As part of a new initiative adopted by the administration to decrease student stress, the school is re-examining homework to help students make more informed choices about their course schedules — and the workload required.

The process asks teachers to attempt to quantify the amount of homework they assign in class by determining the level of difficulty of the work and the amount of time students take to complete each assignment. Students would then have access to the information before they select classes.

“We would like kids to be able to, when they sign up for a course, say ‘here’s my schedule, here’s what I want to do,’ but still be well-rounded, getting enough sleep and getting to spend time with family,” Assistant Principal Jason Meskis said.

The end result would assist students in “planning their academic programs,” Principal Kevin Buchanan said. With more precise information about courses offered, students may be able to better balance their social, academic and extracurricular pursuits.

“We want them to understand that if they’re taking four AP classes, they could be doing six or seven hours a night on top of their extracurriculars,” Assistant Principal Bryan Martin said. “We want to help students to visualize the time it would take to have a heavy course load.”

The challenge, however, in quantifying homework arises because some students take longer on certain assignments than others, and homework one student considers simple may seem complicated to another. Furthermore, some teachers adjust homework depending on their students from year to year.

“My goal is to assign homework that assigns the learning that happens in class, and that’s not always the same every class or every year…I just want to remain flexible to do whatever I think is right for the students,” science teacher Ken Jones said.

Palos Verdes High School uses a similar model as the one pursued by Oak Park, Jones said, providing an estimated amount of weekly homework for each class to inform students what their future schedules will involve.

Homework reform is the second step in the administration’s pursuit of creating a space for holistically healthier students. The first step was the calendar change.

This upcoming summer break is shortened in order to usher in a new calendar for the 2015-2016 school year. School will start earlier in order to allow for first semester finals to take place before winter break, granting students a two-week vacation that’s far less filled with study.

Both the calendar change and homework reform comprise a bigger plan, one inspired by an organization known as Challenge Success.

An expansion of the SOS (Stressed-Out Students) Project at Stanford University, Challenge Success focuses on the changes that lessen stress among students, balance workload with free time and promote true learning in an environment that also encourages attaining high GPAs and test scores. It emphasizes the importance for a student to be well-rounded — that one’s time in high school should be organized efficiently between schoolwork, social activities, extracurriculars and sleep.

“There are a number of studies that appear to indicate that too much homework can have a negative impact on learning,” Buchanan said, “and finding the right balance of meaningful homework activities is a goal worth pursuing.”