Schools

Does Your Child Get Too Much Homework?

Homework, school climate and parental involvement are topics covered in recent survey for parents at Paradise Canyon and Palm Crest elementaries.

Is your child's teacher responsive to parents' and students' concerns? Are you greeted warmly and courteously when you visit your child's school? Do you believe your child has too much homework? And what about the teacher?

These are a handful of the 14 questions asks its parents in a recently posted online survey - something that parents and school board members applaud.

Joining Paradise Canyon in seeking parental feedback is , whose administrators are currently tallying this month's survey results. The online survey has been taken down as the two-week window to respond has passed.

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"I've done this kind of survey before in another district and found it very valuable. The feedback can show where we need to grow and what is working well,'' said PCR Principal Karen Hurley.

Belinda Randolph, the parent of a Paradise Canyon Elementary fifth grader, attended the board meeting back in March to ask whether the elementary schools planned to go foward with surveys for the parents. The board, at that time, did not have an answer, but Randolph since has been pleased at the opportunity to address topics such as curriculum and homework loads - she would just like to see the questions delve a little deeper.

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"Survey results can be used to help teachers improve, if the questions are chosen carefully,'' she said, noting additional topics she'd like to see covered include assigned seating during lunch, yard supervision, whether writing should be done in class, at home or both and specific examples of any project that parents deem appropriate or inappropriate for that grade level.

Such points could be made in the survey's box that asks parents to add additional comments or ask questions not already addressed.

PCY Principal Debra Cradduck said she believes her teachers and administrators have good communication with their parents, but that not all parents have taken the opportunity to give them feedback, so a survey is a perfect vehicle to hear what they have to say. The survey asks for, but does not require, the parent to list his or her name.

As part of her Title I outreach accountability, Cradduck had created surveys in the past, so she took a sample of that to her School Sit Council, the PTA and her staff and together created the current questionnaire.

"Our intention is to give all families a formal opportunity to give us feedback relating to school-wide issues - climate, parent involvement, curriculum and standards, and homework,'' she said. 

The school will leave the survey online through the end of the year, and then come back in the fall with the stakeholder groups again to discuss the findings, Cradduck said. Each group will then give feedback for next steps and that will be considered as we develop next year's school plan, she added.

School board member Cindy Wilcox believes that surveys such as the ones at PCR and PCY are an example of how LCUSD schools are willing to "take on the big conversations,'' she said.

"This can lead to effective planning for improvement. [A survey is] one of the many things that contributes to long term successs,'' Wilcox said, noting various schools in the District have conducted surveys from time to time. "I applaud the principals and School Site Councils for making the effort to reach out to their families.''

Board member Joel Peterson echos Wilcox' sentiment. He pointed out that surveys  in conjunction with other tools, data, and feedback mechanisms will continue to be used to make ongoing improvements, modifications and support communication.


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