Blogging again

I haven't blogged about homework for a while, but I thought I would start up again -- maybe not every day like I did before, but once a week. I still receive a Google alert on homework every day so I can keep abreast about what is going on. Today, I came across this page from a fourth grade teacher's website and thought I would use it as a basis for comment. It seems likely that this is a very committed and conscientious teacher who is trying her best to teach her children well. Yet, I find some things questionable in this approach (which I think is representative of the ways in which may teachers think).

First, although it seems reasonable for students to participate in organizing their weekly planer and I have no objection to the notion that they will write down their assignments, I don’t get why they would stay in for recess if they can’t complete the assignment. Recess is there for a reason. We give salaried workers legally mandated 15 minute work breaks twice a day, because we know they need breaks. Similarly, we give kids breaks because we know they are good for them. Why we would take breaks away from a child who struggles to meet the requirements does not make sense. This is school, so if the child has trouble doing something the teacher considers important, it would call for an educational, not a punitive intervention.

Second, we have the question of why a child would not get his or her homework planner organized for the week, assuming 20 minutes is a reasonable amount of time. Does the child have trouble focusing? Does the child need help learning this strategy for organization or does the child need to develop an alternative strategy? Does the child have trouble with handwriting? Is the child hungry first thing Monday morning and not ready to proceed? Maybe the child has trouble sleeping on Sunday night, making the adjustment from a weekend to a weekday schedule? I don’t know the reason for any particular child, but, as with any behavioral requirement, failure to meet the expectation is an opportunity to assess why, and engage in an intervention, an opportunity lost if we blindly assume the child can do what he or she is asked to do and use a punitive response when the child does not. And keep in mind, even if the teacher doesn’t see keeping the child in for recess as punitive, the child’s experience is still one of negativity, not one that is conducive to further learning.

Third, let’s consider the overall volume of work. Educators typically say ten minutes per night per grade. This teacher seeks 25 minutes per night reading, which would leave about 15 minutes for other work. Looking at the volume of the remaining assignments, it seems unlikely that most children can complete them in that period of time. Is there are agreed upon amount of time that children should be spending on homework? Is it more than 40 minutes per night in this teacher’s mind? And if so, how much? 50 minutes, an hour, an hour and a half?

Fourth, let’s assume these requirements are consistent with the overall philosophy and approach of this school and represents what children in the fourth grade there are expected to do. Children don’t work at the same pace? Children may not all be able to hit the ground running and use their homework time productively. Children may not all be able to read what they wrote? They may not all remember what the assignments were about? They may not recall what was taught in class, the basis for understanding what they need to do? It is not uncommon for children to take twice as much time or more to complete what the more proficient students can do? Are we looking a situation in which some kids will need to spend two hours a night on this work? Perhaps, just to get by? Are we looking at kids who are going to face mounting demands in subsequent years, without developing positive attitudes toward school and their own competencies? In my experience between 10 and 25 percent of all students, to differing degrees, have the experience of moving through the grades with increasing demands that eventually overwhelm them and cause them to fail.

Finally, what is the relationship between the teacher and the parent? I’ve often highlighted how homework involves a usurpation of parental authority by the school. It involves decision-making by the teacher over activities that are to go on in the home.  Where did that authority come from, and should we leave it unchallenged? What I find interesting here is that there is a clear threat to parents that, if they don’t use the information in the way the teacher meant them to; if they take the information given, look at the child’s homework planner, and make their own best decision how to best help their child, this website will be taken down.

I’d like to advise the teacher to rethink her homework policy and make the following adjustments:

1.      Establish clear time expectations for homework.

2.      Advise parents to stop their children from working after those limits are met.

3.      Advise parents of their ultimate authority to modify expectations as they see fit for their children.

4.      Ensure that grading policies do not create situations in which children fail because of homework difficulties.

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

Homework Advice Articles

I came across an article this morning entitled Setting the Stage for Homework Success. It includes what I consider to be common fare good advice, and includes statements that are generally true. The problem is that is also perpetuates some misconceptions about homework.

The article cites a research-based association between homework and good grades, which is good, but deceiving, since homework is factored very heavily into the grading system. We could say that baseball players who hit home runs make more money that those who do not, yet, it is unlikely that any of us can will ourselves to hit home runs, let alone play well enough to be in the major leagues. This may seem an extreme analogy, but we make an error when we assume that all children are able to do their homework, at least in a reasonable amount of time.

There is a major fallacy in our thinking when we forget that the school day is marked by a clock while the homework day is marked by the assignments. Kids can succeed at school because they go in and out at the same time, regardless of their varied abilities. Homework is a fixed assignment that necessarily takes some kids longer to complete than others. One could argue that the children who are most successful at schools are the ones that did virtually no homework in elementary school because they were getting their assignments done in class while the slower-working children finished theirs. They got lots of recognition but did very little work at home.

This article mentions the idea of doing homework at a fixed time of the day. I fully agree. The key to helping children who have trouble with their homework is to make sure that fixed time is truly fixed time and that, when the time is up, the child is fully excused, whether or not the assignment is done.

I assume we are going to have a proliferation of these homework-advice articles as we approach the next school year.  If some people find it useful to read them, that's fine. I hope people start to realize that these ideas over-simplify the problem for the homework-trapped child, and misdirect parents and teachers to engage I inappropriate responses.

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

Chilling Research on School Dropout

I came across an item that has direct relevance to my homework trap model, even though I’m sure that most people will miss the point. The article is entitled, “Dropout Indicators Found for First-Graders.” It suggests that one can actually predict future school dropouts as early as first grade. In my model, I talk about a life-span problem that starts in elementary school and progresses through middle school and high school in predictable steps. I agree. One can see the pattern as early as first grade.

I’ll quote from the article:

“Similarly, elementary schools very rarely handed out punishments as severe as suspensions, but more subtle behavior cues, such as report card notations of incomplete homework, more accurately signaled future problems for elementary children.”

I think most people will read this paragraph and draw the conclusion that we must ratchet up our efforts to insure that these kids get their homework done, so they can be successful in the later grades. This pressures parents to oversee the work, with the parents getting blamed in similarly subtle ways. The problems with that approach are that it rarely works and it fails to understand why some children have persistent homework problems.

Children go to school for the same amounts of time. They take home the same volume of assignments. We fool ourselves if we think this is equal treatment. The school day is defined by the clock. The homework session is not. Why do we understand that children who work slowly do not have to stay for a longer school day, but then demand that they work longer homework sessions? Homework trapped children can only thrive if the homework session is a fixed amount of time. Once we expect the slow working child to get all the work done, we set that child up for likely failure. It is this misguided expectation that is at the root of the “report card notations,” to which this article refers.

I hope that researchers, teachers, and readers of this article realize that the most rational step following this chilling research is to let up on kids. Don’t let them fail because the homework does not get done. Don’t let them get these negative notations. Teach them in school. Forget about behaviors that are out of the teacher’s control. Families are different. Environments are different. Circumstances are different. Children are different. Don’t try to make parents fit a certain mold. Use the time you have to teach the child in school. And if homework is really important, please, bound it by the clock.


_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

Who is in charge in the home?

I came across this article that broaches the issue of who is in charge of the home. It includes a common omission that I comment on. Here's the link to the article.

Here's my comment:

I would like to highlight the comment "Who is in charge of your house? You or your nine-year-old son?" and rephrase that to "Who is in charge of your house? You, your nine-year-old son, or your nine-year-old son's teacher?" The sad part of this common dilemma is that the authority of the teacher to assign and demand homework goes unquestioned. In reality, homework is controversial, teachers do not study the research, theory and practice of giving homework when they are in school, and they frequently miss the point about why an otherwise bright child does not do his homework. The key is almost always found in the issue of pace and that has to do with problems of attention, reading speed and handwriting speed. Children work with time containers at school, but with the expectation that they will keep working, without limits, until the work is done at home. This is unrealistic and unfair, and at the core of what I call The Homework Trap. But whether you agree with my analysis or not, take stock of the oversight in discussing whose in charge of the home, omitting the powerful authority teachers are given over what happens in an individual home. www.thehomeworktrap.com.


_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

 

New York Times Opinion Piece on The Common Core

There is an opinion piece written on Common Core in the New York Times today. I recommend reading it. Here the link. I wrote this comment:

The biggest problem with high-stakes testing is that it weakens the most important building block of education, and that is the relationship between the mentor and the student. Common Core, No Child Left Behind, and the Race to the Top all distract the teacher from that direct relationship and the art of teaching, causing them to look behind their backs rather than at their students. The problem overflows into the home, as the teacher thinks, to shove all the "stuff" in the kid needs to learn, that he or she has to expand the school day into the home, with more and more homework. Homework goes on to distract the parent from his or her primary relationship as a caretaker and as a teacher (one who does not need a curriculum sent home by the school), to one who gets overly worried that the homework assignments get done. The whole system goes awry and the student is the one to suffer. Interestingly, the student who is going to be a great scientist or mathematician may still do well in this system. The student who is going to be an artist or philosophy may not. And the student who needs a basic education to live an average life is the one who is going to suffer the most.

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

On Cheating

There is a post in Valerie Strauss' Washington Post Education Blog, "Why Schools Should Relax About Cheating." I wrote the following comment:

I think there is a difference between people collaborating after they have entered a specialized field and are looking to create solutions, and what happens in school where students are taking a range of course subjects and are in the process of learning things that are already known. That comment aside, let's also consider the roots of school cheating and how we actually teach children to cheat from a very early age. Cheating, by definition, involves a behavior that veers from the rules set by an authority. It the teacher puts the students in teams and tells them to work as a team, there is no cheating when they share answers. If the teacher defines calling a friend for help as an acceptable behavior, there is no cheating. From elementary school on, we distort the natural hierarchies by giving teachers excessive authority to make decisions about what should go on in the home. Teachers assign homework and parents are expected to support them. Keep in mind that parents are children's original teachers, starting long before their children went to school. Yet, the teacher can make decisions about what goes on in the home over the judgments of the parents. For children who have difficulty completing their assignments in a reasonable period of time, parents end up helping them, and often end up doing the work for them, not because they value cheating, but because they are at their wit's ends. The hierarchical distortions created by homework cause serious problems for many parents and sow the seeds for "cheating" being okay.


_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

Children's Mental Health

There's a news item going around about the increase in child mental health problems. Here's one reference to this article in a Miami newspaper. The buzz is that we are not treating the increase in children's mental health problems. I'm a true believer that homework is a source of these problems and that homework reform is a non-costly method to treat children. Here's the response I left to the article:

This article mentions that problems of mental health affect children in their education among other things. We overlook the fact that our educational policies are, to a great extent, causing mental health problems. Our teachers are trained to teach, but they receive virtually no training in the theory, research and practice of homework. Yet, homework demands keep increasing with disastrous results. Homework undermines parental authority, increases stress in the family, and exacerbates the difficulties children who have trouble with handwriting, reading and auditory processing have. These relatively minor learning problems some children have are non-problematic in the class, since the school day is bound by the clock. They have huge implications for the child at home, as the demands expand and consume the time the child has at home. Place true time boundaries on homework. Give parents full and final authority on matters in the home. Let the home refuel the child for the next day just as it refuels adults for their next day at work. You'll see a significant reduction in children's mental health problems without investing additional resources for mental health treatment.


_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

Examples of success with The Homework Trap

I have two examples of success using the model of The Homework Trap. I recently shared an interaction between a parent and me over her child's homework problems. She has since been sending me periodic updates. She set time limits on homework. Although the school frowned at the idea, they accepted it. Her child proved more cooperative doing his homework. She took the role of observer rather than enforcer and, as often happens, highlighted handwriting problems as the culprit. She has since explored the problem and, in her most recent communication with me, indicates that she is proceeding with occupational therapy to help her child out.

Two days ago, I had a conversation with another parent whose child had been homework trapped. She took the same position of limiting her child's homework time. She went on to making sure that the school had ample supplies of the book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers. This created a buzz in her child's school district about homework policy. As expected, teachers responded in different ways and many did not directly agree. Yet, the attitude changed and they stopped punishing her child for work that was not done. He is now an honor roll student despite the fact that he fails to do some of his homework. The key is that teachers may grumble and may hold onto their past beliefs, but no one works in a vacuum, and, to some degree, everyone has to bend. The teachers may be used to bending to what their superiors (e.g. the principal) say yet remain resistant to bending to parent demands. But if parent's demands are reasonable and made in authoritative ways, many will bend.

I have no doubt that, for both of these parents, the story has not come to an end. Their children will advance one grade at a time, and face new teachers, with new systems, and different attitudes. They may have to refight these battles. But that are winnable battles, and logic and reason are the tools they have on their side.


I welcome all feedback, through public posts on this blog or The Homework Trap Facebook page, or through private communications to me, that can be made through The Homework Trap website and can be conveyed to others in anonymous ways. And I am open to feedback of situations in which my model has not worked. From what I hear, time boundaries is proving to be one of the most powerful and effective steps a parent can take.

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

Why Boys Underachieve at School

Here is an interesting article about boys underachieving academically. The author attributes this to a misguided notion of masculinity. I think homework policy plays a role. Here's a link to the article.  Here is the comment I left to the article.

I think we miss the point if we do not come to terms with the fact that, in our frenzy to improve education, we have pushed kids to work much more than they should. We've allowed the school to co-op the home with increasingly large amounts of homework to do. Typically, boys are less mature than girls, they have more difficulty sitting still and paying attention, and, although they are better at gross motor functions, they are weaker than girls in their fine motor coordination. The notion that they will come home, at young ages, to mountains of homework which strains their patience and hurts their hands, runs counter to what boys can easily do. I don't think a misguided notion of masculinity creates a disinterest in school. I think that pressures to work beyond reason as young children, creates a negative feeling about school. In the past, kids went to school and then came home to play, or at most, to light amounts of homework. Today, we are forcing kids (in fact forcing them over their own parents' best judgments) to work far too much. This is the primary reason why boys get turned off to school.
 

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

Follow up on the use of The Homework Trap

Last week, I reported an example of success using the Homework Trap model. I just received an update that the child continues to do well, and that the parent has now identified the types of difficulties the child was having.

In my model, I advocate for time bound assignments and for parents to transition from acting as enforcers and, instead, becoming observers. Once you cap the time and dispel the belief that all homework must get done, you can stop and step back, and figure out what is happening with your child. As an observer, you can obtain information and share it with the teacher, with the goal of ultimately helping your child. As an enforcer, you get caught in an ongoing and inevitable, unproductive battle.

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

Article on timeouts

I came across this article about the use of timeouts. It is geared for parents of preschool children and not exactly related to homework problems. But there are some general principles about punishment and reward that apply and are found in my book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students, and Teachers.

Here is a link to the article, and here is what I posted as a comment to the article.

Good article. I'd like to add that the central component of a good consequence is that "it works," and that we know it works because we don't have to use it again (or very often). Consequences that are repeated without success reinforce strategies to get around the consequence, which is usually more "bad behavior." This article points to the need for the expected behavior to be age appropriate, i.e. possible for the child, and that is absolutely true. In my own work, I've focused on older children and homework compliance and have highlighted how repetitive, unrelenting penalties, i.e. low grades, reinforce acting out. They are based on the misguided notion that the child can do the work (at least in a reasonable amount of time). And just as we have to understand what the child is able to do, we also need to understand what the parent is able to do. Some parents are good at using timeouts and some are not, and that's okay -- we're all different. Just keep in mind that if you are repeating a penalty without results, stop and step back before doing it again.

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

Classroom Management

I came across an article on classroom management. It may help address the problem of excessive and untimed homework by helping teachers see that homework actually disrupts the classroom. I wrote a comment to the editors of the website that published this article. Here's what I wrote:

I read the article by Amy Pearson, How to Reduce Behavioral Problems in the ElementarySchool Classroom. I'm a psychologist, not an educator, and I defer to educators on issues of curricula and classroom management, but I am absolutely sure that a large number of behavioral problems are actually manufactured by teachers in their efforts to control environments outside the classroom, i.e. the home. Everything said in Ms. Pearson's article makes sense, but it makes sense largely because it involves strategies where the teacher has control. As soon as the teacher tries to establish requirements and standards outside her domain, she loses authority, which will ultimately translate into problematic behavior -- not for all, but for enough students that the class gets disrupted. Homework reform is the most important step the teacher can take to reduce those disruptions. And since homework does not garner research support in the elementary school and since teachers do not take courses in giving homework when they go to school, it's a complete win-win to modify homework practice.

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

 

An example of the homework trap

A major tenet of The Homework Trap is that parents must be the final decision-makers in the home while teachers can remain the final decision-makers at school. This rational demarcation of authority gets muddied when parents fear that the decisions they make limiting homework will lead to serious consequences for their child at school. A second major tenet is that persistent homework problems have to do with learning and not behavior. A third major tenet is that children need time-bound, rather than assignment based containers within which to work.

The other day, a frustrated parent contacted me about the problem she was having. We had a brief, e-conversation, in which I shared my advice. She gave me permission to publish our conversation (without identifying her by name).  Here is what was said.

Parent's question:

My eight-year-old son is in the homework trap. He is the youngest of four and the only one who got trapped. I have begged his teacher to modify homework assignments for him in a way that he could actually complete them or, in a way that whatever is more important for his grades, could get done. She's always said no. Sometimes, I have made the decision to prioritize important assignments and ignore the rest, but his grades suffer because she gives him zeros for undone assignments. I have had multiple teacher-parent conferences with no results. I just keep being told that homework is for a reason and that it wouldn't be fair to allow my son to do less homework than his peers and that homework should not take him any longer than 30 minutes to complete (which is actually impossible).

I want to make a formal request that homework be done at my discretion and request that he be graded for what he knows and not for the amount of work he does. How can I make my request strong enough that she listens?

My response:

I would start by setting my own time based standard for homework. At 8 years of age, I think 20 minutes a night, Monday through Thursday is fair. If you think 30 is better, that’s okay. If you think a prep time for the next week Sunday night is good, that’s okay, too. It is your decision but let your child know your rule (not just you backing up the teacher) and that he’s fulfilled his obligation when the time is up. He’ll do more under those conditions. That is the only thing you can do entirely on your own. Next, I would tell the teacher of your decision, no hostility, just something that is non-negotiable. I would ask for her input on prioritizing assignments: which is most important, which should be done first. Once the teacher sees you are serious and non-combative, she might bend.

If she won’t work with you, I would (again without hostility) suggest that you bring in a third party, like the principal, to join the discussion.

It is very important that you have copies of my book for everyone who is involved in the discussion (you, the teacher, the principal). Everything I say in the book is somewhere on my website or blog, but that only helps you, since you have chosen to read what I say. The book is written to be a tool, not just a source of information, and intended to be shared with people who do not readily agree with you. It is a short book, and one you can reasonably expect professional educators to read. If you insure that they have copies, then you have a basis to refer back to a particular page or concept in a book they have in their possession. You can ask them to respond to what I say, not just what you are saying about your child.

Parent's response a few days later:

Just to thank you and to give you an update.


After I contacted you, I let the teacher know my son was going to work on homework for 30 minutes a day how you explained it to me and asked for her advise in prioritizing assignments.

We started that on Wednesday. It's only been 2 days and my son is even liking it. The teacher is not liking it yet but since she said homework shouldn't take more than 30 minutes, she is now realizing my son, for some reason, is not able to complete full homework in that time. My inquiry got all the way up to the principal, who, even though she was not familiar with your concept, she took the time to review my case and to ask me questions. The next day, she sent me a note telling me not to worry and that they will work with us.

Thank you!

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

 

Teacher beliefs

Here's an article by an experienced teacher who has reevaluated her perspective on homework. I left a comment to her article that I'm posting here:

I think the operative phrase in this post is "I firmly believed in homework every night." Over time and with additional information, you altered that belief just as many teachers have. But let's think about where that belief came from: your training, your life experiences, what other teachers did, your religion? I add religion because I have religious beliefs that I have figured out over the years. They have changed and evolved from the religion I was taught. Most importantly, they are personal beliefs which do not impinge on other people. But homework beliefs do. In your evolution as a teacher and a thinker, you held the power to make decisions in many people's homes based on your beliefs as they had evolved at that time. And those beliefs could render your students' parents helpless in the face of what you required them to do. The difference between and religion and a profession lies in training, and on that score, you and countless teachers have been placed in a position where you were expected to use a method for which you were never adequately trained. Did you have courses in homework in your school of education? Did you have adequate access to continuing education courses on the topic? Did the school where you worked, in presenting its homework policy, offer in-service training on the research, theory and practice of homework? I'm sure the answers are no, and that is why you, and many other teachers, have been in the position of acting on your "beliefs" without the benefit of professional training upon which they could be formed.

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

 

Parent laments child's dislike for math

I came across an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal, "Our child hates math: Is it our fault?" The article highlights clearly the destructive effects that homework can have on children. I wrote the following comment to the article:

Thank you for this excellent article. It gives me the chance to make an important point. No, you should not feel guilty that your child hates math. No, you should not brush up on your own math skills. The problem here is not that you don’t know or like math. The problem is that someone outside your family is setting the agenda for what goes on in your home.

You do not tell your child’s teacher what lessons she should teach. Why is she telling you and your child what you have to do at home? It’s the homework, not the math, that is causing your child’s response. For God’s sake, she is only 7 years old.

Your child was born to a mommy and daddy who are well versed in the humanities and the arts. She could have been born to a handyman, who likes to work around the house. She could have been born to an accountant, who uses numbers every day. She’s your child and it’s your home, and she does not need her teacher disrupting your milieu, and interfering with what your family considers fun.

I was born to a “math family.” Math was fun. I majored in math in college. I began graduate studies in math before switching to psychology and, later, learning to write. My love for math started in my home. As I grew up, I had a number of teachers who inspired me to pursue things my parents did not do.

Your child’s teacher can instill an appreciation for science and math if she teaches her students with passion. They can learn everything they need to know about first and second grade math within the 6+ hours they have with her every day. They can increase their understanding and interest in these topics as they move through the grades and meet other teachers who teach subjects like science and math, with knowledge, passion, and delight. But she will not develop interests when teachers are encouraged and allowed to co-opt a setting, your home, that is outside the class.

Research does not even support that idea that homework has value for children your child’s age. And teachers are not taught in their schools of education the theory, research and practice of giving homework.

So, love your child. Make sure your home is filled with fun. And if humanities and arts are of interest to you, share those passions unabashedly with your child, without worrying at all that you should do something else.

What do you think? Please post a comment.

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

 

Scholastic Teachers

Scholastic Teachers has a Facebook page. They frequently let teachers pose questions for other teachers to answer. Even though I'm not a teacher, I take the liberty of commenting on those questions. I came across two questions today for which I offered comments.

The first question was from a teacher who was frustrated working for a micromanaging principal. Here's what I said:

It's a very difficult situation and one that is hard to deal with when you are micromanaged. I've had different bosses over the course of my career and, in the end, I've found that the most productive solution has been to secure a job (if I could) elsewhere, with a boss I liked. I do a certain amount of career counseling, and one of the things I tell people when interviewing for a job is to always look for who will be your boss, and consider what that person is like during the interview. That said so far, I would now like for you to think about what it is like for you, as a teacher, to micromanage the home. Teachers don't typically realize this, but when you give homework assignments that override the authority of the parents, you are actually micromanaging the home. That can be as difficult for the parent as your situation with your principal is. I'm not saying that you should not give homework. I'm saying that you should do so understanding that the parent is the final decision-maker in the home. If the parent feels it is best to reduce the homework demand, you should always defer (whether or not you agree) to what the parent decides. You can make your point. Just understand who has the final say.

The second question was from a teacher seeking advice about how to deal with a "reluctant reader." Here's my comment to that question:

I would be very careful using the concept "reluctant readers." Kids who appear reluctant often have under-the-radar reading problems. When we fail to understand this, we risk causing them harm. If a child is a reluctant reader, then that child most likely has homework problems as well. If we hold on to the notion that he could do his homework if he only tried, without realizing that he cannot read at a reasonable pace, we set that kid up for a lifetime of negativity and a distaste for school.

What do you think? Please post a comment.

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

Parenting Style -- Does it Matter with Homework?

In today's New York Times, there is a debate over whether or not to include children in determining their punishments (Should Kids Pick Their Own Punishments?) Frankly, I would rather see kids pick their own punishments than to have teachers pick the punishments for in-the-home behaviors over the judgments of the parents. Here's the comment I submitted to the paper:

This discussion is entirely academic when we consider that the primary cause of child, behavioral problems is homework. As a psychologist of 35 years and a parent of 3 children, I can say, with confidence, that there is no issue that makes parents feel so helpless or impacts the family, more severely, than our practice of vesting in 30 or more homework-giving teachers (over 12 years of public education), the power to exert severe, life-impacting penalties on our children. Children who have trouble absorbing and retaining verbal instructions and who read or write slowly cannot do their work in a reasonable period of time. Yet, unlike the time-bound school day, the homework session is endless. This basic fact (individual differences between children and the parents’ lack of say in their own homes) drives behavioral problems to the point that the differences in parenting styles and beliefs discussed here are irrelevant to resolving problems. Without the behavioral engine being driven by homework demands, either of these approaches is equally good. www.thehomeworktrap.com.

 

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

Teaching Children to Cheat

It’s big news that nationally recognized Superintendent Beverly Hall and 34 teachers from Atlanta, Georgia have been indicted on charges of altering test scores to give the false impression that the school system is on the rise. Apparently, this is the “tip of the iceberg” of an ongoing pattern of teachers “cheating” and altering test scores. As we learn what has happened, let’s consider how it affects our children. Further, let’s consider the commonalities between what happened in Georgia and the national homework debate.

The news seems to focus on the financial incentives that came to Superintendent Hall at the expense of the children. Perhaps, that explains her behavior, but I doubt that it tells the whole story. In general, people of good virtue, teachers and parents, don’t generally lie unless they’re boxed into a corner and asked to do something they cannot do. This is true for teachers who work under the dictates of No Child Left Behind, The Race to the Top, and the Common Core curriculum. It is also true for parents who are pressured by teachers, who might fail their children, if they don’t get their homework done.

The most fundamental building block of education is the relationship between the student and the teacher.  Even before they go to school, children have learned a lot from their parents. They learn through instruction and they learn by modeling: modeling their parents and then modeling their teachers. If we tell teachers to put their judgments aside and, instead, teach to the tests, this will elevate those tests to a level of importance that far exceeds what those tests were meant to do. In the process some teachers will cheat, and the lesson they teach is that it’s okay to cheat.

If we tell parents that their children will get zeros if they don’t do their homework, and give them failing grades (50%) when they get it half done, we essentially strip those parents of the power to decide, leaving them feeling boxed in. If the child does half the work, the parent may do the rest. So what does the child learn? That parents are helpless and that it’s okay to cheat.

What happened in Atlanta is awful. But what is happening with our systems is also quite bad. We have abandoned the core of education, the personal relationship between the mentor and the mentee, by allowing outside influences to determine what must be done. Teachers need authority in the class. Tests should offer measures that the teacher can look at and use. They should not be the basis on which one decides how and what to teach.

Similarly, parents need recognition as the rightful leaders of their own homes. Teachers can give assignments. Parents must be the ones who ultimately decide what should be done, and what can slide.

If we don’t make these adjustments, we will continue to see desperate educators altering the results, and desperate parents doing homework for their children. So why should we be surprised when children lack values and feels it’s okay to cheat and lie?


_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

More on yesterday's blog

I received a response from my comment yesterday on a mother's blog http://www.blogher.com/frame.php?url=http://www.callherhappy.com and decided to add some follow-up thoughts. Here they are:

I understand what you are saying. One of the major points in my model, which differs from what other homework critics are saying, is that homework, by its very nature usurps power from the parents. As you make clear, it is your opinion, as a parent, that, despite the time spent on protests, the overall impact is good for your child. I honor that and think you should have the power and authority to follow your beliefs. One basic truism about being a parent is that we all approach it from our own point of view and do the best we can. We love our children, and it is that love, not just the specific decisions we make, that proves central to them growing up and thriving.
When I look at my experience with my children (I have three who are all grown up), I can say with certainty that my thinking evolved out of those experiences. Had I only had two children, I would have never directed my practice, as a psychologist, to the study of homework. I would have accepted the fundamental rightness of homework and set a tone in my home that one should respect authority and do what one was told (even if I sometimes doubted a particular assignment).
With my third child, it was different. The homework battles were unrelenting and the source of the problem was a difference between his being an obviously bright child and his difficulties managing work at home. My wife and I joined the school in its efforts to get him to do his work. Over time, we began to see the situation in a different light, and realized that he needed homework relief, in the form of true by-the-clock time boundaries, if he were to succeed. The school was variable in its willingness to defer to our point of view. In every case, he excelled (not just grade wise but in true learning) when we had authority to make our own decisions at home, did very poorly when the school would not bend on what they insisted he do.
It was because of this that I wrote The Homework Trap. It is really the book I wish I had to use as a basis for making my point. As much as I was respected for being "Dr. Goldberg," as a parent, I was seen as an ordinary parent (which is the way it should be). It would have helped to have my own Dr. Goldberg, over my shoulder, supporting what I was saying.
But in the end, the most harmful part was that the school could make homework decisions that superseded my authority as a parent.
So when you say in your response that you feel what you are doing is good for your child, my response is "great, go for it." In the end, I consider the most important change that needs to occur with homework policy is to vest, with parents, full authority over what happens in the home. If you find, as your child grows up, that your position is what he needs; you, as his parent, should have the full right to continue as you see fit. My concern is that you may hit a point where you see things in a different way. Perhaps, your child will incorporate the habits and skills you want him to develop and that is fine. Perhaps, he won't. Then I ask, who will make the decision about what is required of him in your home: you or the school? In my mind, final decision-making should always be yours.


_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.}