Will San Angelo ISD Follow Suit With No Homework?

SAN ANGELO, TX - During this school year, some school districts across the state have decided to no longer send homework home with students, but is this the case for San Angelo? For now, teachers will continue to give out homework to students, but the debate about homework is taking place within the San Angelo Independent School District.

Jana Rueter, Executive Director of Curriculum Instruction from Kindergarten through 12^th grade, gave her personal knowledge about homework assigned in the district. Rueter came to San Angelo ISD this year.

Rueter raised the question, “What kind of value does homework have for students?”

She mentioned multiple times that homework should help reinforce knowledge and help students. This is an argument many teachers continue to make, while others say too much homework is not valuable to students.

“I would say that the Austin area is a little further ahead than we are, as far as being forward with acting on homework,” Rueter stated. “I’ll say here, in this district, our conversations have been around, what is the purpose [of homework? Because we don’t want homework to be something that is so time consuming to kids that they’re missing out on family time and the balancing of activities that we feel are so important.”

Rueter also explained that faculty are at least starting conversations about homework, which is encouraging, because SAISD faculty want to have those conversations. 

“We want to have our students be balanced, and we also really value family time; that is very important [for students],” explained Rueter.

Overall, around the state, questions have been raised if kids are too overwhelmed with homework and missing out on the fun of being a kid. These questions sparked school districts to begin having meetings to discuss this matter.

Rueter said, “We start with a conversation. We start with talking about what’s the purpose of homework and making homework meaningful. [Homework] should be manageable; it should support student academic learning; it should provide opportunity for students to learn or review content and skills outside of the regular school day, but connecting background knowledge to upcoming concepts.”

Rueter also explained that meetings have been conducted to discuss guidelines and expectations the SAISD has for homework.

“We still have guidelines for homework expectations in the district, and we’ve been having conversations with our principals around us; and they have been having conversations around their campus as well and talking to teachers,” she said. “What we’re finding through [research] is that sure homework has a place. We want our kids to have reinforced concepts, but we want it to be an extension of the learning in the classroom, and we don’t want it to be overwhelming. We want [homework] to be purposeful and meaningful. We want it to support that academic learning for our students and provide opportunity for them to extend their learning.”

Rueter noted that a program is being started to help create discussions about homework as well as other topics.

“I will say that we are starting work here in the district on our Teaching for Learning Plan. This is a framework where we’re bringing teams of teachers and administrators in, and we’re having these collaborative discussions around these topics while examining our current curriculum and our instructional practices,” Rueter explained.

The district will also be going through the process of developing a learner profile, Rueter noted. She explained this profile will answer the following question: “What do we want for our kids in San Angelo ISD?” Homework is a piece of that profile that the teams are discussing.

Rueter concluded, “We are planning on using this school year to review and discuss our practice.”