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What is california's no homework law.

By Teo Spengler, J.D.

August 20, 2019

Reviewed by Michelle Seidel, B.Sc., LL.B., MBA

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• Pro & Cons of Child Labor Law

Don't get too excited, kids. "No homework" laws are not current California homework policy. But there was a "no homework" law in the state at the beginning of the 20th Century that the children of that era probably appreciated. Today the question of whether homework helps or hurts kids is widely debated in California.

No Homework Law in California

Is there a "no homework law" in California today? There is not today, but there was 100 years ago. The Ladies' Home Journal magazine crusaded against homework at the turn of the century, and medical professionals and doctors testified against it, saying that it was harmful to a kid's health. Some say that the actual reason society (and parents) frowned on homework was because school kids needed time to help with chores around the house.

As a result of that, a number of big-city school districts around the country eliminated homework from the school menu. California's three biggest cities – San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento – passed regulations forbidding teachers from assigning homework. And in 1901, the state passed a law banning all homework for school kids in kindergarten through eighth grade and imposing limits on the amount of homework that could be assigned to high school students.

California Homework Policy Changes

California's no-homework laws were repealed in the 1950s. That was the Cold War period and educators and politicians felt that the country needed better-educated students to create a skilled workforce, especially in the sciences. The launch of Sputnik in 1957 boosted the call for homework, since it appeared that Russian students might be more advanced than U.S. students.

The end of the Second World War also brought great changes to the United States and significant upheaval socially. Men in the military returned to their families, more people moved from agricultural lifestyle to urban areas and children were no longer expected to do as much physical work at home.

Since then, homework has crept back into the education system. People attacked progressive education as anti-intellectual, lax and dangerous for the nation. Then, in the 1980s, the United States Department of Education came full circle, publishing a pamphlet about the techniques that work best for creating smarter students, concluding that homework was a must.

California Homework Questions Today

Today, California kids from the youngest age through high school can expect homework assignments. But that doesn't mean that the homework/no homework debate is over. Various school districts or individual schools have eliminated homework in California, and while that approach makes some people happy, it makes others very unhappy.

Some educators and researchers argue that children would be better off if homework were abolished. They argue that the research does not demonstrate any tangible benefits for students, and this is especially true for younger students. In fact, studies have shown that elementary school students get no academic benefit from any amount of homework. And, the anti-homework crowd claims, excessive homework stifles a kid's natural curiosity.

However, not all parents agree. In the competitive atmosphere in schools today, just the suggestion of abolishing homework has some parents up in arms.

And high school students in the United States – who spend 5.5 to 6 hours a week on homework – are in the middle of their peers around the world. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 15-year-olds in Shanghai spend the most amount of time on homework, averaging 13.8 hours per week, while students in Finland spend the least time, at just 2.8 hours per week. It is noteworthy that Finnish kids perform just fine on academic tests despite the small amount of homework they do in comparison to teens in other nations.

• SF Gate: History of Homework
• SimpleGrad: Who Invented Homework?
• Time Magazine: Why I Think All Schools Should Abolish Homework
• The Telegraph: Homework Around the World

Teo Spengler earned a JD from U.C. Berkeley Law School. As an Assistant Attorney General in Juneau, she practiced before the Alaska Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court before opening a plaintiff's personal injury practice in San Francisco. She holds both an MA and an MFA in English/writing and enjoys writing legal blogs and articles. Her work has appeared in numerous online publications including USA Today, Legal Zoom, eHow Business, Livestrong, SF Gate, Go Banking Rates, Arizona Central, Houston Chronicle, Navy Federal Credit Union, Pearson, Quicken.com, TurboTax.com, and numerous attorney websites. Spengler splits her time between the French Basque Country and Northern California.

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Governor Newsom Announces Free Online Tutoring Available to All Californians, $254 Million in Grants to Improve Libraries Across the State

Published: Sep 12, 2022

Statewide pilot led by State Library provides live, 24/7 online tutoring and homework help in every K-12 subject 

Grant funding is part of California’s largest-ever investment in public libraries

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that every Californian can now access free online tutoring available 24/7 through a new initiative offering homework help in every K-12 subject and skill-building resources for adult learners. The Governor also announced $254 million in grants to public libraries in 172 cities across 34 counties to renovate and improve facilities across the state. This is the first round of the California State Library’s $439 million Building Forward Library Improvement Grant Program – the largest investment in public library infrastructure in California history.

Real-time homework assistance can now be accessed 24/7 here and on the websites of any of the 1,130 local public libraries around the state – click on the “HelpNow” link to reach a one-on-one tutor. The pilot program led by the State Library offers assistance in Math, Language Arts, and other core K-12 subjects in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog. There’s no age limit to who can use the service. Adult learners can also access writing assistance, citizenship resources and other tools.

“With historic investments to give the youngest Californians a strong start in life, enrich our schools and expand supports like tutoring, we’re building on our commitment to create more opportunities for every child in our state to thrive, ”said Governor Newsom. “Public libraries are the hearts of communities across the state and our hubs of learning, discovery, and oftentimes – safety. While states across the nation are banning books, California is awarding $254 million in grants for our historic public libraries – an investment to make books more accessible by repairing and modernizing libraries throughout the state.”

The 234 projects in this initial round of funding under the Building Forward Library Improvement Grant Program range from $14,300 to $10 million and include efforts to make libraries safer and more accessible, including their ability to be cooling centers for underserved communities. The City of Porterville, whose only library was destroyed in a 2020 fire that took the lives of two firefighters, will receive $7.2 million.

“Libraries are hubs of community activity – they are a safe haven, an escape into the wonders of reading, a place to find a meal when you need one, to create, to vote, to enrich children, to learn a new skill, and so much more,” said First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. “Strengthening our libraries’ infrastructure – their ability to safely and effectively meet the needs of the community – is such a critical investment in the community members who rely on them.”

First priority for grants was given to the state’s least-resourced communities and projects that address long-delayed critical life and safety facility needs including seismic safety, heating and air system replacement, building security, and improved Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility.

“There are lots of reasons 24 million Californians have library cards. Local libraries are cornerstones of their communities and critical parts of California’s education system,” said Greg Lucas, California State Librarian.  “Strengthening public libraries strengthens California and helps make it easier for all Californians to get the information and assistance they need to succeed and thrive.”

Live, real-time homework assistance from tutors familiar with state curriculum and standards is available 24 hours a day by laptop, tablet, or phone from tutors familiar with state curriculum and standards. The State Library is working with the Pacific Library partnership to make “HelpNow” by Brainfuse available throughout the state.

“Not every family can afford a private tutor. Now through the CA State Library Brainfuse HelpNow program, every Californian can get free online tutoring. HelpNow tutors will assist all learners from Kindergartners on up build thinking and problem-solving skills. Tutors work with students through their homework challenges, and guide them to the right solution, without giving the answer,” said Jack Rothstein, Brainfuse Library Services Director.

A full list of projects to be funded in this round of grants under the Building Forward Library Improvement Grant Program can be found here . Questions about the grants may be addressed to [email protected] .

All Californians Can Now Access 24/7 Online Tutoring — For Free

The helpnow pilot program currently offers help in math and language arts, in english and spanish, at any time of the day or night. help for "other core k-12 subjects" is available between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. in english, spanish, mandarin, cantonese, vietnamese, and tagalog., by maggie more • published september 13, 2022 • updated on september 13, 2022 at 12:01 pm.

Does your child want to learn more about math or language arts, but they're struggling to make sense of the subject on their own?

Good news: every Californian can now access free online tutoring at any hour of the day, thanks to a new initiative offering educational resources to K-12 students and adult learners.

The resource is part of an investment in public libraries announced Monday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Real-time homework help is now available "on the websites of any of the 1,130 local public libraries around the state," and at this link here provided in Newsom's statement.

Get Southern California news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC LA newsletters.

The HelpNow pilot program currently offers help in Math and Language Arts, in English and Spanish, at any time of the day or night. Help for "other core K-12 subjects" is available between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog, with no age limit to who can take advantage of the resource.

Adults can also "access writing assistance, citizenship resources and other tools," the statement reads.

The program is led by the California State Library, with the goal of providing "guidance and help" to students so they can better understand subjects and answer questions on their own.

The tutors that are taking part in the program have all "passed background checks and possess, at a minimum, a bachelor’s degree," according to the State Library webpage for the program. They are also "familiar with state curriculum and standards" according to the Governor's statement.

You can use the online resource via smartphone, tablet or computer, so long as you're in the state of California.

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And according to the state library, "users who have a valid library card can log into the service and receive additional benefits."

The program is part of the first round of a $439 million Building Forward Library Improvement Grant Program, which also recently gave "$254 million in grants to public libraries in 172 cities across 34 counties," the Governor's statement reads.

Learn more about the HelpNow tutoring program here .

This article tagged under:

• by Heather Kemp
• July 23, 2021 July 21, 2021

New report considers California’s homework gap

• Closing the Achievement Gap

More than 1.6 million children across California did not have high-speed internet access at home prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report.

“ Closing the Homework Gap in California ” — released in June by the Alliance for Excellent Education, the Small School Districts’ Association and the Linked Learning Alliance — analyzes data from the 2019 American Community Survey.

“This digital divide — also described as the ‘homework gap’— spans across California, but it disproportionately impacts children of color and those living in rural areas and in low-income families,” the report states. “Research shows that, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, middle and high school students who lack high-speed home internet access have poorer academic outcomes than their connected peers.”

The students who lacked access experienced lower grade point averages, less advanced digital skills and were not as likely to attend college. Upwards of 745,500 children were without a computer in 2019 and 8.4 percent of households did not have a computer, according to the report.

While pandemic-related school closures underscored the need for reliable, high-speed internet in homes and the expansion of distance learning fast tracked efforts by the state and local educational agencies to provide students with items like computers, tablets and WiFi hotspots, there remains progress to be made, the report states.

Districts large and small worked tirelessly to get their students connected at appropriate speeds, but “the depth of the homework gap and its disproportionate impact on rural families, low-income families, and families of color indicate that California’s schools need additional investments to ensure all children have the high-speed home internet access required for a 21st-century education.”

While the data may be dated in light of recent progress made, Latino children remain one of the groups most lacking in access to high-speed home internet and devices, and significant gaps persist by region

Geographically, the percentage of households without high-speed home internet access was much higher in non-metropolitan/rural areas than metropolitan locations at 27.5 percent compared to 18.4 percent. The same was found for the percentage of households without a computer as 11.3 percent of non-metropolitan/rural did not have one compared to 8.3 percent for metropolitan areas. LEAs in more urban counties do substantially contribute to the homework gap, however.

“Together, Los Angeles County and neighboring San Bernardino County account for more than 550,000 children without high-speed home internet access and more than 245,000 children without home computers,” the report states. “This means that about one-third of California’s children without broadband internet or devices at home live in these two counties alone.”

The state’s northern rural counties, including Del Norte, Lassen, Modoc and Humboldt, also account for more than one-third of households with children do not have high-speed internet. Meanwhile, in central Madera County, nearly four in 10 households with children do not have high-speed internet access — the highest percentage statewide. “Collectively, more than 80,000 children who live in rural California communities do not have high-speed internet access at home,” according to the report.

Progress prompted by the pandemic

The authors call on state policymakers to provide the financial and technical investments necessary to help ensure that all students have high-speed internet access and devices for schoolwork — a plea that has been at least partially answered due to the public health crisis.

The organizations who presented the report urged California lawmakers to use state funds and federal funds from the American Rescue Plan to make a one-time investment of $7 billion toward the cause, as was proposed in the revised state budget proposal.

They also voiced support for Assembly Bill 34 , the Broadband for All Act of 2022, and said U.S. Congress should continue to fund the Emergency Broadband Benefit and the Emergency Connectivity Fund so the cost of high-speed internet and computers isn’t a barrier to learning.

“COVID-19 did not create California’s homework gap. However, if state lawmakers do not take steps now to close this digital divide, students without home internet access and devices will fall even further behind their connected peers long after the pandemic ends,” the report states. “California’s students deserve this investment today to ensure their future success.”

On July 20, AB 156 , the broadband trailer bill, was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom authorizing $6 billion in spending over the next three years to expand the state’s broadband fiber infrastructure and increase internet connectivity throughout communities.

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Homework Helps Kids Learn

Homework isn’t a needless exercise: Reasonable, quality assignments expand on topics and skills taught in the classroom and — in the big picture — help develop lifelong learning habits.

Teachers use homework:

• To help students understand and review the work that has been covered in class
• To see whether students understand the lesson
• To help students learn how to find and use more information on a subject
• To teach responsibility and routine.

Most educators agree:

• For children in grades K-2, homework is more effective when it does not exceed 20 minutes each school day
• Older children, in grades 3-6, can handle 30-60 minutes a day
• For kids in middle and high school, 2 hours of homework may be assigned
• However, homework time and strategies can vary from teacher to teacher and school to school.

HELP YOUR STUDENT GET THE MOST OUT OF HOMEWORK

Parents and families play an important role in the homework process. Together, families can help children develop good study habits and attitudes that lead to becoming lifelong learners. Your job is not to do the work for them, but to provide support, encouragement and ask questions that help them arrive at the answers themselves.

Your child’s teacher can tell you, usually at Back-to-School Night, how much time he or she expects students to spend on homework. Your child’s teacher may have a website or other resource that posts homework assignments.

Your child’s school may have an online grading system, which allows parents to check their child’s grades, attendance and homework status on a daily basis. This can be an invaluable source of information that allows you to keep on top of any issues before they become problems.

Ask your principal, school site council or PTA if your school or district has a homework policy, including how to handle homework if your child needs to be absent. Make sure you and your child know and understand this policy.

DOWNLOAD HOMEWORK TIPS

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QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

California State PTA believes that, when it comes to homework, assignment quality — not quantity — should be the priority. Find out more with our resolution .

The truth about homework in America

by: Carol Lloyd | Updated: February 9, 2023

Print article

Not excited about homework? We can hardly blame you. But how families handle homework in America can have a huge impact on their child’s short-term and long-term academic success. Here’s a glimpse at how American families approach homework, and some tips that may help you decide how to handle homework in your home.

Model how much you value your child’s education

Think of your child’s nightly homework as a time to model how much you value your child’s learning and education. Get in the habit of asking your child what homework they have each evening, looking over their homework when they’re done each night, praising their hard work, and marveling at all that they are learning. Your admiration and love is the best magic learning potion available.

Set up a homework routine American parents who want their children to graduate from high school and go to college take learning at home seriously. They turn off the TV and radio at homework time. They take away access to video games and smartphones. They make sure the child gets some exercise and has a healthy snack before starting homework because both are shown to help kids focus. When it’s time for homework, they (try to) ensure their child has a quiet place where they can focus and have access to the grade-appropriate homework basics, like paper, pencils, erasers, crayons, and tape for kids in younger grades and calculators and writing materials for kids in older grades.

Helping with homework when you don’t read/speak English

So how can you help with homework if you can’t read your child’s homework because it’s in English — or because the math is being presented in a way you’ve never seen? If you can’t understand your child’s homework, you can still do a lot to help them. Your physical presence (and your authority to turn off the TV) can help them take homework time seriously. Your encouragement that they take their time and not rush through the work also will help. Finally, your ability to ask questions can do two important things: you can show your interest in their work (and thus reinforce the importance you place on learning and education) and you can help your child slow down and figure things out when they’re lost or frustrated. A lot of learning happens when children have a chance to talk through problems and ideas. Sometimes, just describing the assignment or problem to you can help the solution click for your child.

What’s the right amount of homework?

It’s often in first grade that kids start receiving regular homework and feel stressed and lost if they don’t complete it. If your child is having trouble adjusting to their new routines, know that it’s not just your child. Families all across America are having the same issues in terms of figuring out how to create quiet, focussed time for a young child to read, write, and do math inside a bustling home. In first grade, your child will likely be asked to do somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes of homework a night, sometimes in addition to 20 minutes of bedtime reading. ( The National PTA’s research-based recommendation is 10 to 20 minutes of homework a night in first grade and an additional 10 minutes per grade level thereafter.) If your child is getting a lot more than that, talk to your child’s teacher about how long your child should be spending on homework and what you can do to help.

Comparing U.S. homework time to other countries

If you’ve come from another country and recall your childhood homework taking less time, you may think it’s because you’re foreign. The truth is, most parents who grew up in the U.S. are feeling the same way. In the past few decades homework for younger grades has intensified in many schools. “The amount of homework that younger kids — ages 6 to 9 — have to do has gone up astronomically since the late ’80s,” says Alfie Kohn, author of the 2006 book The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing. So if you feel surprised about the quantity of homework your child is bringing home, you’re not alone.

According to an international study of homework, 15-year-olds in Shanghai do 13.8 hours of homework per week compared to 6.1 hours in the U.S. and 5.3 hours in Mexico and 3.4 hours in Costa Rica. But here’s the thing: academic expectations in the U.S. vary widely from school to school. Some American elementary schools have banned homework. Others pile on hours a night — even in the younger grades. By high school, though, most American students who are seriously preparing for four-year college are doing multiple hours of homework most nights.

Not into homework? Try this.

Homework detractors point to research that shows homework has no demonstrated benefits for students in the early elementary grades. “The research clearly shows that there is no correlation between academic achievement and homework, especially in the lower grades,” says Denise Pope, senior lecturer at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education and the author of the 2015 book, Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy Successful Kids .

On the other hand, nightly reading is hugely important.

“One thing we know does have a correlation with academic achievement is free reading time,” says Pope. “We know that that is something we want schools to encourage.” Since the scientific evidence shows the most impact comes from reading for pleasure, don’t skip bedtime reading. If your child is not being given any homework, make sure to spend some of that extra time reading books in either English or Spanish.

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The Surprising History of Homework Reform

Really, kids, there was a time when lots of grownups thought homework was bad for you.

Homework causes a lot of fights. Between parents and kids, sure. But also, as education scholar Brian Gill and historian Steven Schlossman write, among U.S. educators. For more than a century, they’ve been debating how, and whether, kids should do schoolwork at home .

At the dawn of the twentieth century, homework meant memorizing lists of facts which could then be recited to the teacher the next day. The rising progressive education movement despised that approach. These educators advocated classrooms free from recitation. Instead, they wanted students to learn by doing. To most, homework had no place in this sort of system.

Through the middle of the century, Gill and Schlossman write, this seemed like common sense to most progressives. And they got their way in many schools—at least at the elementary level. Many districts abolished homework for K–6 classes, and almost all of them eliminated it for students below fourth grade.

By the 1950s, many educators roundly condemned drills, like practicing spelling words and arithmetic problems. In 1963, Helen Heffernan, chief of California’s Bureau of Elementary Education, definitively stated that “No teacher aware of recent theories could advocate such meaningless homework assignments as pages of repetitive computation in arithmetic. Such an assignment not only kills time but kills the child’s creative urge to intellectual activity.”

But, the authors note, not all reformers wanted to eliminate homework entirely. Some educators reconfigured the concept, suggesting supplemental reading or having students do projects based in their own interests. One teacher proposed “homework” consisting of after-school “field trips to the woods, factories, museums, libraries, art galleries.” In 1937, Carleton Washburne, an influential educator who was the superintendent of the Winnetka, Illinois, schools, proposed a homework regimen of “cooking and sewing…meal planning…budgeting, home repairs, interior decorating, and family relationships.”

Another reformer explained that “at first homework had as its purpose one thing—to prepare the next day’s lessons. Its purpose now is to prepare the children for fuller living through a new type of creative and recreational homework.”

That idea didn’t necessarily appeal to all educators. But moderation in the use of traditional homework became the norm.

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“Virtually all commentators on homework in the postwar years would have agreed with the sentiment expressed in the NEA Journal in 1952 that ‘it would be absurd to demand homework in the first grade or to denounce it as useless in the eighth grade and in high school,’” Gill and Schlossman write.

That remained more or less true until 1983, when publication of the landmark government report A Nation at Risk helped jump-start a conservative “back to basics” agenda, including an emphasis on drill-style homework. In the decades since, continuing “reforms” like high-stakes testing, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the Common Core standards have kept pressure on schools. Which is why twenty-first-century first graders get spelling words and pages of arithmetic.

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Homework in America

• 2014 Brown Center Report on American Education

Subscribe to the Brown Center on Education Policy Newsletter

Tom loveless tom loveless former brookings expert @tomloveless99.

March 18, 2014

• 18 min read

Part II of the 2014 Brown Center Report on American Education

Homework!  The topic, no, just the word itself, sparks controversy.  It has for a long time. In 1900, Edward Bok, editor of the Ladies Home Journal , published an impassioned article, “A National Crime at the Feet of Parents,” accusing homework of destroying American youth.  Drawing on the theories of his fellow educational progressive, psychologist G. Stanley Hall (who has since been largely discredited), Bok argued that study at home interfered with children’s natural inclination towards play and free movement, threatened children’s physical and mental health, and usurped the right of parents to decide activities in the home.

The Journal was an influential magazine, especially with parents.  An anti-homework campaign burst forth that grew into a national crusade. [i]   School districts across the land passed restrictions on homework, culminating in a 1901 statewide prohibition of homework in California for any student under the age of 15.  The crusade would remain powerful through 1913, before a world war and other concerns bumped it from the spotlight.  Nevertheless, anti-homework sentiment would remain a touchstone of progressive education throughout the twentieth century.  As a political force, it would lie dormant for years before bubbling up to mobilize proponents of free play and “the whole child.” Advocates would, if educators did not comply, seek to impose homework restrictions through policy making.

Our own century dawned during a surge of anti-homework sentiment. From 1998 to 2003, Newsweek , TIME , and People , all major national publications at the time, ran cover stories on the evils of homework.  TIME ’s 1999 story had the most provocative title, “The Homework Ate My Family: Kids Are Dazed, Parents Are Stressed, Why Piling On Is Hurting Students.” People ’s 2003 article offered a call to arms: “Overbooked: Four Hours of Homework for a Third Grader? Exhausted Kids (and Parents) Fight Back.” Feature stories about students laboring under an onerous homework burden ran in newspapers from coast to coast. Photos of angst ridden children became a journalistic staple.

The 2003 Brown Center Report on American Education included a study investigating the homework controversy.  Examining the most reliable empirical evidence at the time, the study concluded that the dramatic claims about homework were unfounded.  An overwhelming majority of students, at least two-thirds, depending on age, had an hour or less of homework each night.  Surprisingly, even the homework burden of college-bound high school seniors was discovered to be rather light, less than an hour per night or six hours per week. Public opinion polls also contradicted the prevailing story.  Parents were not up in arms about homework.  Most said their children’s homework load was about right.  Parents wanting more homework out-numbered those who wanted less.

Now homework is in the news again.  Several popular anti-homework books fill store shelves (whether virtual or brick and mortar). [ii]   The documentary Race to Nowhere depicts homework as one aspect of an overwrought, pressure-cooker school system that constantly pushes students to perform and destroys their love of learning.  The film’s website claims over 6,000 screenings in more than 30 countries.  In 2011, the New York Times ran a front page article about the homework restrictions adopted by schools in Galloway, NJ, describing “a wave of districts across the nation trying to remake homework amid concerns that high stakes testing and competition for college have fueled a nightly grind that is stressing out children and depriving them of play and rest, yet doing little to raise achievement, especially in elementary grades.”   In the article, Vicki Abeles, the director of Race to Nowhere , invokes the indictment of homework lodged a century ago, declaring, “The presence of homework is negatively affecting the health of our young people and the quality of family time.” [iii] 

A petition for the National PTA to adopt “healthy homework guidelines” on change.org currently has 19,000 signatures.  In September 2013, Atlantic featured an article, “My Daughter’s Homework is Killing Me,” by a Manhattan writer who joined his middle school daughter in doing her homework for a week.  Most nights the homework took more than three hours to complete.

The Current Study

A decade has passed since the last Brown Center Report study of homework, and it’s time for an update.  How much homework do American students have today?  Has the homework burden increased, gone down, or remained about the same?  What do parents think about the homework load?

A word on why such a study is important.  It’s not because the popular press is creating a fiction.  The press accounts are built on the testimony of real students and real parents, people who are very unhappy with the amount of homework coming home from school.  These unhappy people are real—but they also may be atypical.  Their experiences, as dramatic as they are, may not represent the common experience of American households with school-age children.  In the analysis below, data are analyzed from surveys that are methodologically designed to produce reliable information about the experiences of all Americans.  Some of the surveys have existed long enough to illustrate meaningful trends.  The question is whether strong empirical evidence confirms the anecdotes about overworked kids and outraged parents.

Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) provide a good look at trends in homework for nearly the past three decades.  Table 2-1 displays NAEP data from 1984-2012.  The data are from the long-term trend NAEP assessment’s student questionnaire, a survey of homework practices featuring both consistently-worded questions and stable response categories.  The question asks: “How much time did you spend on homework yesterday?”  Responses are shown for NAEP’s three age groups: 9, 13, and 17. [iv]

Today’s youngest students seem to have more homework than in the past.  The first three rows of data for age 9 reveal a shift away from students having no homework, declining from 35% in 1984 to 22% in 2012.  A slight uptick occurred from the low of 18% in 2008, however, so the trend may be abating.  The decline of the “no homework” group is matched by growth in the percentage of students with less than an hour’s worth, from 41% in 1984 to 57% in 2012. The share of students with one to two hours of homework changed very little over the entire 28 years, comprising 12% of students in 2012.  The group with the heaviest load, more than two hours of homework, registered at 5% in 2012.  It was 6% in 1984.

The amount of homework for 13-year-olds appears to have lightened slightly. Students with one to two hours of homework declined from 29% to 23%.  The next category down (in terms of homework load), students with less than an hour, increased from 36% to 44%.  One can see, by combining the bottom two rows, that students with an hour or more of homework declined steadily from 1984 to 2008 (falling from 38% to 27%) and then ticked up to 30% in 2012.  The proportion of students with the heaviest load, more than two hours, slipped from 9% in 1984 to 7% in 2012 and ranged between 7-10% for the entire period.

For 17-year-olds, the homework burden has not varied much.  The percentage of students with no homework has increased from 22% to 27%.  Most of that gain occurred in the 1990s. Also note that the percentage of 17-year-olds who had homework but did not do it was 11% in 2012, the highest for the three NAEP age groups.  Adding that number in with the students who didn’t have homework in the first place means that more than one-third of seventeen year olds (38%) did no homework on the night in question in 2012.  That compares with 33% in 1984.  The segment of the 17-year-old population with more than two hours of homework, from which legitimate complaints of being overworked might arise, has been stuck in the 10%-13% range.

The NAEP data point to four main conclusions:

• With one exception, the homework load has remained remarkably stable since 1984.
• The exception is nine-year-olds.  They have experienced an increase in homework, primarily because many students who once did not have any now have some.  The percentage of nine-year-olds with no homework fell by 13 percentage points, and the percentage with less than an hour grew by 16 percentage points.
• Of the three age groups, 17-year-olds have the most bifurcated distribution of the homework burden.   They have the largest percentage of kids with no homework (especially when the homework shirkers are added in) and the largest percentage with more than two hours.
• NAEP data do not support the idea that a large and growing number of students have an onerous amount of homework.  For all three age groups, only a small percentage of students report more than two hours of homework.  For 1984-2012, the size of the two hours or more groups ranged from 5-6% for age 9, 6-10% for age 13, and 10-13% for age 17.

Note that the item asks students how much time they spent on homework “yesterday.”  That phrasing has the benefit of immediacy, asking for an estimate of precise, recent behavior rather than an estimate of general behavior for an extended, unspecified period.  But misleading responses could be generated if teachers lighten the homework of NAEP participants on the night before the NAEP test is given.  That’s possible. [v] Such skewing would not affect trends if it stayed about the same over time and in the same direction (teachers assigning less homework than usual on the day before NAEP).  Put another way, it would affect estimates of the amount of homework at any single point in time but not changes in the amount of homework between two points in time.

A check for possible skewing is to compare the responses above with those to another homework question on the NAEP questionnaire from 1986-2004 but no longer in use. [vi]   It asked students, “How much time do you usually spend on homework each day?” Most of the response categories have different boundaries from the “last night” question, making the data incomparable.  But the categories asking about no homework are comparable.  Responses indicating no homework on the “usual” question in 2004 were: 2% for age 9-year-olds, 5% for 13 year olds, and 12% for 17-year-olds.  These figures are much less than the ones reported in Table 2-1 above.  The “yesterday” data appear to overstate the proportion of students typically receiving no homework.

The story is different for the “heavy homework load” response categories.  The “usual” question reported similar percentages as the “yesterday” question.  The categories representing the most amount of homework were “more than one hour” for age 9 and “more than two hours” for ages 13 and 17.   In 2004, 12% of 9-year-olds said they had more than one hour of daily homework, while 8% of 13-year-olds and 12% of 17-year-olds said they had more than two hours.  For all three age groups, those figures declined from1986 to 2004. The decline for age 17 was quite large, falling from 17% in 1986 to 12% in 2004.  

The bottom line: regardless of how the question is posed, NAEP data do not support the view that the homework burden is growing, nor do they support the belief that the proportion of students with a lot of homework has increased in recent years.  The proportion of students with no homework is probably under-reported on the long-term trend NAEP.  But the upper bound of students with more than two hours of daily homework appears to be about 15%–and that is for students in their final years of high school.

College Freshmen Look Back  

There is another good source of information on high school students’ homework over several decades.  The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA conducts an annual survey of college freshmen that began in 1966.  In 1986, the survey started asking a series of questions regarding how students spent time in the final year of high school.  Figure 2-1 shows the 2012 percentages for the dominant activities.  More than half of college freshmen say they spent at least six hours per week socializing with friends (66.2%) and exercising/sports (53.0%).  About 40% devoted that much weekly time to paid employment.

Homework comes in fourth pace. Only 38.4% of students said they spent at least six hours per week studying or doing homework. When these students were high school seniors, it was not an activity central to their out of school lives.  That is quite surprising.  Think about it.  The survey is confined to the nation’s best students, those attending college.  Gone are high school dropouts.  Also not included are students who go into the military or attain full time employment immediately after high school.  And yet only a little more than one-third of the sampled students, devoted more than six hours per week to homework and studying when they were on the verge of attending college.

Another notable finding from the UCLA survey is how the statistic is trending (see Figure 2-2).  In 1986, 49.5% reported spending six or more hours per week studying and doing homework.  By 2002, the proportion had dropped to 33.4%.  In 2012, as noted in Figure 2-1, the statistic had bounced off the historical lows to reach 38.4%.  It is slowly rising but still sits sharply below where it was in 1987.

What Do Parents Think?

Met Life has published an annual survey of teachers since 1984.  In 1987 and 2007, the survey included questions focusing on homework and expanded to sample both parents and students on the topic. Data are broken out for secondary and elementary parents and for students in grades 3-6 and grades 7-12 (the latter not being an exact match with secondary parents because of K-8 schools).

Table 2-2 shows estimates of homework from the 2007 survey.  Respondents were asked to estimate the amount of homework on a typical school day (Monday-Friday).  The median estimate of each group of respondents is shaded.  As displayed in the first column, the median estimate for parents of an elementary student is that their child devotes about 30 minutes to homework on the typical weekday.  Slightly more than half (52%) estimate 30 minutes or less; 48% estimate 45 minutes or more.  Students in grades 3-6 (third column) give a median estimate that is a bit higher than their parents’ (45 minutes), with almost two-thirds (63%) saying 45 minutes or less is the typical weekday homework load.

One hour of homework is the median estimate for both secondary parents and students in grade 7-12, with 55% of parents reporting an hour or less and about two-thirds (67%) of students reporting the same.  As for the prevalence of the heaviest homework loads, 11% of secondary parents say their children spend more than two hours on weekday homework, and 12% is the corresponding figure for students in grades 7-12.

The Met Life surveys in 1987 and 2007 asked parents to evaluate the amount and quality of homework.  Table 2-3 displays the results.  There was little change over the two decades separating the two surveys.  More than 60% of parents rate the amount of homework as good or excellent, and about two-thirds give such high ratings to the quality of the homework their children are receiving.  The proportion giving poor ratings to either the quantity or quality of homework did not exceed 10% on either survey.

Parental dissatisfaction with homework comes in two forms: those who feel schools give too much homework and those who feel schools do not give enough.  The current wave of journalism about unhappy parents is dominated by those who feel schools give too much homework.  How big is this group?  Not very big (see Figure 2-3). On the Met Life survey, 60% of parents felt schools were giving the right amount of homework, 25% wanted more homework, and only 15% wanted less.

National surveys on homework are infrequent, but the 2006-2007 period had more than one.  A poll conducted by Public Agenda in 2006 reported similar numbers as the Met Life survey: 68% of parents describing the homework load as “about right,” 20% saying there is “too little homework,” and 11% saying there is “too much homework.”  A 2006 AP-AOL poll found the highest percentage of parents reporting too much homework, 19%.  But even in that poll, they were outnumbered by parents believing there is too little homework (23%), and a clear majority (57%) described the load as “about right.”  A 2010 local survey of Chicago parents conducted by the Chicago Tribune reported figures similar to those reported above: approximately two-thirds of parents saying their children’s homework load is “about right,” 21% saying it’s not enough, and 12% responding that the homework load is too much.

Summary and Discussion

In recent years, the press has been filled with reports of kids over-burdened with homework and parents rebelling against their children’s oppressive workload. The data assembled above call into question whether that portrait is accurate for the typical American family.  Homework typically takes an hour per night.  The homework burden of students rarely exceeds two hours a night.  The upper limit of students with two or more hours per night is about 15% nationally—and that is for juniors or seniors in high school.  For younger children, the upper boundary is about 10% who have such a heavy load.  Polls show that parents who want less homework range from 10%-20%, and that they are outnumbered—in every national poll on the homework question—by parents who want more homework, not less.  The majority of parents describe their children’s homework burden as about right.

So what’s going on?  Where are the homework horror stories coming from?

The Met Life survey of parents is able to give a few hints, mainly because of several questions that extend beyond homework to other aspects of schooling.  The belief that homework is burdensome is more likely held by parents with a larger set of complaints and concerns.  They are alienated from their child’s school.  About two in five parents (19%) don’t believe homework is important.  Compared to other parents, these parents are more likely to say too much homework is assigned (39% vs. 9%), that what is assigned is just busywork (57% vs. 36%), and that homework gets in the way of their family spending time together (51% vs. 15%).  They are less likely to rate the quality of homework as excellent (3% vs. 23%) or to rate the availability and responsiveness of teachers as excellent (18% vs. 38%). [vii]

They can also convince themselves that their numbers are larger than they really are.  Karl Taro Greenfeld, the author of the Atlantic article mentioned above, seems to fit that description.  “Every parent I know in New York City comments on how much homework their children have,” Mr. Greenfeld writes.  As for those parents who do not share this view? “There is always a clique of parents who are happy with the amount of homework. In fact, they would prefer more .  I tend not to get along with that type of parent.” [viii] 

Mr. Greenfeld’s daughter attends a selective exam school in Manhattan, known for its rigorous expectations and, yes, heavy homework load.  He had also complained about homework in his daughter’s previous school in Brentwood, CA.  That school was a charter school.  After Mr. Greenfeld emailed several parents expressing his complaints about homework in that school, the school’s vice-principal accused Mr. Greenfeld of cyberbullying.  The lesson here is that even schools of choice are not immune from complaints about homework.

The homework horror stories need to be read in a proper perspective.  They seem to originate from the very personal discontents of a small group of parents.  They do not reflect the experience of the average family with a school-age child.  That does not diminish these stories’ power to command the attention of school officials or even the public at large. But it also suggests a limited role for policy making in settling such disputes.  Policy is a blunt instrument.  Educators, parents, and kids are in the best position to resolve complaints about homework on a case by case basis.  Complaints about homework have existed for more than a century, and they show no signs of going away.

Part II Notes:

[i]Brian Gill and Steven Schlossman, “A Sin Against Childhood: Progressive Education and the Crusade to Abolish Homework, 1897-1941,” American Journal of Education , vol. 105, no. 1 (Nov., 1996), 27-66.  Also see Brian P. Gill and Steven L. Schlossman, “Villain or Savior? The American Discourse on Homework, 1850-2003,” Theory into Practice , 43, 3 (Summer 2004), pp. 174-181.

[ii] Bennett, Sara, and Nancy Kalish.  The Case Against Homework:  How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It   (New York:  Crown, 2006).  Buell, John.  Closing the Book on Homework: Enhancing Public Education and Freeing Family Time . (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004). Kohn, Alfie.    The Homework Myth:  Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing  (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2006).  Kralovec, Etta, and John Buell.  The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning  (Boston: Beacon Press, 2000).

[iii] Hu, Winnie, “ New Recruit in Homework Revolt: The Principal ,” New York Times , June 15, 2011, page a1.

[iv] Data for other years are available on the NAEP Data Explorer.  For Table 1, the starting point of 1984 was chosen because it is the first year all three ages were asked the homework question.  The two most recent dates (2012 and 2008) were chosen to show recent changes, and the two years in the 1990s to show developments during that decade.

[v] NAEP’s sampling design lessens the probability of skewing the homework figure.  Students are randomly drawn from a school population, meaning that an entire class is not tested.  Teachers would have to either single out NAEP students for special homework treatment or change their established homework routine for the whole class just to shelter NAEP participants from homework.  Sampling designs that draw entact classrooms for testing (such as TIMSS) would be more vulnerable to this effect.  Moreover, students in middle and high school usually have several different teachers during the day, meaning that prior knowledge of a particular student’s participation in NAEP would probably be limited to one or two teachers.

[vi] NAEP Question B003801 for 9 year olds and B003901 for 13- and 17-year olds.

[vii] Met Life, Met Life Survey of the American Teacher: The Homework Experience , November 13, 2007, pp. 21-22.

[viii] Greenfeld, Karl Taro, “ My Daughter’s Homework Is Killing Me ,” The Atlantic , September 18, 2013.

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April 15, 2024

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Homework in High School: How Much Is Too Much?

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It’s not hard to find a high school student who is stressed about homework. Many are stressed to the max–juggling extracurricular activities, jobs, and family responsibilities. It can be hard for many students, particularly low-income students, to find the time to dedicate to homework. So students in the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs program at YouthBeat in Oakland, California are asking what’s a fair amount of homework for high school students?

TEACHERS: Guide your students to practice civil discourse about current topics and get practice writing CER (claim, evidence, reasoning) responses.  Explore lesson supports.

Is homework beneficial to students?

The homework debate has been going on for years. There’s a big body of research that shows that homework can have a positive impact on academic performance. It can also help students prepare for the academic rigors of college.

Does homework hurt students?

Some research suggests that homework is only beneficial up to a certain point. Too much homework can lead to compromised health and greater stress in students. Many students, particularly low-income students, can struggle to find the time to do homework, especially if they are working jobs after school or taking care of family members. Some students might not have access to technology, like computers or the internet, that are needed to complete assignments at home– which can make completing assignments even more challenging. Many argue that this contributes to inequity in education– particularly if completing homework is linked to better academic performance.

How much homework should students get?

Based on research, the National Education Association recommends the 10-minute rule stating students should receive 10 minutes of homework per grade per night. But opponents to homework point out that for seniors that’s still 2 hours of homework which can be a lot for students with conflicting obligations. And in reality, high school students say it can be tough for teachers to coordinate their homework assignments since students are taking a variety of different classes. Some people advocate for eliminating homework altogether.

Edweek: How Much Homework Is Enough? Depends Who You Ask

Business Insider: Here’s How Homework Differs Around the World

Review of Educational Research: Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement? A Synthesis of Research, 1987-2003

Phys.org: Study suggests more than two hours of homework a night may be counterproductive

The Journal of Experimental Education: Nonacademic Effects of Homework in Privileged, High-Performing High Schools

National Education Association: Research Spotlight on Homework NEA Reviews of the Research on Best Practices in Education

The Atlantic: Who Does Homework Work For?

Center for Public Education: What research says about the value of homework: Research review

Time: Opinion: Why I think All Schools Should Abolish Homework

The Atlantic: A Teacher’s Defense of Homework

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What’s the Right Amount of Homework?

Decades of research show that homework has some benefits, especially for students in middle and high school—but there are risks to assigning too much.

Many teachers and parents believe that homework helps students build study skills and review concepts learned in class. Others see homework as disruptive and unnecessary, leading to burnout and turning kids off to school. Decades of research show that the issue is more nuanced and complex than most people think: Homework is beneficial, but only to a degree. Students in high school gain the most, while younger kids benefit much less.

The National PTA and the National Education Association support the “ 10-minute homework guideline ”—a nightly 10 minutes of homework per grade level. But many teachers and parents are quick to point out that what matters is the quality of the homework assigned and how well it meets students’ needs, not the amount of time spent on it.

The guideline doesn’t account for students who may need to spend more—or less—time on assignments. In class, teachers can make adjustments to support struggling students, but at home, an assignment that takes one student 30 minutes to complete may take another twice as much time—often for reasons beyond their control. And homework can widen the achievement gap, putting students from low-income households and students with learning disabilities at a disadvantage.

However, the 10-minute guideline is useful in setting a limit: When kids spend too much time on homework, there are real consequences to consider.

Small Benefits for Elementary Students

As young children begin school, the focus should be on cultivating a love of learning, and assigning too much homework can undermine that goal. And young students often don’t have the study skills to benefit fully from homework, so it may be a poor use of time (Cooper, 1989 ; Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). A more effective activity may be nightly reading, especially if parents are involved. The benefits of reading are clear: If students aren’t proficient readers by the end of third grade, they’re less likely to succeed academically and graduate from high school (Fiester, 2013 ).

For second-grade teacher Jacqueline Fiorentino, the minor benefits of homework did not outweigh the potential drawback of turning young children against school at an early age, so she experimented with dropping mandatory homework. “Something surprising happened: They started doing more work at home,” Fiorentino writes . “This inspiring group of 8-year-olds used their newfound free time to explore subjects and topics of interest to them.” She encouraged her students to read at home and offered optional homework to extend classroom lessons and help them review material.

Moderate Benefits for Middle School Students

As students mature and develop the study skills necessary to delve deeply into a topic—and to retain what they learn—they also benefit more from homework. Nightly assignments can help prepare them for scholarly work, and research shows that homework can have moderate benefits for middle school students (Cooper et al., 2006 ). Recent research also shows that online math homework, which can be designed to adapt to students’ levels of understanding, can significantly boost test scores (Roschelle et al., 2016 ).

There are risks to assigning too much, however: A 2015 study found that when middle school students were assigned more than 90 to 100 minutes of daily homework, their math and science test scores began to decline (Fernández-Alonso, Suárez-Álvarez, & Muñiz, 2015 ). Crossing that upper limit can drain student motivation and focus. The researchers recommend that “homework should present a certain level of challenge or difficulty, without being so challenging that it discourages effort.” Teachers should avoid low-effort, repetitive assignments, and assign homework “with the aim of instilling work habits and promoting autonomous, self-directed learning.”

In other words, it’s the quality of homework that matters, not the quantity. Brian Sztabnik, a veteran middle and high school English teacher, suggests that teachers take a step back and ask themselves these five questions :

• How long will it take to complete?
• Have all learners been considered?
• Will an assignment encourage future success?
• Will an assignment place material in a context the classroom cannot?
• Does an assignment offer support when a teacher is not there?

More Benefits for High School Students, but Risks as Well

By the time they reach high school, students should be well on their way to becoming independent learners, so homework does provide a boost to learning at this age, as long as it isn’t overwhelming (Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). When students spend too much time on homework—more than two hours each night—it takes up valuable time to rest and spend time with family and friends. A 2013 study found that high school students can experience serious mental and physical health problems, from higher stress levels to sleep deprivation, when assigned too much homework (Galloway, Conner, & Pope, 2013 ).

Homework in high school should always relate to the lesson and be doable without any assistance, and feedback should be clear and explicit.

Teachers should also keep in mind that not all students have equal opportunities to finish their homework at home, so incomplete homework may not be a true reflection of their learning—it may be more a result of issues they face outside of school. They may be hindered by issues such as lack of a quiet space at home, resources such as a computer or broadband connectivity, or parental support (OECD, 2014 ). In such cases, giving low homework scores may be unfair.

Since the quantities of time discussed here are totals, teachers in middle and high school should be aware of how much homework other teachers are assigning. It may seem reasonable to assign 30 minutes of daily homework, but across six subjects, that’s three hours—far above a reasonable amount even for a high school senior. Psychologist Maurice Elias sees this as a common mistake: Individual teachers create homework policies that in aggregate can overwhelm students. He suggests that teachers work together to develop a school-wide homework policy and make it a key topic of back-to-school night and the first parent-teacher conferences of the school year.

Parents Play a Key Role

Homework can be a powerful tool to help parents become more involved in their child’s learning (Walker et al., 2004 ). It can provide insights into a child’s strengths and interests, and can also encourage conversations about a child’s life at school. If a parent has positive attitudes toward homework, their children are more likely to share those same values, promoting academic success.

But it’s also possible for parents to be overbearing, putting too much emphasis on test scores or grades, which can be disruptive for children (Madjar, Shklar, & Moshe, 2015 ). Parents should avoid being overly intrusive or controlling—students report feeling less motivated to learn when they don’t have enough space and autonomy to do their homework (Orkin, May, & Wolf, 2017 ; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008 ; Silinskas & Kikas, 2017 ). So while homework can encourage parents to be more involved with their kids, it’s important to not make it a source of conflict.

Shortage of teachers leads California to provide multiple paths to the classroom

Officials in California are trying a range of approaches to deal with the state's teacher shortage.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and California legislators have poured billions of dollars of state money into special grants and programs to recruit, train and retain educators in order to ease the state’s persistent teacher shortage. Lawmakers also have made temporary and permanent changes to teacher credentialing requirements since the pandemic, including waiving fees, to make it easier to become a teacher in California.

Teacher candidates have many choices. They can take the traditional route — attend a teacher preparation program and complete student teaching — or they can take part in a teacher residency or internship program that allows them to complete required coursework while teaching.

Teacher candidates can apply for residency programs through a university teacher preparation program that operates in partnership with one or more school districts. During their residency, teacher candidates are paired with experienced teachers for a year of clinical training. Residents are usually paid a stipend.

Prospective teachers also can enroll in a commission-approved district intern program or a university internship program . Both allow candidates who have bachelor’s degrees to teach while they complete their teacher preparation coursework. Most interns are the primary teacher in the classroom. These teachers hold intern credentials until they complete the requirements for a preliminary credential.

The state also has a California Classified School Employee Teacher Credentialing Program, which offers financial assistance and academic guidance to school staff who want to complete an undergraduate degree and earn a teaching credential. The staff members must work in districts that have been awarded a grant for the program through the state.

Most California teachers hold one of three basic teaching credentials — multiple-subject, single-subject and education specialist. Multiple-subject credentials are for elementary school teachers, single-subject credentials are generally for middle and high school teachers who teach one subject, and an education specialist credential is for special education teachers.

They must first earn a preliminary teaching credential and, after additional training and mentorship during their first two years of teaching, they can earn a clear credential.

To earn a preliminary teaching credential a teacher must have:

• A bachelor’s degree.
• Completed an accredited teacher preparation program.
• Completed 600 hours of student teaching.
• Been fingerprinted and passed a background check.
• Taken required tests  or completed university-approved coursework.
• Completed a course or passed a test on the provisions and principles of the U.S. Constitution.
• Earned a recommendation from their teacher preparation program.

A preliminary credential is good for five years.

Required tests and their alternatives

Teachers must prove they have the skills needed to educate students. Before the pandemic, tests were traditionally used to determine if a teacher candidate was ready for a teacher preparation program or the classroom, but new legislation gives them the option to use university-approved coursework instead in some cases. Teacher candidates can check with their teacher preparation program administrator to determine which courses to take or have their transcript evaluated by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing .

Current flexibility: California has waived test fees through June 30, 2023.

Basic skills requirement

Teachers must prove they have the basic skills to teach. Generally, this is done before a teacher preparation program. Here are the options:

• Pass the California Basic Educational Skills Test.
• Pass the California SET: Multiple Subjects plus Writing Skills Examination.
• Pass the CSU Early Assessment Program or the CSU Placement examinations.
• Earn a qualifying score on SAT, ACT test or College Board Advanced Placement Examinations.
• Pass a basic skills test from another state.
• Submit a transcript that shows a grade of B or better in one course in critical thinking, literature, philosophy, reading, rhetoric or textual analysis to show reading proficiency; a course in composition, English, rhetoric, written communication or writing to demonstrate writing proficiency; and a course in algebra, mathematics, quantitative reasoning or statistics to show math proficiency;
• Complete  a combination  of courses and exams to meet the requirement.

Current flexibility: The Commission on Teacher Credentialing has extended the pandemic waiver that allows teacher candidates to student teach without completing their basic skills requirement. The flexibility ends May 1, 2023. Teacher candidates must complete the requirement before being recommended for a preliminary credential.

Subject-matter competence

Teacher candidates are required to demonstrate proficiency in the subject they will teach before they can earn a credential. This has traditionally been done by passing the appropriate tests in the California Subject Examinations for Teachers, or CSET , but teachers can now also take coursework or a combination of tests in the CSET and coursework to satisfy this requirement.

Teacher candidates also can complete a bachelor’s degree in the subject area of the credential they are seeking. A teacher preparation program will evaluate the major to see if it is acceptable, but the Commission on Teacher Credentialing will make the call for candidates who are applying to the commission directly for credentials, such as those seeking emergency-style permits.

Current flexibility: The test can be waived until the end of a teacher candidate’s preparation program if they applied for an intern credential to teach in a school by June 30, 2022.

Reading Instruction Competence Assessment

The RICA measures how well candidates for multiple-subject credentials and education specialists teach reading. The test is expected to be eliminated in 2025 when it will be incorporated into the Teacher Performance Assessment, which requires teachers to demonstrate their ability to teach.

Current flexibility: A teacher candidate enrolled in a teacher preparation program by June 30, 2022, isn’t required to take the RICA before earning a preliminary credential, but they must pass it before earning a clear credential.

Performance assessment

Once a teacher is in the classroom, they are required to complete a performance assessment that demonstrates how well they assess students, design instruction, organize subject matter and perform other skills. The three assessment models — the California Teaching Performance Assessment, edTPA and Fresno Assessment of Student Teachers — require that teachers make a video of themselves teaching at the school where they work.

Special education credentials

Special education candidates must complete all the basic requirements of other teachers, as well as instruction in one of four areas — mild to moderate support needs; extensive support needs; deaf and hard of hearing, visual impairments; and early childhood special education — to earn a credential in that specialty.

Out-of-state teachers

Teachers moving to California must submit to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing their college transcripts and a copy of their out-of-state teaching license, as well as proof they have been fingerprinted.

To avoid taking unnecessary tests and training, the commission recommends that applicants submit their score on out-of-state basic skills tests and proof of two years or more of teaching experience.

Where to apply

Most applications are submitted to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing online. It generally takes about 50 days for the commission to process applications, which are available on the commission’s website. Application fees vary depending on the document but generally are under $100 each.

Copyright 2022 EdSource

Should Kids Get Homework?

Homework gives elementary students a way to practice concepts, but too much can be harmful, experts say.

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Effective homework reinforces math, reading, writing or spelling skills, but in a way that's meaningful.

How much homework students should get has long been a source of debate among parents and educators. In recent years, some districts have even implemented no-homework policies, as students juggle sports, music and other activities after school.

Parents of elementary school students, in particular, have argued that after-school hours should be spent with family or playing outside rather than completing assignments. And there is little research to show that homework improves academic achievement for elementary students.

But some experts say there's value in homework, even for younger students. When done well, it can help students practice core concepts and develop study habits and time management skills. The key to effective homework, they say, is keeping assignments related to classroom learning, and tailoring the amount by age: Many experts suggest no homework for kindergartners, and little to none in first and second grade.

Value of Homework

Homework provides a chance to solidify what is being taught in the classroom that day, week or unit. Practice matters, says Janine Bempechat, clinical professor at Boston University 's Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.

"There really is no other domain of human ability where anybody would say you don't need to practice," she adds. "We have children practicing piano and we have children going to sports practice several days a week after school. You name the domain of ability and practice is in there."

Homework is also the place where schools and families most frequently intersect.

"The children are bringing things from the school into the home," says Paula S. Fass, professor emerita of history at the University of California—Berkeley and the author of "The End of American Childhood." "Before the pandemic, (homework) was the only real sense that parents had to what was going on in schools."

Harris Cooper, professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University and author of "The Battle Over Homework," examined more than 60 research studies on homework between 1987 and 2003 and found that — when designed properly — homework can lead to greater student success. Too much, however, is harmful. And homework has a greater positive effect on students in secondary school (grades 7-12) than those in elementary.

"Every child should be doing homework, but the amount and type that they're doing should be appropriate for their developmental level," he says. "For teachers, it's a balancing act. Doing away with homework completely is not in the best interest of children and families. But overburdening families with homework is also not in the child's or a family's best interest."

Negative Homework Assignments

Not all homework for elementary students involves completing a worksheet. Assignments can be fun, says Cooper, like having students visit educational locations, keep statistics on their favorite sports teams, read for pleasure or even help their parents grocery shop. The point is to show students that activities done outside of school can relate to subjects learned in the classroom.

But assignments that are just busy work, that force students to learn new concepts at home, or that are overly time-consuming can be counterproductive, experts say.

Homework that's just busy work.

Effective homework reinforces math, reading, writing or spelling skills, but in a way that's meaningful, experts say. Assignments that look more like busy work – projects or worksheets that don't require teacher feedback and aren't related to topics learned in the classroom – can be frustrating for students and create burdens for families.

"The mental health piece has definitely played a role here over the last couple of years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the last thing we want to do is frustrate students with busy work or homework that makes no sense," says Dave Steckler, principal of Red Trail Elementary School in Mandan, North Dakota.

Homework on material that kids haven't learned yet.

With the pressure to cover all topics on standardized tests and limited time during the school day, some teachers assign homework that has not yet been taught in the classroom.

Not only does this create stress, but it also causes equity challenges. Some parents speak languages other than English or work several jobs, and they aren't able to help teach their children new concepts.

" It just becomes agony for both parents and the kids to get through this worksheet, and the goal becomes getting to the bottom of (the) worksheet with answers filled in without any understanding of what any of it matters for," says professor Susan R. Goldman, co-director of the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Illinois—Chicago .

Homework that's overly time-consuming.

The standard homework guideline recommended by the National Parent Teacher Association and the National Education Association is the "10-minute rule" – 10 minutes of nightly homework per grade level. A fourth grader, for instance, would receive a total of 40 minutes of homework per night.

But this does not always happen, especially since not every student learns the same. A 2015 study published in the American Journal of Family Therapy found that primary school children actually received three times the recommended amount of homework — and that family stress increased along with the homework load.

Young children can only remain attentive for short periods, so large amounts of homework, especially lengthy projects, can negatively affect students' views on school. Some individual long-term projects – like having to build a replica city, for example – typically become an assignment for parents rather than students, Fass says.

"It's one thing to assign a project like that in which several kids are working on it together," she adds. "In (that) case, the kids do normally work on it. It's another to send it home to the families, where it becomes a burden and doesn't really accomplish very much."

Private vs. Public Schools

Do private schools assign more homework than public schools? There's little research on the issue, but experts say private school parents may be more accepting of homework, seeing it as a sign of academic rigor.

Of course, not all private schools are the same – some focus on college preparation and traditional academics, while others stress alternative approaches to education.

"I think in the academically oriented private schools, there's more support for homework from parents," says Gerald K. LeTendre, chair of educational administration at Pennsylvania State University—University Park . "I don't know if there's any research to show there's more homework, but it's less of a contentious issue."

How to Address Homework Overload

First, assess if the workload takes as long as it appears. Sometimes children may start working on a homework assignment, wander away and come back later, Cooper says.

"Parents don't see it, but they know that their child has started doing their homework four hours ago and still not done it," he adds. "They don't see that there are those four hours where their child was doing lots of other things. So the homework assignment itself actually is not four hours long. It's the way the child is approaching it."

But if homework is becoming stressful or workload is excessive, experts suggest parents first approach the teacher, followed by a school administrator.

"Many times, we can solve a lot of issues by having conversations," Steckler says, including by "sitting down, talking about the amount of homework, and what's appropriate and not appropriate."

Study Tips for High School Students

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• Title II, Part A Resources and Guidance

Dear County and District Superintendents and Charter School Administrators:

State Guidance for New Laws on Discipline

We are writing to you today regarding the implementation of new laws regarding disciplinary practices, consistent with our shared view that all students—particularly African American students and others overrepresented in suspension statistics—deserve a school environment that fosters their social-emotional well-being and academic success.

As we now know, suspension can do more harm than good. Sending a student home from school does not address the root cause of a student’s behavior; it removes students from the learning environment; and it has a disproportionate impact on African American students and students with disabilities, among other marginalized groups that are underperforming academically and overrepresented in our criminal justice system. Legislation in recent years, reflecting extensive research, has sought to minimize the use and impact of suspension. The state’s new accountability system reports suspensions and incentivizes minimizing the use of punitive discipline. With this guidance, we update the field about recent legislative changes and suggest alternatives to suspension and other punitive practices. Great work is happening in this area, and we applaud your leadership in dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline through the implementation of Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), positive behavior intervention systems, implicit bias training, restorative practices, and engaging academics. Research has established that systemwide implementation of these practices will lead to improved academic outcomes and long-term postsecondary success for all students, particularly our highest-need students.

State Law and Suspension

Recent legislation was enacted to prevent students from losing learning opportunities for disciplinary reasons.

• Ending Suspensions for Willful Defiance in Grades Kindergarten Through Eight: In 2013, the Legislature approved Assembly Bill 420, which prohibited suspensions on willful defiance or disruption grounds for students in grades kindergarten through three. According to data collected by the California Department of Education (CDE), suspensions for willful defiance significantly decreased upon passage of this measure. In 2019, the Legislature extended this prohibition to students in grades four through eight through Senate Bill 419 ( https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB419 ). Research indicates that students of color; students with disabilities; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual students are more likely to be suspended for low-level subjective offenses such as willful defiance. We support the goals of this legislation and have included the resources below to support implementation of school-wide and district-/county-wide policies to better support students facing social-emotional and academic struggles.
• Homework for Students Suspended for Two or More Days: Assembly Bill 982 ( https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB982 ), also enacted in 2019, requires local educational agencies (LEAs), including charters, to provide homework assignments to students upon the request of the parent, guardian, or student during a suspension of two or more school days.

In recent years there have been other statutory provisions designed to limit the use of suspensions and promote alternatives to suspension. These provisions aim to address the root causes of the student’s behavior and to improve academic outcomes:

• Minimize Suspension for Attendance Issues: California Education Code ( EC ) Section 48900(w)(1) states that it is the intent of the Legislature that alternatives to suspension or expulsion be imposed against a pupil who is truant, tardy, or otherwise absent from school activities.
• Instead of Suspension, Support: EC Section 48900(v) provides that a superintendent of the school district or principal is encouraged to provide alternatives to suspension or expulsion, using a research-based framework with strategies that improve behavioral and academic outcomes, that are age-appropriate and designed to address and correct the pupil’s specific misbehavior as specified in EC Section 48900.5.
• EC Section 48900(w)(2) adds that the MTSS, which includes restorative justice practices, trauma-informed practices, social and emotional learning, and schoolwide positive behavior interventions and support, may be used to help students gain critical social and emotional skills, receive support to help transform trauma-related responses, understand the impact of their actions, and develop meaningful methods for repairing harm to the school community.
• Suspension as a Last Resort: And finally, EC Section 48900.5 provides that, except for specified exceptions, suspension, including supervised suspension, shall be imposed only when other means of correction fail to bring about proper conduct, and then continues to provide an extensive list of suggested positive, non-exclusionary alternative practices. Other means of correction may include additional academic supports, to ensure, for example, that instruction is academically appropriate, culturally relevant, and engaging for students at different academic levels and with diverse backgrounds.

Replacing Suspension with Support

Collectively, we must do more to reverse the reality that our most vulnerable students are disproportionately removed from their classes. Research on student engagement, academic success, dropout, and graduation rates has shown the need to replace punitive discipline practices with targeted student supports such as those referenced in state law above. The CDE and California’s System of Support are your partners in establishing and strengthening LEA and school-level networks of support. Key resources include the following:

• The CDE Behavioral Intervention Strategies and Supports web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/se/behaviorialintervention.asp outlines where LEAs and schools can learn about Fix School Discipline, suspension data on Dataquest and the California School Dashboard, and Restorative Justice programs. These practices and policies that many schools and districts are putting in place to address discipline issues proactively support students whose behaviors may signify a call for help.
• The CDE MTSS web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/ri/ provides a research-proven framework aligned to address students’ academic, behavior, and social success. It brings together the Response to Instruction and Intervention and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports to support the whole child through a data-driven tiered approach to academic and social emotional supports. An MTSS approach can ensure instruction and interventions meet student needs, to address the reality that African American students and students with disabilities—two of the groups most often suspended—have lower literacy and math scores than other ethnic groups and students without disabilities.
• There are also resources on the CDE Mental Health web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/cg/mh/index.asp , which includes strategies, resources, and training in psychological and mental health issues, including coping with tragedy, crisis intervention and prevention, school psychology, and suicide prevention.
• The CDE Attendance Improvement web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ai/ provides resources to address attendance improvement through prevention, early identification, and intervention instead of using punitive discipline.
• The CDE Asset-Based Pedagogies web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ee/assetbasedpedagogies.asp has resources on culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies, which focus on the strengths that diverse students bring to the classroom and school community. These approaches engage all learners through curriculum that connects to students’ cultural and linguistic identities. Asset-Based Pedagogy is also a key feature in California’s State Literacy Plan, and aligned literacy resources are available on the California Educators Together web page at https://www.caeducatorstogether.org/groups/comprehensive-literacy-state-development-grant-resource-repository .
• Addressing bias of educators is an important piece of the puzzle. In 2019–20, African American students made up 5.4 percent of public school students in California but comprised 15 percent of students who were suspended. Evidence shows that this is not because of worse behavior, but because of harsher treatment for minor offenses such as talking in class and other nonviolent behavior. LEAs are encouraged to invest in implicit bias training for their educator workforce: https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr20/yr20rel77.asp .

Data-Driven Continuous Improvement to Strengthen Supports

Our state’s focus on equity means addressing students’ holistic needs, whether they are struggling with trauma, disability, or the effects of socio-economic disadvantage. Since the passage of the Local Control Funding Formula, the state has engaged in the data-driven continuous improvement process, with actions to address student needs informed by robust stakeholder input and thorough root-cause analysis. Tackling suspensions is part of this framework, with suspension data reported in the California School Dashboard and school climate as one of the eight state priorities. Every year, school and district communities should consult their suspension data and analyze the underlying causes and adjust programming as needed to better support students, especially students of color disproportionately impacted by unneeded suspensions. Our partners at the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE) are also resources in the System of Support. The CCEE website is available at https://ccee-ca.org/ .

CDE resources include the following:

• The CDE Local Control Accountability Plan web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/lc/ includes references to the eight state priorities, the continuous improvement process, stakeholder engagement, and the whole child resource map.

Particularly as we grapple with the immediate and post-pandemic effects of COVID-19, students and families face unprecedented challenges that will inevitably affect students’ stress levels, behaviors, and their ability to participate in school. Like suspensions, these challenges fall disproportionately on students of color and other marginalized groups. Separate and apart from the pandemic, our communities are crying out for support and education, not suspension. In this moment of extraordinary need, the most successful schools will partner with communities to better understand and support students’ mental and physical health needs so they are able to engage in accelerated learning at school.

Systemic and targeted approaches can help realize our shared goals of making equity real.

If you have any questions regarding suspensions and how to minimize reliance on this disciplinary tool, please contact Dan Sackheim, Education Programs Consultant, Educational Options Office, by phone at 916-445-5595 or by email at [email protected] .

Tony Thurmond State Superintendent of Public Instruction California Department of Education

Linda Darling-Hammond President California State Board of Education

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Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

A conversation with a Wheelock researcher, a BU student, and a fourth-grade teacher

“Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives,” says Wheelock’s Janine Bempechat. “It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.” Photo by iStock/Glenn Cook Photography

Do your homework.

If only it were that simple.

Educators have debated the merits of homework since the late 19th century. In recent years, amid concerns of some parents and teachers that children are being stressed out by too much homework, things have only gotten more fraught.

“Homework is complicated,” says developmental psychologist Janine Bempechat, a Wheelock College of Education & Human Development clinical professor. The author of the essay “ The Case for (Quality) Homework—Why It Improves Learning and How Parents Can Help ” in the winter 2019 issue of Education Next , Bempechat has studied how the debate about homework is influencing teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs about learning, and school policies.

She worries especially about socioeconomically disadvantaged students from low-performing schools who, according to research by Bempechat and others, get little or no homework.

BU Today  sat down with Bempechat and Erin Bruce (Wheelock’17,’18), a new fourth-grade teacher at a suburban Boston school, and future teacher freshman Emma Ardizzone (Wheelock) to talk about what quality homework looks like, how it can help children learn, and how schools can equip teachers to design it, evaluate it, and facilitate parents’ role in it.

BU Today: Parents and educators who are against homework in elementary school say there is no research definitively linking it to academic performance for kids in the early grades. You’ve said that they’re missing the point.

Bempechat : I think teachers assign homework in elementary school as a way to help kids develop skills they’ll need when they’re older—to begin to instill a sense of responsibility and to learn planning and organizational skills. That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success. If we greatly reduce or eliminate homework in elementary school, we deprive kids and parents of opportunities to instill these important learning habits and skills.

We do know that beginning in late middle school, and continuing through high school, there is a strong and positive correlation between homework completion and academic success.

That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success.

You talk about the importance of quality homework. What is that?

Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives. It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.

What are your concerns about homework and low-income children?

The argument that some people make—that homework “punishes the poor” because lower-income parents may not be as well-equipped as affluent parents to help their children with homework—is very troubling to me. There are no parents who don’t care about their children’s learning. Parents don’t actually have to help with homework completion in order for kids to do well. They can help in other ways—by helping children organize a study space, providing snacks, being there as a support, helping children work in groups with siblings or friends.

Isn’t the discussion about getting rid of homework happening mostly in affluent communities?

Yes, and the stories we hear of kids being stressed out from too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. That’s problematic for physical and mental health and overall well-being. But the research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.

Teachers may not have as high expectations for lower-income children. Schools should bear responsibility for providing supports for kids to be able to get their homework done—after-school clubs, community support, peer group support. It does kids a disservice when our expectations are lower for them.

The conversation around homework is to some extent a social class and social justice issue. If we eliminate homework for all children because affluent children have too much, we’re really doing a disservice to low-income children. They need the challenge, and every student can rise to the challenge with enough supports in place.

What did you learn by studying how education schools are preparing future teachers to handle homework?

My colleague, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, at the University of California, Davis, School of Education, and I interviewed faculty members at education schools, as well as supervising teachers, to find out how students are being prepared. And it seemed that they weren’t. There didn’t seem to be any readings on the research, or conversations on what high-quality homework is and how to design it.

Erin, what kind of training did you get in handling homework?

Bruce : I had phenomenal professors at Wheelock, but homework just didn’t come up. I did lots of student teaching. I’ve been in classrooms where the teachers didn’t assign any homework, and I’ve been in rooms where they assigned hours of homework a night. But I never even considered homework as something that was my decision. I just thought it was something I’d pull out of a book and it’d be done.

I started giving homework on the first night of school this year. My first assignment was to go home and draw a picture of the room where you do your homework. I want to know if it’s at a table and if there are chairs around it and if mom’s cooking dinner while you’re doing homework.

The second night I asked them to talk to a grown-up about how are you going to be able to get your homework done during the week. The kids really enjoyed it. There’s a running joke that I’m teaching life skills.

Friday nights, I read all my kids’ responses to me on their homework from the week and it’s wonderful. They pour their hearts out. It’s like we’re having a conversation on my couch Friday night.

It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Bempechat : I can’t imagine that most new teachers would have the intuition Erin had in designing homework the way she did.

Ardizzone : Conversations with kids about homework, feeling you’re being listened to—that’s such a big part of wanting to do homework….I grew up in Westchester County. It was a pretty demanding school district. My junior year English teacher—I loved her—she would give us feedback, have meetings with all of us. She’d say, “If you have any questions, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, here are my office hours.” It felt like she actually cared.

Bempechat : It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Ardizzone : But can’t it lead to parents being overbearing and too involved in their children’s lives as students?

Bempechat : There’s good help and there’s bad help. The bad help is what you’re describing—when parents hover inappropriately, when they micromanage, when they see their children confused and struggling and tell them what to do.

Good help is when parents recognize there’s a struggle going on and instead ask informative questions: “Where do you think you went wrong?” They give hints, or pointers, rather than saying, “You missed this,” or “You didn’t read that.”

Bruce : I hope something comes of this. I hope BU or Wheelock can think of some way to make this a more pressing issue. As a first-year teacher, it was not something I even thought about on the first day of school—until a kid raised his hand and said, “Do we have homework?” It would have been wonderful if I’d had a plan from day one.

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Senior Contributing Editor

Sara Rimer A journalist for more than three decades, Sara Rimer worked at the Miami Herald , Washington Post and, for 26 years, the New York Times , where she was the New England bureau chief, and a national reporter covering education, aging, immigration, and other social justice issues. Her stories on the death penalty’s inequities were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Her journalism honors include Columbia University’s Meyer Berger award for in-depth human interest reporting. She holds a BA degree in American Studies from the University of Michigan. Profile

She can be reached at [email protected] .

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There are 81 comments on Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

Insightful! The values about homework in elementary schools are well aligned with my intuition as a parent.

when i finish my work i do my homework and i sometimes forget what to do because i did not get enough sleep

same omg it does not help me it is stressful and if I have it in more than one class I hate it.

Same I think my parent wants to help me but, she doesn’t care if I get bad grades so I just try my best and my grades are great.

I think that last question about Good help from parents is not know to all parents, we do as our parents did or how we best think it can be done, so maybe coaching parents or giving them resources on how to help with homework would be very beneficial for the parent on how to help and for the teacher to have consistency and improve homework results, and of course for the child. I do see how homework helps reaffirm the knowledge obtained in the classroom, I also have the ability to see progress and it is a time I share with my kids

The answer to the headline question is a no-brainer – a more pressing problem is why there is a difference in how students from different cultures succeed. Perfect example is the student population at BU – why is there a majority population of Asian students and only about 3% black students at BU? In fact at some universities there are law suits by Asians to stop discrimination and quotas against admitting Asian students because the real truth is that as a group they are demonstrating better qualifications for admittance, while at the same time there are quotas and reduced requirements for black students to boost their portion of the student population because as a group they do more poorly in meeting admissions standards – and it is not about the Benjamins. The real problem is that in our PC society no one has the gazuntas to explore this issue as it may reveal that all people are not created equal after all. Or is it just environmental cultural differences??????

I get you have a concern about the issue but that is not even what the point of this article is about. If you have an issue please take this to the site we have and only post your opinion about the actual topic

This is not at all what the article is talking about.

This literally has nothing to do with the article brought up. You should really take your opinions somewhere else before you speak about something that doesn’t make sense.

we have the same name

so they have the same name what of it?

lol you tell her

totally agree

What does that have to do with homework, that is not what the article talks about AT ALL.

Yes, I think homework plays an important role in the development of student life. Through homework, students have to face challenges on a daily basis and they try to solve them quickly.I am an intense online tutor at 24x7homeworkhelp and I give homework to my students at that level in which they handle it easily.

More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.

You know what’s funny? I got this assignment to write an argument for homework about homework and this article was really helpful and understandable, and I also agree with this article’s point of view.

I also got the same task as you! I was looking for some good resources and I found this! I really found this article useful and easy to understand, just like you! ^^

i think that homework is the best thing that a child can have on the school because it help them with their thinking and memory.

I am a child myself and i think homework is a terrific pass time because i can’t play video games during the week. It also helps me set goals.

Homework is not harmful ,but it will if there is too much

I feel like, from a minors point of view that we shouldn’t get homework. Not only is the homework stressful, but it takes us away from relaxing and being social. For example, me and my friends was supposed to hang at the mall last week but we had to postpone it since we all had some sort of work to do. Our minds shouldn’t be focused on finishing an assignment that in realty, doesn’t matter. I completely understand that we should have homework. I have to write a paper on the unimportance of homework so thanks.

homework isn’t that bad

Are you a student? if not then i don’t really think you know how much and how severe todays homework really is

i am a student and i do not enjoy homework because i practice my sport 4 out of the five days we have school for 4 hours and that’s not even counting the commute time or the fact i still have to shower and eat dinner when i get home. its draining!

i totally agree with you. these people are such boomers

why just why

they do make a really good point, i think that there should be a limit though. hours and hours of homework can be really stressful, and the extra work isn’t making a difference to our learning, but i do believe homework should be optional and extra credit. that would make it for students to not have the leaning stress of a assignment and if you have a low grade you you can catch up.

Studies show that homework improves student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicates that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” On both standardized tests and grades, students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school.

So how are your measuring student achievement? That’s the real question. The argument that doing homework is simply a tool for teaching responsibility isn’t enough for me. We can teach responsibility in a number of ways. Also the poor argument that parents don’t need to help with homework, and that students can do it on their own, is wishful thinking at best. It completely ignores neurodiverse students. Students in poverty aren’t magically going to find a space to do homework, a friend’s or siblings to help them do it, and snacks to eat. I feel like the author of this piece has never set foot in a classroom of students.

THIS. This article is pathetic coming from a university. So intellectually dishonest, refusing to address the havoc of capitalism and poverty plays on academic success in life. How can they in one sentence use poor kids in an argument and never once address that poor children have access to damn near 0 of the resources affluent kids have? Draw me a picture and let’s talk about feelings lmao what a joke is that gonna put food in their belly so they can have the calories to burn in order to use their brain to study? What about quiet their 7 other siblings that they share a single bedroom with for hours? Is it gonna force the single mom to magically be at home and at work at the same time to cook food while you study and be there to throw an encouraging word?

Also the “parents don’t need to be a parent and be able to guide their kid at all academically they just need to exist in the next room” is wild. Its one thing if a parent straight up is not equipped but to say kids can just figured it out is…. wow coming from an educator What’s next the teacher doesn’t need to teach cause the kid can just follow the packet and figure it out?

Well then get a tutor right? Oh wait you are poor only affluent kids can afford a tutor for their hours of homework a day were they on average have none of the worries a poor child does. Does this address that poor children are more likely to also suffer abuse and mental illness? Like mentioned what about kids that can’t learn or comprehend the forced standardized way? Just let em fail? These children regularly are not in “special education”(some of those are a joke in their own and full of neglect and abuse) programs cause most aren’t even acknowledged as having disabilities or disorders.

But yes all and all those pesky poor kids just aren’t being worked hard enough lol pretty sure poor children’s existence just in childhood is more work, stress, and responsibility alone than an affluent child’s entire life cycle. Love they never once talked about the quality of education in the classroom being so bad between the poor and affluent it can qualify as segregation, just basically blamed poor people for being lazy, good job capitalism for failing us once again!

why the hell?

you should feel bad for saying this, this article can be helpful for people who has to write a essay about it

This is more of a political rant than it is about homework

I know a teacher who has told his students their homework is to find something they are interested in, pursue it and then come share what they learn. The student responses are quite compelling. One girl taught herself German so she could talk to her grandfather. One boy did a research project on Nelson Mandela because the teacher had mentioned him in class. Another boy, a both on the autism spectrum, fixed his family’s computer. The list goes on. This is fourth grade. I think students are highly motivated to learn, when we step aside and encourage them.

The whole point of homework is to give the students a chance to use the material that they have been presented with in class. If they never have the opportunity to use that information, and discover that it is actually useful, it will be in one ear and out the other. As a science teacher, it is critical that the students are challenged to use the material they have been presented with, which gives them the opportunity to actually think about it rather than regurgitate “facts”. Well designed homework forces the student to think conceptually, as opposed to regurgitation, which is never a pretty sight

Wonderful discussion. and yes, homework helps in learning and building skills in students.

not true it just causes kids to stress

Homework can be both beneficial and unuseful, if you will. There are students who are gifted in all subjects in school and ones with disabilities. Why should the students who are gifted get the lucky break, whereas the people who have disabilities suffer? The people who were born with this “gift” go through school with ease whereas people with disabilities struggle with the work given to them. I speak from experience because I am one of those students: the ones with disabilities. Homework doesn’t benefit “us”, it only tears us down and put us in an abyss of confusion and stress and hopelessness because we can’t learn as fast as others. Or we can’t handle the amount of work given whereas the gifted students go through it with ease. It just brings us down and makes us feel lost; because no mater what, it feels like we are destined to fail. It feels like we weren’t “cut out” for success.

homework does help

here is the thing though, if a child is shoved in the face with a whole ton of homework that isn’t really even considered homework it is assignments, it’s not helpful. the teacher should make homework more of a fun learning experience rather than something that is dreaded

This article was wonderful, I am going to ask my teachers about extra, or at all giving homework.

I agree. Especially when you have homework before an exam. Which is distasteful as you’ll need that time to study. It doesn’t make any sense, nor does us doing homework really matters as It’s just facts thrown at us.

Homework is too severe and is just too much for students, schools need to decrease the amount of homework. When teachers assign homework they forget that the students have other classes that give them the same amount of homework each day. Students need to work on social skills and life skills.

I disagree.

Beyond achievement, proponents of homework argue that it can have many other beneficial effects. They claim it can help students develop good study habits so they are ready to grow as their cognitive capacities mature. It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework can foster independent learning and responsible character traits. And it can give parents an opportunity to see what’s going on at school and let them express positive attitudes toward achievement.

Homework is helpful because homework helps us by teaching us how to learn a specific topic.

As a student myself, I can say that I have almost never gotten the full 9 hours of recommended sleep time, because of homework. (Now I’m writing an essay on it in the middle of the night D=)

I am a 10 year old kid doing a report about “Is homework good or bad” for homework before i was going to do homework is bad but the sources from this site changed my mind!

Homeowkr is god for stusenrs

I agree with hunter because homework can be so stressful especially with this whole covid thing no one has time for homework and every one just wants to get back to there normal lives it is especially stressful when you go on a 2 week vaca 3 weeks into the new school year and and then less then a week after you come back from the vaca you are out for over a month because of covid and you have no way to get the assignment done and turned in

As great as homework is said to be in the is article, I feel like the viewpoint of the students was left out. Every where I go on the internet researching about this topic it almost always has interviews from teachers, professors, and the like. However isn’t that a little biased? Of course teachers are going to be for homework, they’re not the ones that have to stay up past midnight completing the homework from not just one class, but all of them. I just feel like this site is one-sided and you should include what the students of today think of spending four hours every night completing 6-8 classes worth of work.

Are we talking about homework or practice? Those are two very different things and can result in different outcomes.

Homework is a graded assignment. I do not know of research showing the benefits of graded assignments going home.

Practice; however, can be extremely beneficial, especially if there is some sort of feedback (not a grade but feedback). That feedback can come from the teacher, another student or even an automated grading program.

As a former band director, I assigned daily practice. I never once thought it would be appropriate for me to require the students to turn in a recording of their practice for me to grade. Instead, I had in-class assignments/assessments that were graded and directly related to the practice assigned.

I would really like to read articles on “homework” that truly distinguish between the two.

oof i feel bad good luck!

thank you guys for the artical because I have to finish an assingment. yes i did cite it but just thanks

thx for the article guys.

Homework is good

I think homework is helpful AND harmful. Sometimes u can’t get sleep bc of homework but it helps u practice for school too so idk.

I agree with this Article. And does anyone know when this was published. I would like to know.

It was published FEb 19, 2019.

Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college.

i think homework can help kids but at the same time not help kids

This article is so out of touch with majority of homes it would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly sad.

There is no value to homework all it does is add stress to already stressed homes. Parents or adults magically having the time or energy to shepherd kids through homework is dome sort of 1950’s fantasy.

What lala land do these teachers live in?

Homework gives noting to the kid

Homework is Bad

homework is bad.

why do kids even have homework?

Comments are closed.

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Higher Education

The mystifying costs of college in California, explained

University tuition is free! No, wait, the full cost of college is tens of thousands of dollars annually. Hold up. There’s enough financial aid to bring down the price tag to just a few thousand dollars a year — tuition, food and housing included. All of those statements are true, depending on where you attend and how much you or the parents who claim you on their taxes earn. For something as consequential — and at times more costly than a small condo — as affording a degree, understanding how much a family must shell out for a better shot at higher wages can be complicated. 

This guide is meant to explain the basic truth about affording college: For almost everyone who attends, they don’t pay the published price.

Most Californians attending public universities — and the vast majority of students in the state attend public, not private, schools   — don’t pay tuition because of state and university grants for lower-income students.

And so the story of affordability in California isn’t immediately intuitive: After recession-era cuts, the state has recently started to spend big on higher education. Tuition at the University of California and California State University used to be non-existent; now it’s a major source of university revenue. Housing is often a larger expense than tuition. But financial aid can turn a sticker price of $30,000 into $5,000 , depending on the school and a student’s family income.

Here’s a primer on how costs have changed — and how and where higher education can be affordable.

Public tuition climbs — but many attend free

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In its 1960 higher education “master plan,” California promised students that tuition at its public universities would be free. Like a city filled with flying cars, that promise never came to be.

Ten years later, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan prompted the University of California to introduce tuition-like charges — he and his allies had scaled back state support to punish the UC for tolerating student activism, and also to save taxpayer dollars. In Reagan’s view, college students shouldn’t rely on the state alone for an education that most Californians didn’t pursue.

This view of higher education as a consumer good rather than public right spread nationally —  fueled by a public tax revolt. Tuition rose rapidly. The California State University system began collecting fees in 1981, labeling them “tuition” in 2011.

Over the past half-century, student fees and tuition at UC have nearly quadrupled, adjusted for inflation, and continue to rise. At Cal State, they’ve jumped six-fold, with plans to raise tuition 6% annually for the next five years.

Yet almost 60% of California resident undergrads at UC and Cal State actually pay no tuition or systemwide fees. That’s due to an annual state financial aid program exceeding $3 billion, plus another $1.6 billion in university-run grants. A third to nearly half of the money from students who do pay flows back to fund financial aid.

Cal State is a bargain for low-income Californians

Tuition, however, is a small portion of the total cost of college. The big toll is housing — the wrecking ball often obliterating families’ affordability plans. Food, textbooks and transportation add up as well. But California’s robust financial aid system, including the growing power of the federal Pell Grant for low-income students, helps keep college affordable for low- and middle-class students — a concept known as “net price.”

Families making more than $110,000 have historically paid much higher college costs, chiefly because they receive less state and federal aid. California ranks among the most affordable states for low- and middle-income students at public universities. Cal State is the bigger bargain: Students from families with incomes below $30,000 typically pay less than $5,000 to attend. Why is it cheaper than a UC? Lower in-state tuition and more students living at home.

Still, although low-income families qualify for more financial aid, the share of family income they pay remains high .  

The story is the same for UC: Students from families with incomes below $60,000 have a net price of about $11,000 a year —  a level that barely budged in two decades. Through loans and part-time work, those costs can be manageable, but they still eat up nearly a fifth of that family’s income.

Public colleges are more affordable than California’s private schools

Generally, public schools are cheaper than private colleges after all financial aid is considered. But some private colleges have really generous financial aid.

At Stanford, for example, the net price for low-income families is nothing . At the University of Southern California, low-income students end up paying slightly more than what a typical UC costs, according to federal net-price data .

The state’s contribution to colleges has bounced back

California, like other states, used to spend more on higher education per student before  recession hammered the economy in the early 2000s. Campuses absorbed big cuts. But in recent years, the state’s per-student spending has shot far above the national average . Still, while UC and the Cal States have been getting more money from the state, the systems have had to rely increasingly on tuition revenue to afford their education missions, reflecting a national trend . Four decades ago, California funded 80% of UC’s education mission. Last year, it was less than half — and that’s a partial rebound from what it was during the tough recession years of the early 2000s. State support also collapsed mightily for Cal State, but has partially rebounded in recent years.

Financial aid options keep California college costs down

California spends in excess of $3 billion on grant aid to students — tops among all states . Students can apply for numerous state, federal and campus-specific grants and scholarships. Here are the major ones:

• Cal Grant: Around 400,000 students receive this, which waives some tuition for private colleges and all tuition at the UC and CSU. Lawmakers and the governor are due to decide whether they can expand the Cal Grant , including to more than 100,000 community college students. The state’s deficit bodes poorly for that proposal. A majority of recipients also get some kind of cash award of up to $6,000.
• Middle Class Scholarship: About 300,000 get this, a relatively new award that provides  an average of about $2,000 to UC and CSU students . Nearly 160,000 students receive both this and the Cal Grant.
• Pell Grant: This is a federal grant for low- and middle-income families worth as much as $7,400 annually.
• Promise Grant: Nearly half of community college students who’d have to pay tuition don’t through this grant, a benefit for those with low incomes. It can save full-time students at least $1,100 annually.
• UC grants: The university has its own internal pot of money worth nearly $900 million that it awards students. Students get this by first applying for financial aid through the state or federal government. 
• Cal State’s university grant: Students with low incomes who don’t get a Cal Grant to cover tuition may get this. Cal State spends $700 million to run this grant . Students get it by first applying for financial aid through the state or federal government. 

Many students who are likely eligible for these awards don’t apply , leaving free money on the table .

Apply for state and federal financial aid here . 

The rent-and-ramen struggle is real

If you’re an undergrad living off-campus and not with your parents, you can only wish housing was as affordable as tuition. For Cal State students, housing tends to cost two to three times the price of tuition and fees. Food and housing for Cal State students living off-campus accounted for more than half of the total cost of attendance — before financial aid kicked in. Meanwhile, most UC campuses are in expensive rental markets where a one-bedroom apartment rents for more than $2,000 monthly.If students worry about losing stable housing or reliable access to food, their grades and prospects for graduating suffer.

A majority of California college and university students say they have experienced housing and food insecurity in the past 12 months, according to a November 2023 survey by the California Student Aid Commission . That’s way up from just a few years ago, when it was a third of students. The commission blames the uptick on inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the rising need, California’s government has ramped up funding to help campuses provide students emergency housing and food .

How the state is pitching in to create more affordable housing

Because most UC and Cal State students live off campus, housing can likely only be solved by local, state and federal governments, as well as private developers, who all have a role to play in combating the housing shortage statewide.

Still, legislators in 2021 established a $2.2 billion plan to construct affordable campus housing at the UC, Cal State and community colleges — space for an estimated 12,000 students. After the state’s budget forecast worsened, that money instead turned into bonds the campuses had to borrow, with the state vowing to cover annual payments on those debts.

That money will help the UC, the state university system with the highest share of students living on campus. It’s planning or building space for 13,700 beds by fall 2028 and has added about 35,000 beds for students in the past decade.

More money to fund no-interest loans for subsidized student housing may not survive 2024’s budget tightening.

Today’s students have more financial need and are more racially diverse

As the demographics of California have changed, so too has the racial and ethnic makeup of the state’s college and university undergraduates.

In 2010 white students were the largest demographic group in California. Now, Latino students make up the plurality of all undergraduates .

There’s also variation in who goes where. At the UC, more than 30% of undergraduate students were Asian, according to 2022 federal data, even though statewide, Asian students made up 15% of undergraduate enrollment. Latino students make up 27% of all UC undergrads — and 50% of community college students.  

California also continues to attract more low-income students to its public colleges and universities than the rest of the country. New California students are much more likely to receive state and local grants, which typically go to students from low and middle class families. In 2021-22, about 60% of the state’s public college and university students received state aid, much higher than the national average of 39%. Compared to other states, a greater share of California students get the federal Pell grant, which is reserved for low-income students.

Special burdens for undocumented students

The roughly 60,000 undocumented college students at California’s public campuses are eligible for state financial aid, but not federal grants and loans. They cannot legally work, and they struggle to find the money to afford rent, food and other college expenses beyond tuition.

These students often can have their tuition waived, though until recently excessive paperwork likely prevented some students from receiving all the state aid for which they were eligible.

Some lawmakers are pushing for legislation that would permit undocumented students to work at public colleges and universities. The effort follows a failed attempt by students at the UC to persuade the system’s leadership to adopt a novel, but untested, legal theory that says state agencies are exempt from federal rules blocking undocumented residents from working in the U.S. The ability to work on campus would likely help many undocumented students afford their education.

Californians are less likely to borrow than other U.S. students

California undergraduates are much less likely to use federal loans — just 15% of students in the state did in 2021-22, compared to 29% nationally. In both cases, that’s a significant drop from the time of the Great Recession, when family incomes collapsed, tuition doubled as state coffers disintegrated, and debt was the only way to pay for a degree.

One major reason California has a lower borrowing rate is because community college students, who make up most of the state’s undergraduates, almost never borrow — just 1% do.

The federal government limits how much undergraduates can borrow annually in federal loans. The latest numbers put the national average for federal borrowing at about $6,600 . In California, the average amount borrowed was nearly $6,900 .

But millions of Californians are still paying off student loans

Years of debt accumulation has meant that almost 4 million Californians owe about $146 billion in federal student loans. Just a small share of student loan debt is private .

Paradoxically, borrowers with the least federal student debt are historically more likely to default at higher rates , typically because those with smaller balances are less likely to have graduated.

In California, relatively few borrowers accumulated more than $100,000 in federal debt. But, because they borrowed so much, their large loan balances represent nearly half of California’s debt total.

President Joe Biden’s debt-forgiveness plan in February cleared $1.2 billion in federal debt for borrowers who’ve been repaying for a decade and borrowed $12,000 or less . Students with higher balances could see their debt cleared in as little as 10 years under the Biden program, which offers more generous provisions than existing debt forgiveness plans. But a lawsuit brought by Republican-led states is challenging that program, calling it a “bailout for the wealthy.” For some who work in government or non-profit jobs, federal repayment plans can forgive debt after a decade. And borrowers in default on federal student loans have until September to opt into a program to gain more debt relief . 

College is usually worth it. How California helps.

Large debts and not-great pay  can make some question if pursuing that degree was worth it. But overall, a college degree usually pays off — for some, it may even mean one day affording that flying car we were all promised.

Working Americans are much more likely to earn less than $50,000 if they don’t have a bachelor’s degree . And those with at least a bachelor’s are far more likely to earn above $100,000.

Younger working Americans ages 25 to 34 gain big from earning a bachelor’s — their incomes are typically around $60,000 — about $22,000 more than those who just completed high school, according to federal data. 

Research and production by CalMatters data reporter Erica Yee and producer Liliana Michelena.

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Mikhail Zinshteyn Higher Education Reporter

Mikhail Zinshteyn has been a higher education reporter since 2015. As a freelancer, he contributed to The Atlantic, The Hechinger Report, Inside Higher Ed and The 74. Previously, he was a reporter at EdSource... More by Mikhail Zinshteyn

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Is it illegal to have homework in California?

In 1901, the state of California voted to abolish homework for children under the age of 15 . The ban wasn't repealed until 1929. In 1994—nearly a century later—a district just north of San Francisco entertained the same notion when a member of the school board proposed banning homework from the school curriculum.

Do schools in California have homework?

For children in grades K-2, homework is more effective when it does not exceed 20 minutes each school day . Older children, in grades 3-6, can handle 30-60 minutes a day. For kids in middle and high school, 2 hours of homework may be assigned.

Is homework illegal in us?

In all US states, homework is legal because there are no state laws prohibiting it . However, schools in different states are allowed to set their own rules about homework. Some states ban or limit homework in some schools (or districts) including: Utah.

Do they have homework in Canada?

Given the trend toward so-called “intensive parenting” (21) and recent data indicating that, at an average of 9.2 hours per week, homework is the second-most time-consuming activity of adolescent students in Canada , (22) it is not surprising that most Canadian parents feel that homework contributes to household stress.

When did homework start in America?

Horace Mann spearheaded the development of government-regulated, tax-funded public education in the United States. He saw the Volkschule system in action during a trip to Germany in 1843 and brought some of its concepts—including homework—back to America.

Why did California ban homework?

In the early 1900s, Ladies' Home Journal took up a crusade against homework, enlisting doctors and parents who say it damages children's health . In 1901 California passed a law abolishing homework!

Is it illegal to not go to school in California?

California compulsory education law requires everyone between the ages of six and eighteen years of age to attend school, except students who have graduated from high school or passed the California High School Proficiency Exam and obtained parental permission.

What state has the most homework?

• California: 56 minutes.
• Maine: 55.7 minutes.
• Louisiana: 54 minutes.
• New Mexico: 54 minutes.
• Washington: 53.1 minutes.
• Indiana: 51.8 minutes.
• Utah: 51.4 minutes.
• Nebraska: 50 minutes.

What countries don't give homework?

The uniqueness of the Finnish education model is encapsulated in its values of neither giving homework to students every day nor conducting regular tests and exams. Instead, it is listening to what the kids want and treating them as independent thinkers of society.

Is giving homework illegal in India?

The government in the National Education Policy said that children in classes 3, 4 and 5 should be given a maximum of two hours of homework per week . For Classes 6 to 8, the homework should be maximum of one hour a day.

Why is homework banned in California?

Is there homework in germany.

Even in primary school, students spend at least half an hour on homework every day (known as Hausaufgaben). Education in Germany is designed to provide students with 20 to 30 hours of lessons per week.

Is there homework in China?

China has passed an education law aimed at reducing the pressures of excessive homework and intensive after-school tutoring , state media say. Parents are being asked to ensure their children have reasonable time for rest and exercise, and do not spend too much time online.

Which country has the most homework?

The results showed that in Shanghai, China the students had the highest number of hours of homework with 13.8 hours per week. Russia followed, where students had an average of 9.7 hours of homework per week.

How many people don t like homework?

Stop The Presses : Over 70% of students don't like homework, survey says.

Who made I Ready Math?

Who invented i-Ready? i-Ready was invented in 2011 by Curriculum Associates to make equitable learning a reality for all students.

Is homework illegal in CA?

Is it illegal to give homework in california, can you go to school in the us if you are illegal.

Doe (457 U.S. 202 (1982)) that undocumented children and young adults have the same right to attend public primary and secondary schools as do U.S. citizens and permanent residents . Like other children, undocumented students are obliged under state law to attend school until they reach a mandated age.

Is it illegal to not send your child to school in America?

According to the law, it is illegal to not send a child to school . Again, while these requirements may differ based on the state, every state has a law that requires children to attend school. The original reason that such laws arose was to protect children from having to go to work at a young age.

Which countries don t give homework?

• Finland - Nordic education is often held up as a shining example of best practices. ...
• Chinese - The Chinese education system tends to take a lot of heat in the Western world, but much of it is undeserved. ...
• United States.

Which country gives the fewest homework?

Which countries have the most homework in europe.

If you live in Italy , those complaints could reach fever-pitch! According to research conducted by the OECD, 15-year old children in Italy have to contend with nearly 9 hours of homework per week - more than anywhere else in the world.

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Working from home laws in california in 2024.

The ongoing public health crisis has reshaped the economy of the United States in many ways, especially when it comes to how Americans perform their job duties. Many people have been working from home over the past two years, and the number of people working from home has increased dramatically due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Every state has implemented new laws recently that reflect this new reality, and California is no exception. If you work in California, it’s essential to know the new labor laws that went into effect on January 1, 2022, especially those that pertain to working from home.

If you believe that your employer has violated applicable employment laws at the federal or state level, it’s vital to consult an experienced attorney as soon as possible. Many employers in every industry have been compelled to implement sweeping changes to their workplace policies, and this has unfortunately caused many employees to experience a wide range of challenges for the past two years. As 2022 begins, all employees must understand their rights and how the most recent employment laws affect their employment.

New Paid Sick Leave Law

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently approved SB 114, which takes effect on February 19, 2022, and applies retroactively through January 1, 2022. This new measure expands access to California paid sick leave for those affected by COVID-19:

• – Any employee who is subject to isolation or quarantine related to COVID-19 or advised by a health professional to self-isolate or quarantine is eligible for paid sick leave during this period.
• – Employees and family members attending vaccination or booster shot appointments qualify for paid sick leave for time spent attending these sessions and recovering from initial side effects.
• – Employees who experience adverse side effects to injections that prevent the employee from working can claim paid sick leave.
• – Employees who must care for family members subject to isolation or quarantine orders related to COVID-19 may claim paid sick leave.
• – If an employee’s child cannot attend a school or a childcare center due to closure for reasons related to COVID-19 can also claim paid sick leave.

It is important to note that many remote workers can typically manage self-isolation and quarantine while working remotely and continuing their job duties. However, if symptoms prevent them from performing job duties or a family member is ill, they can still qualify for paid sick leave under this new law. The new law does impose limits, specifically a 40-hour limit when an employee tests positive for COVID-19 and an additional 40-hour limit that pertains to compliance with isolation or quarantine orders or caring for family members.

The new law also includes different provisions for several types of employees. For example, full-time employees can generally qualify for more paid sick leave than part-time employees. It is crucial for employees to fully understand how their employment arrangement qualifies for paid sick leave under this new law. Unfortunately, some employers mischaracterize employees to avoid the need to provide paid sick leave, avoid having to pay them appropriately, and withhold other benefits reserved for full-time employees.

While paid sick leave can be beneficial to employees who only need a few days off for covered reasons, all employees in California have the right to take unpaid leave when medical emergencies arise. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows employees (who work for employers who have 50 or more employees) to take unpaid leave to address their own medical conditions or care for family members diagnosed with severe health conditions, and their employers must keep their positions open for when they return to work.

Other New Laws for Work-From-Home Employees in California

In addition to expanded access to paid sick leave in California, new laws for 2022 also pertain to state minimum wage and access to required notices from employers. As of January 1, 2022, the state minimum wage in California is $15 per hour and $14 per hour for employers with fewer than 25 employees. Employers must comply with the new minimum wage increase for employees who work from home as well as those who work on site. If you believe your employer has failed to pay you your legally required state minimum wage, it is vital to consult an attorney to discuss your wage and hour dispute .

SB 657 now allows employers to send required postings to employees via email. Many employers must have specific postings clearly displayed in their workplaces, and this new law allows employers to email these postings to employees who work remotely. This new law ensures that all employees, including those who work from home, will have easy access to the information included in all required notices.

Q: How Do the New Laws Affect Those Who Work From Home?

A: In most cases, employers have the same legal obligations to employees who work from home as they do to employees who work on site. If you believe that your employer has violated any applicable law related to your employment and used your work-from-home status as justification, it is vital to consult an attorney to determine the best way to address the issue.

Q: Can My Employer Force Me to Return to the Office?

A: Employers allowed work-from-home in response to the public health crisis, and many employers have started reverting to on-site work expectations. If your employer requires you to return to the office, you will likely need to comply with this. However, if you believe that working from home would be a reasonable accommodation for a medical condition or disability, your employer should be willing to negotiate a solution with you.

Q: Can Non-exempt Employees Work From Home in California?

A: “Exempt” and “non-exempt” are designations that apply to full-time employee rights and benefits in California, specifically when it comes to the right to receive overtime pay. It is legal for employees to work from home in California, and the terms of their employment may indicate exempt or non-exempt status. If an employee works from home and qualifies as non-exempt, they must be paid overtime rates when the time they spend working constitutes overtime.

Q: What Should I Do If My Employer Violates New Labor Laws?

A: Navigating the labor laws of California can be confusing. If you believe your employer has mischaracterized your exemption status, failed to pay you appropriately under the new minimum wage law, or has illegally interfered with your ability to claim paid sick leave under the new SB 114 provisions, it’s vital to consult an employment law attorney as soon as possible.

Clark Employment Law, APC, has years of experience representing clients in a wide range of employment law cases in California. If you believe your employer has violated your rights, discriminated against you, or illegally taken advantage of your work-from-home status, we can help. Contact us today to schedule a consultation with our team.

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School Choice

Public school choice exists in California, but few districts offer it

Fewer than 10,000 students transfer through district of choice; 30% attend a san gabriel valley district.

John Fensterwald

April 11, 2024.

An underused, little-known public school choice program allowing students to enroll in other districts that open their borders has been reauthorized six times in the past 30 years. Under a bill winding its way through the Legislature, it would become permanent, with revised rules.

Under the District of Choice program, districts announce how many seats they make available to nonresident students by the fall of the preceding year, and parents must apply by Jan. 1. By statute, enrollment is open to any family that applies, without restrictions — and with a lottery if applications are oversubscribed. The program bans considering academic or athletic ability or, if an applicant is a student with special needs, the cost of educating a student. 

“This bill is a crucial step towards creating a more inclusive and equitable public education system — one where all students have the opportunity to grow and thrive,” said Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, the author of Senate Bill 897 .

With enrollments dropping statewide — and projected to continue — districts could view District of Choice as a strategy to stem the decline and bolster revenue that new students would bring. But few districts have seized the option. At most, 50 districts out of nearly 1,000, mostly rural or suburban and small, have signed on.

That number, in turn, has restricted the openings for families; fewer than 10,000 students annually have transferred through the program — about 0.2% of California’s students, according to an evaluation of the program by the Legislative Analyst’s Office in 2021.

The list of districts for 2024-25 will be 44, the same as this year. That is down from 47 districts in 2021-22, when a total of 8,398 students transferred, according to the latest data available from the California Department of Education.

Of those, 2,574 students — 31% of the total — transferred to a single district , Walnut Valley Unified , a 14,000-student district in the San Gabriel Valley. The district includes the cities of Walnut and Diamond Bar and abuts Pomona Unified. Newman, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, represents Walnut Valley; his predecessor, Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, also championed District of Choice and shepherded a previous five-year reauthorization.

Together with five other districts receiving the most students — Oak Park Unified, Glendora Unified, West Covina Unified, Valley Lindo Elementary School District and Riverside Unified — the five received 82% of the students in the program statewide. Riverside, with 1,100 of its 42,000 students enrolled through District of Choice, is the only large district using the program.  

Robert Taylor, Walnut Valley Unified’s superintendent, said the district had participated in the program for decades, in the belief that the district “should provide any child an opportunity regardless of special needs, socioeconomic status or street address. And that’s still today. We take every kid who wants to come.”

Taylor cited the “diversity of well-rounded opportunities” that draw outsiders: Arts offerings in elementary schools, starting in kindergarten, include dance, theater and music and are taught by professionals in the arts, he said. There is a counselor in every elementary school, and counselors stay with the same students throughout high school and meet one-on-one with them during the summer. The graduation rate is 100%, he said.

Responding to an allegation he hears, Taylor said, “No, we don’t cherry-pick students. We don’t want to, and it’s been against the law to.”  The 2017 reauthorization of the law requires that districts give low-income students priority for transfers, and SB 897 would add homeless and foster children as well. The 23% of low-income students from other districts enrolled at Walnut Unified are slightly less than the 25% overall in the district.

Students from 30 districts have enrolled through District of Choice, Taylor said, and some parents drive from more than an hour away. One district that has not been sending additional students is its larger, less affluent neighbor, Pomona Unified, where 85% of its 22,000 students are from low-income families.

Under an arcane rule, a district can cap the number of students it permits to leave for districts of choice at a cumulative 10% of its average daily attendance since it first joined the program — even if many students have long since graduated from high school. Pomona reached that limit a half-dozen years ago, after going to court to prove that Walnut Valley had already exceeded the target, said Superintendent Darren Knowles.  

SB 897 would delete that clause and replace it with a new annual cap: 10% of a district’s current average daily attendance for districts with fewer than 50,000 students and 1% for districts with more than 50,000 students. Sending districts would also be exempt if county offices of education verified that a loss of students to the program would jeopardize their financial stability.

Pomona Unified was the only opponent listed at a hearing last month in the Senate Education Committee, where the bill passed unanimously. Rowland Unified, a 13,000-student district to the west of Walnut Valley, has also complained about the financial impact of the transfer program. 

Knowles said he doesn’t oppose the concept of school choice, if the distribution is equitable. But before reaching the cap, Walnut Valley drew disproportionately high numbers of white and Asian families from the wealthier neighborhoods in Diamond Bar that lie within Pomona Unified. The latter may be attracted to the two dual Chinese language immersion programs in Walnut Valley.

Wealthier families are able to drive their kids to Walnut Valley; low-income Latino families with both parents working more than likely can’t, said Knowles.

“The District of Choice does not create a good distribution for Pomona Unified,” Knowles said. “We need kids excelling as well as those struggling. Taking out the smartest kids in any district is not a good situation.”

Pomona Unified already has closed six elementary schools due to declining enrollment, Knowles said. The new cap could “decimate us within five years,” Knowles said. “Give us time to recover, a reprieve.”

Newman said that he is open to further accommodations for an adverse financial impact. “We don’t want well-intended legislation to have unintended consequences,” he told EdSource. 

Who chooses?

In its 2021 evaluation, the Legislative Analyst’s Office found that District of Choice “allows students to access educational options that are not offered in their home districts,” including college prep courses, arts and music and foreign languages. Nearly all the students transferred to districts with higher test scores.

Newly required oversight measures found no districts discriminating against interested students, and that the program appeared to increase racial balance for some districts and reduce it for others, the LAO said, “although the changes for most districts are small.” It found that statewide, fewer low-income students used the program, compared with other students in their home districts; however, the proportion of those students had risen over four years from 27% to 32%. Participation of Latino students, though also on the rise, was smaller than the Latino enrollment in their home districts — similar to Pomona and Walnut Valley.

Among the last children to transfer from Pomona to Walnut Valley six years ago, right before the limit was reached, is Ethan Fermin. Then entering kindergarten, he is now in sixth grade at Suzanne Middle School. His sister, now in second grade, was admitted through an interdistrict transfer, a more restrictive permit process that requires both districts to approve the move. A family must make the case for the transfer or cite a hardship — in this case, the transportation challenges of having kids in two different districts.  Parents whose children are denied a transfer can appeal to the county board of education, which often reverses a decision.

Ethan’s father, Billy, graduated from Pomona Unified schools; he was high school class president and active in many school activities, Fermin said. From his home, he can see the elementary school his kids would have attended — a two-minute walk from their house. Friends from high school are Pomona teachers. His kids would have attended his high school, Diamond Ranch High.

Leaving the district wasn’t easy, he said, adding, “But it’s a different world from when I went to school.”  What caught his eye in Walnut Valley, he said, was a program in two elementary schools that leads to the International Baccalaureate, a rigorous high school program that stresses inquiry-based learning. He liked the early years’ focus on developing well-rounded, creative and open-minded learners and risk-takers. “Given the choice, it was night and day,” he said.

Taylor said Walnut Valley doesn’t market its programs as District of Choice, and he doesn’t speak negatively about other districts. Fermin said the district is smart to use social media heavily to show off what’s happening in its schools, and banners go up at the start of the sign-up period.

Possible reasons for so little participation

Charter schools are by far the largest public school choice program in California. The more than 1,200 charter schools served 685,553 students in 2022-23 — 11.7% of statewide enrollment, compared with about 2% through interdistrict transfers and 0.02% through District of Choice.  

The Legislature passed laws permitting charter schools in 1992 and the District of Choice a year later. Both were viewed as strategies to counter a school voucher initiative that would have provided public funding for private school tuition, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office’s analysis. Voters trounced the voucher initiative, which drew only 30% support in the 1993 vote.

Why so few districts have participated in the program is a matter of conjecture. The five-year reauthorization periods raised the risk for districts and parents that their participation might be cut short. Ken Kapphahn, principal fiscal and policy analyst for the Legislative Analyst’s Office who did the evaluation, said some districts are able to receive as many interested transfer students as they want through the interdistrict permit process, under which they can set academic and behavior conditions.  

Some districts would involve long drives to get to, while others assume they don’t have special offerings to lure lots of students, he said. And it’s his impression, he said, that many districts still don’t know the program exists; the California Department of Education does not promote it.  

Newman said there is an entrepreneurial potential of the program that many superintendents haven’t recognized. The ability to draw students from nearby districts could inspire “a high level of innovation” that best serves students’ interests, he said. 

Former President of the State Board of Education Mike Kirst, who said he supports making the program permanent, suggested another reason: It could be that district superintendents consider District of Choice a violation of an unwritten education commandment, Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s enrollment.

“It’s a professional norm that you don’t try to ‘poach’ students from other districts,” he said.

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Grant 4 days ago 4 days ago

The reason why Riverside Unified needs to poach students from other districts is because of all the families in the district who won't send their children to public school. I imagine most of the transferees are from neighboring Moreno Valley Unified, which is somehow even worse than Riverside. If Riverside bordered Walnut Valley, the situation would be reversed. I don't have a lot of sympathy for districts like Pomona that lose students to better neighboring … Read More

The reason why Riverside Unified needs to poach students from other districts is because of all the families in the district who won’t send their children to public school. I imagine most of the transferees are from neighboring Moreno Valley Unified, which is somehow even worse than Riverside. If Riverside bordered Walnut Valley, the situation would be reversed.

I don’t have a lot of sympathy for districts like Pomona that lose students to better neighboring districts. It’s not just about the money but also about how you use it. Parents want strong academics, not this race to the bottom teaching to the level of the lowest achievers. Parents want ability level grouping and tracking, not purposely populating classrooms with the widest possible range of abilities to make the teacher’s job as hard as possible. Clustering students by ability costs nothing makes everyone happy because students get instructed at the pace and level they need. Did Pomona’s administrators ever poll the parents of high ability students who bailed for better schools?

Brenda Lebsack - Teacher 4 days ago 4 days ago

Great information. Thank you. Also many parents who have long commutes to work want their children to attend a school close to their jobs rather than close to their homes. This makes sense, so they can be more easily accessible in case of an emergency. It also gives commuting parents more time to be with their children (to talk and connect during the commute) rather than for the child to be in … Read More

Great information. Thank you. Also many parents who have long commutes to work want their children to attend a school close to their jobs rather than close to their homes. This makes sense, so they can be more easily accessible in case of an emergency. It also gives commuting parents more time to be with their children (to talk and connect during the commute) rather than for the child to be in expensive after school child care.

Although there are plenty of issues I do not agree with Senator Newman, I do agree with him on this one… that this program has entrepreneurial potential to inspire a high level of innovation that best serves students interests. Well said Senator Newman.

School Choice automatically increases parent engagement because they are included in the process, thus invested in the outcome.

Eric Premack 4 days ago 4 days ago

Thanks John for another well-researched and written piece. California could learn a lot about how these issues might fit into a larger system reform strategy. Minnesota, for example, has a system that includes several components all designed to increase options available within their public education system. In addition to a more robust charter school system, Minnesota also has (1) a very robust inter-district open enrollment system largely allowing any student to enroll … Read More

Thanks John for another well-researched and written piece.

California could learn a lot about how these issues might fit into a larger system reform strategy. Minnesota, for example, has a system that includes several components all designed to increase options available within their public education system. In addition to a more robust charter school system, Minnesota also has (1) a very robust inter-district open enrollment system largely allowing any student to enroll in another district with very few limitations, (2) a robust Post-Secondary Enrollment Options program allowing high school students to enroll concurrently in higher education institutions with little of the red tape that constrains similar options in California, and (3) State Approved Alternative Programs that offer independently-managed programs serving “at risk” students who were not successful in traditional settings. Collectively, Minnesota’s policy guru Ted Kolderie describes these as Minnesota’s “self-improving system” approach to reform. ( FFI: https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/564352d7/files/uploaded/Self%20Improving_Web.pdf )

Minnesota’s approach is fundamentally different from Calfornia’s fake “local control,” Sacramento-knows-best system where students who need alternatives are often denied meaningful options and instead treated more as the chattel property of the school districts where they reside.

John Fensterwald 4 days ago 4 days ago

Thanks, Eric.

California could learn a lot from what other states do, including Minnesota.

Z.M. 4 days ago 4 days ago

I have children attending Riverside public schools because we live and work in Riverside and choose to keep our commutes ws short as possible. For us, public won out over private because we do not have any good non-religious private schools in town. But I cannot imagine why anyone would commute to Riverside to send their kids to the public schools here. They are not that good, and the 2023 CAASPP scores are slightly below … Read More

I have children attending Riverside public schools because we live and work in Riverside and choose to keep our commutes ws short as possible. For us, public won out over private because we do not have any good non-religious private schools in town. But I cannot imagine why anyone would commute to Riverside to send their kids to the public schools here. They are not that good, and the 2023 CAASPP scores are slightly below the state average.

For a town with two big universities, it’s shocking how daycare-like the elementary education is, always catering to the lowest achievers.You have to wonder if RUSD is discriminating *against* transferees with good test scores so they can get more money from the state for low achievers. Everyone here would tell you that if your child is highly intelligent, they will be bored to death in elementary.

There is no enrichment nor acceleration for kids who are above grade level. No GATE program. Classes are over-crowded at the elementary schools, and there are too many combination classes in the lower grades depriving children of a grade level-appropriate education.

The middle and high schools are plagued by daily fights because there is not enough adult supervision and most of the bathrooms are either locked or being used as smoking lounges.

Take a look at the latest Riverside Unified LCAP survey to see all the issues parents have raised.

https://my.thoughtexchange.com/scroll/532487951/results

(you have to click through a lot before you can finally see the 1208 parent comments)

That RUSD is allowing so many people to transfer in, when they won’t allocate enough resources to educate in-boundary students, is a shameless money grab.

Jim 4 days ago 4 days ago

I had my kids at a small highly regarded district, in comparison to its neighbors at least. There seemed to me to be a disproportionate number or students with IEPs who required para educators. Several teachers told me that other districts would informally encourage parents of students with IEPs to transfer to our district. Whether it was because they were concerned about the students or just wanted to offload expensive-to-manage students I was never sure.

There are incentives for districts to enroll as many high-needs students as possible because they get more money from the state. Foster, homeless, and English learners are the big three groups that equal big bucks. There is no accountability in how that extra money is used, however. Riverside Unified takes in a lot of problematic students from out of bounds, dumps them in the classroom with no supports, and then uses the extra money to … Read More

There are incentives for districts to enroll as many high-needs students as possible because they get more money from the state. Foster, homeless, and English learners are the big three groups that equal big bucks. There is no accountability in how that extra money is used, however. Riverside Unified takes in a lot of problematic students from out of bounds, dumps them in the classroom with no supports, and then uses the extra money to create more and more highly paid non-teaching admin positions. English learners aren’t learning English, foster and homeless students still make up the lion’s share of students suspended for behavioral problems, and all three groups still tank the CAASPP.

Jim 3 days ago 3 days ago

I’m not sure that taking kids who have an IEP or need a para-educator is a financial benefit for the district. The district administration refused to discuss the economics of the transfer program which I took as evidence that it was a net negative. I could be wrong.

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Education | Nearly half of California high school graduates…

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Education | carmel bach festival announces new executive director, education | nearly half of california high school graduates don’t qualify to apply to a california university, public high schools in california offer mixed results in prepping kids for the next level. some say it’s unfair. others say college isn’t for everyone..

Before a graduating high school senior can even consider going to a four-year school in either the California State or University of California systems, he or she must take some specific classes.

Dubbed the “A-G requirements,” the courses represent more than what’s needed for a high school diploma but they’re a bare minimum for both of California’s public university systems. Think of them as keys to a golden door that students must pass through before they can be accepted or rejected by California’s best public universities.

Currently, the A-G list includes at least two years of history, four years of English, three years of math, two years of science, two years of a world language, a year of performing or visual arts, and one year of a college-prep (Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or a dual-credit) course. What’s more, a grade of “C” or higher is required for any of those classes to count.

But even in an era when federal data shows workers with a college degree earn at least $1 million more than a non-college degree worker over a typical lifetime, barely half the kids graduating from California high schools are qualified to apply to a four-year state school.

In the last academic year, 51.7% of high school seniors statewide graduated with a transcript that would allow them to apply to a Cal State or UC school, according to data released in January by the California Department of Education.

The numbers haven’t changed much in recent years. In the 2016-’17 academic year, 49.5% of graduates statewide left high school with transcripts that might get them into a Cal State or UC school.

In one sense, those numbers might be appropriate.

As part of the Donahoe Higher Education Act of 1960 — which was aimed at making sure good college degrees in California would be priced low enough for everyone to get one — the state determined that the UC system would serve the top 12.5% of all high school graduates and the Cal State system would be available for the top 33%. By those measures, state high schools seem to be meeting the bar.

Also, the A-G list (and college prep work in general) isn’t always a final say. Both the UC and Cal State systems carve out exceptions, offering admission to some students (which the UC system outlines as students who may have been homeschooled or studied under extreme circumstances) who do not meet all of the course requirements.

There’s also the prospect of getting into a four-year school after attending two years of community college, though that’s not always a smooth path to getting a bachelor’s degree. A 2021 study found that only 2.5% of community college students in California transferred to a Cal State or UC school after two years, and about a quarter (23%) made the jump after four years.

And even then — if a student passes all the courses required to apply to the respective university systems — there is a strong chance of rejection, though that varies depending on where you’re applying.

During the 2022-23 cycle, the overall acceptance rate for the 10 UC schools was 40.7%, ranging from a low of 8.8% at UCLA to a high of 88.3% at UC Merced. The 23 Cal State schools had a higher overall acceptance rate, 80.2%, ranging from one in three (33%) getting in at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to nearly every applicant (97%) getting in at Cal State Fresno.

There’s yet another factor at play: How many high school students actually want to go to college?

A Gallup poll from 2021 found that only about 41% of Americans age 18 to 29 say a college degree is “very important,” down from 74% who said that six years earlier. Likewise, the percentage of jobs that require a college degree was 44% in 2021, down from 51% in 2017. Meanwhile, companies as varied as Apple, Hilton Hotels and Tesla have started to interview applicants whether they have a four-year degree or not.

Still, a solid majority of high school seniors (61% in the last academic year) plan to get a four-year degree. And federal data shows that not only do college grads still earn more than their non-degreed peers, they’re also less likely to be laid off in recessions and less vulnerable to changes in technology.

All of which is why many educators believe the wide variance in availability and popularity of A-G college prep courses — sometimes even at schools within the same district — is unfair.

“The disparity in A-G course offerings is a reminder of the enduring educational inequities that continue to affect students’ futures,” said Nancy Watkins, director of the educational doctorate program at Cal State Fullerton.

“This gap not only limits the ability of students from underprivileged backgrounds to apply to universities, particularly within the UC system, but also perpetuates a cycle of educational and economic disparity.”

Winners and losers

Data shows that money is a driving factor in determining whether a student earns a college degree. The numbers also show that kids in wealthier neighborhoods have better access to the A-G courses and the golden door, while kids in lower-income neighborhoods often have far less access.

Surprisingly, neither world — higher income students or lower income students — is currently producing a huge number of college grads.

Last year, the  Public Policy Institute of California projected that only about 40% of wealthy and middle-income ninth graders would eventually go on to earn a bachelor’s degree. That’s about twice the rate (21%) projected for lower-income students.

“Although the state has made enormous progress, more work is needed to improve student success at key transition points, including high school graduation, college enrollment, transfer, and college completion,” wrote the study’s four authors, Marisol Cuellar Mejia, Cesar Alesi Perez, Vicki Hsieh and Hans Johnson.

“If current enrollment and completion rates continue, most California ninth graders will not earn a bachelor’s degree.”

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Opinion: Why is California behind Texas and other states in curbing homelessness?

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Rent is surging nationwide. Homelessness rates rose an astonishing 15% on average in major cities last year. It seems like the rest of the United States is waking up to what California has been living for decades.

But underneath these headlines emerges a more hopeful story as some metropolitan areas make significant progress to render homelessness rare and brief. Raleigh, N.C., led major U.S. cities in reducing homelessness by 40% between 2022 and 2023. Texas cities also stand out: Last year, the Houston metropolitan area achieved the lowest rate of homelessness of any major U.S. city, with just 52 people per 100,000 residents experiencing homelessness (compared to 734 people per 100,000 in Los Angeles). Even Austin, which has a higher homelessness rate than other cities in the state, reduced homelessness by 25% in one year.

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Meanwhile, five of the top 10 major cities with the highest rates of homelessness nationally are in California: San Francisco, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland and Sacramento, in that order. In 2022, the homelessness rate in San Francisco was nearly 20 times higher than in Houston, and Los Angeles’ was almost 14 times higher. Over the longer term, homelessness in Los Angeles rose 56% between 2015 and 2022, while it declined in Houston by 32%.

So what is making the difference in Texas and elsewhere? Can progress reach big cities in California, the state that is home to 28% of the entire country’s homeless population ?

First and foremost, other places are building more housing of all types. The Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin metro areas are all in the top 10 for housing production, while San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Jose are all in the back half of the pack. These metro areas are also working together on a regional approach to homelessness that differs from California’s largely fragmented response. For example, in Houston, one planning body — called a continuum of care — coordinates federal dollars and homelessness response across the metropolitan area. In California, every county and also some municipalities have separate continua of care.

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The Golden State has treated the housing shortage with urgency and adopted reforms to the Regional Housing Needs Allocation planning process to increase housing supply, including affordable housing for qualifying households, dramatically by 2030. Such a plan is necessary. But it will of course take years to complete.

In the meantime, our leaders have a moral, political and economic mandate to reduce the harm that homelessness inflicts on individuals, families and communities. And there are more solutions California cities can adopt today to address homelessness. While some may dismiss temporary interventions such as safe camping, parking and shelter as mere window dressing compared to long-term solutions, the reality is that people experiencing homelessness struggle every day to find somewhere to rest.

First, localities should recognize that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Just 3.6% of Los Angeles County’s 2022-2023 homelessness spending was devoted to prevention such as emergency rental assistance, eviction defense and direct payments. But the recent availability of once-in-a-generation federal aid during the pandemic created a natural experiment that showed the potential of spending more on preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place.

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Just to the north in Santa Clara County, for instance, homelessness grew by 31% between 2017 and 2019. Then, during the pandemic, the county reached an estimated 16,000 vulnerable households with prevention assistance, and homelessness grew by only 3% between 2019 and 2022.

California’s biggest metro areas can also improve their approach to the overlap between mental health and homelessness. Texas cities including Houston and Dallas have had success with the Housing First model that focuses on getting people into housing before tackling other issues they face, such as addiction . Bad-faith attacks against this strategy, in California and elsewhere, aren’t backed by real evidence .

We also need better ways to respond to people with behavioral health and substance abuse emergencies that do not automatically expose them to police while also respecting everyone’s right to be safe. Models from Denver and other cities provide a roadmap to do so. One study found that Denver’s use of emergency mental health professionals reduced crime and cost less than a traditional police response.

Los Angeles has already begun implementing an alternative crisis response model, but staffing challenges have hampered its effectiveness, indicating a need for workforce development. Those efforts can complement the county’s Office of Diversion and Reentry Housing program, which has had success disrupting the cycle of incarceration and homelessness (about a quarter of the county jail population is homeless ).

In addition, although business improvement districts are sometimes seen as inherently antagonistic toward homeless people, they can be innovative and effective partners . In Philadelphia , D.C. , New York and elsewhere, such groups have implemented practices such as community ambassadors who help people experiencing homelessness connect with housing, services and treatment; free access to drinking water and bathrooms; and placemaking activities such as games that promote safety and belonging in public space.

The homelessness numbers may paint a bleak picture. But the availability of these strategies makes clear that California is much closer to hope than it seems.

Tracy Hadden Loh and Hanna Love are fellows at the Brookings Institution.

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Will Joe Biden and Donald Trump debate this fall? News outlets call on candidates to compete

Twelve news organizations called on the presumptive nominees for president – President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump – to commit to participating in the scheduled 2024 general election debates in a joint statement Sunday.

“If there is one thing Americans can agree on during this polarized time, it is that the stakes of this election are exceptionally high. Amidst that backdrop, there is simply no substitute for the candidates debating with each other, and before the American people, their visions for the future of our nation,” the news outlets, including USA TODAY, wrote in the joint statement .

“General election debates have a rich tradition in our American democracy, having played a vital role in every presidential election of the past 50 years, dating to 1976. In each of those elections, tens of millions have tuned in to watch the candidates debating side by side, in a competition of ideas for the votes of American citizens.”

While the letter did not name any specific candidates, Biden and Trump locked down their party's nominations earlier this year.

The list of outlets that signed onto the letter also included ABC News, The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, C-SPAN, FOX News Media, NBCUniversal News Group, NewsNation, Noticias Univision (Univision Network News), NPR and PBS NewsHour.

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Three presidential forums, scheduled by the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates, are set to kick off at Texas State University in San Marco, Texas, on Sept. 16. The second debate is scheduled to be held at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia, on Oct. 1, and the final debate before the 2024 election will take place at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah on Oct. 9. Virginia State University is the first historically Black college or university to host a presidential debate .

Trump's reelection campaign  formally asked  the Commission on Presidential Debates  on Thursday to move up its fall schedule as soon as possible.

"President Trump is willing to debate anytime, anyplace, and anywhere – and the time to start these debates is now," a letter from the Trump campaign said.

Trump had refused to debate his opponents in the Republican primary.

Biden’s campaign had not yet committed to any debates, but on Thursday said that Trump is playing politics with his request. Biden’s campaign reiterated a comment the president made in February: "If I were him, I’d want to debate me, too. He’s got nothing else to do."

The outlets in their Sunday statement noted that, though it is too early for invitations to be extended to any candidates, “it is not too early for candidates who expect to meet the eligibility criteria to publicly state their support for — and their intention to participate in — the Commission’s debates planned for this fall.”