Philosophy
Teachers may assign homework to students at any appropriate time. Below are the primary reasons for homework to be assigned.
- Students need some amount of extra practice in new concepts, skills, or facts. In certain subjects, e.g., math or language arts, there is not enough time in a school day to do as much practice as may be necessary for mastery. Therefore, after reasonable in-class time is spent on the material, the teacher may assign homework to allow for the necessary practice, or to correct any wrong answers on assignments or tests.
- Repeated, short periods of practice or study of new information is often a better way to learn than one long period of study.
Parental oversight of homework completion enables parents to be informed concerning current topics of study in the class. Parents are encouraged to use schoolwork as an opportunity to reinforce godly standards of honesty. All work submitted for grading (including homework) should be the work of the student. Outside help, including parents and tutors, should be limited to providing materials, resources, or typing.
Homework may also be assigned to students who, having been given adequate time to complete an assignment in class, did not use the time wisely. Homework is the responsibility of the student and reinforces the development of good study habits.
Guidelines
As a school community, we value time with family and spending your time and talents in a local church. Our policy is that no major tests or projects are due on Monday. However, due to the complexity of the Upper Campus schedule, there may be times when such a due date is unavoidable. We encourage all of our staff and students to use the weekend to rest, catch up on any missing work, and be involved in a local church.
The necessity of doing homework will vary from grade to grade and even from student to student. The guide below indicates an average time for each student. Teachers post homework assignments and require students to record them.
- Students in grades one through four should record assignments in their agenda; parents should initial the agenda daily. Lost agendas for first through fourth-grade students must be replaced. Replacement costs will be charged to the parent’s account.
- Students in fifth grade and up will record assignments in a designated manner on their school-issued computers.
Parents are encouraged to check students’ assignments as needed. Individual homework contracts may be assigned for students having difficulty, and parent involvement will be required.
Daily homework assignments must be handed in on the day they are due. If a homework assignment is checked in class, it may not be handed in late and the student will receive a zero for the assignment (for classes that have many homework assignments, two homework grades may be dropped per semester). Each content area in the middle school and high school will coordinate test days to prevent too many tests and/or projects from being due on the same day. Every attempt will be made so that no more than two major tests and projects are due on the same day. No homework should be due on the first day after Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter break.
Daily Approximate Time (Grade/Minutes)
- Kindergarten — 10 minutes
- 1st and 2nd — 20 minutes
- 3rd and 4th — 30 minutes
- 5th and 6th — 40 minutes
- 7th and 8th — 60 minutes
- High School — 90 minutes
- AP® Classes — Each AP® class will require additional time
Parents should send a note if their child was unable to complete a homework assignment because of illness or other extenuating circumstances. Parents should also make teachers aware if their child is consistently spending more than the approximate times noted on homework assignments. See Attendance Requirements for policy regarding make-up work for absences.
