Bob Bevill
12 Blair Road
Merrimack, NH 03054
Voice: 603-913-1170
Internet E-mail: bob@bevill.com
MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release
NO GRADING OF HOMEWORK ON TRIAL AT STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
No grading of homework in the Merrimack School District is on trial Wednesday before the State Board of Education.
Complaints of the new homework policy include that the Merrimack students are not on the same level as other high school students across the nation, as well as within their own state. Merrimack students competing for scholarships and acceptance to top-tier colleges, where grade point averages are the deciding factor, will automatically be starting at a less-competitive level than other students.
Another complaint of the new policy is that not all students will display their true abilities by test taking alone. Students that put in the time and effort to do assigned homework are not compensated for work done. Less responsible students that do not do homework assignments are not penalized.
Merrimack teachers express a negative opinion of the homework policy, also. Teachers said 3-to-1 in a school survey given by the District, that students are “less likely to do homework if it is not counted.” Students had “decreased motivation,” and student grades would “continue to decrease for the foreseeable future.”
Hampstead Superintendent Earl Metzler has called the idea of eliminating homework “extreme.” Metzler said. “I do believe that homework has tremendous value.”
Former Merrimack School Board candidate Gary Krupp said that the “school board was derelict in its duties in allowing the administration to implement the no grading homework policy.” Krupp also said that at that meeting, the Board members took turns making scripted rationalizations to justify the School Board’s decision.