Homework Guidelines
It is the Toronto District School Board’s belief that homework is an engaging and relevant learning activity. Homework is a purposefully planned, our-of-classroom learning experience assigned by a teacher to enhance student learning. Homework is directly connected to a student’s school program and learning expectations from the Ontario Curriculum. There are four types of homework: completion, practice, preparation and extension. Highlights include:
- The TDSC Homework Policy balances time required to complete homework with the importance of personal and family wellness and the wide array of family obligations experienced in our society today.
- Wherever possible, homework will be assigned by teachers in blocks of time so that families can best support homework completion by balancing the time required to complete homework with extra-curricular activities scheduled outside of the school day and activities that support personal and family wellness.
- No homework assigned on school holidays or days of significance.
- Four types of homework defined, with identification of specific intended outcomes and application for effective learning.
- Homework should not be assigned to kindergarten-aged children. Rather, families are encouraged to engage in early learning activities such as playing, talking and reading together in English or in the family’s first language.
- Homework assigned in the early grades will more often take the form of reading, playing a variety of games, having discussions and interactive activities.
- In the late Primary and Junior Grades, effective homework will begin to take the form of independent work.
- Homework for older students should be no longer than 1 hour for Grades 7 and 8 students and no more than 2 hours for Grades 9 to 12 students.
- Where appropriate, there will be progressive consequences for incomplete homework. Punitive measures are not appropriate as they provide powerful disincentives.