Dreams really do come true! A school district in California just announced that it will be scrapping homework for its elementary students starting next year.
But there's a catch: Students must “WRaP” every night, or “Wonder, Read and Play.”
Long Beach School District in a letter to parents this week announced that the district would be eliminating “traditional” homework because research suggests “homework in the elementary grades doesn’t help much at all.”
"Homework is one of those elementary school practices that has endured for hundreds of years because we just assume that it must help, right?" the letter by Superintendent Jennifer Gallagher reads. "But there is a ton of research suggesting that homework in the elementary grades doesn't help much at all."
“What DOES help elementary students is to read at home, but many students are sacrificing reading time because they’re too tired by the time they finish their homework,” Gallagher goes on. “In addition, we have heard the call of parents to give students more time for another key aspect of child development, PLAY.”
The other aspect is “Wonder,” in which Gallagher asks parents to encourage their kids’ to be curious and to research what they’re curious about.
The superintendent states that the new policy is not an excuse for kids to play more video games or to watch more television.
She adds that if students want to practice subjects like math or science, that that’s O.K., but “we want the priority to be reading.”
Now parents are the ones with the homework.
The school will also be implementing “brain breaks” during school hours "to give students a bit more opportunity to move and play."
According to state records, Long Beach School District has 1,555 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Middle school and high school students in the district will still have homework next school year.
What do you think of the district’s no-homework policy? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.