This Raleigh News & Observer story about whether or not homework is a good teaching tool goes over the usual debating points, but far down the story there is a fascinating assertion attributed to UNC-Chapel Hill Education School Professor Dwight Rogers. The emphasis is mine.
Dwight Rogers, who teaches introductory classes at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education, agrees that too many homework assignments are meaningless.
“It’s a skill practice on a set of, in some ways, inane problems in math or vocabulary,” Rogers said. “But teachers, who are under pressure to help kids do well on tests, don’t have enough time in the school day,” he said. “So they give out homework.”
Lessons on crafting assignments are mostly an afterthought in education schools, Rogers said.
Add this deficiency to the growing list of reasons that education schools must either be reformed or de-emphasized as a path to teaching if we expect teachers to (1) be effective from Day 1 in the classroom, (2) be accountable for student achievement, and (3) meet the “highly qualified” mandate of No Child Left Behind.
