Does moving away from traditional homework grades, strict deadlines, and penalties mean schools are lowering expectations for students?
In Part Two of this conversation, host Paul Murray continues his discussion with educator, author, and consultant Rick Wormeli about the role homework should play in student learning. Rick challenges the belief that assigning more work—or attaching more points to it—automatically builds responsibility, motivation, or academic achievement.
Instead, Rick asks educators to separate academic achievement from work habits and to treat homework as what it really is: practice. He explains why grades should accurately communicate what students know and can do, why feedback makes practice more effective, and how retrieval practice, spacing, and interleaving can help students carry learning forward.
Rick also offers a practical way to increase student ownership: invite students to help identify meaningful ways to practice, narrow the choices to the strongest options, and allow students to choose the method that works for them.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn
- Why moving away from punitive homework practices does not mean lowering expectations
- Why responsibility and academic achievement should be taught and reported separately
- How including homework completion in an academic grade can distort what the grade communicates
- Why homework should be treated as practice rather than proof of mastery
- How timely, descriptive feedback increases the effectiveness of homework
- Why students need knowledge stored in long-term memory to analyze, connect, and create
- How priming students with the purpose and expectations for an assignment improves learning
- Why spaced practice helps students retain information over time
- How interleaving different types of problems strengthens retrieval and flexible thinking
- Why shorter, more complex assignments may be more valuable than long sets of repetitive problems
- How student choice and agency can increase participation in meaningful practice
- Why the true evidence of learning is what students can carry forward—not simply what they knew for one test
The Big Idea
Homework should support learning, not distort the reporting of it.
Homework is most valuable when students use it to practice something they have already begun learning, receive meaningful feedback, and revisit the content over time.
Completing homework may provide evidence of responsibility, persistence, or work habits—but it does not automatically provide evidence of academic mastery. When those behaviors are combined into one grade, families and students may receive an inaccurate picture of what the student actually knows and can do.
Separating academic achievement from work habits allows teachers to hold students accountable for both without allowing one to misrepresent the other.
The Play: Try This Tomorrow
Let Students Help Design the Practice
After teaching a new concept, ask students:
“What are some meaningful ways you could practice today’s learning?”
Create a list of approximately eight possibilities with the class. Then:
- Identify three options that would provide the most meaningful interaction with the content.
- Allow each student to select one of those options.
- Keep the assignment short enough for students to think deeply rather than simply complete a large amount of repetitive work.
- Build in a way for students to receive feedback—from the teacher, a classmate, or through self-assessment.
- Return to the learning later through spaced retrieval so students must carry it forward.
The teacher protects the quality of the practice, while students gain choice, agency, and ownership.
Memorable Takeaway
“The testimony for a grade is what kids carry forward, not what they once knew and then forgot.”
The goal is not for students to complete enough assignments to earn points. The goal is for them to practice, receive feedback, revise their understanding, and retain the learning long after the original lesson is over.
About the Guest
Rick Wormeli is an internationally recognized educator, author, and speaker whose work focuses on grading and assessment, differentiation, motivation, leadership, cognitive science, and effective teaching practices.
A classroom teacher for more than four decades and one of the first National Board Certified teachers in the United States, Rick is known for helping educators examine long-standing practices with research, practicality, honesty, and humor. He is the author of several influential education books, including Fair Isn’t Always Equal.
To learn more about bringing Rick to your school, district, or conference, visit Education Speakers Network.
Continue Learning
- Explore Rick Wormeli’s work and resources: www.rickwormeli.com
- Find free resources on retrieval, spacing, and interleaving: www.retrievalpractice.org
- Learn about upcoming Rick Wormeli seminars: www.educationspeakersnetwork.com/rick-wormeli-seminars
- Explore speakers and customized professional development: www.educationspeakersnetwork.com
- Access free professional learning and upcoming webinars: www.capspdnow.com
About the Podcast
The Teacher’s Playbook is where passion meets practice.
Each episode brings educators practical strategies, honest conversations, and new ideas they can put into action in their classrooms and schools.
One conversation may not change education—but one great idea put into practice just might.
