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‘Redefining What’s Possible’ is a series of blogs that highlights stand-out tech tools being used at KCS.

The other day a student asked to use my office at lunch to work on math. By the end of lunch recess, I learned he used the time to do three different versions of his homework assignment, persisting until he got the full set of questions right.

Homework has a patchy record in this profession. It always has. One big glitch with it is when students have homework that they, unknowingly, don’t do correctly. This can happen to anyone when learning something new, and is particularly common in advanced math when the concepts to be practised are far removed from the rest of our lives. Traditional math homework has students carry on regardless (because it’s due and will be checked), with more than a few doing it incorrectly. In essence, these students practise doing it wrong. That’s right – despite best efforts, homework helps some become proficient in doing it incorrectly. Hopefully, mistakes will be picked up by both teacher and students the next day, whether in class or extra help. Hopefully, correct practice will then be fully established. The students will all ably move on to the next concept to be practised at home that evening. That is the ideal.

Unfortunately, the ideal can be elusive, and most of us know that for a fact. Multiple obstacles could be at work, and differ from student to student – the well-practised incorrect method; students not paying full attention during homework correction for any number of reasons; students not getting enough practice doing the work correctly; students not getting enough direct, immediate feedback, among others. A quantum leap in homework effectiveness would give students fast direct feedback on their homework, make reinstruction readily available whenever needed (24/7), and make it easy to redo homework, multiple times if necessary, until it’s done well.

That’s where one innovative technology is redefining what’s possible. Every student wants to learn and do well, but many traditional practices don’t readily support it for all. There are many reasons why the Math Help Services program in grades 7 and 8 is making a positive difference to student learning, but one significant reason is the difference with homework. Students find out immediately after completing a set of questions how they did. They learn right away in the privacy of their home (or my office) which questions were right and which were wrong. They have unlimited access to multimedia instruction and step-by-step examples to correct misunderstandings. And with the click of their mouse they can request and receive a new set of homework questions on the same topic. Trying a second or third time, homework marks invariably go up. The students learn the concept with however many questions they need, and are ready to go on.

There’s an additional benefit this technology provides that’s soundly rooted in brain research. Math Help Services lets the teacher create regular concept reviews with questions from all concepts previously taught. Research has clearly established the power of extended, mixed practice of learned concepts over intense, repetitive practice of just single concepts. The former leads to mastery, the latter leads to the all-too-common math affliction, “I don’t remember how to do it!” And like all other homework, the students can access as many versions of the concept review as they need to get the mark, and mastery, they seek.

Was the one student in my office an anomaly? No. The majority of our grade 7 and 8 students take advantage of doing homework assignments multiple times, as needed, forging through different question sets until they nail them.

That ideal isn’t elusive. It’s here and making sure math gets learned.

Andrea Fanjoy,
Assistant Head, Academics
You can follow Andrea on Twitter @afanjoy.

“I’ve never overseen homework in my house. My kids know to settle down and get it done.” — A KCS parent

I’ve long envied that mother, as I know first-hand that homework doesn’t always work like that. In fact, based on everything I’ve heard and read over many years, it’s clear that the homework experience can range from the sublime to the ridiculous. While a common element in schools throughout the world, there’s little that’s common about how it plays out at home.

If there were a one-size-fits-all solution to homework, rest assured, we would have embraced it. In its absence, KCS offers what we believe is the next best thing – a balanced approach that respects individual students and families; that has value, while also respecting the value of free time, particularly in childhood; and that directly asks students and parents to let us know when homework gets out of hand. Every October, KCS teachers ask parents how homework is going. Every May, we ask parents in our annual Family Satisfaction Survey if they agree with our guidelines of approximately ten minutes per grade (e.g. grade 3 x 10 minutes = 30 minutes) and with minimal need for adult support. We also ask if parents are satisfied with their child’s ability to complete homework within these guidelines.

What do they tell us? Year after year, and for every grade, the majority of parents are satisfied with our guidelines. Overall, 81% of parents in last year’s survey stated they support our guidelines. Among those who don’t, 8% said the guidelines represent too much homework and 13% said they represent too little homework. Regarding the homework experience, 75% of parents are satisfied with their child’s ability to complete homework within the guidelines and with minimal adult assistance. Homework can be a difficult habit to establish for many children. While it’s clear a number of students are still working on becoming efficient and independent, it’s encouraging to see that the majority of our students are managing homework well.

A telling trend emerges when looking at the results from year-to-year. In fact, what’s ‘telling’ is the lack of a trend. Since we started asking about homework a number of years ago, there is considerable variability within grades year over year. Where one year the parents with children in a given grade may be close to 100% in support of our guidelines, the next year’s results may reveal that only 70% of parents support the guidelines for that grade. The following year, it may be high again. Consistent consensus on homework is nowhere to be found.

What’s a school to do? First, schools need to do their own homework on how to best design, assign and support it. A few years ago, KCS undertook this challenge and you can find the results in the report “Homework at KCS”. Second, schools need to reach out to parents. Parents know best how homework is going in their household. The same homework assigned to a class may take one child five minutes and another 50. The same assignment may be readily done by some children without parents’ help, while other students may be entirely unable to begin without an adult by their side. Finally, schools need to be prepared to make individual adjustments to homework where needed. Multiple hours of homework each night is as unhealthy as it is unwise. While we can’t promise it will always be sublime, it should never be ridiculous.

Hopefully, homework isn’t a bad word in your home. Because we know it has the potential, we’re doing our best to make it the best it can be. For that, we need your help. In this one way, we step away from our guidelines. For us to do our homework, we need you by our side.

Andrea Fanjoy,
Assistant Head, Academics
You can follow Andrea on Twitter @afanjoy.