Essex Elementary School Abolishes Homework

Every elementary schooler's dream is now a reality in one North Shore town.

Essex Elementary School has stopped assigning homework as part of a pilot program designed to examine the role and purpose of after school assignments, according to Manchester Essex Superintendent Pam Beaudoin.

"Our focus is not on quantity but on ensuring that homework supports our broader mission of balancing student achievement and whole child needs," Beadoin wrote in an email.

According to a Boston Globe report, Essex joins an increasing number of schools across the country in eliminating homework to open up more time for kids to play outdoors with friends or spend time with family.

Kelly Full Service Community School in Holyoke has also implemented a no homework policy, the Globe reported.

A study published last year in the American Journal of Family Therapy, cited by the Globe, found that students in early grades were receiving up to three times the recommended amount of work each night.

Under the pilot program at Essex Elementary, students will not receive traditional worksheets or assignments, but are rather encouraged to read every night and will occasionally have class projects to complete.

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