BY MADISON LEE ’27
Most students are already swamped with sports, studying, and extracurriculars, just to be greeted by the piles of work awaiting them at home. However, the Jericho Math Department has recently introduced a potential solution to this problem. At the start of the 2025 school year, mandatory math homework was eliminated for all Regents-level, Precalculus, and AP Statistics courses.
Before the new policy, math homework was checked for completion and comprised 15% of one’s total grade. Curriculum Associate of Mathematics Ms. Helene Kriegstein believes that grades should be reflections of “what students know, understand, and can do.” However, Ms. Kriegstein felt that these aforementioned factors were not properly evaluated through homework assignments, which could be completed with AI, shared answers, or varying levels of effort. “Based on our philosophy about what grades represent, and what we were doing with homework, we were slightly out of sync,” Ms. Kriegstein said. “So something had to change.”
Beginning in the spring of 2025, the department engaged in extensive conversations about homework’s role in a student’s grade. This included discussions over homework’s true effect on student learning and wellness—and how the department could amend its practices to better address these aspects of student growth.
According to Ms. Kriegstein, “The real purpose of homework is for students to be able to check their own understanding. They should be doing those homework problems for themselves, to see if that learning is cemented.”
However, to many, mandatory homework felt more like an obligation than an opportunity to enrich their learning. Students were not completing homework to benefit themselves—they were completing it because they had to. This mindset surrounding homework is a major problem that the new policy aims to improve.
Many students dislike homework for its time-consuming and repetitive nature, feeling that it takes away time from extracurriculars, work, and socializing. “Whenever I have homework, I feel like I can’t get it done because I have too much,” said Aanya G. ’27. Other students reiterate the overwhelming nature of homework; not only are they stressed over homework, but they could potentially resort to dishonest methods just to get it done. Though made to be helpful, homework may inadvertently weaken academic integrity, prompting the department’s choice to get rid of it.
Researchers from Stanford University found that students from high-performing high schools who spend more time on homework “experienced greater behavioral engagement in school but also more academic stress, physical health problems, and lack of balance in their lives.”
Students at Jericho feel similarly. “[Homework] really just slows me down. I do a lot of volunteer work and classes after school, and I’m not able to fully immerse myself in them because I always worry about homework,” Aanya added.
These feelings of homework being overwhelming and unmanageable extend to school districts across the nation, and are especially prevalent in students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. According to the American Psychological Association, underprivileged students are more likely to have jobs after school and less likely to have access to technology and quiet spaces to work at home. These factors are often not considered when assigning homework, so some communities are unfairly disadvantaged and unable to reap the benefits that homework can offer. While homework might be beneficial in theory, in its execution, it is not always as helpful as intended.
The burden of mandatory homework affects students on all sides of the socioeconomic spectrum. To target this, teachers are shifting their focus from graded to optional assignments instead. Math teacher Dr. Marissa Mauro has had a no-homework policy in her classroom for years. She said, “Instead of requiring homework, I provide optional practice materials with answers so students who want to strengthen their skills can do so at their own pace.” Dr. Mauro believes that optional homework relieves stress and “teaches students to take ownership of their learning.”
Although additional practice questions are still available for students to complete at home, the math department’s new policy introduces alternative methods for reinforcing new concepts. One method is the use of “check-ins,” which are short, formative assessments administered regularly in class.
Math teacher Ms. Melaina Badalian appreciates the new check-in policy, as it helps her students gauge their own performance. She believes check-ins make it easier for students to track their understanding and recognize where they need to improve. This could encourage them to seek extra help or practice during the unit, reducing the need to cram before a big test.
Teachers are also benefiting from check-ins because they can see if their current approaches are working or not, and adapt accordingly. “If we’re noticing kids are struggling with things, that informs how our next few lessons will look,” added Ms. Badalian.
Since check-ins are graded for accuracy, they give greater incentive for students to practice the content covered in class. Jasmine D. ’27 said, “I believe that [check-ins] force me to actually go home and study the material. Otherwise, I would just do homework without worrying if I was correct or not.”
However, some students dislike check-ins for this reason; since check-ins are so short, each point off can lower one’s score significantly. “Check-ins are easy if you pay attention, but one mistake can cost you. It’s really a trade-off,” said Aasha W. ’27. Although formulated as low-stakes assessments, check-ins still cause stress for some.
The department attempted to mitigate this anxiety by dropping the lowest 20% of check-in grades each quarter. Additionally, they offer projects and performance tasks to demonstrate and apply knowledge in creative, real-world situations. This aims to diversify students’ grades so they are not solely determined by test scores, alleviating the academic pressure some may feel from the new policy. The integration of this policy also seeks to authentically prepare students to hone their math skills.
Homework remains and will continue to be a controversial topic among students and teachers. The world of pedagogy is constantly evolving, and the math department’s decision reflects that. To Ms. Badalian, the no-homework policy was created “with the effort of trying to keep our practice innovative, and really just to try to take what the world knows about knowledge and education, and bring it into our own classrooms.”
The math department’s decision has proven to be a success, with greater motivation and integrity reported so far. Only time will tell if this innovative decision will spark a movement benefiting students not just at Jericho, but across the nation.