Wednesday, February 14, 2018 | HoustonChronicle.com and Chron.com | Vol. 117, No. 124 | $2.

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Literacy class survey finds homework load

among the top concerns of HISD students
By Shelby Webb

Having few homework assignments Monday night felt strange to Marcela Rodriguez Holguin. The 14-year-
old Lanier Middle School student said she finished most of her work over the weekend, leaving her with the
foreign feeling of having free time.

So instead of reviewing textbooks, she had a long conversation with her father. “It was really great, but it made
me realize how much homework takes up my life,” Rodriguez Holguin said. She’s not alone.

A survey of 3,500 students throughout 20 Houston ISD high and middle schools found that 20 per- cent of
students cite home- workloads as their top educational concern. About 17 percent were most concerned about
their school’s dress code policies, and 14 percent worried about how much time they spent taking and
preparing for standardized tests. The survey was created by Lanier eighth-grade students in Josephine Lee’s
literacy class. They presented their findings at a press conference Tuesday, complete with information packets,
hand-crafted signs and prepared statements. Lanier students will host a town hall meeting at 10:15 a.m. in the
school’s auditorium. They have invited HISD Board of Education trustees, city officials and other public leaders
to attend. Maggie Schwierking, 14, said she and her classmates want the chance to advocate for their education.

“We go to school for 12 or 13 years of our lives but don’t really have a say in how our schools run,”
Schwierking said.

shelby.webb@chron.com