Homework survey a study in numbers

Part one of two parts

Homework may be the bane of students, extra work for teachers, and often the cause of arguments between parents and their children, but according to a study conducted by the Las Virgenes Unified School District, the after-school work is necessary in order to meet today's tough academic standards.

Students in grades six through 12 were surveyed in June 2005 about how much and how important homework is to success in school. Student members of the district's Homework Policy Study Committee created the survey questions for middle and high school students.

Assistant Superintendent of Education Joe Nardo presented the results at a recent school board meeting.

The two local high schools, Agoura High and Calabasas High, were similar in student responses about the amount of homework juggled each night. Forty percent of Agoura High students and 36 percent of Calabasas students reported that they spend one to two hours per night on homework, excluding time spent studying for tests and quizzes.

When studying for tests was factored in, 34 percent of Agoura students and 38 percent of Calabasas students said that they spent three to four hours per night studying.

When asked how often they have two or more full-length tests or quizzes on a single day, 55 percent of Agoura High students reported they face at least two tests in one day at least once per month, but 35 percent of the students said two or more tests were commonplace each week.

For Calabasas students, 53 percent responded that they were tested in two or more subjects at least once per week, and 42 percent said the tests overlapped in classes one or more times each month. School board member Dave Moorman found this revelation "a scary statistic."

School board President Cindy Iser said teachers should collaborate to spread out student tests more evenly. She said Calabasas students take more tests in one day than Agoura High students because they only have a block schedule on two days. Block schedules allow students to take six classes, rotating among three subjects per day.

Another statistic revealed by the survey is the number of students who do not know anything about state standards. When asked if homework reinforced state standards, 839 Calabasas High students, or 70 percent, didn't know what the state standards were. At Agoura High, 530 students, or 57 per cent, responded that their homework did indeed reinforce standards.

On the positive side of statistics, the majority of students at both schools said their teachers were willing to make extra time to help them with their work before, during or after school.

At Calabasas, 56 percent of the students said they get help from their teachers once or twice per week, while 43 percent of Agoura High students get extra help from their teachers up to twice each week.

The majority of students also said they understood the purpose of their homework. About half the students at each school said the purpose of homework was practice or repetition.

But for all the teacher support and the amount of homework that students complete each night, some students still need outside tutoring to keep up with all their subjects.

Thirty percent, or 283 Agoura High students, receive weekly tutoring in one to three classes. At Calabasas, the statistic is 36 percent, or 444 students.

Another statistic that raised concern at the board meeting was the response of students to their school environment.

Seventy-one percent of Calabasas students said school was either a stressful, unrewarding, negative or unsupportive environment. At Agoura High, the responses were also not encouraging-68 percent of students responded negatively. The largest response was centered around stress.

"That's a lot of unhappy students," Moorman said.

Homework and work habits are more indicative of how successful a student will be in life, board member Terilyn Finders said.

Next week's article will address the results of the middle school survey.