LA Schools: Homework Can't Exceed 10% of Grade

The nation's second-biggest school district is entering the debate over homework: A new policy dictates that it can't be worth more than 10% of a student's grade, reports the LA Times. The Los Angeles Unified School District wants to ease the after-school burden on its largely low-income, urban students, many of whom have to work long hours at jobs or come from homes that aren't exactly study-friendly. The new policy doesn't speak to how much homework students get, only that teachers shouldn't emphasize it too much in grading.

“Varying degrees of access to academic support at home, for whatever reason, should not penalize a student so severely that it prevents the student from passing a class, nor should it inflate the grade,” the new policy says. Other districts around the country have taken steps to limit homework, part of larger how-much-is-too-much debate over its role in education. Click for more on the issue. (More Los Angeles stories.)