Couple convinces school to end homework for family

CALGARY, Alberta — Sherri and Tom Milley were exhausted by the weepy weeknight struggles over math problems and writing assignments with their three school-age children. They were fed up with rushing home from soccer practice or speed skating only to stand over their kids tossing out answers so they could finish and get to bed.

And don't even get them started on the playground that daughter Brittany had to build in Grade 3 from recycled materials, complete with moving parts. Or the time son Jay was told to cut pictures of $1 million worth of consumer goods from a catalog.

So this month, after two years of trying to change the homework policy at the children's school, the two lawyers, who live in Calgary, finally negotiated a unique legal contract: Their kids will not have to do homework again.

The "differentiated homework plan" spells out the responsibilities of the students: to get their work done in class, to come to school prepared and prep for quizzes. But their teachers will have to mark them based on what they do in class, and cannot send work home that goes into their grades.

It's not as if, the couple pointed out, they don't value education. They know firsthand the work involved in earning university degrees. But they wanted the academic work done at home to be on their terms, based on where they knew their children needed help. Brittany, for instance, was struggling with spelling, but "we never had any time to focus on that because she had so much homework," Sherri said.

And there were plenty of frustrating nights, she said, when her kids were so tired, "we'd stand over them, saying, 'Write this, write that.' ''

If that's what families are doing, she asked, "How do the teachers even know whose work they are marking?"

Two years ago, Sherri began collecting studies on homework, most of which suggest that, particularly for younger grades, there is no clear link between work at home and school performance. This fall, the couple began negotiating the legal document that decided the matter.

Prompted by issues raised by parents, the Calgary Catholic School District is officially reviewing its homework policy to create more concrete guidelines for schools. Other parents and teachers have worked out homework deals, although more informally.

"We know it's not one-size-fits-all," said Tania Younker, a district spokeswoman.