One-Size-

Doesnt-Fit-All
Homework

34 Educational Leadership / March 2017

Vatterott.indd 34 1/25/17 7:49 PM

 Individualized homework can
put new life in assignments.
Cathy Vatterott

I
n my 23 years of teaching, I have never seen a group of students get this
excited about homework, said Kelli Meade, a 4th grade teacher.
Are we in an alternate universe where kids actually enjoy homework?
Not quite. Meade is a teacher at Vinal Elementary School in Norwell,
Massachusetts, which has introduced a strategy that has led students to
eagerly take charge of the work they do outside of school.
Teachers at Vinal, a high-performing PreK5 school with about 500
students, have embraced individualized homework since the 20152016
school year. At that time, the schools principal, Patrick Lenz, read some
of my research about homework in his graduate studies. (I only learned
of Vinals work after a reporter contacted me for an article she was writing
about the schools homework pilot!) The schools methodical, standards-
based approach to homework zeros in on big ideas and enduring under-
standings from the curriculum. Students set personal goals related to the
standards, practice the skills they need to work on, select learning strat-
egies that work for them, and monitor their progress toward mastery of
thestandards.
For instance, an auditory learner who needs practice with multiplication
tables may choose to create a song with lyrics featuring multiplication
facts as his homework instead of completing a worksheet. In other cases,
students demonstrate specific skills by exploring topics they enjoy and by
creating their own homework assignments to document their progress.

Why Personalize Homework?

Research on the brain, motivation, personalization, and student-centered
learning validates the importance of student empowerment and autonomy
in learning (Cushman, 2010; Dweck, 2007; Hattie & Yates, 2014; Jensen,
2000; Kohn, 1999; Pink, 2009). Individualized homework, in turn, pro-
motes learner confidence and taps into the intrinsic need for students to
control their own learning.
Students at Vinal express this need clearly. You get to work on what
you might be struggling with so you can grow as a learner, one student
said. I choose topics and projects that I need to improve skills in and that
I am interested in, another student commented. And from a third student,
The benefit of doing individualized homework is really getting to focus on
one thing I need rather than the needs of the whole class.
Principal Lenz saw all the evidence he needed to see during the pilot
year: What I saw in these classrooms was a group of young people who
were intrinsically motivated to learn and then apply what they had learned
outside of school.
Individualized homework is also consistent with the schools focus on
standards-based learning. The principal and teachers understood that it
was ineffective to implement standards-based learning using the tradi-
tional, one-size-fits-all approach to homework. They realized that for all
students to reach mastery, the paths to get there must be personalized.

DJEDZURA/iSTOCK ASCD / w w w . ascd . o r g 35

 Neither students nor parents
had experienced this type
In a standards-based system, if students are able to meet or
exceed standards without completing homework, then what
of homework before. They
is the value of the assignments? Lenz asked. Or on the flip were quite accustomed to
side, if students are assigned one-size-fits-all homework,
and students are unable to use homework to reach the traditional prescribed tasks.
standards, then what is the value of the assignments?

What It Looks Like

Individualized homework is currently being used by five
teachers (one at each grade level) at Vinal Elementary
School. Each teacher designs homework a little differently
depending on the maturity and independence levels of the
students, but all teachers share common strategies. The
teachers start the year by helping students identify their
learning preferences, using surveys about learning styles,
multiple intelligences, and interests. Through reflection and
conferences, students pinpoint their strengths, their weak-
nesses, and their hopes and dreams for the year.
Students, parents, and teachers work together to set mea-
surable goals correlated to learning standards. Homework
is used as a tool to meet those goals. The first homework
goal-setting meeting takes place between the teacher and
parents in the fall, after the teacher has had time to get to
know each student and his or her interests and level of
performance. Depending on the students age and teacher,
some students participate in these meetings as well. saw trophies and got an idea to use them as the foundation
The teacher uses the information from this meeting to for her addition and subtraction problems. She counted the
create each students homework goals and the action steps blue ones and added them to the red ones. She wrote word
needed to achieve the goals. These steps allow students to problems about them and added illustrations.
chart their growth and document their progress in their Thibodeau allows her students to show their under-
portfolios. For example, Marias goal was to create well- standing of learning standards through a variety of
detailed writing about texts she read. Her action steps homework optionswriting, presentations, movies, art,
included working on a project that required her to focus and music. This ownership yielded definite improvements
ona specific part of a book, write about the character traits in their assignments, she said. The assignments were
of a chosen character, and cite the text to further explain generally longer, had more depth, and were much more
the trait. creative when compared to traditional homework I had
From there, the teacher guides students in choosing assigned.
learning tasks, drawing on students level of mastery and Although students have choices, there are some teacher-
consistent with their learning styles. In Debra Coggeshalls specified tasks as well. For instance, each Monday, Tracy
1st grade classroom, students self-select books at their Simmons gives her 5th grade students a homework agenda
reading level for reading homework. They also choose to plan their week (see www.ascd.org/el0317vatterott1).
from such activities as board games, listening centers, and The agenda includes some teacher-specified goals with
puzzles to master specific standards. The students love to choices in reading, writing, and math. Students may have
borrow these classroom tools and are excited to show their a math choice to review concepts already taught, practice
families how to use them. concepts currently being learned, or challenge themselves
As students are given choices, they begin to create with problem-solving activities requiring deeper under-
their own homework tasks. For instance, one of Robin standing. Students are responsible for reflecting on their
Thibodeaus 2nd graders wanted to do her homework as personal goals for the term and deciding which option
she waited for her brothers tae kwon do class to finish. She totake.

36 Educational Leadership / March 2017


Self-Directed Learning
In all five classrooms, students ability to set goals, pursue
interests, and self-reflect are crucial to their progress. Kelli
Meades 4th graders create individualized homework on the
basis of interests, goals, learning standards, and feedback.
Students look through their portfolios and journals to
reflect on areas where they need improvement. They
then apply the relevant skill or concept to something that
interests them.
Goal setting requires a great deal of explicit teaching
what a goal is, how to develop it, and how to work toward
it. One 4th grader who has trouble speaking in front of the
class might set a goal to improve his speaking and listening
skills by presenting on a topic of interest, drawing on self-
reflection and teacher and peer feedback. Because this par-
ticular student loves airplanes, his presentation could be
about paper planes.
The student would set his goal, decide on a time frame,
and work backward to plan the steps from start to pre-
sentation. The student would use an individual project
form (see www.ascd.org/el0317vatterott2) and action
plan to reach his goal. For homework, he might research
the science behind flight, learn how to make paper planes
fly, and create a PowerPoint presentation to teach the
class what he learned. Other students might
apply learning standards to their individual
interestsbubblegum, snakes, 3-D structures,
and so much more. No matter the topic, stu-
dents are excited to share their knowledge
with their classmates.
The Logistics
A common concern among teachers is that
individualized homework will be difficult to
monitor. They worry that keeping track of so
many different projects will be cumbersome.
Yes, it does require time to provide indi-
vidual feedback and to work one-on-one with
students as they design tasks. But the teachers
at Vinal find time when other students are
involved in individual and group work. All
students are working from the same standards,
and for the most part its the studentswith
some teacher inputwho are creating the
PEOPLEIMAGES/iSTOCK
homework tasks. Gretchen Abbott makes the
process more manageable by providing her
3rd graders with a list of key concepts, such as
reading fluency or area and perimeter, that she
would like them to work on.
Tracy Simmons explains, Its definitely more of a chal-
lenge to monitor the various assignments when homework
is personalized. However, she acknowledges that the extra
effort is worthwhile because it gives her the opportunity to
provide students with meaningful feedback.
Parental Concerns
Educators at Vinal Elementary expected that parents would
be concerned when the school made the switch to individu-
alized homework. After all, neither students nor parents
had experienced this type of homework before. They were
quite accustomed to traditional prescribed tasks.
Teachers proactively held parent meetings to explain
individualized homework, the educational rationale behind
it, and concrete examples of what it might look like. Some
parents had to be convinced that enjoyable homework
could indeed be legitimate learning.
Parents were unsure of their role with student-designed
tasks, so communication was crucial. Teachers asked
parents to be facilitators and to provide an environment
conducive to their childs learning style. They also
requested that parents not do their childs homework. (If
a student is unable to complete the work, then the teacher
needs to be made aware.) Curiously, as students began to
ASCD / w w w . ascd . o r g 37

take ownership of and pride in their
assignments, they often wanted to
work without their parents help,
sometimes to their parents chagrin!
Parents who were skeptical at first
became more comfortable after they
understood what was expected of their
children. And once they saw their
children perform a task that wasnt
a worksheet with competency and
enjoyment, they felt even more at ease.
Students Learning Curve
Students who had never experienced
choice or ownership of homework
werent always sure how to handle the
change, either. They didnt know what
to do when given a voice in directing
their own learning, and most of them
had no experience with self-assessing
their strengths and weaknesses.
Robin Thibodeau explained: At
the beginning, many of my students
and their parents needed a lot of
modeling and gentle guidance in
choosing appropriate homework
38 Educational Leadership / March 2017
PEOPLEIMAGES/iSTOCK
experiences. After a bit of trial and
error, she created a double-sided
sheet of homework suggestionsone
for language arts and one for math.
Every Monday morning, her class gen-
erated ideas to add to the homework
suggestions list.
A consistent challenge at all grade
levels was for students and their
parents to decide when to complete
the homework. Students and parents
were used to the regimen of daily
homework, but now students had
extended time to complete a series of
tasks or larger assignments.
In Robin Thibodeaus 2nd grade
class, she assigned the homework
choice sheet on Mondays and had stu-
dents return their work the following
Monday. Even though she modeled
different ways to organize the work,
there were still adjustments to be
made. The students quickly learned
that the responsibility was on them
that their choices were not only what
to do but also when to do it, she said.
Students realized that putting off
assignments until Sunday was not a
good plan, and many came to love the
blank calendar sheet where they could
fill in a homework schedule.
Tracy Simmonss 5th graders had
a similar experience. In the past,
Tracy had given weekly homework
on Monday that was due on Friday,
organized nightly but with some
flexibility. Upon shifting to the new
model, her class thought having the
weekend might be helpful, so she
allowed the students to experiment.
A few students quickly realized this
may not be their best option, as they
tended to procrastinate, leaving too
much work for the weekend, she said.
The experience provided students with
helpful insights into their work habits.
Without this opportunity, they may
not have learned these lessons until
much later in their education. For stu-
dents who continued to have problems
with procrastination, teachers worked
with them individually to customize
aplan.
As with traditional homework, there
were also some students who struggled
to complete tasks altogether. Assigning
homework in weekly blocks (instead
of nightly) eliminated many of those
problems. To aid students who needed
more structure to finish assignments,
teachers often provided nightly expec-
tations and conducted more frequent
check-ins. Gretchen Abbott has used
a 15-minute block of time at the end
of the day to work with students who
struggle to do homework at home.
These students may also be required
to do some reading homework during
reading time.
On balance, there have been fewer
problems with noncompletion than
in the past because of the nature of
individualized homework. According
to Tracy Simmons, individualized
homework hooks students interest.
They are motivated and interested to
complete what is assigned, she said.
It is meaningful to them, so they do
itits as simple as that!
Homework Revisited
As I saw the examples of individu-
alized homework at Vinal Elementary,
memories of my sons elementary
0
school years flooded my mind. I
thought about how, so many years
ago, I struggled to get my son to com-
plete joyless homework tasks like
worksheets and vocabulary lists. And
I remembered how enthusiastic he
was about the homework in which he
wrote his own book about his guinea
pigs, which is still in a box in the attic.
In a 1991 Educational Leadership
article, Elliott Eisner wrote about how,
amidst the noise of standards and the
LearningSciences.com/books
LSI_PUB_EdLeadership_HalfPage_2017Mar.indd 1
merely measurable, we had some-
how lost the idea that the essence of
schooling should be to nurture curi-
osity, wonder, and the excitement of
learning something new. Individu-
alized homework at Vinal Elementary
School has excited students and revi-
talized teachers. As Eisner said, the
journey is the reward. EL
Authors note: The following educators
from Vinal Elementary School contributed
to this article: principal Patrick Lenz
and teachers Debra Coggeshall, Robin
Thibodeau, Gretchen Abbott, Kelli Meade,
and Tracy Simmons.
References
Cushman, K. (2010). Fires in the mind:
What kids can tell us about motivation
and mastery. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-
Bass.
Help put standards at
the he0rt of teachers
work, so they can
focus on students.
Dweck, C. (2007). Mindset: The new psy-
chology of success. New York: Ballantine.
Eisner, E. (1991). What really counts in
school. Educational Leadership, 48(5),
1017.
Hattie, J., & Yates, G. C. R. (2014). Visible
learning and the science of how we learn.
New York: Routledge.
Jensen, E. (2000). Brain-based learning. San
Diego, CA: The Brain Store.
Kohn, A. (1999). Punished by rewards: The
trouble with gold stars, incentive plans,
As, praise, and other bribes (2nd ed.).
New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Pink, D. H. (2009). Drive: The surprising
truth about what motivates us. New York:
Riverhead Books.
Cathy Vatterott (vatterott@umsl.edu)
is professor of education at the Uni-
versity of Missouri-St. Louis and the
author of Rethinking Grading: Mean-
ingful Assessment for Standards-Based
Learning (ASCD, 2015).
ASCD / 1/17/17
w w w . ascd . o r g2:07 PM
39
Copyright of Educational Leadership is the property of Association for Supervision &
Curriculum Development and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or
posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users
may print, download, or email articles for individual use.