Taking the home out of homework

Some students never do their homework at home. But that’s OK at many schools in the area, where homework clubs are proving to be a great way to get some kids to do their homework.

Students as young as first-graders and as old as high school seniors are sticking around after school to do their homework or get a little help with difficult assignments. In most schools, homework centers, sometimes called tutoring centers, are voluntary. Some are drop-in programs while others require parental pemission. Most are on campus, but others are tied in with community programs. For parents and students struggling to get homework done at home, these programs are an option.

At least one school, Lewis and Clark High School, has made going to an after-school tutoring center mandatory for students who are failing classes.

“If their grade is failing due to them not turning in their work, it is mandatory,” says Mike Malsam, assistant principal at Lewis and Clark. “Parents love it. We’re holding kids accountable for getting their work done.”

At Holmes Elementary School, an average of 25 to 30 fourth- through sixth-graders head to the school’s homework club for an hour after school. The program’s been running for several years, and Principal Steve Barnes says it’s a positive environment where students can get help on their work.

For the younger set, Holmes Elementary is lucky to be on the receiving end of a partnership with students from Whitworth College. Through a program called Homework Helpers, children in grades 1 to 4 meet one-on-one with students from Whitworth’s education department. The program takes place in a Westminster Presbyterian Church building about a block from the school.

Homework Helpers operates two days a week for eight weeks in the fall and eight weeks in the spring, says organizer Doris Liebert, professor emeritus of education. “They start by journaling, then having a snack. Then they get down to business and do their homework,” Liebert says.

She calls it a “full jam-packed hour.”

While parents are sometimes amazed that kids who have been sitting in class all day are able to go to Homework Helpers and be focused enough to do their homework, Liebert says the success of the program lies in its one-on-one nature.

Plus, she says, the kids love working with the Whitworth students, who bring energy and excitement to homework, which parents sometimes lack after a long day at work. For the Whitworth students, Liebert says, “It’s in no way a drudgery.”

Homework Helpers has been helping students for more than a decade, and Liebert says most teachers at Holmes Elementary know they can refer students to the free program.

Parents still the biggest motivators

Teacher referrals drive student attendance at many homework clubs in the area, but school officials say parental motivation is a big factor in getting kids to go.

At Mullan Road Elementary, Principal Paul Stone says students who are forced to go to the school’s homework center tend to “sabotage” it. The program draws up to 40 students a day and works best when students want to be there, he says.

Most of the kids who use the homework center use it two or more times a week, he says, adding that they’ve learned the value of getting their homework done right away and having the rest of the afternoon and evening for other activities.

“Kids are still kids,” Stone says, explaining that free time is important.

But because getting kids to do their homework is a big frustration with many parents, Stone says parents really appreciate the homework center.

The center is staffed by one teacher and a classified staff member. In the past, Stone says the school had money available for the program, but now that resources are scarce, it’s a struggle to keep it going.

To pay for it this year, Stone says he found money in the budget for one of the staff positions while the school’s Parent-Teacher Group kicked in money for the second position.

Still, he says, the program hasn’t reached its capacity, and he’s not even sure what that would be.

“If 50 kids wanted to be there and wanted to work hard, I’d find room,” he says.

In Coeur d’Alene, high school students who are failing their classes can find help through an off-site program called Teen Aid Project.

The after-school tutoring program is in its fifth year at the Lake City Community Church, near Lake City High School. It’s also operating for the first year at the Coeur d’Alene Bible Church to serve Coeur d’Alene High School students.

Frank Bittick, a retired educator, coordinates the program, which uses volunteers who provide one-on-one tutoring to students four days a week at both sites.

“We have helped raise 115 students’ grades from F’s to passing or from D’s to C’s or better,” Bittick says.

After signing in, students get a snack and a drink and then get down to work. After completing their homework with a tutor, Bittick says students can work with the tutor on difficult concepts. Volunteers range from retired teachers to honors students.

“It’s working,” he says. “It’s a viable program.”

But he added that more volunteers are always needed.

Closing the achievement gap

At Lewis and Clark High School, freshmen and sophomores are part of a huge effort designed to keep them on track with their credits.

One of the driving forces, says Assistant Principal Malsam, is data that show students are more likely to graduate from high school if they are not failing any classes by the end of 10th grade.

Of those who are failing classes in ninth and 10th grade, 80 percent are doing so because they are not turning in their work, Malsam says. And, there’s a direct correlation between getting less than C grades in class and not passing the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, he says.

That’s where the school’s new tutoring center comes in. It’s open Monday through Thursday from 2:45 to 4 p.m. Staff members work in teams of three to run the center.

“The hardest part is we’re trying to make a culture change where students know that failure really isn’t an option,” Malsam says.

Though designed primarily for freshmen and sophomores, teachers also can refer juniors or seniors to the program. When students are referred to the program, teachers are required to let the parents know.

“We need parents to be a part of the team,” Malsam says. “I have not had one parent come to me and say, ‘You can’t make my child do the work.’”

Upon receiving a referral, students meet with a school counselor or administrator to talk about why they aren’t turning in assignments and are then required to go to the tutoring center two days a week, Malsam says.

“What do we do if they don”t come? We assign Saturday school,” Malsam says.

Terren Roloff, community relations director for Spokane Public Schools and the parent of a Lewis and Clark student, says, “As a parent, it really takes a lot of pressure off of us to monitor homework that we may not know even exists.”

But she says it’s important for parents to provide support at home as well.

“Obviously we still need to ensure there’s time and a place for our son to do his homework at home,” she says.

Malsam admits that there is a small percentage of students who just won’t do the work no matter how much the school and parents push. The goal: to reach all of the other students who are not making academic achievement – “to close the achievement gap,” he says.

The tutoring center has posed a few problems for the school and staff. Some teachers are frustrated by the added paperwork and tracking that comes with the program, Malsam says.

“It’s hard work,” he says. “It’s kind of like going to the gym every night and lifting weights.”

But school officials view it as a “personal challenge” to get kids passing,

The quality of a school isn’t based on the high achieving students, Malsam says. “It’s what you can do with the kids who are not achieving.”