St. Simon Parish School
Q&A on revised Middle School Late Homework Policy
What is the school’s philosophy regarding homework?
As stated in the school handbook, homework is designed to:
• Reinforce concepts and skills that have been presented in class.
• Foster creativity and discipline through enrichment projects or research.
• Train the student to work independently and to accept responsibility.
What was the prior late homework policy? What prompted the change? What steps did we
take and what research was gathered to inform the policy change?
Previously, the late homework policy varied greatly by teacher, with some teachers allowing
students to wait until the end of the trimester to submit homework for reduced credit, while other
teachers may have provided a couple days, if any, to submit late homework. This model was
confusing to students and incentivized parent lobbying for a range of reasons.
St. Simon Parish School constantly seeks feedback from local Catholic high schools regarding how
well our students are prepared to succeed in a college prep environment. Over the years we have
made a number of changes to the curriculum to better prepare our students, including:
• Moving to a block schedule for easier transition to high school;
• Transitioning to multiple academic teachers with grades 4 – 5;
• Beginning to read novels in 4th grade;
• Choosing reading anthologies richer in short story content;
• Adopting the Step Up to Writing program to provide strength and continuity in our writing
program;
• Modifying the mathematics program based on new research on how to best teach students,
including web-based blending learning tools like Khan Academy and Mathletics;
• Changing the curriculum to include study and project-based learning skills, service learning.
In the past, high schools have rescinded admissions offers to 8th graders because of poor grades due
to late homework. As a result, the faculty and administration undertook a review of our homework
policy, as apart of our annual policy review process. In doing so, we contacted all 6 Catholic high
schools, as well as the other Catholic elementary schools in our cluster.
What is the new late homework policy?
7th and 8th graders:
Homework makes up 10% of the entire grade in the middle school. With this in mind: late
homework will not be accepted; any late homework receives a zero. The lowest two homework
grades in each subject will be dropped at the end of the trimester. Exceptions remain for excused
absences, illness, high school shadowing and other legitimate grounds outlined in the school
handbook.
6th graders:
Same policy as 7th and 8th graders above. However, to help ease their transition to the new
homework policy and to the middle school lifestyle, 6th grade students will receive a number
of "Late Homework Acknowledgement” forms each trimester (five forms in first trimester, three
forms in second trimester and one in the third trimester). This form, with a student and parent
signature, will allow the student to turn in homework for any class for full credit the next class
period following the due date. However, if the assignment is turned in without the form or it is
turned in after the next class period the student will receive a zero for the assignment.
NOTE: The above late homework policy does not apply to late projects, papers or other
assignments. If these assignments are turned in the next class period after the due date, the grade
will be reduced by 25% of the possible points. If turned in later, the assignment will receive a zero.
What are the goals of the new homework policy?
Below are some of the objectives for changing the policy:
• Unify policy across all faculty members;
• Incent students to stay on task and focused;
• Reinforce time management skills taught with respect to planning ahead and using time
wisely;
• Decrease the amount of late homework turned in;
• Increase homework completed during the unit currently being studied so it will have the
intended benefit;
• Acknowledge the variety of reasons that arise for not having homework completed on time
by dropping the two lowest homework scores in each subject for each trimester;
• Acknowledgement of transition period needed from 5th to 6th grade by adding late
homework forms.
Are there potential benefits from the change?
Some of the anticipated advantages include:
• Students gaining more benefit from the homework by doing it while the lesson is freshest in
their minds;
• Reducing the “snowballing effect” which occurs when students start to fall behind and are
unable to catch up; and
• Eliminating the potential backlog of unfinished late homework and thus helping reduce
stress as students can focus just on current homework.
Has the new policy had any impact?
Anecdotal evidence indicates that the rate of on-time completion in much higher than last year. For
example, halfway through this trimester 96% of Mr. Lipscomb’s 8th grade homework and 98% of his
7th grade homework has been turn in on time, with no student missing more than two assignments.
How will the new policy affect a student’s grade?
Recall that a student receives two “free” misses per subject per trimester; thus in one trimester a
student could potentially miss 12 homework assignments with no adverse affect on his or her grade.
For students who in prior years might miss or be late on 1 to 2 assignments in a subject, under the
new policy their grades would be higher (because the missing homework grade(s) would be
eliminated from their average instead of counted as a zero).
For the vast majority of students who normally turn in homework on time, their grades would also be
higher, since the two homework assignments with the lowest grades would be eliminated. If a
student’s grade in a subject was 92%, but four homework assignments were missed, the grade would
drop to about 91.5% after the elimination of two of the homework assignments. If a student missed
eight homework assignments in a subject (about 25% of all homework), the student’s grade would
move from 92% to 90%.
What are late homework policies at local Catholic high schools?
Policies regarding late homework vary greatly from teacher to teacher in each school including, but
not limited to, the following:
• no late homework accepted;
• accepted at 75% or 50% rate if one day late;
•
homework not accepted unless the staple is at a 45 degree angle (not a joke).
Recall that part of the philosophy of assigning homework is to teach students to work independently
and to accept responsibility. As illustrated above, the impact on a student’s grade for failing to
complete homework is not particularly large. Nonetheless, it is important that they start learning
these lessons now, since in high school the consequences of poor decisions will be greater.
What if my child doesn’t have time to do the homework? How is homework presently
monitored to ensure appropriate load and effectiveness?
The block schedule has been designed to alleviate the number of classes that a student prepares for
each night. Thus, a student would normally have at least two days notice for a homework
assignment. However, students must proactively manage their time so that the work needed to
prepare for the following day is not extreme. Students should not wait until the evening before the
due date to start homework.
The following information is copied from the Saint Simon School student handbook:
“The time limits of homework assignments were created with awareness to developmental
appropriateness and are balanced between written and studied work. The amount of time which
different students in the same grade spend doing homework will vary. However, the following table
provides guidelines for the amount of time the typical elementary student should spend daily on
homework. (Adapted from the DSJ –Department of Education, Administrative Handbook, Sec.
6227)”
Middle School Homework
Subject Area
Grade 6
Grades 7 and 8
Language Arts
30 minutes
40 minutes
Foreign Language
10 minutes
10 minutes
Math
10 minutes
15 minutes
Religion
10 minutes
15 minutes
Science
10 minutes
15 minutes
Social Studies
10 minutes
15 minutes
Total (approx.) 80 minutes 110 minutes
What if I have concerns about the volume of homework my child is receiving or how best to
manage it?
We are aware that there may also be questions about the amount of homework assigned to students.
This is a valid issue that can be interrelated to homework policy. However, in order to keep this
meeting to a manageable length, we would like to limit the discussion on Wednesday night to the
late homework policy and directly related issues. In the meantime, if you have concerns about the
amount of homework assigned to your child, please contact your child’s teacher. This week of
parent-teacher conferences provides an ideal opportunity to do so.