California did not have high-speed internet access at home prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report.

“ Closing the Homework Gap in California ” — released in June by the Alliance for Excellent Education, the Small School Districts’ Association and the Linked Learning Alliance — analyzes data from the 2019 American Community Survey.

“This digital divide — also described as the ‘homework gap’— spans across California, but it disproportionately impacts children of color and those living in rural areas and in low-income families,” the report states. “Research shows that, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, middle and high school students who lack high-speed home internet access have poorer academic outcomes than their connected peers.”

The students who lacked access experienced lower grade point averages, less advanced digital skills and were not as likely to attend college. Upwards of 745,500 children were without a computer in 2019 and 8.4 percent of households did not have a computer, according to the report.

While pandemic-related school closures underscored the need for reliable, high-speed internet in homes and the expansion of distance learning fast tracked efforts by the state and local educational agencies to provide students with items like computers, tablets and WiFi hotspots, there remains progress to be made, the report states.

Districts large and small worked tirelessly to get their students connected at appropriate speeds, but “the depth of the homework gap and its disproportionate impact on rural families, low-income families, and families of color indicate that California’s schools need additional investments to ensure all children have the high-speed home internet access required for a 21st-century education.”

While the data may be dated in light of recent progress made, Latino children remain one of the groups most lacking in access to high-speed home internet and devices, and significant gaps persist by region

Geographically, the percentage of households without high-speed home internet access was much higher in non-metropolitan/rural areas than metropolitan locations at 27.5 percent compared to 18.4 percent. The same was found for the percentage of households without a computer as 11.3 percent of non-metropolitan/rural did not have one compared to 8.3 percent for metropolitan areas. LEAs in more urban counties do substantially contribute to the homework gap, however.

“Together, Los Angeles County and neighboring San Bernardino County account for more than 550,000 children without high-speed home internet access and more than 245,000 children without home computers,” the report states. “This means that about one-third of California’s children without broadband internet or devices at home live in these two counties alone.”

The state’s northern rural counties, including Del Norte, Lassen, Modoc and Humboldt, also account for more than one-third of households with children do not have high-speed internet. Meanwhile, in central Madera County, nearly four in 10 households with children do not have high-speed internet access — the highest percentage statewide. “Collectively, more than 80,000 children who live in rural California communities do not have high-speed internet access at home,” according to the report.

Progress prompted by the pandemic

The authors call on state policymakers to provide the financial and technical investments necessary to help ensure that all students have high-speed internet access and devices for schoolwork — a plea that has been at least partially answered due to the public health crisis.

The organizations who presented the report urged California lawmakers to use state funds and federal funds from the American Rescue Plan to make a one-time investment of $7 billion toward the cause, as was proposed in the revised state budget proposal.

They also voiced support for Assembly Bill 34 , the Broadband for All Act of 2022, and said U.S. Congress should continue to fund the Emergency Broadband Benefit and the Emergency Connectivity Fund so the cost of high-speed internet and computers isn’t a barrier to learning.

“COVID-19 did not create California’s homework gap. However, if state lawmakers do not take steps now to close this digital divide, students without home internet access and devices will fall even further behind their connected peers long after the pandemic ends,” the report states. “California’s students deserve this investment today to ensure their future success.”

On July 20, AB 156 , the broadband trailer bill, was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom authorizing $6 billion in spending over the next three years to expand the state’s broadband fiber infrastructure and increase internet connectivity throughout communities.

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When Homework Was Banned

Published: November 3, 2023

In the early 1900s, Ladies' Home Journal took up a crusade against homework, enlisting doctors and parents who say it damages children's health. In 1901 California passed a law abolishing homework!

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Academic Insight The Never-Ending Homework Debate: Insight and Solution

October 12, 2021

“I hate homework,” asserts author and mother Ayelet Waldman in a 2005 opinion piece for Salon titled “Homework hell.”

Similarly strong opinions on homework have swirled around schools for centuries. 

In 1901, in fact, the state of California banned after-school assignments for any student under fifteen after Edward Bok published a scathing critique in the debate against homework. The ban was eventually lifted, consistent with the ebbs and flows of public opinion surrounding this conversation. 

During World War I, homework was deemed an essential mental workout for students, but that trend faded in the 1930, reports Harris Cooper — author of The Battle Over Homework — in a 2015 interview with the National Education Association . 

“In the 1950s,” Cooper continues, “people were worried about falling behind the communists, so more homework for students was needed as a way to speed up our education and technology. During the 1960s, homework fell out of favor because many thought it inflicted too much stress on kids. In the 1970s and 1980s, we needed more homework to keep up with the Japanese economically. More recently, … homework has come into question again.”

It’s How We Do Homework That Matters

Critics of homework from Bok onward have cited concerns including interference with family time, undue stress on children and parents, and matters of equity related to uneven home environments for students. We’ve been challenged for decades to consider what homework stands for.

Robert Marzano and Deborah Pickering, however, argue that the discussion around homework for students needs to focus on improving its implementation rather than debating a no-homework policy.  

“Certainly, inappropriate homework may produce little or no benefit,” they concede. “If a district or school discards homework altogether, however, it will be throwing away a powerful instructional tool.” 

Harris Cooper’s landmark 1989 study demonstrated just how powerful homework can be. Cooper analyzed nearly 120 studies on the topic and found a significant link between homework and academic performance at the secondary level. 

“The evidence is clear,” concludes Harris. “Homework has substantial positive effects on the achievement of high school students. Junior high students also benefit from homework but only about half as much.” Joyce Epstein of Johns Hopkins University has demonstrated similar links for elementary-aged students in her studies.

The Correlation Between Homework Quality and Student Achievement

In the context of compelling evidence for its advantages and heated debate about its very existence, the Center for American Progress conducted a nationwide study in 2018 to measure the quality of homework assignments across a broad range of school districts. 

The researchers analyzed a sample of 187 homework assignments and concluded that, while homework assignments are largely aligned to Common Core standards, they tend to focus on low-level skills and fail to challenge students. 

Their report concludes: “In education, homework reform is low-hanging fruit. Research shows that quality homework and increasing student achievement are positively correlated; and yet, the authors’ analysis shows that some schools may not be taking advantage of a valuable opportunity to support student achievement.”

“Instead of mirroring the cognitive demand in rigorous content standards, homework assigned to students is often weak or rote.”

Online Vs. Traditional Homework

Comparing online and traditional homework has become a mainstay in the debate over homework.

Ongoing research into the benefits of online vs. traditional homework has yielded mixed results so far. In a review of 16 studies observing the effect of online vs. traditional homework assignments on student performance:

• Nine studies found online homework to improve student performance
• One study concluded traditional homework was best for supporting strong academic performance
• Six studies were ultimately inconclusive due to mixed results

Designing Effective and High-Quality Homework

Homework assignments must be thoughtfully designed to make a positive and lasting impact on learning outcomes. 

To enhance your online and traditional homework projects, be sure to implement these tips during the design phase. 

Be Strategic with Assignment Elements

Rather than throwing together homework assignments related to the class topic of the day, take time to intentionally select assignment elements.

Well-designed homework assignments incorporate prior lessons and knowledge to promote the development of new skills and understanding. The most impactful homework assignments also align with classroom learning objectives and when possible, past student performance. 

Don’t Make Time a Limiting Factor

Learning to adhere to deadlines is an important aspect of student development, but overemphasizing due dates and providing short windows to complete homework assignments can negatively impact learning outcomes. 

Research shows that teachers “almost always” underestimate how much time students need to comfortably and confidently complete homework assignments. 

Experts involved with the debate over homework recommend instructors remember that assignment timelines must provide enough time for every student to study prior materials and work through the assignment. If students feel they don’t have enough time to reasonably finish hours of homework, they may decide not to work on it at all . 

Connect the Dots

Teachers should relate the purposes of homework to students’ educational needs engagingly and interestingly. 

By challenging students with a combination of abstract and real-world applications of practiced skills and concepts, teachers can stimulate creativity, lead students to explore more on the topic, and lay the groundwork for valuable classroom discussions. 

Discussing homework assignments before and after students complete them provides a valuable opportunity for educators to use closing questions to ensure students have a strong grasp on how their assignment fits into recent classwork, which skills are being improved upon, and the resources students should rely on to guide their study and work. 

Best Homework Practices During COVID

COVID has impacted every aspect of education over the last few years, including the best practices for assigning homework. 

To provide engaging and valuable homework assignments that improve learning outcomes despite the challenges presented by COVID, try these three tips. 

Optimize Assignments for Remote Learning

Transitions between in-person instruction and remote learning have come without much warning since the onset of the COVID pandemic. 

By planning and designing homework assignments with remote learning in mind, educators can ease the challenging transition from classroom instruction to remote learning — reducing student frustrations that can inhibit positive learning outcomes. 

Take Advantage of High Dosage Tutoring

High Dosage Tutoring is a proven strategy for reversing learning loss due to prolonged absences from the classroom. 

High Dosage Tutoring emphasizes intensive one-on-one and small group instruction. Students exposed to High Dosage Tutoring receive personalized, question-based instruction that develops deeper conceptual understanding and a stronger grasp on procedural skills. 

High Dosage Tutoring has been linked to rapid skill attainment and long-lasting gains in math test scores and overall GPA and accelerated learning. 

Make Homework Assignments Impactful (and Skip the Rest!)

Since the onset of COVID, students across the nation have faced heightened stress levels and worsening mental health . 

In a time full of personal challenges, financial instability, and regular disruptions to day-to-day routines, teachers should be sure to only assign homework that is pivotal to students’ learning journey. 

By limiting assignments to reinforce crucial concepts and skills and reevaluating their beliefs about homework, teachers can improve the odds of students taking the time to carefully and intentionally work, rather than rush through it or leave it incomplete.

Power Your Homework Program With Yup

As the Center for American Progress study demonstrates, landing on the right approach to homework can benefit students of all ages. Districts would be wise to enlist support as they evolve their homework programs.

When it comes to accelerating the development of young mathematicians, Yup’s High Dosage Tutoring programs represent an ideal tool to support students at home in ways that mesh neatly with key recommendations from the CAP study, specifically those related to homework rigor and the incorporation of technology, as detailed in the chart below.

Ready to Learn More?

Enhancing your homework assignments can improve learning outcomes, increase classroom engagement, and improve students’ relationship with math and learning. 

To learn more about how Yup’s High Dosage Tutoring can improve the effectiveness and student experience of homework assignments, schedule a demo today. 

Administrators: See how Yup’s services accelerate Math learning . Yup will collaborate with leadership teams to integrate High Dosage Tutoring into the school day and curriculum.

Teachers: Check out what other educators are saying about Yup .

Contact [email protected] to learn more about bringing Yup to your school or district.

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K-12 Education

California pushing back on school book bans

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California would penalize school boards that ban books based on inclusion of certain groups under a bill the governor is expected to sign into law. But some fear unintended consequences.

Lea este artículo en español .

While some states have been banning books by the hundreds, California appears headed in the opposite direction — enacting a law that would penalize local school boards that block any book reflecting the state’s diversity.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is poised to sign Assembly Bill 1078 , which is intended to prevent school boards from banning books based solely on the books’ inclusion of history or culture related to Black, Latino, Asian, Native American, LGBTQ people or other groups. It expands the state’s existing education code requiring schools to include the experiences of racial, ethnic and LGBTQ groups in curriculum.

“(This bill) offers a clear statement from the Legislature and governor about California’s commitment to free inquiry and non-discrimination in our public schools,” said UCLA education professor John Rogers, who’s studied book bans. “That’s always been important, but it’s particularly important now, as we’re seeing efforts in some areas to challenge the role of the public school as an instrument to promote the ideals of inclusion and diverse democracy.”

The bill follows a much-publicized effort in Temecula, in Riverside County, to block an elementary social studies textbook that includes a supplemental lesson on San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the gay rights icon who was assassinated in 1978. The Temecula Valley Unified board in June voted to ban the textbook, with the majority arguing that lessons about LGBTQ rights and history are not appropriate for children. 

Newsom intervened, threatening to send the textbook — which had already been approved by the state and Temecula teachers — to students directly and bill the district. The board then reversed course and agreed to adopt the materials.

But the events in Temecula are not what inspired the bill’s author, Assemblymember Corey Jackson , a Democrat from Moreno Valley. He said it was Florida that drove him to it. According to a database compiled by PEN America, Florida school districts, under a law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, have banned more than 500 books, including novels by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison and biographies of baseball great Hank Aaron.

“These disgusting tactics are part of a national strategy by conservatives to literally retell history to not reflect the truth about people of color and people who identify as LGBTQ,” Jackson said.

“We have to take a stand, and prevent what’s happening in Florida from happening in California. We are in new territory, and we cannot be afraid to act.”

Learn more about legislators mentioned in this story

Corey Jackson

State Assembly, District 60 (Moreno Valley)

Time in office

2022—present

Riverside County Board of Education Member

Email Legislator

Race/Ethnicity

Voter Registration

Asm. Corey Jackson has taken at least $124,000 from the Labor sector since he was elected to the legislature. That represents 27% of his total campaign contributions.

If signed by Newsom, the bill, which won legislative support on Thursday, would take effect immediately and create a new process for the public to complain directly to the state superintendent of public instruction if they feel students are being deprived of proper education materials. The state would provide the textbooks to the students and could deduct the cost of the textbooks from the district’s funding.

Although the bill has undergone a slew of amendments since it was introduced, the California School Boards Association remained opposed as of today. The bill’s intentions are laudable, said association spokesman Troy Flint, but the repercussions could be negative and long-lasting.

“These disgusting tactics are part of a national strategy by conservatives to literally retell history to not reflect the truth about people of color and people who identify as LGBTQ.” Assemblymember corey jackson, democrat from moreno valley

California already has a lengthy public process to adopt a new curriculum, he noted. In addition, the state, county offices of education and local school districts have complaint processes for the public to protest textbooks, policies or other facets of the education system. The public also has an opportunity to weigh in on textbooks when county offices of education conduct their annual reviews of instructional materials.

Instead, the bill would further incite tension between the state and school boards , which under California’s system of “local control” have a large degree of autonomy, he said.

“We understand the motivations behind the bill, and we agree on the importance of students having access to inclusive textbooks,” Flint said. “But we think there are less inflammatory ways to handle this.”

Flint also pointed out that the bill could potentially stop schools from banning books that some might feel are racist or homophobic. That has already happened in some California schools. In 2020, Burbank Unified in Los Angeles County banned “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Of Mice and Men,” “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and two other books after parents complained that the books are racist.

“The implications are significant… Proponents are under the impression that the people in charge now will forever remain so,” Flint said. “A good law is just in all situations, not only in reaction to a certain environment.”

Jonathan Alexander, an English professor at UC Irvine, praised the bill, saying that protecting students’ access to high-quality works of literature — especially pertaining to LGBTQ issues — is more important than ever, considering the current polarized political climate. Students of all backgrounds and identities can benefit from learning the history and experiences of other groups, hopefully leading to a more equitable and accepting society, he said.

“If anyone’s going to lead us out of our current apocalypse, it’s going to be young people who’ve learned from each other and can show us better paths forward,” Alexander said.

“We understand the motivations behind the bill, and we agree on the importance of students having access to inclusive textbooks. But we think there are less inflammatory ways to handle this.” troy flint, spokesman for the California School Boards Association

Book bans such as those in Florida can be damaging to young people’s mental health, especially LGBTQ youth who might be searching for positive stories featuring characters like themselves. The publishing industry is in a golden age of LGBTQ youth literature, he said, with a wide breadth of sensitive, well-written books available. Schools should be promoting those books, not banning them.

“California is sending a signal that we value inclusivity. We’re actively encouraging young people to think about what kind of life they want to craft for themselves, what the possibilities are for their future,” he said. “That’s in direct contradiction to what’s happening in other states.”

Alexander and Rogers both pointed out that the bill could have wide-ranging benefits.

“It’s important that young people grapple with the full history of our country, even if it can be uncomfortable,” Rogers said, “so as adults, they’re in position to make it a more just place.”

More on k-12 education

Soaring chronic absenteeism in California schools is at ‘pivotal moment’

Nearly a third of K-12 students statewide were chronically absent in 2020-21, more than three times the pre-pandemic rate. Some school officials fear that pattern will become the new normal.

As culture wars escalate, California officials push back on conservative school board policies

Under a system that has long prioritized local control for school districts. state officials now are fighting some recent board decisions regarding LGBTQ students.

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Carolyn Jones K-12 Education Reporter

Carolyn Jones covers K-12 education for CalMatters. Previously, she worked at EdSource, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune. She recently served as a Fulbright Specialist in Albania focusing... More by Carolyn Jones

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Strange But True – In 1901 California banned homework

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* Maurice Sendak’s beloved kids’ classic “Where the Wild Things Are” was originally titled “Where the Wild Horses Are.” Why the change in title? Sendak realized he was unable to draw horses.

* Rapper Lil’ Wayne originally went by the moniker “Shrimp Daddy.”

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* The prize money for winning the Monopoly World Championship is $20,580 — the same amount of money there is in the game’s bank.

* Modern students who complain about the amount of homework they’re issued might well wish they’d lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when doctors crusaded against it because they believed it was causing children to become wan, weak and nervous. In 1901, California even banned homework for anyone under the age of 15.

* Over a 24-year career, Roman charioteer Gaius Appuleius Diocles amassed an astonishing fortune worth 35,863,120 sesterces (an ancient Roman coin), or roughly $15 billion in today’s dollars, making him the highest-paid athlete of all time.

* In January 2021, the first commercial 3D-printed house in the U.S. went on sale for $299,000.

* The term “rum bubber,” which originated in the 16th century, referred to a thief who specialized in stealing silver tankards from inns and pubs.

* An actual “chill pill,” which could even be made at home, was used in the late 1800s to remedy chills associated with a high fever. *** Thought for the Day: “We should live, act, and say nothing to the injury of anyone. It is not only best as a matter of principle, but it is the path to peace and honor.” — Robert E. Lee

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Is it illegal to have homework in California?

In 1901, the state of California voted to abolish homework for children under the age of 15 . The ban wasn't repealed until 1929. In 1994—nearly a century later—a district just north of San Francisco entertained the same notion when a member of the school board proposed banning homework from the school curriculum.

Do schools in California have homework?

For children in grades K-2, homework is more effective when it does not exceed 20 minutes each school day . Older children, in grades 3-6, can handle 30-60 minutes a day. For kids in middle and high school, 2 hours of homework may be assigned.

Is homework illegal in us?

In all US states, homework is legal because there are no state laws prohibiting it . However, schools in different states are allowed to set their own rules about homework. Some states ban or limit homework in some schools (or districts) including: Utah.

Do they have homework in Canada?

Given the trend toward so-called “intensive parenting” (21) and recent data indicating that, at an average of 9.2 hours per week, homework is the second-most time-consuming activity of adolescent students in Canada , (22) it is not surprising that most Canadian parents feel that homework contributes to household stress.

When did homework start in America?

Horace Mann spearheaded the development of government-regulated, tax-funded public education in the United States. He saw the Volkschule system in action during a trip to Germany in 1843 and brought some of its concepts—including homework—back to America.

Why did California ban homework?

In the early 1900s, Ladies' Home Journal took up a crusade against homework, enlisting doctors and parents who say it damages children's health . In 1901 California passed a law abolishing homework!

Is it illegal to not go to school in California?

California compulsory education law requires everyone between the ages of six and eighteen years of age to attend school, except students who have graduated from high school or passed the California High School Proficiency Exam and obtained parental permission.

What state has the most homework?

• California: 56 minutes.
• Maine: 55.7 minutes.
• Louisiana: 54 minutes.
• New Mexico: 54 minutes.
• Washington: 53.1 minutes.
• Indiana: 51.8 minutes.
• Utah: 51.4 minutes.
• Nebraska: 50 minutes.

What countries don't give homework?

The uniqueness of the Finnish education model is encapsulated in its values of neither giving homework to students every day nor conducting regular tests and exams. Instead, it is listening to what the kids want and treating them as independent thinkers of society.

Is giving homework illegal in India?

The government in the National Education Policy said that children in classes 3, 4 and 5 should be given a maximum of two hours of homework per week . For Classes 6 to 8, the homework should be maximum of one hour a day.

Why is homework banned in California?

Is there homework in germany.

Even in primary school, students spend at least half an hour on homework every day (known as Hausaufgaben). Education in Germany is designed to provide students with 20 to 30 hours of lessons per week.

Is there homework in China?

China has passed an education law aimed at reducing the pressures of excessive homework and intensive after-school tutoring , state media say. Parents are being asked to ensure their children have reasonable time for rest and exercise, and do not spend too much time online.

Which country has the most homework?

The results showed that in Shanghai, China the students had the highest number of hours of homework with 13.8 hours per week. Russia followed, where students had an average of 9.7 hours of homework per week.

How many people don t like homework?

Stop The Presses : Over 70% of students don't like homework, survey says.

Who made I Ready Math?

Who invented i-Ready? i-Ready was invented in 2011 by Curriculum Associates to make equitable learning a reality for all students.

Is homework illegal in CA?

Is it illegal to give homework in california, can you go to school in the us if you are illegal.

Doe (457 U.S. 202 (1982)) that undocumented children and young adults have the same right to attend public primary and secondary schools as do U.S. citizens and permanent residents . Like other children, undocumented students are obliged under state law to attend school until they reach a mandated age.

Is it illegal to not send your child to school in America?

According to the law, it is illegal to not send a child to school . Again, while these requirements may differ based on the state, every state has a law that requires children to attend school. The original reason that such laws arose was to protect children from having to go to work at a young age.

Which countries don t give homework?

• Finland - Nordic education is often held up as a shining example of best practices. ...
• Chinese - The Chinese education system tends to take a lot of heat in the Western world, but much of it is undeserved. ...
• United States.

Which country gives the fewest homework?

Which countries have the most homework in europe.

If you live in Italy , those complaints could reach fever-pitch! According to research conducted by the OECD, 15-year old children in Italy have to contend with nearly 9 hours of homework per week - more than anywhere else in the world.

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Want the right to ignore your boss’ calls after hours? California could make that happen

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A San Francisco lawmaker is proposing a bill that would make California the first state in the country to give workers the right to ignore after-hours calls, emails and texts from their employers.

Assembly Bill 2751, introduced by Assemblyman Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), would create a “right-to-disconnect” law that guarantees workers uninterrupted personal and family time, free from calls or messages after work hours. It also mandates employers to create and publish plans to implement the new law into their policies and empower the California Labor Commissioner’s Office to investigate and fine employers who habitually violate it.

But the bill already has opposition from business advocacy groups who worry the legislation might create more headaches than its worth.

Haney said the bill aims to set a boundary between work and home life that in recent years has been blurred by smartphones and the shift to remote work pushed further by the pandemic.

“Work has changed drastically compared to what it was just 10 years ago,” Haney said. “People have to be able to spend time with their families without being constantly interrupted at the dinner table or their kids’ birthday party, worried about their phones and responding to work.”

Column: The eight-hour workday was the paramount goal of unions in the 1800s. Is the four-day workweek next?

Evidence shows that a 32-hour, four-day workweek with no reduction in pay is good for workers and employers. Why isn’t it a rule in the U.S.?

March 21, 2024

A survey of 41 advanced countries conducted by the Organization for Better Economic Co-operation and Development found that the United States ranked 29th when it came to work-life balance. It also found that 10% of U.S. residents worked 50 hours or more a week on average.

Studies have shown that workers who lack a healthy work-life balance are likely to experience burnout, anxiety, stress and other mental health conditions. That is especially the case for women and working parents .

A 2021 survey by Mind Share Partners, a nonprofit focused on workplace mental health, found that 84% of respondents said their workplace had contributed to at least one mental health condition. Last year, the nonprofit conducted another survey and found improvements had been made but that mental health issues overall still continued to plague the workforce.

Haney said the bill would reinforce California as a forward-thinking state and it would join about a dozen countries including France, where the idea originated in 2017.

Last month, Australia appeared to be the latest country to approve legislation that grants workers the right to disconnect.

Tyler Jochman, an attorney who has conducted research on compensation under the right-to-disconnect laws, said such legislation is important for workers’ health, especially for people working from home. It also further ensures that people are paid for the time they work.

But the law might cause some issues for companies who have branches in other states with different time zones. It also raises questions about the impact it will have on pay and exempt employees.

“We could see a redefinition of a salary employee,” Jochman said.

L.A. law aims to make retail workers’ schedules more predictable. Is it working?

L.A. is among several cities nationwide that have adopted scheduling laws, part of a growing recognition that schedules are as important to well-being as wages and sick pay.

Feb. 17, 2024

Those were among some of the issues raised by the California Chamber of Commerce, which opposes the bill.

In an April 1 letter, Ashley Hoffman, senior policy advocate for the chamber, wrote that the bill was vague and failed to consider the state’s longstanding laws regarding hours worked and exempt employees, and did not account for the uniqueness of different industries and professions.

“The bill may effectively ban overtime unless it is pre-planned,” she wrote. “That would result in significant lost wages for workers who regularly want to work overtime.”

She also raised concerns that the bill appears to apply to exempt employees who are paid a regular salary regardless of hours worked and are not subject to laws like overtime or meal or rest requirements.

“Requiring employers to assign those exempt workers ‘nonworking hours’ completely defeats the intent behind being an exempt employee,” Hoffman wrote. “It also restrains an employee’s flexibility.”

Haney could not immediately be reached for comment. But as part of his statement announcing the bill, he said the legislation has flexibility to make sure it works for everyone, including sectors that may require on-call work or longer hours.

He said it would also make an exception for after-work contact during emergencies or to discuss scheduling. It also makes exceptions for labor unions to allow collective bargaining agreements to supersede the law.

“Many of California’s larger employers are already abiding by the right-to-disconnect laws in other countries and choosing to grow their companies rapidly in those places,” he said. “They’re providing their French, Portuguese and Irish employees a clear delineation between ‘work time’ and non-work time,’ they’re just not doing that for Californians.”

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Ruben Vives is a general assignment reporter for the Los Angeles Times. A native of Guatemala, he got his start in journalism by writing for The Times’ Homicide Report in 2007. He helped uncover the financial corruption in the city of Bell that led to criminal charges against eight city officials. The 2010 investigative series won the Pulitzer Prize for public service and other prestigious awards.

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Google blocking links to California news outlets from search results

Tech giant is protesting proposed law that would require large online platforms to pay ‘journalism usage fee’

Google has temporarily blocked links from local news outlets in California from appearing in search results in response to the advancement of a bill that would require tech companies to pay publications for links that articles share. The change applies only to some people using Google in California, though it is not clear how many.

The California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA) would require large online platforms to pay a “journalism usage fee” for linking to news sites based in the Golden state. The bill cleared the California assembly in 2023. To become law, it would need to pass in the senate before being signed by the governor, Gavin Newsom.

In a blogpost published on Friday , Jaffer Zaidi, Google’s head of global news partnerships, explained that the company was experimenting with removing local news links for a “small percentage” of California users in preparation for the bill potentially passing.

“We don’t take these decisions lightly and want to be transparent with California publishers, lawmakers and our users,” he said. “To avoid an outcome where all parties lose and the California news industry is left worse off, we urge lawmakers to take a different approach.”

Google will also suspend “further investments in the California news ecosystem”, the blogpost said, cutting California publications from its Google News Showcase, a feature that pushes stories to users in a streamlined feed in an effort to boost traffic to publishers.

In May 2023, in response to the California legislation, Meta said it would be forced to remove news content from Facebook and Instagram “rather than pay into a slush fund that primarily benefits big, out-of-state media companies”. The company has not yet followed through on those statements, and did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The California bill is meant to support the local journalism industry, which has been gutted in recent decades in part due to the rise of social media and other online means of accessing news. But media equity advocates say that the legislation is misguided, and stands to benefit larger publishers over smaller outlets that are seeing more drastic impacts.

A study conducted by Free Press Action, a media-reform advocacy group, found in a November report that more than 80% of the websites that would benefit from the reimbursement mandated by the bill are owned by just 20 major firms. Media conglomerates like News Corp and Gannett stand to benefit from the proposed measure, according to the study. Because of this, major social media companies have lobbied heavily against the legislation.

“It’s a Google versus corporate media fight, and in the end California residents are the ones being harmed,” said Mike Rispoli, senior director at Free Press Action. “It speaks to real challenges facing local news today when how the news is created and how it is accessed is controlled by these large corporations that are just looking after themselves.”

The California bill is the latest to challenge big tech firms over their impact on news publishers. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, have battled similar legislation in Australia and Canada. That fight came to a head in Canada when Meta turned off news services in the country in 2023, in the midst of a wildfire crisis. The blockade on links to news in Canada is ongoing.

Meta has also continued to scale back its news services in Australia after the country passed a bill in 2021 forcing social media firms to pay publishers for content shared on their platforms. In March it escalated the battle with lawmakers there by stating it would stop paying publishers there for content.

Similar legislation is being considered in Illinois. Introduced in February 2024, the Journalism Preservation act would require social media firms to pay a fee based on how many times per month they link to a news outlet’s work.

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55 Coast Guard Academy Cadets Disciplined Over Homework Cheating Accusations

Officials say 55 U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadets have been disciplined for sharing homework answers in violation of academy policy

Jessica Hill

FILE - The United States Coast Guard Academy is seen, Sept. 14, 2020, in New London, Conn. Fifty-five U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadets have been disciplined for sharing homework answers in violation of academy policy, Coast Guard officials announced. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)

NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) — Fifty-five U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadets have been disciplined for sharing homework answers in violation of academy policy, Coast Guard officials announced.

After a series of disciplinary hearings, six of the cadets failed the course and 48 got lowered grades, officials said Wednesday.

The cadets were accused of cheating by sharing answers for two separate homework assignments electronically.

“The U.S. Coast Guard Academy is committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity, honor, and accountability,” said Capt. Edward Hernaez, commandant of the academy. “Misconduct like this undermines trust and those found to have violated our principles were held accountable for their actions.”

The cadets will be provided the opportunity to appeal the disciplinary actions, officials said.

Copyright 2024 The  Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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A California bill would let workers ignore their bosses during off hours

A new bill is aiming to give Californians more work-life balance by restricting when employers can contact them during off hours.

So-called “right to disconnect” laws have already made headlines overseas . If passed, California would be the first state in the U.S. to try it.

Under the bill proposed by San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney, California companies would have to better specify employee “compensated” hours.  

In turn, employees wouldn’t be expected to respond to calls, texts, or emails outside that timeframe — a welcomed change for remote workers like Rob Hayes.

“It feels like I have to set my phone on silent certain times, not open up my computer certain times. If I don’t right now I kind of feel like I would be left behind or not seen as someone who works hard, so I think it’s really beneficial,” said the Solano County resident. 

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The state’s labor commission could investigate and fine employers for interrupting employees' personal time. Management expert professor Amira Barger believes the bill addresses workplace equity issues.

“We are dealing with an epidemic of burnout and that’s part of how we got here,” said the Cal State East Bay professor. “This is a necessary adaptation as we look towards the future of work. Employees are demanding more of employers and they are demanding a new value proposition of what work looks like.”

The bill makes exceptions for emergencies, scheduling and collective bargaining. But also aims to create boundaries in business that assembly member Haney says are missing.

“California created many of these technologies that allow people to be available 24/7, we should also lead the way in making sure we can make them sustainable for work-life balance,” he said.

But California’s Chamber of Commerce argues the bill is a step backwards for workplace flexibility and fails to consider California’s longstanding laws regarding hours worked and compensation.    

Haney disagrees, saying he feels it actually does the opposite while also creating a stronger workforce.

“I’m hopeful that this increases the competitiveness of California’s industries and helps people to come back to work, or come to work in California,” he said. “I think this is actually going to help our competitiveness as a state for industries, for highly skilled workers.”

Velena Jones is a reporter for NBC Bay Area.