Homework Policy

Optimist Primer Movers in session. Today's topic. Late Work Policy


Middle schoolers are notoriously forgetful, which is why this week's topic covered late work policies. The gathered listened to Rick Wormeli's On Late Work, which  can be viewed at your leisure here.


The bite-size takeaways from this clip are that middle school students do not have control over their own time, and therefore we cannot expect the same adult level of competency when they do not have the tools or maturity. Thus far, schools have mostly been based on the factory model where everyone is expected to learn at the same time.


"Here's a bunch of stuff. Take a test. You didn't get it the first time around? Well, join us while you can."


Wormeli warns against teachers becoming ring-wavers, teachers who wave from the brink of the pit the child has dug for itself. He instead advocates redos, retakes, and do-overs for the student until they understand the material, because the real World is full of second chances. As adults we can ask for extensions or even supposedly miss deadlines without consequences. The redos and retakes will be a way to catching the "bottom half."


Here McMath quietly disagrees.


Wormeli continues that grades should be communication, not currency. Tests should be a way for the student to communicate their mastery of a subject; they should not be a token to exchange for a grade.


The Optimist Prime Movers discussed all these, wondering how this would work practically. Teachers, of course, want to grade for mastery, but late work policies are also supposed to teach students discipline, an appreciation for rules and regulations, and the abilitiy to accomodate deadlines in their lives, which are also real world skills.

Another hurdle to overcome would be time and paperwork. With students able to retake and redo tests ad infinitum, the teachers must then also be willing to regrade and reenter grades. The redos and retakes can definitely benefit the students, and most of the present Optimist Prime Movers were already allowing for retakes and extenuating circumstances. However, it must also be pointed out that the students who most often take advantage of the redo system are already the ones who do quite well, and the ones who do not take the second chances offered to them are the odd, unmotivated stragglers who rarely turn things in at all or on time.


For middle school, the previous late work policy has been amended and students lose their lunch privileges to finish missing work at the homework table.