Why the Practice of Homework is Important

From my experience, the vision of Birchwood’s homework policy is unique among K-8 schools. Also, from my experience, the effect of this homework policy during the course of eight years has been profound.

by Charles Debelak

This article was written for the Birchwood community by Head of School Charles Debelak. His writing provides parents with information about sound educational principles and child development issues gleaned from history, contemporary research, and his 50+ years of educating, coaching, and counseling children, young adults, and parents.

Year after year, our graduates are consistently among the best prepared students entering ninth grade. Significant credit for this achievement must be attributed to the clarity of purpose and practice in our homework policy.

Following is a summary outline of our homework policy for grades 1-8 that I use to train our teaching staff. Each point has an extensive explanation, but for both simplicity and utility I am passing along the outline.

The Purpose and Practice of Homework
An Overview of Key Factors
1. Homework has value when its purposes and practices are clearly defined and closely aligned. 
2. There are five purposes for homework at Birchwood School: 

  • It illustrates for children that learning is a family value and a way of life, not merely an activity for school. 
  • It cultivates the habits and attitudes of industry that grow gradually and incrementally over time. The principles of an early start indicate that if these habits are nurtured early in a child’s academic career, there is a cumulative advantage leading into adolescence and young adulthood. 
  • When assigned according to the practices listed below, homework improves student learning and therefore plays an important role in cultivating confidence and self-worth. It fosters a growth mindset and positive self-efficacy. 
  • It fosters life skills of independence and self-determination that lead to academic excellence. 
  • When applied consistently over the course of several years, the regimen of homework builds habits of responsibility that positively affects many areas of an adolescent’s growth during teen years. 
3. There are three guiding principles for the practice of homework. 
  • Aligned expectations among teachers, parents, and students: content, time-allotment, and individual experiences. Homework implies practice of what has been covered in class.
  • Homework should create experiences of success, feeding the success cycle, whether related to academic content or habits of industry. 
  • The unique needs of individual children and their special family circumstances must always be part of the homework discussion. 
4. Parent responsibilities for homework oversight. 
  • In grades 1-3, framing the practice of homework through language and personal involvement, parents establish the importance of education and the role homework plays. Parents can be involved in the academic purposes of homework according to time and need. 
  • In grades 4-5, building upon the experience in grades 1-3, parents reinforce 1) the correct use of the homework notebook, 2) management of time and materials for homework, and 3) the quality of homework. 
  • In grades 6-8, parents confirm homework is being done and done well.

From the 2019 September Birchwood Clipboard
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An independent, coeducational, college preparatory day school, toddler through grade 12

Early Childhood, Lower, and Middle Schools, 5000 Clubside Rd, Lyndhurst, OH 44124
Birchwood School of Hawken, 4400 West 140th Street, Cleveland, OH 44135 
Upper School, PO Box 8002 (12465 County Line Rd), Gates Mills, OH 44040
Mastery School of Hawken, 11025 Magnolia Dr, Cleveland, OH 44106
Gries Center, 10823 Magnolia Dr, Cleveland, OH 44106

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