CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx. — Students at Kolda Elementary School in Corpus Christi got the news every kid would like to get last week. The school sent them home with a letter informing their parents that they would not be assigned any homework this school year.
"Our parents when we announced it were very supportive," Principal Josie Alvarez said. "Our students, of course, shouted with joy."
Alvarez and the school's campus advisory committee made the decision after surveying parents to get their opinions about their kids and homework.
"We had parents saying in their survey, [homework] does put a lot of demand on the children," Alvarez said. "These are elementary level [students]. Their brains, by the time they get home, they're exhausted."
The school also spent a year researching the effect homework had on student learning.
"Our research was saying student achievement is not going to improve simply because they assign them homework," Alvarez said.
Students who spoke to KRIS 6 News unanimously approved of the no homework policy.
"I really love it," Kolda Elementary School student Rachel Tudor said. "It gives us more family time."
"It's amazing," student Vryanna Garcia said.
Parents were overwhelmingly supportive as well, but KRIS 6 did find one dissenter.
"That's a bad thing," parent Olga Velasquez said. "They'll just go onto the video games and television instead of reading."
While students won't have actual homework assignments, Alvarez encourages nightly reading and review of spelling words.
