In a flurry of recent legislation and initiatives, California officials are pushing school districts to convert their surplus property into housing for teachers, school staff and even students and families. Some districts have already started; now the state wants every district to become a landlord.

鈥淚 believe that California has enough resources and ingenuity to solve (the housing shortage), and the data shows that California鈥檚 schools have the land to make this happen,鈥� State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said at a press conference in July. 鈥淎s school leaders, we can get this done for our communities and restore the California Dream.鈥�

But some superintendents and education analysts are skeptical, saying the idea won鈥檛 work everywhere and school districts might be better off focusing on education, not real estate development.

鈥淚鈥檓 grateful someone鈥檚 paying attention to this, but I feel like educators are being asked to solve so many problems,鈥� said Mendocino County Superintendent Nicole Glentzer. 鈥淪tudent performance, attendance, behavior 鈥� and now the housing crisis? It鈥檚 too much.鈥�

Last month, Thurmond for districts that pass bonds to build staff housing, and the Department of Education is for district officials to learn the ins-and-outs of real estate development.

His move comes on the heels of a from UC Berkeley and UCLA that found school districts in California own 75,000 acres of developable land, enough to build 2.3 million housing units 鈥� which could wipe out the state鈥檚 housing shortage.

It also follows the , which allows school districts to pursue funding sources for housing projects, including state and federal tax credits. Other pieces of legislation, including that went into effect in January, further streamlined the development and funding process. Other laws allow teachers to live in affordable housing even though their income might exceed the qualifying limits.

If , a $10 billion school facilities bond, passes this fall, schools could use that money to not only repair classrooms and other structures, but build teacher housing.

鈥業t鈥檚 changed my life鈥�

A handful of districts have already embarked on projects.

Los Angeles Unified owns several buildings, including a that opened in April and a reserved for low-income families. San Francisco Unified plans to open a this fall. Santa Clara Unified has owned a 70-unit complex for more than two decades.

In San Mateo County, the Office of Education is working with a to buy an existing apartment building for local teachers. In Marin, the Office of Education joined with the county and state to build teacher housing on state-owned land near San Quentin Prison.

In San Diego, preschool teacher Carolina Sanchez Garcia said she cried when she learned she won a spot at the 264-unit Scripps Ranch apartment complex, built through a partnership between San Diego Unified and an affordable housing developer.

Due to the high cost of housing in San Diego, she had been commuting from Tijuana, Mexico for more than a decade. To get to work on time, she鈥檇 get up at 2 a.m., move her five kids into the car where they鈥檇 go back to sleep, and make the trek across the border to work. Her kids would brush their teeth and get ready for school at a Starbucks.

Now, her commute is only 15 minutes.

鈥淚t鈥檚 changed my life,鈥� Garcia said. 鈥淢y kids are sleeping more. I鈥檓 sleeping more. It鈥檚 made me a better mother and a better teacher. Now, I start my day feeling positive and energized.鈥�

Garcia pays $1,300 a month for a three-bedroom apartment, roughly half of market rate. The rent is similar to what she paid in Tijuana, but now she has time to cook dinner for her family, prepare for class and help her children with homework. Her kids can participate in after-school activities and spend time with friends. Her gas bill is also lower.

鈥淚 am so grateful,鈥� Garcia said. 鈥淚 think all districts should do this. Teachers need help.鈥�

Kyle Weinberg, a special education teacher who鈥檚 head of the San Diego Unified teachers union, said the district鈥檚 housing endeavors have been successful because teachers share in the planning process, ensuring that the units鈥� location, size and rents meet teachers鈥� needs. The district paid for the Scripps Ranch development through an agreement with a private developer, and plans to pay for the next development with money from , a $3.2 billion school facilities bond that passed in 2022.

Subsidized housing is necessary, Weinberg said, because of the high cost of living in San Diego. To live in a 1-bedroom apartment in San Diego, starting teachers, who earn about $60,000, would have to pay roughly 63% of their take-home pay on rent. Teachers have long commutes and suffer from burnout, he said.

The union鈥檚 goal is to have 700 units available, serving at least 10% of the teaching staff.

鈥淲e have a staffing crisis in our district,鈥� Weinberg said. 鈥淲e need to explore all possible solutions. Along with salaries and benefits, expanding workforce housing is one of those options.鈥�

Almost zero teacher turnover

The model state officials often point to is in Daly City. The Jefferson Union High School District opened the 122-unit apartment complex in 2022, and it now houses a quarter of the district staff. A 1-bedroom apartment rents for $1,450 a month, about half the market rate.

The district paid for the $75 million project by passing a $33 million bond specifically for teacher housing, and borrowed the rest. The rents generated by the project cover the bond payments. The district hired a property management company to handle maintenance and other issues.

Daly City is sandwiched between Silicon Valley and San Francisco, which have some of the  . Teachers commute from the East Bay and beyond, and the district grappled with a persistent 25% staff turnover rate annually, said district spokesperson Denise Shreve.

Since 705 Serramonte opened, the district has had near zero turnover.

鈥淪tudents now start off the school year with a teacher in their classroom, instead of a long-term substitute,鈥� Shreve said. 鈥淵ou have to look at the long-term benefits. We now have teacher retention and students are better off because of it.鈥�

Lisa Raskin, a social science teacher and instructional coach for the district, said she鈥檚 struggled with housing over her 20-year career but never considered leaving. A San Francisco native, she鈥檚 committed to staying in the area 鈥� which has meant that she鈥檚 always had roommates.

When she moved into 705 Serramonte, it was her first time living in her own apartment.

鈥淚 can be with community if I want, or I can be alone. I love that,鈥� Raskin said, noting that her neighbors and colleagues often host barbecues, game nights and other gatherings. 鈥淲e call it 鈥榓dult dorms.鈥� I feel safe here.鈥�

Superintendents already overworked

But not every district can pass a bond for teacher housing. Many to repair school campuses. And some superintendents say they鈥檙e already so overworked that undertaking a complicated project like real estate development is a near impossibility. California had a superintendent turnover rate of more than 18% last year, according to , in part due to workload.

Glentzer, the Mendocino County superintendent, said housing development would be a challenge for smaller, rural and lower-income districts. Those districts face teacher and housing shortages like their wealthier, urban counterparts, but lack the ability to raise the money and hire the staff to oversee projects.

Besides, the housing shortage affects lots of people in the community 鈥� not just teachers. Mendocino County has been scarred by numerous wildfires over the past few years, plus a boom in vacation rentals that have decimated the local housing market, leaving some people to live in trailers or even their cars.

A better solution, she said, would be for housing to be left to regional authorities and for the state to fund school districts sufficiently to pay their teachers more.

Still, she understands the need. She herself lived in a district-owned home when she was superintendent of Potter Valley Community Unified School district northeast of Ukiah. The  two-bedroom bungalow was next to the football field, and she enjoyed the reduced rent and proximity to work.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no question we need housing,鈥� Glentzer said. 鈥淏ut when you鈥檙e the superintendent and the principal and head of maintenance and you鈥檙e teaching Spanish, how are you supposed to find the bandwidth for this? I have a degree in education. I never took a real estate course.鈥�

Marguerite Roza, director of the policy research center Georgetown Edunomics Lab, agreed. School districts might be better off paying teachers more or targeting raises for teachers who are in high demand, such as those who work in special education, math or science.

She also noted that except in those three fields, the teacher shortage is ebbing. With federal Covid relief money expiring and student enrollment declining, many districts may be laying off teachers 鈥� not hiring, she said. , a teacher hiring board, this month showed nearly 2,000 openings for special education teachers in California, for example, but fewer than 100 for third grade teachers.

鈥淏y building housing, districts might be addressing a crisis that no longer exists.鈥� Roza said. 鈥淪chool districts鈥� expertise and focus is to provide education. To assume school districts could take on the responsibility of being landlords efficiently is concerning.鈥�

Growing interest in teacher housing

To help school districts learn the basics of real estate development, the California School Boards Association has been hosting workshops and providing resources for the past two years. So far, 152 of the state鈥檚 1,000 school districts have signed up to study the idea, and the numbers have been growing, said spokesperson Troy Flint.

He acknowledged that smaller districts may not have the staff to get projects off the ground, but some are working on projects together or collaborating with their local county offices of education, he said.

鈥淒istricts see the immense value workforce housing can offer their staff, students, and communities,鈥� Flint said. 鈥淭here is widespread interest in education workforce housing as an elegant way to address the housing affordability crisis. Workforce housing also brings quality-of-life, community, and environmental benefits 鈥� and may even help address declining enrollment as district staff can afford to live with their families in the communities they serve.鈥�

This was originally published on .

Some bills before California鈥檚 Legislature don鈥檛 come from passionate policy advocates, or from powerful interest groups.

Sometimes, the inspiration comes from a family car ride.

While campaigning two years ago, Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo鈥檚 daughter, then nine, asked from the backseat what her mother could do if she won.

Schiavo answered that she鈥檇 be able to make laws. Then, her daughter Sofia asked her if she could make a law banning homework.

鈥淚t was a kind of a joke,鈥� the Santa Clarita Valley Democrat said in an interview, 鈥渢hough I鈥檓 sure she鈥檇 be happy if homework were banned.鈥�

Still, the conversation got Schiavo thinking, she said. And while  鈥� which faces its first big test on Wednesday 鈥� is far from a ban on homework, it would require school districts, county offices of education and charter schools to develop guidelines for K-12 students and would urge schools to be more intentional about 鈥済ood,鈥� or meaningful homework. 

Among other things, the guidelines should consider students鈥� physical health, how long assignments take and how effective they are. But the bill鈥檚 main concern is mental health and when homework adds stress to students鈥� daily lives.

Homework鈥檚 impact on happiness is partly why Schiavo brought up the proposal last month during , led by former Assembly Speaker .   

鈥淭his feeling of loneliness and disconnection 鈥� I know when my kid is not feeling connected,鈥� Schiavo, a member of the happiness committee, told CalMatters. 鈥淚t鈥檚 when she鈥檚 alone in her room (doing homework), not playing with her cousin, not having dinner with her family.鈥� 

The bill analysis cites a survey of 15,000 California high schoolers from Challenge Success, a nonprofit affiliated with the Stanford Graduate School of Education. It found that 45% said homework was a major source of stress and that 52% considered most assignments to be busywork.  

The  that students with higher workloads reported 鈥渟ymptoms of exhaustion and lower rates of sleep,鈥� but that spending more time on homework did not necessarily lead to higher test scores.

Homework鈥檚 potential to also widen inequities is why Casey Cuny supports the measure. An English and mythology teacher at Valencia High School and , Cuny says language barriers, unreliable home internet, family responsibilities or other outside factors may contribute to a student falling behind on homework.

鈥淚 never want a kid鈥檚 grade to be low because they have divorced parents and their book was at their dad鈥檚 house when they were spending the weekend at mom鈥檚 house,鈥� said Cuny, who plans to attend a press conference Wednesday to promote the bill.

In addition, as technology makes it easier for students to cheat 鈥� using artificial technology or chat threads to lift answers, for example 鈥� Schiavo says that the educators she has spoken to indicate they鈥檙e moving towards more in-class assignments. 

Cuny agrees that an emphasis on classwork does help to rein in cheating and allows him to give students immediate feedback. 鈥淚 feel that I should teach them what I need to teach them when I鈥檓 with them in the room,鈥� he said.

The bill says the local homework policies should have input from teachers, parents, school counselors, social workers and students; be distributed at the beginning of every school year; and be reevaluated every five years.

The Assembly Committee on Education is expected to hear the bill Wednesday. Schiavo says she has received bipartisan support and so far, no official opposition or support is listed in the bill analysis. 

The measure鈥檚 provision for parental input may lead to disagreements given the recent  between Democratic officials and parental rights groups backed by some Republican lawmakers. 

Because homework is such a big issue, 鈥淚鈥檓 sure there will be lively (school) board meetings,鈥� Schiavo said.

Nevertheless, she says she hopes the proposal will overhaul the discussion around homework and mental health. The bill is especially pertinent now that the state is also poised to  with the passage of .

Schiavo said the mother of a student with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder told her that the child鈥檚 struggle to finish homework has raised issues inside the house, as well as with the school鈥檚 principal and teachers.

鈥淎nd I鈥檓 just like, it鈥檚 sixth grade!鈥� Schaivo said. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 going on?鈥�

Update: The Assembly education committee on April 24 approved an amended version of the bill that softens some requirements and gives districts until the 2027-28 school year.

This was originally posted on CalMatters.

One day he was chatting with an 8th-grade student, who he described as a 鈥渟uperstar,鈥� and asked if she had studied for that day鈥檚 exam. He was shocked to hear she hadn鈥檛.

鈥淲ell Mr. Guskey,鈥� he remembers her saying, a quizzical look on her face, 鈥淚 worked it out. I only need a 50.2 to get an A [in the class]. I don鈥檛 need to study for a 50.2.鈥�

This was a moment of realization for him. 鈥淭his 8th grader had worked it out to the tenth decimal place what she needed to do to get an A in my class,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd she was surprised I didn鈥檛 get it. And I thought, 鈥榃ow. What have I done?鈥欌�� 

For this student 鈥� and so many others 鈥� school was not about learning. It was about getting a good grade. And with flawed traditional grading systems, those two outcomes didn鈥檛 always coincide.

Every time Guskey tells this story to other teachers, he said they shake their heads and share similar anecdotes of their own. Other experts in the field echo these sentiments, noting that schools have spent far too long grading students based on whether or not they turned in a pile of work or showed up to class on time, rather than focusing on if a student has learned academic content. This can ultimately lead to final grades that inaccurately reflect and communicate what kids actually know. 

Today, as schools combat post-pandemic learning gaps, it鈥檚 become even clearer that traditional grades are not precise communicators of learning. In some cases, this leads parents to believe their kids are performing at grade level, when in reality they鈥檙e falling behind. 

As educators push for more clarity and transparency, a number of schools and districts are turning to what’s known as standards-based grading, a system and communication tool that separates academic mastery from behavioral factors. When done correctly, it should more accurately reflect what students know and correct for both inflating 鈥� and deflating 鈥� grades. 

But a misunderstanding of standards-based grading’s true principles, a lack of proper training for educators and a rush to quickly adopt a complex new system often leads to messy implementation, various experts told 社区黑料. And, they warn, districts looking for support are turning to grading consultants, a number of whom aren鈥檛 qualified in the field.

鈥淪o many districts are getting into this and they鈥檙e failing miserably,鈥� said Guskey, the grading and assessment expert and professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky College of Education. 鈥淪chools are jumping into this without a clear notion of what they鈥檙e doing and what the prerequisites are to being standards based,鈥� he continued. 鈥淎nd then when problems arise, they have no recourse except to abandon [it] completely.鈥�

As schools look for an effective fix to learning gaps, 鈥渟tandards-based grading is one that seems like it can be a quickly adopted effort. But it could backfire and does backfire very easily,鈥� said Laura Link, associate professor of teaching and leadership at the University of North Dakota.

In a she and Guskey wrote, 鈥渁lthough many schools today are initiating SBG reforms, there鈥檚 little consensus on what 鈥榮tandards-based grading鈥� actually means. As a result, SBG implementation is widely inconsistent.鈥� This creates uncertainty, confusion, frustration 鈥� and resistance, which can ultimately lead to it being tossed aside, the authors said.

The many meanings of a 鈥淐鈥�

Standards-based grading is not new. While it鈥檚 challenging to pin down just how many schools are currently using it, post-pandemic interest in a system that鈥檚 seen as more accurate and equitable appears to be growing. 

Link is now working with the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania school district on implementation. It can also be found in at least one school district in the San Francisco Bay Area and is particularly prevalent in schools in Wyoming, New Hampshire, Maine and Wisconsin, with more cropping up in Connecticut, New Mexico, and Oregon, in November.

Another expert, Cathy Vatterott, who wrote Rethinking Grading: Meaningful Assessment for Standards-Based Learning and is professor emeritus of education at the University of Missouri鈥揝t. Louis, said: 鈥淎fter we got through COVID, all of a sudden I started getting offers to come and speak to people about standards-based grading.鈥� 

Regardless of what model teachers practice, they typically grade using three different criteria: what academic skills students have learned and are able to do, such as solving for 鈥渪鈥� in an algebraic equation; what behaviors they bring that enable learning, such as attendance and turning in work on time; and how much they鈥檝e grown and improved.

In traditional models, teachers combine these three, muddling them together and assigning a single mark for an assignment 鈥� often a letter grade or a percentage. At the end of a semester, these assignment scores get averaged into a final grade that goes onto a transcript or report card. Proponents of standards-based grading argue that this presents an unclear and inaccurate picture to parents, students and colleges. 

鈥淚t makes the grade impossible to interpret,鈥� according to Guskey. For example, a 鈥淐鈥� on a paper could mean the student really only understood the material at a 鈥淐鈥� level or it could mean they turned in an excellent paper but two weeks late. Further adding to the confusion: what goes into a grade is inconsistent from teacher to teacher and school to school.

Traditional grading not only presents accuracy concerns but also equity ones, according to Matt Townsley, assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Northern Iowa. 鈥淔or example, if we award points for assignments that are completed on a daily basis 鈥� called homework 鈥� outside of class, you can imagine a scenario where some families are more privileged in their ability to do it,鈥� he said. 

Some students have access to a quiet place to work, tutors, parents who can help them with assignments, and other key resources, while others work after-school jobs or take care of younger siblings. When teachers grade homework, experts like Townsley argue, they are grading for these factors, rather than what students have actually learned. 

To combat this, standards-based grading does it differently. Rather than lumping together academic, behavioral and improvement grades, it separates them and reports them out individually in what Link calls a 鈥渄ashboard of information.鈥� 

Too often, she said, consultants and other self-proclaimed experts, who are not researchers, will push to throw away behavioral grades altogether. But she warned 鈥渢hat becomes problematic very, very quickly. We shouldn’t be using our gradebooks to punish and control. But those factors 鈥� those behavioral factors 鈥� are academic enablers, and we know that to be true as well.鈥�

Reporting it out separately makes students recognize that these other components still count and, in some ways, it makes them each count more because they can no longer be disguised by other factors, like extra credit, according to Guskey.

It鈥檚 important for schools to decide upfront what behaviors they want to prioritize 鈥� whether that鈥檚 attendance, work ethic, responsibility鈥� and then build a guide on how teachers will score for them. 鈥淏y giving these kinds of dashboards of information, it helps colleges, trade schools, etc. have a deeper understanding of what kind of students they鈥檙e accepting into the programs and what kind of support they will need in college,鈥� Link said. 

The academic grades should be based on grade-level standards and learning objectives, like the ability to find strong evidence to support a claim if a student is writing a paper or answering a test question.

A second key criteria is moving away from handing out percentage grades based on 100 to using a much smaller measurement scale, like 0 to 4. On each standard, students could also be graded as “exceeding,”, “meeting,” “almost” or “not yet.” Guskey noted that while this all may sound novel and unusual, other countries around the world, including Canada, have been using these practices for decades.

A third component 鈥� providing students multiple opportunities to demonstrate their understanding and mastery of a standard 鈥� is often where the greatest controversy crops up and things are most likely to go awry. Some educators argue that students should receive limitless opportunities to redo specific assignments. Researchers such as Link, though, argue that while students need multiple opportunities to demonstrate their understanding, that does not necessarily mean redoing the same assignment. 

鈥淭his is where a lot of non-academic proponents encourage that standards-based grading means you give as many retakes as it takes for mastery. Not true. Not true. That鈥檚 an assessment issue. That鈥檚 not a grading issue.鈥�

So, while a second chance at one assignment is perhaps the fair thing to do, it is not inherent to the ethos of standards-based grading. She emphasized that if schools do implement retake policies, the process needs to be purposeful: If a student doesn鈥檛 get it the first time, they need to get corrective feedback and instruction. But 鈥渋f they don鈥檛 get it on the second chance, you鈥檙e going to record their grade and move on,鈥� she said. 

There is no empirical evidence supporting the benefits of endless retakes and, she added, such practices can be a time-consuming and unrealistic ask of teachers. 

Because many of the people who write about and consult on testing don鈥檛 fully understand what鈥檚 behind assessing students more than once, Guskey said, their recommendations on how best to do it are often untested and can鈥檛 be supported in practice. Their inconsistent advice, he said, can lead teachers and administrators to forsake efforts to reform grading. 

While it鈥檚 important to understand what standards-based grading is, it鈥檚 also essential to debunk what it鈥檚 not. At its core, experts say, it鈥檚 purely a communication tool. It doesn鈥檛 tell educators how to create assessments, build curriculum or manage behavior. It can make space for teachers to provide more individualized feedback and for students to move through the skills and knowledge they need to master at their own pace. But these things aren鈥檛 inherently a part of it. 

鈥淏asically everything is just to pass.鈥�

When Kenny Rodrequez became superintendent of the Grandview school district a decade ago, he knew the grading system needed to change. He was concerned that as it stood, the traditional grading model they relied on wasn鈥檛 communicating students鈥� progress to their parents accurately. Leaders in the district, located just outside of Kansas City, ultimately decided to shift to standards-based grading for kindergarten through 6th grade. 

Now, in his eighth year as superintendent and ninth year overseeing the transition, he feels good about what they鈥檝e accomplished. One key factor of the successful implementation, he said, was 鈥渘ot trying to do it all at once.鈥� It can be tempting to 鈥渏ust say, 鈥楲et’s bite the bullet and let’s just roll it all out at the same time,鈥欌�� he added. It was important, though, to fight this urge and instead find a balance that allowed for deliberate policy shifts that still didn鈥檛 take an inordinate amount of time to implement.

Another key factor: making sure there was strong teacher and parent buy-in. The first year in particular, staff was nervous to explain this new system to parents before they even fully understood it themselves. Rodrequez said they created talking points for teachers and gave them the resources they needed. 

In the future, the district plans to bring standards-based grading to 7th-12th grade classrooms, but he anticipates at the high school level this will be trickier. 鈥淥ur challenge 鈥� is nationally we still have a system that’s still pretty based upon our letter grades. And that system鈥檚 been around for so long and never was designed to do what we’re trying to get it to do right now.鈥� Demands for GPAs and class rankings, in particular, are incongruous with the standards-based model but often necessary for college applications.

These very challenges have played out in one New York City high school, according to parent Talia Matz. When her stepson started 9th grade at Future High School in Manhattan, the school had orientation sessions to explain to parents how their standards-based grading system works. Still, she and her husband were skeptical. And over the past three years, they鈥檝e only become more concerned, she told 社区黑料. 

Some of the major assignments that the school uses instead of statewide Regents exams 鈥渁re a bit of a joke,鈥� she said, and students are not held accountable. 鈥淏asically everything is just to pass. It doesn’t matter how well you do,鈥� she said, adding, 鈥渋t doesn’t seem like there’s any love of learning. It’s just kind of to get it done.鈥� 

Contrary to best practices, on his report card there are no separated out comments or grades about behaviors. All standards are scored on a 0-4 scale, and parents and students can see grades on an online platform called JumpRope. But, the school then converts this scale into a traditional percentage grade, which is ultimately sent to colleges 鈥� another big no-no, according to experts. (According to the , schools may choose from a number of grading scales, including A-F, but it appears that regardless of what they select, all grades are ultimately converted into percentages.)

Students have a number of opportunities to redo assignments and no clear consequences for late work, Matz said. Rather than getting grades on daily assignments, he gets a 鈥淲ork Habits/Independent Practice鈥� score, which his stepmom said never appears on a transcript. This, she said, provides no incentive to turn assignments in on time or get them right the first time.

School administrators did not respond to requests for comment. The school鈥檚 website contests this point: Their official policy states that the 鈥淲ork Habits/Independent Practice鈥� score becomes 10% of a student鈥檚 final grade. Never reporting the behavior grade or averaging it into a single final grade would both go against standards-based grading best practices. 

Matz fears all this lends itself to lowered standards, which will leave her son unprepared for college. In the fall, he鈥檒l enroll at SUNY Buffalo, 鈥渂ut we’re concerned because there’s going to be different expectations 鈥� You have to study on your own, you don’t necessarily get second or third chances.鈥�

Whenever 鈥淕ina,鈥� a fifth grader at a suburban public school on the East Coast, did her math homework, she never had to worry about whether she could get help from her mom.

鈥淚 help her a lot with homework,鈥� Gina鈥檚 mother, a married, mid-level manager for a health care company, explained to us during an interview for a study we did about versus those who do not.

鈥淚 try to maybe re-explain things, like, things she might not understand,鈥� Gina鈥檚 mom continued. 鈥淟ike, if she鈥檚 struggling, I try to teach her a different way. I understand that Gina is a very visual child but also needs to hear things, too. I know that when I鈥檓 reading it, and I鈥檓 writing it, and I鈥檓 saying it to her, she comprehends it better.鈥�

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One of us is a who looks at how . The other is a who examines based on their work.

We were curious about how teachers reward students who complete their homework and penalize and criticize those who don鈥檛 鈥� and whether there was any link between those things and family income.

By analyzing student report cards and interviewing teachers, students and parents, we found that teachers gave good grades for homework effort and other rewards to students from middle-class families like Gina, who happen to have college-educated parents who take an active role in helping their children complete their homework.

But when it comes to students such as 鈥淛esse,鈥� who attends the same school as Gina and is the child of a poor, single mother of two, we found that teachers had a more bleak outlook.

The names 鈥淛esse鈥� and 鈥淕ina鈥� are pseudonyms to protect the children鈥檚 identities. Jesse can鈥檛 count on his mom to help with his homework because she struggled in school herself.

鈥淚 had many difficulties in school,鈥� Jesse鈥檚 mom told us for the same study. 鈥淚 had behavior issues, attention-deficit. And so after seventh grade, they sent me to an alternative high school, which I thought was the worst thing in the world. We literally did, like, first and second grade work. So my education was horrible.鈥�

Jesse鈥檚 mother admitted she still can鈥檛 figure out division to this day.

鈥淸My son will] ask me a question, and I鈥檒l go look at it and it鈥檚 like algebra, in fifth grade. And I鈥檓 like: 鈥榃hat鈥檚 this?鈥欌�� Jesse鈥檚 mom said. 鈥淪o it鈥檚 really hard. Sometimes you just feel stupid. Because he鈥檚 in fifth grade. And I鈥檓 like, I should be able to help my son with his homework in fifth grade.鈥�

Unlike Gina鈥檚 parents, who are married and own their own home in a middle-class neighborhood, Jesse鈥檚 mom isn鈥檛 married and rents a place in a mobile home community. She had Jesse when she was a teenager and was raising Jesse and his brother mostly on her own, though with some help from her parents. Her son is eligible for free lunch.

An issue of equity

As a matter of fairness, we think teachers should take these kinds of economic and social disparities into account in how they teach and grade students. But what we found in the schools we observed is that they usually don鈥檛, and instead they seemed to accept inequality as destiny. Consider, for instance, what a fourth grade teacher 鈥� one of 22 teachers we interviewed and observed during the study 鈥� told us about students and homework.

鈥淚 feel like there鈥檚 a pocket here 鈥� a lower income pocket,鈥� one teacher said. 鈥淎nd that trickles down to less support at home, homework not being done, stuff not being returned and signed. It should be almost 50-50 between home and school. If they don鈥檛 have the support at home, there鈥檚 only so far I can take them. If they鈥檙e not going to go home and do their homework, there鈥檚 just not much I can do.鈥�

While educators recognize the different levels of resources that students have at home, they continue to assign homework that is too difficult for students to complete independently, and reward students who complete the homework anyway.

Consider, for example, how one seventh grade teacher described his approach to homework: 鈥淚 post the answers to the homework for every course online. The kids do the homework, and they鈥檙e supposed to check it and figure out if they need extra help. The kids who do that, there is an amazing correlation between that and positive grades. The kids who don鈥檛 do that are bombing.

“I need to drill that to parents that they need to check homework with their student, get it checked to see if it鈥檚 right or wrong and then ask me questions. I don鈥檛 want to use class time to go over homework.鈥�

The problem is that the benefits of homework are not uniformly distributed. Rather, research shows that students from high-income families make bigger achievement gains through homework than students from low-income families.

This relationship has been found in both and , and it suggests that homework may contribute to disparities in students鈥� performance in school.

Tougher struggles

On top of uneven academic benefits, research also reveals that making sense of the math homework assigned in U.S schools is often more difficult for parents who have , parents who . It is also difficult for parents who .

Meanwhile, students from more-privileged families are disproportionately more likely to have a or a available after school to help with homework, as well as parents who . And they are also more likely to have parents who on their behalf.

False ideas about merit

In the schools we observed, teachers interpreted homework inequalities through what social scientists call . The myth suggests that all students in the U.S. have the same opportunities to succeed in school and that any differences in students鈥� outcomes are the result of different levels of effort. Teachers in our study said things that are in line with this belief.

For instance, one third grade teacher told us: 鈥淲e鈥檙e dealing with some really struggling kids. There are parents that I鈥檝e never even met. They don鈥檛 come to conferences. There鈥檚 been no communication whatsoever. 鈥� I鈥檒l write notes home or emails; they never respond. There are kids who never do their homework, and clearly the parents are OK with that.

“When you don鈥檛 have that support from home, what can you do? They can鈥檛 study by themselves. So if they don鈥檛 have parents that are going to help them out with that, then that鈥檚 tough on them, and it shows.鈥�

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