A District’s Quest for Equitable Homework Policy

• In Event: Constructing Educational Possibilities Through Normative Case Study Conversations

Abstract

Set in the United States in a suburban district just outside the nation’s capital, “Remaking the Grade: A District’s Quest for Equitable Homework Policy” examines the firestorm that erupted when, in an attempt to close achievement gaps, the district created a new homework policy that eliminated graded homework, late penalties, and extra credit assignments and mandated unlimited opportunities for retakes and redos. Proponents cheered the new policy’s focus on academic content rather than compliance, while critics worried that eliminating homework grades and deadlines would keep students from learning responsibility. Some questioned whether homework was the right vehicle for tackling the district’s achievement gaps, particularly for students of color. In the conversation about the case, a group that includes both scholars and educators dissects the process that the district used to create the new policy, determining that an equitable process would need to include many more stakeholders. They also examine the kinds of data that districts can use both to assess what causes opportunity gaps and to determine whether the programs they put in place to close those gaps are working.
In the context of an increasingly polarized debate over homework, we aimed to elevate the conversation beyond the binary rhetoric on whether homework is either good or bad for students’ academic growth and wellbeing. The diverse perspectives of the conversation participants—a sociologist who studies meritocracy and the cultural processes that perpetuate inequality in education; a leading scholar of family and community engagement; a former assistant superintendent of opportunity and achievement gaps at a large public school district who currently supports educational leaders seeking to create equitable schools (Colin Rose); and a high school math teacher (Amanda Churchill Jimerson)—led to a co-constructed, nuanced analysis of the ethical dilemmas inherent in writing policies designed to promote equity, and a roadmap for districts seeking to reduce opportunity gaps.

Authors

• Janine Bempechat, Boston University

• Colin Rose, Perennial Education Consulting

• Amanda Churchill Jimerson, Del Oro High School