Galloway Township BOE Unanimously Passes New Homework Policy

A proposal that started out in a Southern New Jersey town’s school board meeting and quickly became a topic of national debate, was approved Monday night back in that same New Jersey town, with one simple request.

Please make sure the homework is checked.

The Galloway Township Board of Education voted unanimously to pass a much-maligned, often discussed and highly scrutinized at its meeting at the middle school on Monday night, Aug. 9.

The policy focuses on how much homework is assigned. The policy is in place to determine if homework is needed; to make sure written assignments reinforce learning rather than introduce new ideas; limit the number of problems assigned; and suggest how much time a student should spend doing homework.

The policy sets forth a time limit of 10 minutes per assignment per grade level, meaning a first-grader would be expected to be able to complete homework assignments in 10 minutes, while a third-grader would be expected to finish their assignment in 30 minutes.

“The 10-minute guideline is the rule, but a seventh-grader working on Algebra is probably going to take more than 70 minutes because they’re doing high school work,” Superintendent of Schools Annette Giaquinto said.

But the controversy began in May over a word not included in the policy: "ban."

The misconception was that homework on weekends would be banned, but the school system says it’s only intention was to minimize the amount of homework assigned on the weekends to allow more time for reading, studying and long-term projects.

“I want the media in attendance to take note the word 'ban' is not in here once,” Board Member Bob Iannacone said at Monday’s meeting. That word blew this whole thing out of proportion.”

“Ninety-eight percent of teachers aren’t giving homework on weekends now, and we just want them to do what they believe works,” Giaquinto said. “We’re asking not to give tests and quizzes right after a holiday, and that homework not be punitive.”

This is where the only comment from the public came into play, as a concerned parent stood before the board and asked that homework be checked for accuracy.

“The homework needs to be checked,” Chuck Reed said. “I often hear that homework is checked to make sure it’s done, but not for accuracy. It needs to be checked to make sure it’s accurate.”

Giaquinto assured him students would receive timely feedback.

The policy also tackles the question of makeup work.

“Every day a student is absent, they will have that many days to make up the work,” Giaquinto said.

The policy takes effect at the start of the new school year in September. With the controversy and misconceptions now in the past, the time has come for the most important question to be asked.

Will it work?

“We’re going to go over it with our staff and review everything with the parents,” Giaquinto said. “We’re going to be surveying and checking to make sure it’s meaningful and manageable.”