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Homework Pros and Cons - Should Homework Be Banned?

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Proponents say homework improves student achievement. Opponents say too much homework is harmful to students. Explore both sides of the debate.

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For Liat Tamam, the daily, tearful battles over homework started soon after her daughter entered kindergarten.

"It just became this huge drama," the Bushwick-based mother of two tells The Post of the heated fights between her and her 6-year-old daughter, Rosa. "It was very challenging for me personally to get her to sit down and do homework," she says, "but I also didn't want her to be behind her class."

The 42-year-old says that Rosa was so resistant to doing her assigned math and writing worksheets that she was "having anxiety and stress and crying every day." So last January - after Rosa spent just four months at the local public school - Tamam and her husband decided to pull her out. Today, Rosa and her 3-year-old sister, Astrid, attend a homework-free school in the East Village. She's "very happy and more carefree," Tamam says.

Once upon an old-school classroom, homework was accepted as a crucial, if unpleasant, part of a student's life. But now, parents and teachers are rethinking the wisdom of sending children home every night with backpacks bulging with textbooks, worksheets and flashcards. In New York, the debate has reached an institutional level, and public elementary schools from Brooklyn to Long Island to Rockland County have all recently made moves to eliminate mandatory take-home assignments.

The anti-homework camp claims that take-home assignments infringe on family time and prevent kids from developing their own interests outside of school. "Most people know the downside of homework, the way it can kill kids' excitement about learning, create frustration, exhaustion and family conflict," says Alfie Kohn, author of " The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing." "But what most people don't realize is the lack of evidence supporting the conventional wisdom that homework is beneficial." He says that most teachers don't assign take-home work that helps students consider "questions that matter, as opposed to cramming [down] forgettable facts."

One local public school, PS 118 in Park Slope, is making over its homework policy with that in mind.

As of 2016, the Brooklyn elementary school, which has pre-K to fifth-grade classes, no longer doles out mandatory homework. Instead, it encourages students to partake in optional, open-ended projects, called "Exercise Your Brain" or EYBs. An EYB can be anything: a traditional researched report, a science experiment, a video or even an original song performed in front of the class.

"We encourage students to pursue things that they are interested in and they're passionate about," says Annie Giovino, a teacher at PS 118. " The kids love it. It gives them a real sense of ownership."

She says that her school's educators took guidance from Manhattan school PS 116, which espouses a "revised approach to homework" called PDF: playtime, downtime and family time. Since it's only 2 years old, PS 118's EYB program is still something of an experiment in progress, Giovino explains. "Now as we're growing, we're examining it to make sure students are prepared."

Kelli Kolodny, 50, says the new policy has done wonders for her son Henry, a third-grader.

Her "out-of-the-box kid" struggled with homework in the past, she says. But he has completely embraced EYBs. So far, he's done a number of independent projects, including one on Puerto Rico (inspired by a family vacation), another on ospreys, after a unit on birds in class, and a book about orchestra, with his own illustrations of various instruments.

"I have a kid who everything doesn't come easy to," the actress and stay-at-home mom says. "[This] gives him so much confidence. He's able to use his brain in a way that works for him."

The idea that children - even very young ones - can be active participants in their own schooling is one of the hallmarks of progressive early-childhood education. For decades, there have been private elementary schools that emphasize the importance of outdoor play, socialization and hands-on classroom projects that are thought to help kids develop their intellectual curiosity.

'Most people know the downside of homework, the way it can kill kids' excitement about learning.'

These principles are now making their way into public schools - so much so, that when two fifth-graders petitioned the school board in Stony Point, NY, to eliminate homework last June, they weren't scoffed at or shunned by the administration at Farley Elementary. Instead, assistant superintendent Kris Felicello told the press that "it was kind of [a] tipping point," and administrators agreed to review the school's approach to take-home assignments. While no details have been released yet, the school says it plans to debut a new homework policy by the 2019-2020 school year.

Still, not all traditionalist educators are ready to give up on take-home assignments. The National Parent Teacher Association currently advocates for "quality over quantity" in homework, but still recommends that schools give it, because "it has the potential to be a valuable aid."

Harris Cooper, a Duke University professor and author of " The Battle Over Homework," thinks this is sensible.

"Homework is good for kids in moderation," says Cooper, whose "10-minute rule," in which first-graders get 10 minutes of homework, second-graders get 20, etc., is widely accepted by teachers and school administrators across the country. "Setting up a time and place at home to do some schoolwork lays the foundation for when they're older, and they're able to be autonomous lifelong learners," he says.

Similarly, Brian Fritsch, deputy executive director at education advocacy group High Achievement New York, says the "structured approach" of regular, mandatory homework teaches students good habits. Fritsch supports the common core, a set of universal learning goals for classrooms, and calls the recent trend toward schools eliminating homework "disappointing." Plus, he adds, homework isn't bad for families. "It's helpful for parents to have insight into what their children are working on," he says.

But for Ross Benjamin, 37, take-home worksheets aren't a helpful insight into his 6-year-old's life - they're "unnecessary" and "misguided," he says. Worse than annoying, the German-language translator believes such busy work "can easily teach undesirable habits, like over-reliance on parental involvement," he explains.

Instead, the Nyack, NY-based dad wants his son, Aaron, to get the same privilege his parents get off the clock: some time to relax. "What these little kids need most after school is surely to wind down, play freely and spend time with their families," he says.

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More schools are nixing homework because parents say it's annoying

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For Liat Tamam, the daily, tearful battles over homework started soon after her daughter entered kindergarten. "It just became this huge drama," the Bushwick-based mother of two tells The Post of the heated fights between her and her 6-year-old daughter, Rosa.

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Reformers in the Progressive Era (from the 1890s to 1920s) depicted homework as a "sin" that deprived children of their playtime. Many critics voice similar concerns today.

Yet there are many parents who feel that from early on, children need to do homework if they are to succeed in an increasingly competitive academic culture. School administrators and policy makers have also weighed in, proposing various policies on homework.

So, does homework help or hinder kids?

For the last 10 years, my colleagues and I have been investigating international patterns in homework using databases like the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). If we step back from the heated debates about homework and look at how homework is used around the world, we find the highest homework loads are associated with countries that have lower incomes and higher social inequality.

Does homework result in academic success?

Let's first look at the global trends on homework.

Undoubtedly, homework is a global phenomenon; students from all 59 countries that participated in the 2007 Trends in Math and Science Study (TIMSS) reported getting homework. Worldwide, only less than 7 percent of fourth graders said they did no homework.

TIMSS is one of the few data sets that allow us to compare many nations on how much homework is given (and done). And the data show extreme variation.

For example, in some nations, like Algeria, Kuwait and Morocco, more than one in five fourth graders reported high levels of homework. In Japan, less than 3 percent of students indicated they did more than four hours of homework on a normal school night.

TIMSS data can also help to dispel some common stereotypes. For instance, in East Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan-countries that had the top rankings on TIMSS average math achievement-reported rates of heavy homework that were below the international mean.

In the Netherlands, nearly one out of five fourth graders reported doing no homework on an average school night, even though Dutch fourth graders put their country in the top 10 in terms of average math scores in 2007.

Going by TIMSS data, the U.S. is neither " A Nation at Rest" as some have claimed, nor a nation straining under excessive homework load. Fourth and eighth grade U.S. students fall in the middle of the 59 countries in the TIMSS data set, although only 12 percent of U.S. fourth graders reported high math homework loads compared to an international average of 21 percent.

So, is homework related to high academic success?

At a national level, the answer is clearly no. Worldwide, homework is not associated with high national levels of academic achievement.

But, the TIMSS can't be used to determine if homework is actually helping or hurting academic performance overall, it can help us see how much homework students are doing, and what conditions are associated with higher national levels of homework.

We have typically found that the highest homework loads are associated with countries that have lower incomes and higher levels of social inequality-not hallmarks that most countries would want to emulate.

Impact of homework on kids

TIMSS data also show us how even elementary school kids are being burdened with large amounts of homework.

Almost 10 percent of fourth graders worldwide (one in 10 children) reported spending multiple hours on homework each night. Globally, one in five fourth graders report 30 minutes or more of homework in math three to four times a week.

These reports of large homework loads should worry parents, teachers and policymakers alike.

Empirical studies have linked excessive homework to sleep disruption, indicating a negative relationship between the amount of homework, perceived stress and physical health.

What constitutes excessive amounts of homework varies by age, and may also be affected by cultural or family expectations. Young adolescents in middle school, or teenagers in high school, can study for longer duration than elementary school children.

But for elementary school students, even 30 minutes of homework a night, if combined with other sources of academic stress, can have a negative impact. Researchers in China have linked homework of two or more hours per night with sleep disruption.

Even though some cultures may normalize long periods of studying for elementary age children, there is no evidence to support that this level of homework has clear academic benefits. Also, when parents and children conflict over homework, and strong negative emotions are created, homework can actually have a negative association with academic achievement.

Should there be "no homework" policies?

Administrators and policymakers have not been reluctant to wade into the debates on homework and to formulate policies. France's president, Francois Hollande, even proposed that homework be banned because it may have inegaliatarian effects.

However, "zero-tolerance" homework policies for schools, or nations, are likely to create as many problems as they solve because of the wide variation of homework effects. Contrary to what Hollande said, research suggests that homework is not a likely source of social class differences in academic achievement.

Homework, in fact, is an important component of education for students in the middle and upper grades of schooling.

Policymakers and researchers should look more closely at the connection between poverty, inequality, and higher levels of homework. Rather than seeing homework as a "solution," policymakers should question what facets of their educational system might impel students, teachers and parents to increase homework loads.

At the classroom level, in setting homework, teachers need to communicate with their peers and with parents to assure that the homework assigned overall for a grade is not burdensome, and that it is indeed having a positive effect.

Perhaps, teachers can opt for a more individualized approach to homework. If teachers are careful in selecting their assignments-weighing the student's age, family situation and need for skill development-then homework can be tailored in ways that improve the chance of maximum positive impact for any given student.

I strongly suspect that when teachers face conditions such as pressure to meet arbitrary achievement goals, lack of planning time or little autonomy over curriculum, homework becomes an easy option to make up what could not be covered in class.

Whatever the reason, the fact is a significant percentage of elementary school children around the world are struggling with large homework loads. That alone could have long-term negative consequences for their academic success.

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More Homework Won't Make American Students Smarter

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Reformers in the Progressive Era (from the 1890s to 1920s) depicted homework as a "sin" that deprived children of their playtime. Many critics voice similar concerns today.Yet there are many parents who feel that from early on, children need to do homework if they are to succeed in an increasingly competitive academic culture.

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Homework is wrecking our kids: The research is clear, let's ban elementary homework

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"There is no evidence that any amount of homework improves the academic performance of elementary students." This statement, by homework research guru Harris Cooper, of Duke University, is startling to hear, no matter which side of the homework debate you're on. Can it be true that the hours of lost playtime, power struggles and tears are all for naught?

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(Image credit: <a href="http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/50235/50235,1234503617,1/stock-photo-young-boy-doing-his-homework-at-home-24886837.jpg">Child image</a> via Shutterstock)

Piling on the homework doesn't help kids do better in school. In fact, it can lower their test scores.

That's the conclusion of a group of Australian researchers, who have taken the aggregate results of several recent studies investigating the relationship between time spent on homework and students' academic performance.

According to Richard Walker, an educational psychologist at Sydney University, data shows that in countries where more time is spent on homework, students score lower on a standardized test called the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA. The same correlation is also seen when comparing homework time and test performance at schools within countries. Past studies have also demonstrated this basic trend.

Inundating children with hours of homework each night is detrimental, the research suggests, while an hour or two per week usually doesn't impact test scores one way or the other. However, homework only bolsters students' academic performance during their last three years of grade school. "There is little benefit for most students until senior high school (grades 10-12)," Walker told Life's Little Mysteries.

The research is detailed in his new book, "Reforming Homework: Practices, Learning and Policies" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).

The same basic finding holds true across the globe, including in the U.S., according to Gerald LeTendre of Pennsylvania State University. He and his colleagues have found that teachers typically give take-home assignments that are unhelpful busy work. Assigning homework "appeared to be a remedial strategy (a consequence of not covering topics in class, exercises for students struggling, a way to supplement poor quality educational settings), and not an advancement strategy (work designed to accelerate, improve or get students to excel)," LeTendre wrote in an email. [ Kids Believe Literally Everything They Read Online, Even Tree Octopuses]

This type of remedial homework tends to produce marginally lower test scores compared with children who are not given the work. Even the helpful, advancing kind of assignments ought to be limited; Harris Cooper, a professor of education at Duke University, has recommended that students be given no more than 10 to 15 minutes of homework per night in second grade, with an increase of no more than 10 to 15 minutes in each successive year.

Most homework's neutral or negative impact on students' academic performance implies there are better ways for them to spend their after school hours than completing worksheets. So, what should they be doing? According to LeTendre, learning to play a musical instrument or participating in clubs and sports all seem beneficial, but there's no one answer that applies to everyone.

"These after-school activities have much more diffuse goals than single subject test scores," he wrote. "When I talk to parents ... they want their kids to be well-rounded, creative, happy individuals - not just kids who ace the tests."
Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries, then join us on Facebook.

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(Image credit: Child image via Shutterstock) Piling on the homework doesn't help kids do better in school. In fact, it can lower their test scores. That's the conclusion of a group of Australian researchers, who have taken the aggregate results of several recent studies investigating the relationship between time spent on homework and students' academic performance.

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As Homework Grows, So Do Arguments Against It

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As Homework Grows, So Do Arguments Against It

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Our landmark decision to redefine homework was made in consultation with our School Leadership Team, and was a direct result of spending over a year and a half analyzing studies and literature focused on the effects of traditional homework.

It may surprise you to learn that research has demonstrated that there is almost no correlation between the amount of homework assignments students receive and students' academic success in the elementary grades. Our revised approach to homework celebrates the joy of childhood, and was enacted to make homework engaging and more enjoyable. Through this approach, children develop responsibility, form positive attitudes toward school, and understand that learning is a life-long experience -- not just something that happens within the confines of a school building or the pages of a workbook.

Below is some of the literature that supported our decision to move away from traditional homework assignments and, instead, focus on what has been proven to positively impact children's academic, emotional, and social development, including: time for physical play/activity, time with family, and limitation of screen time (i.e., computer, TV, video games).

Homework: An unnecessary evil? ... Surprising findings from new research

As Homework Grows, So Do Arguments Against It

Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement? A Synthesis of Research, 1987-2003

Homework is wrecking our kids: The research is clear, let's ban elementary homework

​More Homework Won't Make American Students Smarter

Should Schools Be Done With Homework?

P.S. 116's revised approach to homework focuses on the components of PDF (Playtime, Downtime, Family Time). Read below to find out the importance of incorporating each of these into your child's day -- and, yours!
Understanding PDF / Ready for PDF? How to Maximize Your Impact!

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Our landmark decision to redefine homework was made in consultation with our School Leadership Team, and was a direct result of spending over a year and a half analyzing studies and literature focused on the effects of traditional homework.

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Does your school have a homework policy? Here's the research →

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Does your school have a homework policy? Here's the research → https://t.co/p8HL9vjb5r

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Does your school have a homework policy? Here's the research → pic.twitter.com/p8HL9vjb5r
— edutopia (@edutopia) May 27, 2018

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Does your school have a homework policy? Here's the research → https://t.co/p8HL9vjb5r

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Does your school have a homework policy? Here's the research → https://t.co/p8HL9vjb5r

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Does your school have a homework policy? Here's the research →

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Homework: An unnecessary evil? … Surprising findings from new research

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Homework: An unnecessary evil? … Surprising findings from new research

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Kids have three times too much homework, study finds; what’s the cost? | CNN

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Students in the early elementary school years are getting significantly more homework than is recommended by education leaders, according to a new study.

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The debate over how much schoolwork students should be doing at home has flared again, with one side saying it's too much, the other side saying in our competitive world, it's just not enough.

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It was a move that doesn't happen very often in American public schools: The principal got rid of homework.

This past September, Stephanie Brant, principal of Gaithersburg Elementary School in Gaithersburg, Md., decided that instead of teachers sending kids home with math worksheets and spelling flash cards, students would instead go home and read. Every day for 30 minutes, more if they had time or the inclination, with parents or on their own.

"I knew this would be a big shift for my community," she says. But she also strongly believed it was a necessary one. Twenty-first-century learners, especially those in elementary school, need to think critically and understand their own learning - not spend night after night doing rote homework drills.

Brant's move may not be common, but she isn't alone in her questioning. The value of doing schoolwork at home has gone in and out of fashion in the United States among educators, policymakers, the media, and, more recently, parents. As far back as the late 1800s, with the rise of the Progressive Era, doctors such as Joseph Mayer Rice began pushing for a limit on what he called "mechanical homework," saying it caused childhood nervous conditions and eyestrain. Around that time, the then-influential Ladies Home Journal began publishing a series of anti-homework articles, stating that five hours of brain work a day was "the most we should ask of our children," and that homework was an intrusion on family life. In response, states like California passed laws abolishing homework for students under a certain age.

But, as is often the case with education, the tide eventually turned. After the Russians launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957, a space race emerged, and, writes Brian Gill in the journal Theory Into Practice, "The homework problem was reconceived as part of a national crisis; the U.S. was losing the Cold War because Russian children were smarter." Many earlier laws limiting homework were abolished, and the longterm trend toward less homework came to an end.

The debate re-emerged a decade later when parents of the late '60s and '70s argued that children should be free to play and explore - similar anti-homework wellness arguments echoed nearly a century earlier. By the early-1980s, however, the pendulum swung again with the publication of A Nation at Risk, which blamed poor education for a "rising tide of mediocrity." Students needed to work harder, the report said, and one way to do this was more homework.

For the most part, this pro-homework sentiment is still going strong today, in part because of mandatory testing and continued economic concerns about the nation's competitiveness. Many believe that today's students are falling behind their peers in places like Korea and Finland and are paying more attention to Angry Birds than to ancient Babylonia.

But there are also a growing number of Stephanie Brants out there, educators and parents who believe that students are stressed and missing out on valuable family time. Students, they say, particularly younger students who have seen a rise in the amount of take-home work and already put in a six- to nine-hour "work" day, need less, not more homework.

Who is right? Are students not working hard enough or is homework not working for them? Here's where the story gets a little tricky: It depends on whom you ask and what research you're looking at. As Cathy Vatterott, the author of Rethinking Homework, points out, "Homework has generated enough research so that a study can be found to support almost any position, as long as conflicting studies are ignored." Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth and a strong believer in eliminating all homework, writes that, "The fact that there isn't anything close to unanimity among experts belies the widespread assumption that homework helps." At best, he says, homework shows only an association, not a causal relationship, with academic achievement. In other words, it's hard to tease out how homework is really affecting test scores and grades. Did one teacher give better homework than another? Was one teacher more effective in the classroom? Do certain students test better or just try harder?

"It is difficult to separate where the effect of classroom teaching ends," Vatterott writes, "and the effect of homework begins."

Putting research aside, however, much of the current debate over homework is focused less on how homework affects academic achievement and more on time. Parents in particular have been saying that the amount of time children spend in school, especially with afterschool programs, combined with the amount of homework given - as early as kindergarten - is leaving students with little time to run around, eat dinner with their families, or even get enough sleep.

Certainly, for some parents, homework is a way to stay connected to their children's learning. But for others, homework creates a tug-of-war between parents and children, says Liz Goodenough, M.A.T.'71, creator of a documentary called Where Do the Children Play?

"Ideally homework should be about taking something home, spending a few curious and interesting moments in which children might engage with parents, and then getting that project back to school - an organizational triumph," she says. "A nag-free activity could engage family time: Ask a parent about his or her own childhood. Interview siblings."

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Instead, as the authors of The Case Against Homework write, "Homework overload is turning many of us into the types of parents we never wanted to be: nags, bribers, and taskmasters."

Leslie Butchko saw it happen a few years ago when her son started sixth grade in the Santa Monica-Malibu (Calif.) United School District. She remembers him getting two to four hours of homework a night, plus weekend and vacation projects. He was overwhelmed and struggled to finish assignments, especially on nights when he also had an extracurricular activity.

"Ultimately, we felt compelled to have Bobby quit karate - he's a black belt - to allow more time for homework," she says. And then, with all of their attention focused on Bobby's homework, she and her husband started sending their youngest to his room so that Bobby could focus. "One day, my younger son gave us 15-minute coupons as a present for us to use to send him to play in the back room. ... It was then that we realized there had to be something wrong with the amount of homework we were facing."

Butchko joined forces with another mother who was having similar struggles and ultimately helped get the homework policy in her district changed, limiting homework on weekends and holidays, setting time guidelines for daily homework, and broadening the definition of homework to include projects and studying for tests. As she told the school board at one meeting when the policy was first being discussed, "In closing, I just want to say that I had more free time at Harvard Law School than my son has in middle school, and that is not in the best interests of our children."

One barrier that Butchko had to overcome initially was convincing many teachers and parents that more homework doesn't necessarily equal rigor.

"Most of the parents that were against the homework policy felt that students need a large quantity of homework to prepare them for the rigorous AP classes in high school and to get them into Harvard," she says.

Stephanie Conklin, Ed.M.'06, sees this at Another Course to College, the Boston pilot school where she teaches math. "When a student is not completing [his or her] homework, parents usually are frustrated by this and agree with me that homework is an important part of their child's learning," she says.

As Timothy Jarman, Ed.M.'10, a ninth-grade English teacher at Eugene Ashley High School in Wilmington, N.C., says, "Parents think it is strange when their children are not assigned a substantial amount of homework."

That's because, writes Vatterott, in her chapter, "The Cult(ure) of Homework," the concept of homework "has become so engrained in U.S. culture that the word homework is part of the common vernacular."

These days, nightly homework is a given in American schools, writes Kohn.

"Homework isn't limited to those occasions when it seems appropriate and important. Most teachers and administrators aren't saying, 'It may be useful to do this particular project at home,'" he writes. "Rather, the point of departure seems to be, 'We've decided ahead of time that children will have to do something every night (or several times a week). ... This commitment to the idea of homework in the abstract is accepted by the overwhelming majority of schools - public and private, elementary and secondary."

Brant had to confront this when she cut homework at Gaithersburg Elementary.

"A lot of my parents have this idea that homework is part of life. This is what I had to do when I was young," she says, and so, too, will our kids. "So I had to shift their thinking." She did this slowly, first by asking her teachers last year to really think about what they were sending home. And this year, in addition to forming a parent advisory group around the issue, she also holds events to answer questions.

Still, not everyone is convinced that homework as a given is a bad thing. "Any pursuit of excellence, be it in sports, the arts, or academics, requires hard work. That our culture finds it okay for kids to spend hours a day in a sport but not equal time on academics is part of the problem," wrote one pro-homework parent on the blog for the documentary Race to Nowhere, which looks at the stress American students are under. "Homework has always been an issue for parents and children. It is now and it was 20 years ago. I think when people decide to have children that it is their responsibility to educate them," wrote another.

And part of educating them, some believe, is helping them develop skills they will eventually need in adulthood. "Homework can help students develop study skills that will be of value even after they leave school," reads a publication on the U.S. Department of Education website called Homework Tips for Parents. "It can teach them that learning takes place anywhere, not just in the classroom. ... It can foster positive character traits such as independence and responsibility. Homework can teach children how to manage time."

Annie Brown, Ed.M.'01, feels this is particularly critical at less affluent schools like the ones she has worked at in Boston, Cambridge, Mass., and Los Angeles as a literacy coach.

"It feels important that my students do homework because they will ultimately be competing for college placement and jobs with students who have done homework and have developed a work ethic," she says. "Also it will get them ready for independently taking responsibility for their learning, which will need to happen for them to go to college."

The problem with this thinking, writes Vatterott, is that homework becomes a way to practice being a worker.

"Which begs the question," she writes. "Is our job as educators to produce learners or workers?"

Slate magazine editor Emily Bazelon, in a piece about homework, says this makes no sense for younger kids.

"Why should we think that practicing homework in first grade will make you better at doing it in middle school?" she writes. "Doesn't the opposite seem equally plausible: that it's counterproductive to ask children to sit down and work at night before they're developmentally ready because you'll just make them tired and cross?"

Kohn writes in the American School Board Journal that this "premature exposure" to practices like homework (and sit-and-listen lessons and tests) "are clearly a bad match for younger children and of questionable value at any age." He calls it BGUTI: Better Get Used to It. "The logic here is that we have to prepare you for the bad things that are going to be done to you later ... by doing them to you now."

According to a recent University of Michigan study, daily homework for six- to eight-year-olds increased on average from about 8 minutes in 1981 to 22 minutes in 2003. A review of research by Duke University Professor Harris Cooper found that for elementary school students, "the average correlation between time spent on homework and achievement ... hovered around zero."

So should homework be eliminated? Of course not, say many Ed School graduates who are teaching. Not only would students not have time for essays and long projects, but also teachers would not be able to get all students to grade level or to cover critical material, says Brett Pangburn, Ed.M.'06, a sixth-grade English teacher at Excel Academy Charter School in Boston. Still, he says, homework has to be relevant.

"Kids need to practice the skills being taught in class, especially where, like the kids I teach at Excel, they are behind and need to catch up," he says. "Our results at Excel have demonstrated that kids can catch up and view themselves as in control of their academic futures, but this requires hard work, and homework is a part of it."

Ed School Professor Howard Gardner basically agrees.

"America and Americans lurch between too little homework in many of our schools to an excess of homework in our most competitive environments - Li'l Abner vs. Tiger Mother," he says. "Neither approach makes sense. Homework should build on what happens in class, consolidating skills and helping students to answer new questions."

So how can schools come to a happy medium, a way that allows teachers to cover everything they need while not overwhelming students? Conklin says she often gives online math assignments that act as labs and students have two or three days to complete them, including some in-class time. Students at Pangburn's school have a 50-minute silent period during regular school hours where homework can be started, and where teachers pull individual or small groups of students aside for tutoring, often on that night's homework. Afterschool homework clubs can help.

Some schools and districts have adapted time limits rather than nix homework completely, with the 10-minute per grade rule being the standard - 10 minutes a night for first-graders, 30 minutes for third-graders, and so on. (This remedy, however, is often met with mixed results since not all students work at the same pace.) Other schools offer an extended day that allows teachers to cover more material in school, in turn requiring fewer take-home assignments. And for others, like Stephanie Brant's elementary school in Maryland, more reading with a few targeted project assignments has been the answer.

"The routine of reading is so much more important than the routine of homework," she says. "Let's have kids reflect. You can still have the routine and you can still have your workspace, but now it's for reading. I often say to parents, if we can put a man on the moon, we can put a man or woman on Mars and that person is now a second-grader. We don't know what skills that person will need. At the end of the day, we have to feel confident that we're giving them something they can use on Mars."
Read a January 2014 update.

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Are You Down With or Done With Homework?

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caption id="attachment_5366" align="alignleft" width="319" caption="Illustration by Jessica Esch"] [/caption] It was a move that doesn't happen very often in American public schools: The principal got rid of homework. This past September, Stephanie Brant, principal of Gaithersburg Elementary School in Gaithersburg, Md., decided that instead of teachers sending kids home with math worksheets and spelling flash cards, students would instead go home and read.

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5 Reasons Kids Need Homework and 5 Reasons They Don't

The benefits of homework has been debated by teachers and parents for years as the very word evokes very negative connotations to every involved, students, parents and teachers. Although many people think of homework as doing more harm than good by causing copious amounts of unnecessary stress to everyone, others believe that it has great advantages for children by encouraging them to think more independently outside the classroom.
The Benefits
The first benefit of homework is that it allows students and teachers to work more closely together. They can discuss their assignments or any problems that they are having with parts of their textbooks, before or after classes.

The second benefit is that it can bring families closer together as students may ask their parents or siblings for help on their homework. Not only will this help the students get a better understanding of their work with any parts they are stuck on, it will also allow parents to get more involved in their child's educational life.

Thirdly, doing homework will prepare students for the big end tests. If a child does poorly on an assignment then they will learn what is necessary to do well on the next test without being punished. It also provides students with the opportunity to practice at what it takes to be successful in school. Like they say, practice makes perfect.

Doing homework is also a great way to develop responsibilities. By being assigned work one day and knowing that it has to be done by the next day, they will develop a sense of punctuality by turning their work in on time.

And finally it allows parents to see how their children are being educated and they can develop a better idea of how they can help their child. However, some parents, students and even some teachers feel that after 7-8 hours of lessons in school, it is unfair to expect students to come home and work for another three hours.
The Potential Harm
The first reason that children should not be given homework is that they need time to relax and take their minds off work. The pressure of having to complete homework every night is quite daunting for most children and they need time to refresh their minds and bodies.

Secondly, it reduces the amount of time that children could be spending with their families. Family time is especially important to a growing child and without it social problems can crop up and a family unit can be compromised by a lack of time being spent together.

Thirdly, homework can cause conflict between children and parents when the parent wants to the child to do their homework but meets resistance from the student to do an overwhelming task.

Too much homework can encourage cheating because children end up copying off one another in an attempt to finish all their assignments. They then end up being rewarded for cheating which doesn't benefit them at all.

And finally, a lot of teachers don't often have the time to grade papers properly as they are too busy with designing lesson plans and consulting teaching resources in order to just manage lessons. So by the time students are getting their papers back, the class has moved on to a new topic.

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5 Reasons Kids Need Homework and 5 Reasons They Don't

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Although many people think of homework as doing more harm than good by causing copious amounts of unnecessary stress to everyone, others believe that it has great advantages for children by encouraging them to think more independently outside the classroom.

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Not too much

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Schools Change the Way Things Get Graded

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Schools Change the Way Things Get Graded

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Newsela | Changing the way students make the grade

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A new approach in how students get graded goes against the way schools have worked for generations.

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When you get home from school, what's the first thing you like to do? Your list might include such popular items as go outside and or have an after-school . If you're like many kids, though, you probably also need to some to getting your homework done. Life just isn't , is it?

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What has eight letters and strikes into the hearts of students around the world? No, it's not broccoli, but that was a good guess! Give up? HOMEWORK!

Did you just in and ? We're sorry, but homework is a fact of life and it's time we took a closer look at it. Even though it might get in the way of playing outside or watching your favorite television show, it's necessary and, believe it or not, good for you!

Homework creates a between school and home. Parents rarely get to spend much time with you while you're at school. Homework allows them to keep up with what you're doing in your classes on a daily basis. But you don't have homework purely for your parents' . It's good for you, too!

Homework can help you become a better student in several different ways. First of all, homework given in advance of a particular subject can help you make the most of your classroom discussion time. For example, before beginning a discussion of a complex period in history, it can be very helpful to read background information as homework the night before.

Homework also gives you valuable practice with what you've learned in the classroom. Often, the brief period of time you have during class to learn something new is simply not enough. Repeating classroom concepts at home helps to in your mind the things you learned.

For example, you've probably experienced the of homework when it comes to mathematics. A new concept explained in class might seem foreign at first. With repetition via homework, however, you reinforce what you learned in class and it sticks with you. Without homework, a lot of classroom time would be wasted with repetition that could more easily be done outside the classroom.

In these ways, homework expands upon what is done during the day in the classroom. Your overall educational experience is better, because homework helps you to and more knowledge than would be possible with only classroom work. As you learn more, you know more and you achieve more...and you have homework to thank!

Homework teaches lessons beyond just what's taught in the classroom, too. Bringing homework home, completing it correctly, and turning it in promptly teaches a host of other important life skills, from time management and responsibility to organization and prioritization .

Despite these benefits found by researchers, the topics of who should receive homework and how much homework are hotly debated among educators and researchers. In one study, researchers found that academic gains from homework increased as grade level increased, suggesting homework is more beneficial for older students. Some researchers have found that too much homework can lower or cancel its benefits and become counterproductive , because students become burned out.

How much is too much? That depends upon many complex factors, including the individual abilities of the child, other demands upon time, such as sports, part-time jobs, family responsibilities, and types of classes. If you feel overburdened by homework, the best thing you can do is to a with your teacher. Be and honest about your feelings regarding homework and work with your teacher to strike a reasonable balance that helps you achieve your educational goals.

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What has eight letters and strikes into the hearts of students around the world? No, it's not broccoli, but that was a good guess! Give up? HOMEWORK! Did you just in and ? We're sorry, but homework is a fact of life and it's time we took a closer look at it.

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References

Click the "References" link above to hide these references.

Balli, S. J., Wedman, J. F., & Demo, D. H. (1997). Family involvement with middle-grades homework: Effects of differential prompting. Journal of Experimental Education, 66, 31-48.

Cooper, H. (1989). Homework. White Plains, N.Y.: Longman.

Cooper, H. (2001). Homework for all - in moderation. Educational Leadership, 58, 34-38.

Cooper, H., Lindsay, J. J, Nye, B., & Greathouse, S. (1998). Relationships among attitudes about homework, amount of homework assigned and completed, and student achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(1), 70-83.

Cooper, H., & Nye, B. (1994). Homework for students with learning disabilities: The implications of research for policy and practice. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27, 470-479.

Cooper, H., Nye, B.A., & Lindsay, J.J. (2000). Homework in the home: How student, family and parenting style differences relate to the homework process. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25(4), 464-487.

Cooper, H., Robinson, J. C., & Patall, E. A. (2006). Does homework improve academic achievement? A synthesis of research. Review of Educational Research, 76, 1-62.

Corno, L., & Xu, J. (2004). Homework as the job of childhood. Theory Into Practice, 43, 227-233.

Cosden, M., Morrison, G., Albanese, A. L., & Macias, S. (2001). When homework is not home work: After-school programs for homework assistance. Educational Psychologist, 36(3), 211-221.

Epstein, J. L. (1998). Homework practices, achievements, and behaviors of elementary school students. Baltimore: Center for Research on Elementary and Middle Schools. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED301322]

Foyle, H. C. (1985). The effects of preparation and practice homework on student achievement in tenth-grade American history (Doctoral dissertation, Kansas State University, 1985). Dissertation Abstracts International, 45, 8A.

Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., Battiato, A. C., Walker, J. M. T., Reed, R. P., DeJong, J. M. & Jones, K. P. (2001). Parental involvement in homework. Educational Psychologist, 36, 195-209.

James-Burdumy, S., Dynarski, M., Moore, M., Deke, J., Mansfield, W., Pistorino, C. & Warner, E. (2005). When Schools Stay Open Late: The National Evaluation of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program Final Report. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education/Institute of Education Sciences National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.

Johnson, J. K., & Pontius, A. (1989). Homework: A survey of teacher beliefs and practices. Research in Education, 41, 71-78.

Keith, T. Z., & Benson, M. J. (1992). Effects of manipulable influences on high school grades across five ethnic groups. Journal of Educational Research, 86, 85-93.

Kohn, A. (2006, September). Abusing research: The study of homework and other examples. Phi Delta Kappan, 8-22.

Leone, C. M., & Richards, M. H. (1989). Classwork and homework in early adolescence: The ecology of achievement. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 18, 531-548.

McDermott, R. P., Goldman, S. V., & Varenne, H. (1984). When school goes home: Some problems in the organization of homework [Abstract]. Teachers College Record, 85, 391-409.

Muhlenbruck, L., Cooper, H., Nye, B., & Lindsay, J. J. (2000). Homework and achievement: explaining the different strengths of relation at the elementary and secondary school levels. Social Psychology of Education, 3, 295-317.

Murphy, J. & Decker, K. (1989). Teachers' use of homework in high schools. Journal of Educational Research, 82(5), 261-269.

Rosenberg, M. S. (1989). The effects of daily homework assignments on the acquisition of basic skills by students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 22, 314-323.

Scott-Jones, D. (1984). Family influences on cognitive development and school achievement. Review of Research in Education, 11, 259-304.

Trautwein, U., & Koller, O. (2003). The relationship between homework and achievement - still much of a mystery. Educational Psychology Review, 15, 115-145.

Van Voorhis, F. L. (2003). Interactive homework in middle school: Effects on family involvements and science achievement. Journal of Educational Research, 96(6), 323-338.

Warton, P. M. (2001). The forgotten voice in homework: Views of students. Educational Psychologist, 36, 155-165.

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Key Lessons: What Research Says About the Value of Homework

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How much homework is too much? Not enough? Who should get it? These are just a few of the questions that have been debated over the years. While the research produces mixed results, there are some findings that can help inform decisions about homework.

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What is the reason my kids get homework and how involved should I be in it? Educator Answers: Homework is assigned to reinforce what was taught in class. Teachers assign a variety of different homework experiences. Some are very brief and may only need a few write-in answers, while others may require a large time commitment, creativity, and project steps.

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Homework And Tests Stressing You Out? Consider Moving To Sweden!

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Homework And Tests Stressing You Out? Consider Moving To Sweden!

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Homework And Tests Stressing You Out? Consider Moving To Sweden! has 618 reviews and 0 ratings. Reviewer 1053793 wrote: "lets go dogo news!!!!"

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Homework Or No Homework? What Educators Are Saying

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You can learn anything

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

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When is Homework Helpful? | Sara Kutscher | TEDxRiverdaleCountrySchool

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What science says about the benefits of homework   Madeline Levine

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Homework Or No Homework? What Educators Are Saying

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Homework overload | Mikel Garmendia | TEDxPascoCountySchoolsED

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Are Teachers Giving You Too Much Homework?

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Used in 2017-18