Washington Traditional School

Homework is a central theme at Washington Traditional School. It has three major purposes:

1. To teach personal responsibility and time management skills
2. To keep parents informed about what their children are studying.
3. To provide additional academic growth and development.�
   1. Although extra credit is not given for any assignment in any class, when appropriate, a teacher may allow a student to re-do an assignment or a modified assignment in order to earn credit and demonstrate mastery in preparation for summative testing.

All students will receive homework at least 3 nights per week,
Monday through Thursday.

1. �
   1. Regular homework will not be assigned on the nights of the following activities:School Open House, music programs, PTO/PTA or Student Council sponsored activity nights, Science Fair, and Halloween.  In addition, classroom unit/spelling testing will not take place on the day following these events.
   1. For those students that qualify for support services (Title I, Special Education), homework will be ability appropriate.
   1. Homework will be graded for completeness, not correctness (homework grade).  However, if mastery is demonstrated in homework, teacher may award the student by recording a positive academic grade.  If mastery is not demonstrated in homework, teacher will not penalize the student by recording a negative academic grade.
   1. All homework will be evaluated.  It will be graded for either formative performance or good faith effort.  Homework will be graded for summative performance only when it is a major class project or report that requires academic work at home to complete it.  (Please see following definitions.)

Definitions:
Summative Performance
It is to grade the homework for accuracy and mastery and is used both to determine the academic and the homework grades notated on the report card.  The student receives a letter grade, A-F, based on whether the student answered the questions correctly or completed homework according to teacher directions.

Formative Performance
It is to grade the homework for accuracy and mastery for the purpose of determining the effectiveness of instruction and what needs to be re-taught and to whom.  The student score is not included in the academic grade and if good faith effort is demonstrated, lack of mastery performance does not adversely affect the homework grade.

Good Faith Effort
It is to grade homework based on the student demonstrating a good faith effort to complete all of the homework.  If a letter grade is given, it is based on effort, not mastery.  A non-letter grade (like a “smiley face”) may also be given on homework assignments instead of a letter grade.  Good faith effort is the criteria for the homework grade notated on the report card.

Parent Responsibilities Concerning Homework

1. To provide a time and place free from distraction for the work to occur
2. On an individual student basis and after consultation with parents, teachers may institute a daily/weekly parent signature requirement when a student is not showing good faith effort in completing homework assignments.  Teacher and parent would determine the time period for the parent signature requirement.
3. Review the child’s work and provide encouragement
4. To work closely with the teacher if a problem occurs

Below are minimum, as well as maximum, time guidelines for homework for which parents should plan. The approximate times by grade level are listed below:

Parents should insist that the students dedicate at least the minimum amount of time to some academic study at home. Reading or math is the recommended activity for that time if the homework from school is not enough to take up the minimum amount of time.
Parents should also teach their children that unfinished classroom work must be completed in addition to the assigned homework and is not part of the actual homework time. Therefore, reports, themes, and unfinished daily work could account for some students spending more than the maximum amount of time stated.

Makeup work is only allowed in the case of an absence. Following an absence, students are allowed one school day for each day absent to turn in makeup work.

Acquiring Homework During an Absence

When a student is absent, the parent or sibling may wish to pick up that student’s assignments. Assignments can be requested by contacting our office in person or by telephone. The teacher(s) will be notified. And the list of assignments will become available in our office after 12:00 noon of the next day.