Penalty for late homework

You will not like my answer but I am not in favor of modified grading; all of my 6th grade ld son’s teachers(all 8 of them) hand out a grading rubric at the start of the year and the kids and parents sign it…everyone knows what’s expected and yes the teachers assign detention, etc. for not doing homework. In the world of work, no one will modify work assignments, so I think middle school is low-stakes enough to get used to it.

Is there a way that you could have the medication work in the evening as well as the day? I know that there is a medication that is time release. Before the student walks out the door, check and make sure that he has all of his work for that day, better yet get him in the habit of doing that if possible.

Hi Mary,

This story is heart-breaking, since your son did the work and apparently put some effort into the assignment! And he did finish it on time. Middle school is not college or the work world. You should try talking to the principal or even the special ed director, as this policy seems punitive and doesn’t teach your son anything about responsibility-just about rigid adults.
eren

Thanks to those who responded to my concern. I really appreciated your response, Eren, and feel that you have some sense of what it must be like to deal will all of the issues surrounding ADD. I think it’s important for the others who responded to recognize that our son DID do the homework. In fact, he spends anywhere from 3-6 hours on homework every evening and 10-15 hours on a weekend. It rules our lives and we are unable to ever make plans because homework seems to be all that we do. SAR mentioned that in the world of work, no one will modify work assignments, yet my husband works in a company and has hundreds of people in his group for whom he is responsible. Even he cannot believe the middle school’s system of such severe penalties. His experience is that if one of the people reporting to him arrives at work and explains that for whatever reason a project is not ready, then they sit down and work out together how they are going to deal with it. He doesn’t fire people or reduce their pay by 50% for that day because a memo didn’t get written.

Shay suggested that we modify the medication. Our son is already on a time-release medication. Because of the school and bus schedule, he is awake at 5:30 each morning to catch a bus at 6:50 a.m. He is already on the highest legal dose of the medication. The side effect of that is the reduced appetite. He doesn’t even register on the weight charts for his height and age group, so we are very reluctant to try to address this issue with more medication. Plus, we’ve found that if we give him more medication in the afternoon, he is unable to get to sleep at night and then doesn’t get the rest he needs to get up at 5:30 the next morning. It’s really a vicious cycle. Also, please know that we do check the assignment book and make sure the homework folder has all the finished work, and everything is in the bookbag in a large basket next to the door so he can grab it on his way out the next day. On this one particular day, as I explained, he must have removed it when he was putting other homework in the folder and simply placed it on the desk and forgot to put it back in the homework folder.

I also believe in natural and logical consequences, but I really think we have to look at what is best for a child, not what is easiest for the teacher. BTW, I am a school administrator and I’ve never heard of this policy of 50% credit for late homework before. Where did these draconian penalties such as detention and failing grades originate? Last week, I went to work without my security badge and I didn’t get reprimanded or have to stay late after work as a punishment. Everybody makes mistakes sometimes.

If someone can help me understand how and why these penalties are necessary, maybe I’ll see the reason, but at this point I am still unconvinced.

Would love to hear what others have to say regarding this issue.

Thanks.

Everyone in our middle school receives the rubric for grading; except I assume the lower functiong self-contained resource students. The same applies to the code of behavior. How will students learn to control their time and output if there are no expectations to do so in middle school? Will he fail the course if this one homework assignment is downgraded? It ‘s all part of an middle school experience; if it’s not workig on a regular basis for your son, then that’s something to bring to the IEP mtg.

I have taught both middle school and now high school. The reason why getting homework in when it is supposed to be brought in is because you as a teacher can plan on your teaching units, if you assign homework and noone brings it in, unfortunately, you have to change what you are planning to teach that day. I taught two years in middle school and didn’t assign homework because I knew that very few kids would bring it in. Now, that wasn’t just self-contained classes but teamed classes as well. Students, in general don’t do homework in grades 7-12. I am under the gun this year in 11th grade English, I have the English state tests. I am planning on having a website with links to the students’ websites so that they can do their work online. I will also have the syllabus on my website so that the parents can see what the timeline is for their assignments. Bringing in homework assignments is so bad in 7-12 grades’ that our school district has been thinking of going to a year-round school! The kids have so much to learn for the SOLs in history and science, that they have to do their homework. Also, I know that many of you think that this is a trait for the ADHD child, you aren’t alone, it is a trait for most students. I have 31 students in one of my English inclusion classes and about 15 do their homework. My kids have to start doing homework so that they can have a chance of passing the tests.

I guess other readers are not understanding what our concerns are. Our son DOES the homework—from 3-6 hours every night. This issue is not about doing or not doing the homework. It is about one time when he spent 8-10 hours writing an essay and then received only half credit, which equates to a failing grade on the assignment. It’s not about rules, rubrics, a school’s homework policy, or a teacher’s frustration about students who fail to complete assignments. But if this is the attitude out there, then I guess that explains why we’re having so much difficulty getting any compassion or understanding from the teacher. You’re right, in the whole scheme of things, a failing grade on one assignment is not the end of the world, but what it does to a child’s incentive and motivation is very destructive. How does anyone get motivated for the next assignment after that kind of an experience?

Last year in sixth grade, my daughter (not LD) spent 5 hours doing a homework assignment. Her teacher gave her a zero because she forgot to put her name on it. I thought that was overly punitive. I called her on it and she backtracked on it and told me that it was OK this time.

I thought my daughter should have been penalized, just like your son for forgetting homework. But the punishment has to fit the crime. A one grade reduction for not putting name on paper or forgetting homework seems to me to be reasonable. I know many other middle school students who have that penalty.

I think the reason my daughter’s teacher backtracked is she knew she was being excessive. My daughter told me she was in a very bad mood that day. I was prepared to talk to the prinicpal but fort. did not have to.

I do not usually intervene but do feel that the punishment has to fit the crime or kids do not learn from the experience.

Beth

Beth

As a teacher of some 20+ years and having taught at many different levels of teaching, I have to say that ‘teaching timeliness’ has sadly taken over school curriculum. The subject matter that is taught is subordinated to timeliness. That makes no sense to me as a teacher but that’s the way it seems to be and few teachers question it.

In some classes such as math, of course, the day’s work can be dependent on the completed homework. A student can get nothing out of the class if the work is not done. If a book is being discussed in Language Arts, the reading must be done for the student to participate and understand the discussion.

The assumption that penalizing any student 50% on their grade will somehow ‘teach’ that student to remember their homework is an interesting one that’s made in many schools. Punishment is somehow thought to be teaching. Trying to get any teacher or school to understand how it is not is a hard task as punishment as a teaching tool is a sadly entrenched practice in schools.

What’s also true, as you said, is that each teacher is fairly free to establish their own policies and students and parents must find their way through the tremendous inconsistencies. What is consistent is that there will be in every school teachers who are unyielding and for whom common sense plays no role in their interaction with students. It sounds as if this teacher is one of them.

You might ask her if she sees your son as irresponsible. Is that her impression? Are simple mistakes ever made or is every omission a lack of responsibility in her opinion?

Can you address any of this within his IEP in the coming year? Could you have written into his IEP that he have extensions on assignments, perhaps? At the least, if you have any input into choosing his teachers, certainly choose those whose grading policies are not so inane as are this teacher’s.

As a teacher - and a parent of an ADD child - I’d also gently suggest that you might reconsider his evening medication. My own son took a very reduced dose in the late afternoon that helped him to more successful evenings. No son or daughter should be doing hours upon hours of homework every night and with or without medication, I’d want to do whatever I could to lessen that time. 10 hours on any one assignment defeats the purpose. Perhaps allow him to dictate some of his work to a willing typist to speed up the process.

Good luck.

Similar situation here, w/daughter, 6th grade (middle school) and son, 4th grader, countless hours on homework and no grade if it’s turned in late.

Completed but late homework solution: We incorporated 504 modifications that if homework is completed, signed off by me and placed in the book bag that the student will not be penalized “at all” for “missing” assignments since this would be penalizing them for their disability, inattention.

Another huge issue was tracking down homework assignments that didn’t come home to be completed, missing worksheets, course books, etc. I was going to both schools everyday to pick up the missing items. After tracking my mileage and time I presented an itemized bill to the school for reimbursement at a IEP meeting as part of the cost of FAPE not being provided by the school. Disorganization is a life skill and the school is part owner of student’s organizational issues. 504s mod. when homework assignments are not written into the assignment book and the accompanying course book or worksheet is not brought home (school is responsibile for teaching organization) then again, no penalty against the student/parent for missing assignments.

Time solution 1: Our school district has maximum number of hours child is allowed to do homework. After 3 hours, we call it quits for my 4th grader and note assignments that were incomplete due to the SD time limit.

Time solution 2: Another modification is the use of a scribe for dictation. There simply aren’t enough hours in the evening to accomplish all of the homework of both kids. I scribe, using a word processing program, for them in order to eliminate some of the time involved. This has received mixed reviews from several teachers over the years but it is incorporated in IEP/504 plans as a modification when penmenship, spelling or grammar are not the objective of the assignment. We just started using Dragon Naturally Speaking with my daughter who dictates directly to the computer and it writes the text for her, way cool. Will train my son soon.

When spelling and grammar are the objectives I still scribe but type everything in lower case and exclude grammar (puntuation, paragraphs, etc.) unless the child tells me too, i.e. new sentence mom. Then I have them proof the document making necessary corrections and print the final. This has decreased the time demands being placed on me (the parent) by the school, teachers receive neat legible homework, the student learns draft/proof/final document preparation and word processing both real world tools.

Math solution: I copy math problems from the book onto graph or notebook paper and the child completes the work. This is a huge timesaver.

This my seem extreme to some but I’m dealing with a combination of reading disability, writing disablity, ADHD, APD, listening comprehension disability, math disability, and extreme disorganization between both kids. Between the 3 of us we spent 7 hours on homework last night and this is the good news. I can hardly wait till they both hit high school!

I hope that some of this helps.

Hi all. I am a special education teacher and the parent of a young adult with ADD whose biggest problem in school was homework. We solved the problem with 2 things. Evening medication and I developed a program for him that I call G. Whiz… I Finished My Homework! I sell it through my company G. Whiz Educational Resources. Please email me at spelling@gwhizresources if you are interested in it.

nt

In a similar situation, my son had to write a paper for his Sophomore English class on a time when he did something he considered “heroic”. The teacher told him it was one of the best papers she had read since teaching at that school, and he had only two corrections to make and bring it back the next day. He made those corrections and turned it in, but was given a zero because he did not highlight the corrections.
My son can be difficult, but I had to call on this. I asked what the objective of the lesson was (to highlight OR to write and edit?). She said it was to edit, but she couldn’t go back and re read everyone’s papers so they were to highlight changes. I can understand that, and he had been told to do so, but if it is not clear that highlighting is worth points, they might not do so.
I gave her a few suggestions of how to handle it differently, and let her know that she must evaluate her objective, NOT what makes it easier for her work. I also let her know that if she says it is one of the best papers, he comes home excited, and taking all of the points away because he did not highlight was just not acceptable.
The next day she asked my son how many points he thought she should take off, and he said he didn’t know… he didn’t want to tell her what to do. So she took off 15 points out of 50!
I didn’t think 15 was logical, but I was grateful she gave him something.
I am a college professor, and I give my students assignments with a space on the top for THEM to write the due date on it. They are always due THE WEEK OF…. That way if they forget, it is okay. As long as all work is turned in by 5 p.m. on Friday of that week, they are okay. Yes, I end up grading all weekend, but I believe TIME is the greatest gift we can give anyone.

I find you to be the logical poster here, Donna. Good for you. I will be looking send my child to a college with more professors like you, and one with good academic supports. We have had teachers who have asked our son to copy questions over before answering, highlighting, underlining in different colored pens, etc. We have had teachers trying to deduct points for late assignments. Most teachers we have had, I believe do not understand the nature of our child’s ADD. Many instructors we have had, I think really see this as a made up disorder enabling or son to get away with being lazy and not taking initiative to do what he is responsible for. I am even including some in the sped department! Well our son’s condition is real, and we are not shortchanging his education. I will say that we do not allow points deducted for nonsense that you describe-30% off for not highlighting a great paper!!!! This is insanity. Are we grading content or the ability to color in the lines!! My son would fail out of hs if I permitted point deductions for lateness, and highlighting!!!MARY MY CHILD IS LIKE YOURS, SO I UNDERSTAND!!! I fight with the school tooth and nail, but I get it into the iep that there will not be deductions for late assignments, bcs our child has no organizational skills. We spend so much time at home chasing after his assignments, getting them into the folders and backpack. Things have improved, but not nearly enough for him to be cured and now get penalized for lateness. There is no cure, just learning to live with ADD. He never impulsively through a punch, distracted the classroom, but his ADD manifests this way, and teachers do not want to believe us, bcs he is well behaved, quiet, follows behavioral rules, but is completely disorganized in even writing down what he is supposed to do. Mary my only solution is to get the terms of what my son needs (accomodations) into the iep. I do not take no for an answer!!!!! There are teachers we have that, by the way, do not even need to read the iep, as they adapt to what my son needs, and provide what he needs to learn and be successful. Sadly, however, looking at all the above postings everyone should see why the iep is crucial. I disagree with lowering grades, deducting points. Does any teacher think by doing this they are fixing my son’s manifestation of ADD? They are not. They are only making him hate school more each time they try playing psychology.

What does “adversely affects educational performance” mean?

An adverse effect on educational performance can incorporate all
aspects of the child’s functioning at school, including educational
performance as measured by grades or achievement test scores. It can
also be manifested through behavioral difficulties at school; and
impaired or inappropriate social relations; impaired work skills,
such as being disorganized, tardy, having trouble getting to work on
time and difficulty with following the rules. Schools are required to
address the effects of a child’s disability in all areas of
functioning, including academic, social/emotional, cognitive,
communication, vocational and independent living skills.

http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/legal_legislative/q_and_a_idea99.ht
ml

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IEP_guide/

these ideas suck

How should the schools address the effects of disorganization and following directions as listed in the above posts?

There are some fairly easy things schools can do for disorganized students. One thing is for the student to report to a teacher, preferably the resource room or special education teacher at the end of the day for a back-pack check, where the teacher double checks that the student has all his or her materials and notices to go home. Of course, the teacher needs to know what the assignments are. The special education teacher could also consult with any teacher who has a long-term or complicated assignment, so they can structure it for the student, writing the instructions more step-by-step or setting up a check off chart of requirements. If he or she can include the student in this process, the student will learn to do it for himself, eventually. Another way students can get organized is to have a homework assignment book that is set up with spaces for each subject (there are commercially available ones) that they can pre-fill out for a week at a time with anything they can (such as standing weekly assignments) on the weekend. A homework buddy, a peer with whom they can call and check in or whom they can consult before they leave school can also help students remember what assignments they have. Students who have trouble completing assignments can use the homework buddy to check that they have understood the assignment requirements as well.

We have several systems in line for our dis-organized 13 year old. Each subject is divided in his school binder. It’s too much for him to keep up with 5 separates notebooks so we have one big binder with tabbed dividers. Then each day, each subject gets a new agenda page, created by us, so he can write down his homework assignments, objectives, long term projects, etc. These are initialed each day by the teacher and parent. Any forms that have to come home are clipped to these pages with those huge 5” paper clips found at the office supply store. Homework, forms, etc. that have to go back to school are also clipped to those forms. We are fortunate enough to have some great teachers and his homeroom teacher emails us his assignment for all classes each night “just in case.” (Our son doesn’t know this though.) His teacher’s also keep us up on assignments that are “missing” or incomplete. The penalty for late homework isn’t great but it is there. We are also in the process of acquiring a second set of textbooks for him to keep at home. This eliminates the problem of forgetting books at school. The county is short of texts though so we may have to shop for copies.

The school has tried over the last several years to incorporate organizational skills into the daily classroom by providing planners for each student and setting up daily procedures for starting each class. Of course, the classroom is only as organized as the teacher that runs it. In the event our children happen to get a teacher with ADD or just one with no organizational skills then we have an even tougher time.

Hi there,
I just wanted to cry reading your message, because I too have had the same problems with my 8th grader for years. It is ADHD that he has and homework and grades have always been a sore spot for all of us. My son started 8th grade failing by the end of first quarter. I sat him down and said Ok now we are going to have to talk. I had tried it all and I wanted to see what his solution might be. I am not sure if it would work for you, but ANYTHING is worth a try. By the way, it is working so far!!
Here is what I did,
We sat down and I told him what I saw. Failing grades due to homework turned in late and detention keeping him out of class due to outbreaks and behavior. I asked him what was causing the low grades and he replied homework not turned in and detention. I said you will be attending 8th grade again next year if we do not turn this around today! I asked him to think of solutions and report back within 24 hours with them otherwise per his school, he would attend behavioral charter school with no sports! ( a huge issue for him!) When we talked he said the thing he hated most was everyone nagging him about so many things. I told him I would committ to no nagging if he would do his part. He agreed to 30 min. of school work nightly and to check his own agenda nightly for asignments and notes. He asked me what happens if I don’t have homework and the deal was he would read or do something…his choice but related to school.I also told him if he needed assistance he would have to flag me. I also met with his teachers and asked them to participate in the new arrangement. We got a large whiteboard and did a month in a glance with all tests, asignments and daily tasks to include those he likes…sports schedules and so forth. I only gently remind him nightly by saying if you need me to help you with anything please ask as I am doing this or that this evening and he will say ol. It has turned our whole relationship around because now he actually asks me for help at times. He even got the best score on the math quiz this week and that is a first!!!!!!!! I remind him I am not perfect but his failing is not an option! He understands that better now and I think appreciates my reasons now.