Article

Students get required summer homework to keep up

Monday, June 19, 2006 • BY KRISTEN ALLOWAY • Star-Ledger Staff

Mount Olive High School student Nicole Feldman has her homework cut out for her this summer.

She has to read "Girl, Interrupted," a memoir about a young woman dealing with mental illness, and write a short paper on it. Next, she'll craft her own personal essay.

Then the senior-to-be has a dozen math problems to solve and will read an essay on immigration and write two critiques, each time from a different side of the argument.

Finally, she'll wade through several chapters of her Advanced Placement biology textbook, answer 66 multiple-choice questions and prepare for a test the first week of school.

In her free time, she'll work 20 hours a week at the concession stand at a local movie theater.

The last day of school once meant no more pencils, no more books, nothing more than sun-drenched nothingness. Nowhere to go. Not much to do.

But not any more.

Many parents say required summer homework assignments have piled up in recent years, stressing kids and frustrating families juggling trips down the Shore, camp, jobs and -- remember this? -- simply hanging out.

"It was just overwhelming," Nicole's mother, Karen Feldman, said of her daughter's workload last summer, which included reading Ayn Rand's 700-page "Fountainhead" and Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms." "It took the entire summer."

Summer work can range from reading a few classics while poolside to cranking through projects in nearly every subject.

Many schools say they have not upped the assignments in recent years, but some districts have made them mandatory or changed the way they are graded.

At Butler High, students are dropped from Advanced Placement classes if they don't complete summer assignments.

"We want to make sure the student was very serious about being in the AP class," Principal William Hanisch said.

At Ridge High in Bernards Township, most of the 22 AP classes require summer homework, Principal Richard Stotler said.

Summer work is an increasing trend educators say. With increased pressure to have strong showings on standardized tests, schools often look for ways to extend instructional time, said Mark Alter, a professor of education psychology at New York University.

"Schools are saying there are limits to what we can do and (are) trying to bring teaching and learning beyond the school day," Alter said. "To say learning is only confined to the hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. is a myopic view of instruction."

"Do kids need two months of vacation? No," said Warren Crown, an associate dean at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. "As we find out more about the competitiveness of the global economy ... and the degree to which people in India, China and Europe can literally compete with our kids for jobs, we will find our educational system has to do a better job."

Many teachers say summer homework is necessary for all middle and high school students -- not just those bound for honors and AP courses.

Reviewing material from a previous year prods kids to keep "their brains dusted off" during the summer, said John Gallucci, principal of Lazar Middle School in Montville.

At Lazar, all students will be assigned language arts and math this summer.

"I absolutely agree kids should have fun in the summer, but children forget just like you and I forget," said Lorraine Fanning, who teaches math at Lazar.

And not everyone gripes.

College-bound Hannah Jenkins of Mount Olive, who has assignments in each of the six AP classes she's taking in the fall, thinks it's necessary. She's especially concerned because Mount Olive schools won't open until Sept. 20 due to ongoing construction, and the AP exams, which can help students earn college credit, are in early May.

"We're competing against schools that started in August," said Hannah, who also will swim for two teams this summer. "To cover all that information, you have to do something over the summer."

Nancy McMahon of Glen Ridge said her two children weren't happy about the summer assignments required in their honors and AP classes. But they realized the work was worth it.

Her son took several AP classes and went to the University of Notre Dame last fall with 36 credits.

"It's just part of what needs to go into the preparation at that high level of academics," McMahon said.

Some educators say the lessons can be incorporated into family vacations.

"Give a summer assignment to families, to find some math in the summer vacations they take," Crown said. "If you're on a driving vacation, throw a question into the back seat. ... So when they go back to school in September they won't be acting as if they haven't used their intellect all summer."

Some will hit the books more than the beach

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