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Will less homework stress make California students happier?

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A bill from a member of the Legislature’s happiness committee would require schools to come up with homework policies that consider the mental and physical strain on students.

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Update: The Assembly education committee on April 24 approved an amended version of the bill that softens some requirements and gives districts until the 2027-28 school year. The full Assembly passed the bill on May 21. Some bills before California’s Legislature don’t come from passionate policy advocates, or from powerful interest groups.  

Sometimes, the inspiration comes from a family car ride. 

While campaigning two years ago, Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo ’s daughter, then nine, asked from the backseat what her mother could do if she won.

Schiavo answered that she’d be able to make laws. Then, her daughter Sofia asked her if she could make a law banning homework.

“It was a kind of a joke,” the Santa Clarita Valley Democrat said in an interview, “though I’m sure she’d be happy if homework were banned.”

Still, the conversation got Schiavo thinking, she said. And while Assembly Bill 2999 — which faces its first big test on Wednesday — is far from a ban on homework, it would require school districts, county offices of education and charter schools to develop guidelines for K-12 students and would urge schools to be more intentional about “good,” or meaningful homework. 

Among other things, the guidelines should consider students’ physical health, how long assignments take and how effective they are. But the bill’s main concern is mental health and when homework adds stress to students’ daily lives.

Homework’s impact on happiness is partly why Schiavo brought up the proposal last month during the first meeting of the Legislature’s select committee on happiness , led by former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon .   

“This feeling of loneliness and disconnection — I know when my kid is not feeling connected,” Schiavo, a member of the happiness committee, told CalMatters. “It’s when she’s alone in her room (doing homework), not playing with her cousin, not having dinner with her family.” 

The bill analysis cites a survey of 15,000 California high schoolers from Challenge Success, a nonprofit affiliated with the Stanford Graduate School of Education. It found that 45% said homework was a major source of stress and that 52% considered most assignments to be busywork.  

The organization also reported in 2020 that students with higher workloads reported “symptoms of exhaustion and lower rates of sleep,” but that spending more time on homework did not necessarily lead to higher test scores.

Homework’s potential to also widen inequities is why Casey Cuny supports the measure. An English and mythology teacher at Valencia High School and 2024’s California Teacher of the Year , Cuny says language barriers, unreliable home internet, family responsibilities or other outside factors may contribute to a student falling behind on homework.

“I never want a kid’s grade to be low because they have divorced parents and their book was at their dad’s house when they were spending the weekend at mom’s house,” said Cuny, who plans to attend a press conference Wednesday to promote the bill.

In addition, as technology makes it easier for students to cheat — using artificial technology or chat threads to lift answers, for example — Schiavo says that the educators she has spoken to indicate they’re moving towards more in-class assignments. 

Cuny agrees that an emphasis on classwork does help to rein in cheating and allows him to give students immediate feedback. “I feel that I should teach them what I need to teach them when I’m with them in the room,” he said. 

The bill says the local homework policies should have input from teachers, parents, school counselors, social workers and students; be distributed at the beginning of every school year; and be reevaluated every five years.

The Assembly Committee on Education is expected to hear the bill Wednesday. Schiavo says she has received bipartisan support and so far, no official opposition or support is listed in the bill analysis. 

The measure’s provision for parental input may lead to disagreements given the recent culture war disputes between Democratic officials and parental rights groups backed by some Republican lawmakers. Because homework is such a big issue, “I’m sure there will be lively (school) board meetings,” Schiavo said.

Nevertheless, she says she hopes the proposal will overhaul the discussion around homework and mental health. The bill is especially pertinent now that the state is also poised to cut spending on mental health services for children with the passage of Proposition 1 .

Schiavo said the mother of a student with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder told her that the child’s struggle to finish homework has raised issues inside the house, as well as with the school’s principal and teachers.

“And I’m just like, it’s sixth grade!” Schaivo said. “What’s going on?”

Lawmakers want to help California be happy

Lynn la newsletter writer.

Lynn La is the newsletter writer for CalMatters, focusing on California’s top political, policy and Capitol stories every weekday. She produces and curates WhatMatters, CalMatters’ flagship daily newsletter... More by Lynn La

A New Report Reveals That Homework in the United States is an Easy Load

Two new reports debunk the notion that U.S. schoolchildren suffer from a growing homework load, with little time to play and just be kids.

The great majority of students at all grade levels now spend less than one hour studying on a typical day—an amount that has not changed substantially in at least twenty years, according to data analyzed by the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution and the RAND Corporation.

The research contradicts dramatic anecdotes of children overwhelmed with homework. The Brookings and RAND researchers collected and reviewed the best social science available on children’s homework, including data from surveys conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS), the Population Studies Center at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, and the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.

Even at the high school level, where more homework might be expected to prepare students for the demands of college or the workplace, only about a third of seventeen-year-olds spend an hour or more a day on homework.

The Brown Center on Education Policy conducted the study after a wave of dramatic news stories over the past few years described a backlash against homework. Since 2001, feature stories about onerous homework loads and parents fighting back have appeared in Time , Newsweek , and People magazines; the New York Times , Washington Post , Los Angeles Times , Raleigh News and Observer , and the Tampa Tribune ; and the CBS Evening News and other media outlets.

“The stories are misleading,” writes author Tom Loveless, director of the Brown Center. “They do not reflect the experiences of a majority—or even a significant minority—of American schoolchildren.”

“Excessive homework is not a common problem,” writes Loveless in the report. “The critics of homework need to produce some very powerful evidence before policymakers start mandating reductions in homework or even banning it altogether. To date, the evidence put forth by homework critics has been weak.”

Across three different age groups, the percentage of students with less than an hour of daily homework has actually risen since 1984, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which for two decades has been asking a nationally representative sample of students questions about homework.

In 1999, 83 percent of nine-year-olds, 66 percent of thirteen-year-olds, and 65 percent of seventeen-year-olds reported having less than an hour of homework per night (see figure 1). In 1984, 81 percent of nine-year-olds, 63 percent of thirteen-year-olds, and 59 percent of seventeen-year-olds had reported spending that amount of time studying.

Another survey, the Third International Math and Science Study, finds that American high school students have one of the lightest homework loads in the world. Of twenty countries, the United States ranked near the bottom, tied for the next-to-last position. Students in France, Italy, Russia, and South Africa reported spending at least twice as much time on homework as American students.

The University of Michigan research does show an increase in the amount of homework given to children ages six to eight. But the increase of ten to eleven minutes a day is largely due to the fact that the baseline was low to begin with—only a third of children ages six to eight spent any time at all on studying in 1981.

“Why is it important to get the homework study right?” asks Loveless. “Mainly because it is positively associated with student learning.” Research shows that the relationship of homework with student achievement is positive for both middle and high school students and neutral for elementary school students.

Moreover, homework is a “barometer of the success—or the limits—of movements to raise academic standards,” write Brian Gill of RAND and Steven Schlossman of Carnegie Mellon University in the fall 2003 issue of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.

“To succeed, academic excellence movements ultimately require students to invest effort in their studies; time spent on homework is a ground-level indicator of this effort,” say Gill and Schlossman.

Gill and Schlossman trace homework time trends of the past fifty years, finding that the only substantial increases in homework for high-school students occurred in the decade after Sputnik, when the nation launched an academic excellence movement motivated by competition with the Soviet Union. Homework time subsequently declined to pre-Sputnik levels, and the excellence movement of the 1980s and 1990s that followed the publication of “A Nation at Risk” caused surprisingly small increases in homework (see figure 8).

Ironically, the only increase in homework in the last two decades has happened precisely in the lower grade levels, where researchers believe it matters least for academic achievement, according to Gill and Schlossman.

Most parents feel the homework load is about right, and, of those who would like to change it, more parents would rather see more homework than less, according to a 2000 poll conducted by the Public Agenda Foundation. Only one out of ten parents believes there is too much homework.

When a homework problem exists, which can happen because children vary in their study habits, solutions should come from parents and teachers, not policymakers, Loveless says.

About the Brown Center on Education Policy and the Brookings Institution

Established in 1992, the Brown Center on Education Policy conducts research on topics in American education, with a special focus on efforts to improve academic achievement in elementary and secondary schools. The Brown Center is part of the Brookings Institution, a private, nonprofit organization devoted to research, education, and publication on important issues of domestic and foreign policy. The Institution maintains a position of neutrality on issues of public policy. Interpretations or conclusions in Brookings publications should be understood to be solely those of the authors.

For a full copy of the report as well as information about other Brown Center events and publications, please visit the Brown Center’s website , or call Tucker Warren at 202/457-8100.

About RAND Education

RAND Education conducts independent research and analysis on education policy, including school reform and educational assessment and accountability. RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis.

About Brookings

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More than two hours of homework may be counterproductive, research suggests.

A Stanford education researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.   "Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good," wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .   The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students' views on homework.   Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.   Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.   "The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students' advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being," Pope wrote.   Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.   Their study found that too much homework is associated with:   • Greater stress : 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.   • Reductions in health : In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.   • Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits : Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were "not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills," according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.   A balancing act   The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.   Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as "pointless" or "mindless" in order to keep their grades up.   "This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points," said Pope, who is also a co-founder of Challenge Success , a nonprofit organization affiliated with the GSE that conducts research and works with schools and parents to improve students' educational experiences..   Pope said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.   "Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development," wrote Pope.   High-performing paradox   In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. "Young people are spending more time alone," they wrote, "which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities."   Student perspectives   The researchers say that while their open-ended or "self-reporting" methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for "typical adolescent complaining" – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.   The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Clifton B. Parker is a writer at the Stanford News Service .

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Is Homework Good for Kids? Here’s What the Research Says

A s kids return to school, debate is heating up once again over how they should spend their time after they leave the classroom for the day.

The no-homework policy of a second-grade teacher in Texas went viral last week , earning praise from parents across the country who lament the heavy workload often assigned to young students. Brandy Young told parents she would not formally assign any homework this year, asking students instead to eat dinner with their families, play outside and go to bed early.

But the question of how much work children should be doing outside of school remains controversial, and plenty of parents take issue with no-homework policies, worried their kids are losing a potential academic advantage. Here’s what you need to know:

For decades, the homework standard has been a “10-minute rule,” which recommends a daily maximum of 10 minutes of homework per grade level. Second graders, for example, should do about 20 minutes of homework each night. High school seniors should complete about two hours of homework each night. The National PTA and the National Education Association both support that guideline.

But some schools have begun to give their youngest students a break. A Massachusetts elementary school has announced a no-homework pilot program for the coming school year, lengthening the school day by two hours to provide more in-class instruction. “We really want kids to go home at 4 o’clock, tired. We want their brain to be tired,” Kelly Elementary School Principal Jackie Glasheen said in an interview with a local TV station . “We want them to enjoy their families. We want them to go to soccer practice or football practice, and we want them to go to bed. And that’s it.”

A New York City public elementary school implemented a similar policy last year, eliminating traditional homework assignments in favor of family time. The change was quickly met with outrage from some parents, though it earned support from other education leaders.

New solutions and approaches to homework differ by community, and these local debates are complicated by the fact that even education experts disagree about what’s best for kids.

The research

The most comprehensive research on homework to date comes from a 2006 meta-analysis by Duke University psychology professor Harris Cooper, who found evidence of a positive correlation between homework and student achievement, meaning students who did homework performed better in school. The correlation was stronger for older students—in seventh through 12th grade—than for those in younger grades, for whom there was a weak relationship between homework and performance.

Cooper’s analysis focused on how homework impacts academic achievement—test scores, for example. His report noted that homework is also thought to improve study habits, attitudes toward school, self-discipline, inquisitiveness and independent problem solving skills. On the other hand, some studies he examined showed that homework can cause physical and emotional fatigue, fuel negative attitudes about learning and limit leisure time for children. At the end of his analysis, Cooper recommended further study of such potential effects of homework.

Despite the weak correlation between homework and performance for young children, Cooper argues that a small amount of homework is useful for all students. Second-graders should not be doing two hours of homework each night, he said, but they also shouldn’t be doing no homework.

Not all education experts agree entirely with Cooper’s assessment.

Cathy Vatterott, an education professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, supports the “10-minute rule” as a maximum, but she thinks there is not sufficient proof that homework is helpful for students in elementary school.

“Correlation is not causation,” she said. “Does homework cause achievement, or do high achievers do more homework?”

Vatterott, the author of Rethinking Homework: Best Practices That Support Diverse Needs , thinks there should be more emphasis on improving the quality of homework tasks, and she supports efforts to eliminate homework for younger kids.

“I have no concerns about students not starting homework until fourth grade or fifth grade,” she said, noting that while the debate over homework will undoubtedly continue, she has noticed a trend toward limiting, if not eliminating, homework in elementary school.

The issue has been debated for decades. A TIME cover in 1999 read: “Too much homework! How it’s hurting our kids, and what parents should do about it.” The accompanying story noted that the launch of Sputnik in 1957 led to a push for better math and science education in the U.S. The ensuing pressure to be competitive on a global scale, plus the increasingly demanding college admissions process, fueled the practice of assigning homework.

“The complaints are cyclical, and we’re in the part of the cycle now where the concern is for too much,” Cooper said. “You can go back to the 1970s, when you’ll find there were concerns that there was too little, when we were concerned about our global competitiveness.”

Cooper acknowledged that some students really are bringing home too much homework, and their parents are right to be concerned.

“A good way to think about homework is the way you think about medications or dietary supplements,” he said. “If you take too little, they’ll have no effect. If you take too much, they can kill you. If you take the right amount, you’ll get better.”

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Write to Katie Reilly at [email protected]

Opinion: The State and homework vs. kids

By Thomas L. Knapp

“There is one and only one reason to ever require students to spend time at home mastering what is introduced in class,” libertarian columnist Paul Jacob writes at Common Sense, in criticism of a California bill which might result in reduced homework loads for public school students. “Only to prepare them for earning a living and living life by helping them obtain knowledge and skills and realize their potential.”

I disagree. Unless things have changed since the early 2000s — when my wife and I pulled our own kids out of government schools and switched to homeschooling — the “homework situation” in America is beyond crazy.

As an elementary school student in the 1970s, I could reasonably expect 30-60 minutes of homework per night. That seemed like a lot, but I was a preteen. The workload increased in junior high and high school, but probably still averaged not much more than an hour per day.

By the early 2000s, it wasn’t unusual for my kids’ teachers to send home three hours’ worth of homework per weeknight, or more, and several hours’ worth for weekends.

No, I’m not exaggerating. We were involved parents who helped our kids get through that insane workload.

A workload, I should remind you, that came ON TOP of six to eight hours per day, five days per week, nine months per year, either in school or commuting between school and home.

Almost any adult worker who spent eight hours a day on a factory floor or at an office desk, then was told to work another three hours from home each weeknight and six to eight hours on the weekend, “off the clock,” would seek a salary re-negotiation or quit.

The kids don’t get paid, and they’re not allowed to quit.

Also, they’re kids, not adult workers.

Kids need more, not less, sleep than adults. Kids need more, not less, time to play and socialize than adults. And at least some studies show that more than an hour of homework per day correlates with decreased, not enhanced, academic performance.

I’m not normally a “there oughtta be a law” type. In fact, I oppose the government’s “public” education system in its entirety and prefer to see kids homeschooled or privately schooled.

But IF there’s going to be a “public” education system, I favor legally capping that system’s “homework” loads at (for the student of average intelligence) an hour per day in elementary/middle/junior high school, and two hours per day in high school, perhaps with exceptions for “honors” courses, etc.

There’s a term for more homework than that: “Child abuse.”

Yes, education is important. So is kids’ quality of life outside school hours. Leave them some time for their kid stuff.

Thomas L. Knapp is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism.

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Science News for Students is an award-winning publication dedicated to providing students with the most up-to-date news in the fields of science, health, and technology. Each article includes a glossary of terms and a readability score.  In addition to the news articles, the website offers additional learning opportunities including Word of the Week, Experiments, Cool Jobs, and more.

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August 24 – 30, 2024  |  No. 514

Disability advocates say the government’s reform of the National Disability Insurance Scheme has been rushed and creates more opportunity for mistreatment. By Rick Morton .

‘last-minute homework vibes’: inside shorten’s ndis reforms.

When Bill Shorten introduced legislation that would lay the groundwork for the largest reforms of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, people with disability were promised consultation that never properly arrived.

That was because, up until the day before the bill was tabled in parliament, it was still being drafted and wasn’t ready. Those who were eventually granted a briefing in the hours before the details went public were bound by confidentiality agreements to prevent “leaks”. What they saw left them aghast.

“It was riddled with holes,” one advocate, who asked not to be named, tells The Saturday Paper .

“And we’re not talking things about which we disagreed in principle but basic facts. It had real last-minute homework vibes.”

On Thursday, Shorten secured the eventual passage of his landmark National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) bill, which this year’s budget revealed would cut the cost of the scheme by $60 billion over the next decade. It was voted through the Senate the same way it was conceived – in chaos – and was the subject of fierce negotiations and amendments right up until the end.

“Today is about what some of you have been breathlessly writing, that the states aren’t going to work with us, it’s war,” Shorten told reporters on Wednesday.

“Well … you’re going to need a new heading. We’re getting on with it.”

States and territories had agreed via their collaborative body, the Council for the Australian Federation, to the legislation after being handed significant carve-outs to governance arrangements that the Commonwealth had resisted for almost five months. As such, the Coalition had also come on board to back the changes which, until Wednesday morning, its senators had fought vehemently.

The NDIS bill is envisaged as “enabling” legislation that will eventually give effect to new and far-reaching powers yet to be designed. However, it also locks in considerable new rules and an overhaul that will take effect within 28 days of royal assent.

Detail has been scarce, messages mixed.

One of the key concerns about the bill has been that its drafters were rushed and many elements seemed poorly thought through. Take, for example, the strengthened link between what the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) says is an appropriate “NDIS support” and the ability to decide after funding has been spent that a support does not qualify, raising a debt specifically against an NDIS participant.

For months, the federal government has denied the power was either new or open to abuse. In a statement to The Saturday Paper in late May, the Department of Social Services said, “It would only be in extreme circumstances such as where a person has deliberately misused NDIS funding that consideration of raising a debt under section 182 may occur, which is the case now.”

In the parliamentary sitting fortnight just gone, however, the Commonwealth quietly released a new amendment that sought to at least soften elements of the bill and giving lie to previous statements made about the debt provision.

“The current drafting of section 195 means that a debt cannot be waived where a participant unintentionally contravened the NDIS Act, regulations or rules, or unintentionally made a false or misleading statement or representation,” a new explanatory memorandum for the amendments says.

“The participant’s disability is also excluded from being considered when the CEO is assessing whether there are ‘special circumstances’ that make waiver appropriate. This means a ‘special circumstances’ waiver is unavailable where it would be appropriate and desirable for the debt to be waived.

“This amendment will grant the Agency greater discretion to waive debt in circumstances where it is appropriate to do so. These include scenarios where a participant has temporarily lost capacity as a result of a medical condition and has contravened the Act by drawing down funds for a purpose outside of their plan.

“Special circumstances may also include that the debt arose as a result of the participant experiencing abuse, coercion, fraud or financial exploitation.”

While this change was welcome, it does nothing to remove the original concern about the arbitrary power built into scheme decision-making.

“We still can’t challenge a random delegate’s opinion that we have actually contravened the Act or misused funds,” disability advocate Cat Walker says.

“Which essentially translates to, ‘We’ll label you guilty without the same procedural fairness we gave to the robo[debt] architects, but we might waive it if you didn’t know.’ ”

A proposed list of supports that would and would not be funded under the NDIS, released by the government on August 4 for a consultation period of less than a fortnight, gave advocates little confidence.

The list included menstrual products under the “lifestyle expenses” category, which also featured cigarettes, vapes, gambling and trampolines.

Shorten said this was a mistake and an example of “no good deed goes unpunished” – but this is not an isolated example of error and underscores a broader point about who is making decisions about the lives of people with disability.

Some people with disability will need particular menstrual products precisely because of their condition, which would make these appropriate supports under the NDIS in the manner of other assistive technology and products.

One of the key sections of the new bill gives the NDIA chief executive enhanced powers to enforce funding constraints and take over the management of participant plans where a delegate deems they are “overspending”.

Shorten and agency executives have claimed that so-called intra-plan inflation has been encouraged by unscrupulous providers or participants who just haven’t been given any guardrails.

Most of the $14.4 billion the government says this NDIS bill will save over the next four years comes from a crackdown on this intra-plan inflation, but new figures released to the Senate this month show this analysis was done from the records of just 113 randomly selected participants, all with multiple plans.

Of these, the agency decided 70 plans showed evidence for an increase in support and funding, while 89 plans did not. However, within the class of plans the agency says showed “no evidence of increased support need” are 19 plans that were successfully reviewed by the agency at a participant’s request or were successfully appealed in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

In short, the NDIA claims having to fulfil its legislative obligations to review plans counts as proof of plan “overutilisation” without any “evidence”.

As one source familiar with the drafting told The Saturday Paper : “Has there ever been a larger budget saving modelled and banked off fewer files?”

Right up until Wednesday morning, the government was still drafting and submitting new amendments to the NDIS legislation, which clarified or solidified nebulous concepts that threatened to create more harm or, in the case of the states and territories, to hand over significant co-governance controls that have not been afforded to people with disability.

The Senate became heated as Labor members accused the Coalition and the Greens of engaging in a “scare campaign” to scuttle the bill.

“This government … brings a bill before this chamber and seeks to ram it through, which would see the Australian disability community subjected to mandatory government assessments that we neither want nor need but you are going to make us pay for,” the Greens’ spokesperson on disability rights and services, Jordon Steele-John, said.

“And yet this is the bill that will be passed through this place on Thursday. It’s almost as though you’re running a bit scared, almost as though you feel that a bit more time left to look into this thing might actually reveal a couple more things you haven’t thought through.

“I wonder how many amendments you might introduce if we gave this bill another couple of weeks. We’d come back and there’d be 90, 100.”

Labor Senator Tim Ayres, responding for the government, took issue: “I just say this in response to that contribution: a scare campaign has to have some foundation in the truth, no matter how much hyperbole.”

Before he could continue, Steele-John interrupted. “Oh, shut up, Tim,” he said.

The next morning Coalition Senator Linda Reynolds launched an impassioned defence of Steele-John and urged more humanity and “compassion” in the Senate.

Reynolds also highlighted that there were 50,000 participants on hold waiting for plan or budget reviews and that “the vast majority of those, probably somewhere over 95 per cent, will be plan increases”.

“There is a record number currently waiting in the queue,” she said. “The government has deliberately slowed down the processing of those plans until after this legislation so that you can cut the plans and not increase the intra-plan inflation.”

Ayres said Reynolds’ questions lacked a “moral seriousness” and the questions from opponents were creating “fear” in the community.

The president of People with Disability Australia, Marayke Jonkers, alongside an alliance of other disability rights organisations, says people have legitimate reason to be alarmed because they’ve been pointing out flaws in the process for months and many remain.

“The legislation, even with amendments, threatens to undermine the scheme and the rights, dignity and access to support for people with disability,” Jonkers says.

Cat Walker says: “They’re going to pass it with none of the protections against all of the things we called out as traps in the amendments.”

Reading through the rule-making amendments introduced this week to bring the states and territories on board, advocates such as Walker were horrified.

Much of the NDIS bill delegates details to future rules and legislative instruments that NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has said would be the subject of close “co-design” and consultation with people with disability.

Under the draft for several months now, any new Category A rule would have required unanimous support from states and territories. That is, if a single state disagreed, the rule could be vetoed.

Now, transitional rules can be made after a brief play at reaching unanimity.

“If the dispute resolution process is completed and majority agreement has not been reached, the Prime Minister may write to advise the Minister that agreement has not been reached,” the explanatory memorandum says.

“This notification enlivens the power to make the relevant Category A rules as if all jurisdictions had agreed.”

Last week, Shorten gave an address to the National Press Club where he indicated he was prepared to “rip off the Band-Aid” and force states and territories into negotiating.

“We are determined to reform the scheme. We get one chance at this. This is a sliding-door moment of politics. The Liberals couldn’t convince people to do it. The disability sector is anxious about any talk of change. They have muscle memory, whatever the imperfections of the NDIS,” he said.

“I will do just about everything to try and convince the states to like what we’re doing, and I’ll compromise and … walk a long way to try and bring them on board. But at the end of the day, people with disability are more important than any particular level of government. So, if we have to rip the Band-Aid off, we will.”

Having read the new Category A rules, Walker asked: “Is this what Bill meant by ripping off the Band-Aid? Does this agile bullshit sound like co-design of the rules to you?”

On Thursday, disability advocates and activists from across the country flew to Canberra to “look them in the eyes” as politicians voted to dramatically change the scheme legislation 12 years after Julia Gillard’s government first introduced it.

Asked at the National Press Club if some of these reform issues could have been addressed sooner had he been honest about the scale of the challenge and worked in opposition to address them, Shorten shrugged off the question.

“Oh, you mean if we’d gone from the motorcar back to the horse, what would be [the] emissions,” he said.

“So, they [the Coalition] had blunt-force trauma to deal with it. It wasn’t a very good idea. It was the wrong reform and they didn’t convince people.”

Shorten, who claims much credit for being there at the birth of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 , now stands before its reincarnation as architect.

It remains to be seen exactly what it looks like.

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on August 24, 2024 as "‘Last-minute homework vibes’: Inside Shorten’s NDIS reforms".

For almost a decade, The Saturday Paper has published Australia’s leading writers and thinkers. We have pursued stories that are ignored elsewhere, covering them with sensitivity and depth. We have done this on refugee policy, on government integrity, on robo-debt, on aged care, on climate change, on the pandemic.

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August 24 – 30, 2024 Edition No. 514

‘Last-minute homework vibes’: Inside Shorten’s NDIS reforms Rick Morton

Exclusive: ADF soldiers accused of burning five men alive Michelle Jasmin Dimasi

Frustration over national domestic violence plan Karen Barlow

Aged-care contracts blow out to $685 million Jason Koutsoukis

‘White hands’ saga ‘a factor’ in NGA curator’s resignation Gabriella Coslovich

Dispatch from the long Covid frontline Bianca Nogrady

Plibersek defends ruling against NSW goldmine Mike Seccombe

Obama: ‘We are ready for a President Kamala Harris’ Jonathan Pearlman

A way forward after the Voice Marcia Langton

Dutton wages war on government Chris Wallace

The trouble with history Stan Grant

Dutton and his dog whistle John Hewson

Jon Kudelka cartoon, August 24, 2024 Jon Kudelka

Thank you, Linda Burney

The real threat

Choreographer and dancer Luke Murphy Kate Holden

Kneecap Christos Tsiolkas

Fontaines D.C.’s Romance Shaad D’Souza

Lesley Dumbrell: Thrum Neha Kale

Meet cute Bronwyn Birdsall

The Voyage Home Geordie Williamson

Escape from Shadow Physics Kurt Johnson

Bina Monique Grbec

Shakshouka Andrew McConnell

Jasmine and the power of memory Margaret Simons

The curse of sporting superstitions Martin McKenzie-Murray

No. 514 Liam Runnalls

Which whisky brand’s logo is a “Striding Man”? Cindy MacDonald

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law & crime   August 17, 2024

‘Some kind of monster’: Inside the Reynolds defamation trial

Rick Morton Giving evidence in Linda Reynolds’ defamation trial, Scott Morrison says he doesn’t remember the details of the review he commissioned into Brittany Higgins’s rape but says Reynolds suffered as a result of prolonged ‘attacks’.

health   August 10, 2024

Exclusive: New laws to push people with disability into nursing homes

Rick Morton A new aged-care bill gives explicit powers to place people under the age of 65 with disability into residential aged care, although the government claims the laws will improve the situation.

health   August 3, 2024

Navigating a broken employment services system

Rick Morton As one man tries to find work, he has been failed in multiple and complicating ways, with the government outsourcing his case to an employment services company owned out of Florida by a group of men who made their fortune in turbo ovens.

health   July 27, 2024

NDIS media strategy briefing given before review finished

Rick Morton As the government struggles to pass its NDIS reforms, the scheme’s reviewer says he was briefed on focus group research before he completed his recommendations.

technology   July 20, 2024

Jobseeker glitch cuts more than 1300 incomes

Rick Morton EXCLUSIVE: A system glitch has wrongly punished more than 1300 jobseekers by cutting off their income in an IT disaster that is a potent reminder of the dark days of robodebt.

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Chicago-Based ‘The Daily Show’ Fans Welcome Their Favorite Show to the Windy City — and in at Least One Case, Hope to Shake Out an Extra Ticket

By Michael Schneider

Michael Schneider

Variety Editor at Large

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CHICAGO — Here’s how much of a fan Susan Friedman is of “ The Daily Show ”: Back in 2010, the Chicago resident decided, on a whim, to drive to Washington, D.C. for the day in order to attend Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s very real “Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear.”

“I just drove in, went to the rally, and then drove back,” she said. “And when people heard that I was going, three other people said they were in. They just literally joined the car, and we didn’t even know each other!”

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“I’ve been in the queue for weeks now,” she said. “And so, I’m sort of hoping that either somebody has an extra ticket, or by the grace of God, they let me experience this. And the thing is, I’m volunteering at the DNC, and I took today off hoping that I’d be able to… I thought if I come early, maybe somebody will have pity on me.”

Friedman said she spent the past 10 days volunteering for the DNC. “The delegates and everyone arrived this weekend,” she noted. “The protesters arrived this weekend too, so downtown is where it’s really happening.”

Friedman, who had turned the 2010 dish towel into a rally sign, was also wearing a T-shirt touting Chicago’s famed Second City comedy theater. Friedman says she’s a fan of both Stewart and Second City alum Stephen Colbert — whose CBS late night talker “The Late Show” is also in town.

When told that Kimmel takes the summer off, Friedman said: “He could have vacationed in Chicago! We would have taken care of him.”

Given that Chicago is seen as a comedy town — thanks in part to The Second City and other comedy troupes — having both “The Daily Show” and “The Late Show” (which is airing live from downtown’s Auditorium Theatre) is seen as a huge boon to the laffer community. “People here want to support we support the arts,” Friedman said. “We support comedy. Chicago’s a different breed.”

By late morning, staffers were scurrying around the Athenaeum, as production trucks were parked up and down the street. Security was milling around, too, although there still wasn’t much to keep an eye on. Next door, the mammoth Saint Alphonsus Church and its school were welcoming kids and parents back to class — seemingly unaware of “The Daily Show” commotion next door. (Although a Saint Alphonsus parking lot was filled with production vehicles for the program, so presumably they must have known something was a foot.)

Sitting on the steps of Saint Alphonsus was another “Daily Show” fan, Ric Corns. The Chicago resident had arrived early to meet up with a friend. Unlike Friedman, he had secured a pair of tickets to Monday’s taping, which will be hosted by “The Daily Show” correspondent Michael Kosta and feature Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as a guest.

“I’ve watched ‘The Daily Show’ on and off probably since 2004, since I was in high school,” Corns said. And I’ve always loved Jon Stewart. I loved his perspective and oddball takes. I’m still a little miffed about his rant on Chicago pizza, but I’m excited to finally go to an episode of ‘The Daily Show.’

“I’m excited to see Jon Stewart live, and it’s great to go to ‘The Daily Show’ when there is such a big event like the Democratic National Convention here,” Corns continued.

Corns said he felt an air of excitement around town. “I think it’s really positive. So far, admittedly, I haven’t seen anything controversial, or any protesters or anything like that. It feels like there’s a lot of unstoppable momentum built up now. This is a prime moment for ‘The Daily Show’ to really seize on it as well and make a lot of great commentary, especially now that we’re so close to the election.”

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School days should be savored.

Many schools, including Northern Michigan University, will see students filling the halls this week.

The beginning of a new school year is bittersweet for many, with the carefree summer days spent at the beach or on the hiking trails coming to an end and several months of tests, homework and winter on the horizon.

For others, the returning to school is a welcome return to the familiar: lunch with friends, high school football on Friday nights and for college students, preparation for the future.

It may be hard to believe for those who are still in school, but the older among us will tell you that there is much to be cherished during the days in the classroom. Mortgage payments, insurance premiums, oil changes and medical bills are still in the future. There is no shortage of stress when you leave school, so if possible, try to spend your time savoring the ability to learn new things and spend time with your friends because you won’t always have that opportunity.

As adults, we must do our best to ensure that our kids, nieces, nephews, friends and those in our community get to enjoy their time in school because it will be over in the blink of an eye.

We encourage you to support your local schools. Volunteer if volunteers are needed. Attend sporting events. Participate in community fundraisers and events and do your best to create a welcoming and inviting atmosphere for learning.

Students, do your best to enjoy your time in the classroom. Be nicer to each other. If there is someone sitting alone at lunch, sit by them and ask them how they are doing. A little goes a long way in creating an environment where everyone feels welcome. Not only will it make someone else feel better but it will make you feel better.

That is how you make your community and the world a better place.

— The Mining Journal, Marquette

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Jon Stewart doesn't feel vindicated bringing 'The Daily Show' to a Harris-led DNC

Eric Deggans

Jon Stewart and Daily Show at the DNC

Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show in February, hosting once per week. Matt Wilson/Comedy Central hide caption

The NPR Network will be reporting live from Chicago throughout the week bringing you  the latest on the Democratic National Convention .

In a way, this week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago might be the event that Jon Stewart predicted six months ago – or at least, hinted at with a wink and a few devastating one liners.

That’s when Stewart kicked off his current stint at The Daily Show , hosting once per week after nearly nine years away. During his first episode in February, he asked questions and poked fun at President Joe Biden’s persistent public flubs amid questions about his age.

Stewart joked about former president Donald Trump’s age too, noting that he and Biden “are the oldest people ever to run for president, breaking by only four years the record that THEY SET THE LAST TIME THEY RAN!” But his words about Biden brought rebukes back then from liberals like the former president’s niece Mary Trump , Keith Olbermann and hosts on The View .

Still, even though Biden now has left the presidential race to make way for younger Vice President Kamala Harris, Stewart says he’s not feeling particularly vindicated or prescient.

Jon Stewart's 'Daily Show' return is so smooth, it's like he never left

“The whole gig is to not allow the noise of the crowd or the pressure of what you might imagine the reaction to something, to sway that kind of internal barometer that we've developed at the show of what's salient, what's absurd, what's jumping out at you,” Stewart said in an interview before the DNC began.

It’s a job that’s taken on even larger proportions this week, as The Daily Show presents episodes filmed before an audience of more than 800 people in Chicago at the convention — featuring a different correspondent hosting every night . It all culminates with a live show hosted by Stewart on Thursday.

Stewart and executive producer/showrunner Jennifer Flanz sat down to talk about The Daily Show at an important time for the program. The show and its offshoots earned a total seven Emmy nominations this year for a season where they welcomed a succession of guest hosts — from Leslie Jones and Sarah Silverman to Charlamagne tha God and Michelle Wolf – before settling into the current pattern of Stewart hosting once a week and the correspondents taking over the other nights.

Jennifer Flanz, executive producer and showrunner of The Daily Show . Comedy Central hide caption

Flanz, who started working on The Daily Show before Stewart did – starting as a production assistant in 1998 – said it was probably necessary for the show to have the experience of supporting many different hosts first, so they could make the current iteration work well.

“I do think this is the best version of the show that we could make,” added Flanz, noting it is too early to know if that means the show will delay or suspend seeking a permanent full-time host.

Stewart, who seems recovered from a bout with COVID that kept him from hosting a few weeks back, says he hasn’t yet decided if he will keep going after the presidential election in November. Right now, the comic says he’s mostly hoping to encourage correspondents like Michael Kosta, Desi Lydic, Jordan Klepper and Ronny Chieng, who have grown into their roles as hosts.

Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

We saw you guys decide not to bring the show [to the RNC] because of security reasons. What's different that's allowed you to go ahead with shows at the DNC?

Jennifer Flanz: [At the RNC] we had built a set and we were ready to go. And then the assassination attempt against Trump happened and the whole city felt like it was on lockdown. And we were like, ‘How are we supposed to get an audience?’ Getting the audience into the theater felt like it was going to be very hard. It just felt like, in order to make sure we could get shows on, we should go back to the studio … [At the DNC] we are, at least, very far from the convention center. Our theater is very far from where the security is.

I can imagine for journalists what the value is in going to the actual place … But can you talk a little bit about why it makes sense for you guys to have the whole [show] move to the DNC as opposed to just sending some of the correspondents?

Jon Stewart : A lot of it is Comedy Central just trying to burn off airline miles [laughs]. I can tell you, some of the best material that we've gotten over the years has been at the conventions. And Jen and I have been doing this since 2000 … getting the correspondents on the floor, interacting at the convention center … John Oliver wouldn't even have met his wife if we had not gone there.

Flanz : He made a love connection at the convention. [Famously, Oliver’s now wife Kate Norley, met him while helping the comic hide from security at the 2008 RNC while he was working for The Daily Show.] 

Stewart : It adds a level of urgency and immediacy to the comedy that you wouldn't get standing in front of a green screen … And we’ve done that, too.

Flanz : We also have the ability to have multiple correspondents doing a piece together … So it feels like you're in the news rather than just making fun of it.

Consider This from NPR

25 years ago jon stewart took over the daily show and redefined political comedy.

Jon, on the nights that you're not hosting [at the DNC], will you also be helping out?

Stewart : I think my job at some level has become like an old man [in the] corner trying to … let everybody know like, ‘Hey, don't don't feel the pressure of this, or don't stress too much about that. Like, you guys know what you're doing.’ And that's been the most impressive thing to me, is watching … Jordan and Desi, Michael and Ronny as they kind of accelerate their growth as hosts as well.

Flanz : I think Jon gets them a lot of confidence … in believing in their own opinion and getting out there. And it's okay to say things that you want to say, but also not say everything if you don't feel like saying it.

Stewart : Well, that's the biggest thing.

Flanz : You don't have to comment on everything.

Stewart : Sometimes there's this sense of, ‘Oh, we have to go out there with a profound commentary on there.’ And it's like, no, actually.

That was one of the toughest things about the show, is that it had created this expectation that whenever there was tragedy or something devastating, that we were going to have to go out there and contextualize it in a way that, you know, eases the burden for people.

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When you returned to the show, your first commentary was about Joe Biden and Trump and age. How do you feel now that we've reached this point where [Biden] had to leave the race? Do you feel at all vindicated? 

Stewart : You know, I don't know that I would ever look at it as vindicated … That's kind of the whole gig, is to not allow the noise of the crowd … to sway that kind of internal barometer that we've developed at the show of what's salient, what's absurd, what's jumping out at [us]. How can I articulate this, you know, elephant in the room that I'm seeing … how do we frame it and how do we present it in a way that doesn't take it out of context, but allows people to see it clearly, laugh at its absurdity and digest it?

When we first got in there, my first thing was like, ‘Hey Jen, why don’t we do this: Israel/Palestine, first episode.’ And Jen was like…that might be kind of a very narrow swing. Why don’t we step back a bit? We’ve got our Indecision [election] coverage – why don’t we set the parameters for the race?

Flanz : We hadn’t been on the air for over two months…When we found out Jon was coming back, we just needed to set up for the audience, what are we working with here and what is this year going to look like for The Daily Show ? That was [Stewart’s return episode], which set up a lot of criticism from all sides…[people] saying Jon’s more liberal, Jon’s more conservative…but we’ve always been this way…If Jon or Desi or Michael and the hosts aren’t saying exactly what the audience wants to hear and feel…they’re never going to be satisfied.

You know, I interviewed Dulce Sloan some time ago , and she said when she heard that Jon was coming to the show, she just felt like, ‘Okay, now we won't get canceled.’ … I'm wondering if there was a sense of that, too, in what's happened here – that the show needed a little help and Jon was able to come back.

Flanz : I wasn’t afraid we were getting canceled … [But] we were in this place where we didn’t know what was going to happen with the show. And had been pitching a bunch of concepts and ideas. So Jon walking into the studio, people were so happy …the relief of like, ‘Oh, that’s the next chapter.’

Stewart : The difficulty for the show is that they’ve been doing a point of view show … a machine built for a perspective. And they’ve been doing it through the eyes of guest hosts, different celebrities, which might be one of the hardest things to pull off. Now they get to refocus on the show’s point of view, because the [correspondent] hosts are steeped in that culture. They know the machine.

So when [your return] was announced, of course, we were told you were going to do it at least until the election. Do you know if you're going to keep doing it after?

Stewart : I do not. But, you know, I think right now we're just sort of in the middle of everything that we're doing. And when we get through it, I think Jen and I'll probably sit down and talk about next steps.

Flanz : We're a daily show. We barely think a day or two in advance.

Stewart : [November] just seems ages away.

Are you in a situation where The Daily Show doesn’t need a permanent host?

Stewart : It’s not so much about a permanent host. It’s about, is there an organic transference to this one individual? I feel like the show’s clicking, whatever that means. There’s always a tendency to look at, ‘What’s the next iteration?’ But we’re iterating that right now.

Flanz : It’s fun and I think we’re making great shows. For people who are on social media all the time, which is a lot of our audience, seeing different faces and hearing different voices is cool for them and exciting. I know there is a standard in late night, which is one host. But we’re breaking that, and it’s working. So who knows? Let’s see if we can get through the [DNC] week.

Starliner astronauts won’t return until 2025: The NASA, Boeing mission explained

Boeing's starliner spacecraft was dealt another blow over the weekend when nasa determined that it wasn't fit to bring its crew back home. that task instead now falls to boeing's competitor, spacex..

• Astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams are looking at another six months at the International Space Station while they await Crew-9 to arrive on a SpaceX dragon and complete their rotation.
• The Starliner will undock in September and return autonomously to Earth without its crew.
• NASA officials have signaled their plans to review data to see if certification for Starliner is still possible.

The two NASA astronauts who flew to space aboard the Boeing Starliner thought they might be home in time for Independence Day, but turns out they won't even be back on Earth to ring in the New Year.

Ahead of Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams are another six months to spend 250 miles above Earth. That's on top of the nearly three months the veteran spacefarers have already been at the International Space Station after arriving June 6 for what was initially scheduled to be a little more than a weeklong stay.

But after a thorough analysis of the Starliner spacecraft, NASA officials deemed that the vehicle wasn't up to the task of reliably transporting Wilmore and Williams for the return trip, the space agency announced Saturday . That responsibility will now instead fall to Boeing's aerospace competitor , SpaceX.

Meanwhile, the Starliner spacecraft will return to Earth empty handed .

The decision puts to rest the question surrounding the fate of Starliner and its crew, but plenty of questions may still remain. Here's everything to know about Starliner, where the mission went wrong and what may be next.

When did the Starliner launch?

The Starliner capsule – built with the intention of running crews and deliveries regularly to the station on behalf of  NASA  –  launched June 5 atop an Atlas V rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The highly-anticipated liftoff came after  several delays  over the course of  about a month due to troubles detected with the spacecraft, including issues with a valve in the rocket's upper stage.

Watch another launch: Polaris Dawn civilian crew prepares to head to orbit on SpaceX craft

What is the purpose of the mission?

The mission marked  the first crewed demonstration  of the spacecraft, which is intended to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX to make routine trips to space on behalf of NASA.

The partnership signifies a shift in recent years for the U.S. space agency, which has  pivoted to paying private companies  for missions it once would carry out itself as a way to cut costs. Certifying the Starliner for such missions would provide NASA with a second operational spacecraft to carry astronauts and cargo to  the space station  after it shelled out billions of dollars to both Boeing and SpaceX to develop the vehicles.

What is wrong with the Starliner spacecraft?

Wilmore and Williams were initially scheduled to be aboard  the International Space Station  for little more than a week.

But when they made it to the orbital outpost  a day after the launch , engineers discovered a slew of helium leaks and problems with the craft's propulsion system that have  hampered Starliner's return  to Earth.

Who are the two Starliner astronauts? 

Williams , 58, and  Wilmore , 61, were selected for the inaugural crewed flight of the Starliner, which completed two previous flight tests with no one aboard.

Both astronauts are Navy veterans who have each ventured to space twice before.

Prior to the Starliner mission, Williams, selected as an astronaut in 1998, had logged 322 days in space since her first flight in 2007. Wilmore, a retired Navy captain, joined NASA in 2000 and had spent 178 days in space prior to Starliner after his first trip to orbit in 2009.

How and when will the Starliner spacecraft, astronauts return to Earth?

The Starliner spacecraft will return in September autonomously to Earth to free up a docking port for the delayed SpaceX Crew-9 , which is scheduled to reach the space station Sept. 24 for a six-month rotation mission.

The Dragon capsule that Crew-9 will take to orbit is also now Williams and Wilmore's ride home.

For that reason, Crew-9 will include just two members instead of four, NASA said . The Starliner crew will then hitch a ride Feb. 25, 2025 with Crew-9 on the Dragon after the SpaceX astronauts complete their six-month rotation at the station.

After extensive review by experts across the agency, NASA's @BoeingSpace Crew Flight Test will return with an uncrewed #Starliner . Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are scheduled to return to Earth next spring aboard #Crew9 : https://t.co/bfjenUU1Jf pic.twitter.com/c4NzZVJcvw — NASA (@NASA) August 24, 2024

What are Williams and Wilmore doing at the International Space Station?

Now that they have no choice but to wait it out until February, Wilmore and Williams will continue to help with scientific research and routine maintenance aboard the International Space Station .

How many astronauts are aboard the ISS right now?

As of now, the Starliner astronauts are  living among the seven members of Expedition 71  who arrived at the space station  in April . Of those in Expedition 71, four are part of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission that was slated to depart the station in August before the Crew-9 delay.

The eight months Wilmore and Williams will ultimately spend in orbit is lengthy compared to the typical six-month rotations. History was made in September when astronaut Frank Rubio returned to Earth after 371 days in orbit, making him the American with the record for the longest spaceflight.

Does the space station have enough supplies for the astronauts?

NASA has insisted that Wilmore and Williams are sufficiently provisioned for the long-haul with food, water, clothing and oxygen.

And if you're wondering, Wilmore and Williams can indeed still vote in the upcoming presidential election from the space station.

Can Starliner still get NASA certification?

Hopes were high that a successful crewed Starliner mission would pave the way for NASA to approve the craft for routine missions ferrying astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station.

Despite the craft's imminent return without its crew, it doesn't appear NASA officials have ruled out the possibility of a coveted certification. Up next, the agency signaled its intent to review mission data and determine what additional steps are required for Boeing.

"This flight test is providing critical information on Starliner’s performance in space," said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. "Our efforts will help prepare for the uncrewed return and will greatly benefit future corrective actions for the spacecraft.”

Boeing officials have largely remained mum on Starliner for most of August and have not participated in media conferences with NASA. Though the company had been routinely sharing Starliner updates on its website, the last one came Aug. 2 , under the title, "Boeing’s confidence remains high in Starliner’s return with crew."

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]