Instead of worksheets, elementary students will be required to read for 20 minutes each night.
One Florida school district is taking a radical stance on homework. Starting in fall 2017, the Marion County public school district has decided to replace all traditional homework with 20 minutes of mandatory reading time for its elementary school students. This goes against the current practice of sending students home with worksheets and assignments based on their daily lessons in the classroom.
The driving force behind this unusual decision is Heidi Maier, the new superintendent of the district. She told the Washington Post that she has based her decision on research that clearly shows the benefits of reading, both silently and aloud, for young children, whereas the benefits of nightly homework have yet to be backed up by legitimate studies, despite the fact that many schools and parents act as if it is.
A retro move, or a smart one?
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday July 25 2017, @11:59AM (1 child)
You can't Rote memorize math problems, only formulas and tables. That's called building a foundation. The rest is learning the mechanics and applying them to problems. The memorized tables just help things go faster.
(Score: 1) by i286NiNJA on Tuesday July 25 2017, @04:10PM
Plus even very stupid people are capable of memorization which looks great!
If we could just get them to shut up about how the never needed to use the math the never understood then the system would be perfect.