Partly due to concerns about student stress, the Brookfield Board of Education’s (BOE) Curriculum, Academic and Program Evaluation (CAPE) subcommittee is reviewing the school district’s homework policies, which were last updated in 1998.
CAPE subcommittee Chairman Jane Miller said part of the interest of the issue may be related to the showing last April at Brookfield High School (BHS) of the 2009 documentary Race To Nowhere and the panel discussion, which included Superintendent Anthony Bivona, that followed.
The film addresses such issues as how to promote a balance in students’ lives and whether schools put too much emphasis on test-taking and memorization.
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Miller said in a phone interview that over the coming weeks Assistant Superintendent Genie Slone will be gathering information from principals and curriculum specialists in the district on how homework is being assigned.
“I think a lot of kids are stressed out with a lot of work to do,” said BOE Chairman Ray DiStephan, who is a social worker in the Katonah-Lewisboro school district in New York state.
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“I think they may need more time to be kids,” he said.
Miller said the subcommittee “will take its time” in studying the issue, noting that a recent review of the school district’s music program took six months.
“I agree with that approach,” DiStephan said. “It is not as though we’re under some deadline to meet a state mandate. I think we need to study this and make any changes that we think would benefit the school district.”
Miller said the BOE also hopes to get input from residents at its regular meetings and at the CAPE subcommittee sessions. The next CAPE meeting is scheduled for October 12 at 5:30 p.m. at the Town School Office in the Municipal Center on Pocono Road.
“You want it to be an extension of the classroom without being overbearing,” BOE member Harry Shaker said during the September 21 regular meeting. “We need to make sure that it’s not busy work.”
BOE Vice Chairman Rob Gianazza said it appears that homework becomes obsessive at certain times of the academic year and that issue could be addressed by teachers though better coordination of the projects.
“It may be the strongest argument for teacher collaboration,” he said.
“I think with more teachers talking to other teachers outside of their department, there might be a better opportunity to have them schedule their homework assignments so that they are more evenly distributed over the week,” DiStephan said.
Teachers at BHS, for example, have had more opportunity for collaboration since the 83-minute-per-class block schedule format was established two years ago.
“In some instances, there may not be much that we can do,” Miller said. “If a high school student, for example, is taking several Advanced Placement courses at the high school, those classes have a college curriculum and usually require a lot of homework.”
