As a new school year begins, a growing number of districts in the Garden State are revisiting the issue of homework — and how much is too much.

According to Janet Bamford, the manager of communications and publications for the New Jersey School Boards Association, the state does not regulate the amount of homework for students. It is set by individual school districts.

“So districts are free to adopt whatever policies fits the need of their community,” she said.

Bamford said there has been a growing dialogue about the role of homework in learning, and whether there should be rules about assigning it for all classes.

“A lot of districts do adopt policies or regulations that address homework. They may set guidelines, certain limits on the amount of time students are expected to spend on homework," she said.

She pointed out in Freehold Township, Ross Kasun, the school superintendent, established maximum time limits of 10 minutes per grade level, per night.

Under this system, third-grade students get no more than 30 minutes of homework a night, fifth-graders are given up to 50 minutes, and so forth.

Kasun has stated he believes it is  dangerous for a district to have some teachers not assigning homework while other teachers are giving large amounts.

Bamford said by setting homework limits, “one thing this does is does is help to promote the consistency of homework from class to class within the same grade level, so you don’t have the same age kids having drastically different levels of homework.”

She noted different school districts may approach this in different ways.

“I’ve heard of districts that say X number of minutes per subject. Sometimes teachers will say, 'Work on this for 30 minutes and get as far as you can.'” Bamford said.

She also noted many districts are willing to discuss the subject of homework with parents if concerns are voiced.

“It has arisen as an issue in many districts, and administrators and boards have had meetings. They’ve sent out surveys to parents to try to gauge community feelings on this topic. It has become a topic of discussion in a lot of communities and some communities have taken action," she said.

Bamford said some districts, in addition to setting homework time limits, are “helping teachers to design more effective and better homework assignments.

Another issue that’s come up in some districts is limiting homework when kids get a break from school.

“Families want kids to be able to spend family time, and not be overloaded during a vacation or during a holiday with homework,” she said.

You can contact reporter David Matthau at David.Matthau@townsquaremedia.com

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