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This Scholarly journal, published in 2022 by Vanessa Guo titled "A Comparison of Academic Load and Student Perspectives on Education Between America and China", looks at Chinese and American student work load, comparing and contrasting both.

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This Scholarly journal, published in 2022 by Vanessa Guo titled "A Comparison of Academic Load and Student Perspectives on Education Between America and China", looks at Chinese and American student work load, comparing and contrasting both.

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"The ability of students to thrive in these environments can be assessed by determining how they react in response to various aspects of their education systems, whether cultural or economic, tangible or intangible." - Looking at a students learning means also looking at the kind of environment they are put into as well, which is why I underlined this sentence, because I felt it captured that point.

"With such a high a standard, it may be easier to disregard those who do not perform as well academically in China, which presents a potential contrast with traditional American values." - Although this scholarly journal focuses on China as well as America, I found that knowing/hearing how other countries also handle work load and failing in comparison, and seeing the more harsh nature of other countries.

"'a significant number of current studies are looking everywhere but the classroom and considering everything but the student perspective to explain why school children learn well or poorly' ( Gentilucci, 2004)" - I feel we’ve talked about this in classes, especially during presentations, about how much more impactful the student’s voices were on this topic, which is why I underlined it here as well, since it seems to be a new common theme when it comes to new research.

"On the other hand, the high importance that the American students attach to the SAT/ACT is worth further investigating, especially in the current test-optional environment. More consistent with the holistic college admissions process that emphasizes personal qualities and contributions, American students also appear to place much higher emphasis on leadership and extracurricular activities in comparison to their Chinese counterparts" - One of the points I want to cover is not only how workload can put pressure on students, but also the need to have extracurriculars, leadership, or volunteer hours outside of class that can limit students time and put more stress on them.

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I have not given, received, or used any unauthorized assistance. This work is mine.

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This is an article from the website Psychology Today, published in 2021 by Becky Diamond titled "All Work and No Play in Kindergarten" talks about the work load kindergartens face today.

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This is an article from the website Psychology Today, published in 2021 by Becky Diamond titled "All Work and No Play in Kindergarten" talks about the work load kindergartens face today.

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"Test results became the measurement of a school’s success." - Because this is a thing, I wonder if this is why this issue is tougher to solve than most, because how can schools give a balance when funding relies on testing and academics alone?

"But in reality, kids mature differently." - This is a common theme I’ve seen throughout the course so far, as well as throughout life; everyone is different, so does curriculum box kids into stressful learning that doesn’t always work for them?

"In 2010, Ms. Brown’s students spent 1 hour and 40 minutes learning academics and over 2 hours playing. In 2021, there are 4 hours of academics. Recess is the only unstructured playtime (25 minutes)." - I just found that the way the times have shifted to give young students less play time is wild to me, and something I haven’t considered since I mostly focus on high school students.

"School psychologist Rebecca Comizio works at a New Canaan Country School, a private school in suburban Connecticut for kids ages 3 to grade 9. She sees many sources of pressure around achievement and stressed out kids. She said hiring tutors for children who are grade level is “a terrible message to send. Kids get the sense they aren’t capable or doing enough."

“We set them up to be very anxious,” she said." - As I mentioned before, most of my focus is on high school students because that’s the age range I want to teach when I graduate, but seeing this issue focus on kindergarten and the lasting effects these pressures have opened my eyes to a new perspective.

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Kindergarten is no longer free-play and finger-painting. The focus is academics and the pressure is real. It’s time to consider a course correction: less pressure and more play.

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This is a Scholarly Journal published by Campbell Collaboration titled "The Relationship Between Homework Time and Academic Performance among K-12: A Systematic Review" 

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This is a Scholarly Journal published by Campbell Collaboration titled "The Relationship Between Homework Time and Academic Performance among K-12: A Systematic Review" 

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"Homework is defined as “any task assigned by school teachers intended for students to carry out during non‐school hours” (Cooper, 1989). This definition explicitly excludes (a) in‐school guided study; (b) home study courses delivered through the mail, television, audio or video cassette, or the internet; and (c) extracurricular activities such as sports and participation in clubs." - Starting with a definition for homework, and all the different things it can represent, is a key part to understanding what "work load" means exactly.

"Regardless, it is possible that the effects of homework are not linear. Some evidence suggests that increasing homework duration can improve academic performance, but there is a point where too much homework can actually lead to a decline in performance (Ackerman et al., 2011; Krejtz et al., 2018; Reteig et al., 2019)" - Plenty of research has been done on Homework's effects on academic outcome, but seeing this article define it as non-linear shows there is still much to be discussed, especially now when considering mental health and actually learning.

"Several systematic reviews have explored the effectiveness of homework in improving students' performance. However, they assumed a linear relationship between the time spent on homework and performance, without considering how homework duration affects students' autonomous motivation." - Once again tying back into the linear relationships discusses previously, but now this study focuses more on motivation or optimistic learned in the phrasing of my question.

"Previous studies have also demonstrated that the relationship between homework and academic performance is influenced by factors such as the gender (Cadime et al., 2017), grade level (Başet al., 2017), region (Zhu, 2015), publication year (Gill & Schlossman, 2004; Twenge et al., 2004), measurement tool (Fan et al., 2017), type of homework (Qiao & Fan, 2020), and subject (Fan et al., 2017; Trautwein & Lüdtke, 2007)." - Like previous articles, bringing up specific groups of students based on other factors comes into play here as well as something to consider when looking at homework.

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This is an article from the World Health Organization titled "Rising School Pressure and Declining Family Support especially Among Girls, Finds New WHO/Europe Report." published in 2024 looking at how school pressure and family support can impact students.

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This is an article from the World Health Organization titled "Rising School Pressure and Declining Family Support especially Among Girls, Finds New WHO/Europe Report." published in 2024 looking at how school pressure and family support can impact students.

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"More students report feeling pressured by schoolwork than in 2018, particularly affecting older adolescents, with stark gender differences emerging. Among 15-year-olds, nearly two-thirds of girls (63%) now report feeling pressured – up from 54% in 2018 – compared to 43% of boys (up from 40%)." - As we look closely at this issue, I find that looking at specifics from gender, class, and race will be important points to bring up in the research process.

"Adolescents from lower-affluence families are more likely to experience lower family and peer support, fewer opportunities for daily family meals and greater difficulties communicating with parents." - Once again, we see out stakeholder become more specific, this time looking at how social class can also affect students outside of the classroom.

"The report underscores the need for continued efforts to support adolescents as they navigate the ongoing effects of the pandemic on their social and emotional well-being." - Looking at the lasting effects of the COVID pandemic will become a main point of evidence as we move forward, since we still see it's effects today.

"Address academic pressure. Schools must tackle rising stress levels through systematic approaches, implementing balanced homework policies, providing study skills support, scheduling regular student-teacher check-ins, and ensuring teachers are trained to recognize and respond to signs of academic stress, particularly among girls." - Essentially, this is the concept I have been researching and to see it used here as a solution brings forth evidence to my work.

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Rising school pressure and declining family support especially among girls, finds new WHO/Europe report

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A new report by WHO/Europe and the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study has revealed alarming declines in social support for adolescents across Europe, central Asia and Canada. The findings are stark: only 68% of adolescents report high levels of family support, a significant drop compared to the previous survey in 2018, while school pressure has increased sharply, particularly for adolescent girls. These trends are affecting the mental health and well-being of millions of young people, particularly older adolescents and those from less well-off families.

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This is a Scholarly journal published in 2020 by BERA, or The Curriculum Journal titled "Curriculum Making and Knowledge Conceptions in Classrooms in the Context of Standards-Based Curricula" written by Daniel Alvunger

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This is a Scholarly journal published in 2020 by BERA, or The Curriculum Journal titled "Curriculum Making and Knowledge Conceptions in Classrooms in the Context of Standards-Based Curricula" written by Daniel Alvunger

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" These are outcomes-based and progressive learner-centred curricula, generally with a social constructivist approach to learning and the appraisal of teacher agency and curriculum autonomy (Priestley & Sinnema, 2014). However, social realist scholars claim that new curricula are fraught with neo-liberal ideas about education and accountability, as well as a technical-instrumentalist and performance-oriented focus (McPhail, 2017; Yates & Collins, 2010). The new curricula lead to curriculum narrowing, a reduction of critical content knowledge, a teaching-to-the-test attitude and negligence of student interests (Ormond, 2019; Wood & Sheehan, 2020)" - Test-focused work is another point I want to bring up in my question so this provides evidence for that.

"We know that classrooms may be quite messy, a hodgepodge of actors’ beliefs, demands and histories; multiple transactions; different meanings; and the contingencies of everyday life. In practice, the distinction between curriculum questions (what) and questions of pedagogy (how) is difficult to make visible (Vernon, 2020)." - Looking once again at the idea that everyone learns differently, and how different schools teach differently is something important to consider.

"One distinctive feature in the empirical data is teacher-centred teaching, in which the characteristics and aims of the school subject are in the foreground. Repertoires of teaching generally include monologues (lecturing) and recitation (the presentation of content, combined with questions to determine what students know) in which subject-specific concepts are related to one another to help students connect different types of content." - If this is a common theme, how can schools make learning less of a lecture and make the work load/learning more engaged?

"Teachers constantly move between subject-disciplinary knowledge and experience-based knowledge, from the world of students and must balance between these in their curriculum making.... By following the decision-making processes in the minds of teachers, we can see that judgements and considerations regarding the activities of teaching and the presentation of content are made based on the teachers’ knowledge of the students’ capacities and what they know to be challenging or tangible for them." - Once again looking at a teachers role in this, seeing as curriculum can be a tricky thing to balance, some of the work falls into teachers, which can provide evidence for how to add balance.

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The Curriculum Journal - 2021 - Alvunger - Curriculum making and knowledge conceptions in classrooms in the context of

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This is a Article published on Frontiers in Psychology in 2015 titled "A Multi-Method Exploratory Study of Stress, Coping, and Substance Use Among High School Youth in Private Schools."

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This is a Article published on Frontiers in Psychology in 2015 titled "A Multi-Method Exploratory Study of Stress, Coping, and Substance Use Among High School Youth in Private Schools."

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"Yet there is growing awareness that many subgroups of youth experience levels of chronic stress that are so great that youths’ abilities to succeed academically are actually undermined, mental health functioning is compromised, and rates of risk behavior escalate (Hardy, 2003; Suldo et al., 2008; Conner et al., 2009)." - Stress about school, and outside of school issues, can add more stress then we were previously aware of, which is why now more than ever it's important to look at this research, especially if we don't want lasting effects.

"The pressure to gain admission to a selective college or university is one of the main factors identified in the popular and empirical literatures as driving the conditions that lead to high rates of chronic stress among high-achieving youth (Luthar, 2003; Pope and Simon, 2005; Porter, 2007). Indeed, in the private school context, families are explicit in their expectations that these institutions prepare their children well to enter top-tier colleges and universities by guiding students to develop an exemplary academic and extracurricular portfolio, and youth are well aware of these parental expectations (Luthar and Becker, 2002; Gall and Stixrd, 2008)." - I'm glad this article brought up college admissions, since this is a main point of tension when it comes to students work load, specifically extracurricular activities in addition to academics.

"As one female student explained, “Yeah, if you didn’t have stress, you wouldn’t push yourself as hard. It’s almost like, kind of like adrenaline. It pushes you harder and it like makes you do things that maybe you wouldn’t be able to if you didn’t have that pressure.” These students adopted a mindset of stress as enhancing (Crum et al., 2013), that is, experiencing stress leads to better academic performance, “if I didn’t feel stress in terms of school, I probably would not be doing as well as I am doing” related a male student." - hearing direct student quotes can give more meaning to evidence used with my questions, seeing as they are the main point being studied. Here, I find the balance students find with "good stress" a great point to bring up.

"A veteran teacher and chair of her department noted:

'I think we expect and demand a lot of our students and I think the types of students they are and the colleges they want to get into leads them to do so many things that stress is just going to be automatic. We demand them to do so many things that… how could they not be (stressed)?'" - Although it's not a student perspective, I think Teacher input could also give evidence, seeing as they see the direct results in the classroom and are the ones doing the learning.

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This is a video and it's transcription of Sir Ken Robinson, a PhD speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government. Here we talks about changing Education Paradigms.

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This is a video and it's transcription of Sir Ken Robinson, a PhD speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government. Here we talks about changing Education Paradigms.

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"The problem is, they’re trying to meet the future by doing what they did in the past, and on the way they’re alienating millions of kids who don’t see any purpose in going to school." - Looking at the past and seeing how it hasn't changed was something I hadn't thought about when looking at curriculum.

"So there’s also built into it a whole series of assumptions about social structure and capacity. It was driven by an economic imperative of the time...And the consequence of that is that many brilliant people think they’re not because they’ve been judged against this particular view of the mind." - I want to look into specific graphics of students because there is a wide arrange that come from different classes, races, genders, and so on, and how this also effects how much work they take on in school and in their personal lives.

" It seems to me not a coincidence, totally, that the instance of ADHD has risen in parallel with the growth of the standardized testing." - I hadn't thought about the mental health aspect, and he also ties this in with the rise of technology, which is interesting.

"Schools are still pretty much organized on factory lines: ringing bells, separate facilities, specialized into separate subjects. We still educate children by batches, you know, we put them through the system by age group....It’s essentially about conformity and it’s increasingly about that as you look at the growth of standardized testing and standardized curricula. And it’s about standardization." - I just find this line interesting, since I've never personally been good at standardization and it plays a big role when looking at stress and curriculum.

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Changing Education Paradigms — Saint Kosmas Orthodox Education

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St. Kosmas Orthodox Homeschool Community

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This is an article from the website Waterford.org published by Andy Minshew titled "A Teacher's Guide to Toxic Stress in the Classroom." looking at what exactly is student stress, what causes it, and how teacher's can help manage stress.

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This is an article from the website Waterford.org published by Andy Minshew titled "A Teacher's Guide to Toxic Stress in the Classroom." looking at what exactly is student stress, what causes it, and how teacher's can help manage stress.

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"For example, children with toxic stress are more likely to fit the parameters for chronic absenteeism, or excessive school absences.[6] Students who are characterized as “difficult” or “bad-mannered” may be overwhelmed with toxic stress and unable to access the support they need because of the way others view them." - I want to touch on absenteeism since this looks into the optimistic side of my question, and how we get optimistic learners.

"Additionally, victims of school bullying are more likely to develop chronic stress than their peers—as well as depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.[16]" - I've been mainly focusing on students outside lives and extracurriculars when looking at student stress and forget about student's social lives also playing a big role. This article let's me think about this.

"For that reason, it can be helpful to focus your classroom goals on learning and growth rather than on grades alone. Additionally, be mindful of stressors or commitments outside of the classroom and allow extensions on assignment deadlines for students with extenuating circumstances.[10]" - Looking at what teacher's can do on their level is important in this argument as well.

"Try not to schedule too many important projects or tests on the same day. Instead, space big assignments out to avoid overwhelming students.[10]" - Again, looking at what teacher's specifically can do to work around curriculum standards.

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A Teacher’s Guide to Toxic Stress in the Classroom - Waterford.org

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Use this guide on toxic stress in the classroom to provide overwhelmed students with the right support and prevent burnout.

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This is an article published by the University of San Diego, written by Joseph Lathan title "Is Homework Necessary? Education Inequity and Its Impact on Students" 

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This is an article published by the University of San Diego, written by Joseph Lathan title "Is Homework Necessary? Education Inequity and Its Impact on Students" 

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"While students growing up in more affluent areas are likely playing sports, participating in other recreational activities after school, or receiving additional tutoring, children in disadvantaged areas are more likely headed to work after school, taking care of siblings while their parents work or dealing with an unstable home life."

"“Their findings were troubling: Research showed that excessive homework is associated with high stress levels, physical health problems and lack of balance in children’s lives; 56% of the students in the study cited homework as a primary stressor in their lives,” according to the CNN story."

"That means that by asking our children to put in an hour or more per day of dedicated homework time, we are not only not helping them, but — according to the aforementioned studies — we are hurting them, both physically and emotionally.

What’s more is that homework is, as the name implies, to be completed at home, after a full day of learning that is typically six to seven hours long with breaks and lunch included. However, a study by the APA on how people develop expertise found that elite musicians, scientists and athletes do their most productive work for about only four hours per day."

"School work assigned and completed outside of school hours is not without its benefits. Numerous studies have shown that regular homework has a hand in improving student performance and connecting students to their learning. When reviewing these studies, take them with a grain of salt; there are strong arguments for both sides, and only you will know which solution is best for your students or school."

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Schools are getting rid of homework from Essex, Mass., to Los Angeles, Calif. Although the no-homework trend may sound alarming, especially to parents dreaming of their child's acceptance to Harvard, Stanford or Yale, there is mounting evidence that eliminating homework in grade school may actually have great benefits, especially with regard to educational equity.

In fact, while the push to eliminate homework may come as a surprise to many adults, the debate is not new. Parents and educators have been talking about this subject for the last century, so that the educational pendulum continues to swing back and forth between the need for homework and the need to eliminate homework.

The Problem with Homework: It Highlights Inequalities

One of the most pressing talking points around homework is how it disproportionately affects students from less affluent families. The American Psychological Association (APA) explained:

"Kids from wealthier homes are more likely to have resources such as computers, internet connections, dedicated areas to do schoolwork and parents who tend to be more educated and more available to help them with tricky assignments. Kids from disadvantaged homes are more likely to work at afterschool jobs, or to be home without supervision in the evenings while their parents work multiple jobs."
[RELATED] How to Advance Your Career: A Guide for Educators >>
While students growing up in more affluent areas are likely playing sports, participating in other recreational activities after school, or receiving additional tutoring, children in disadvantaged areas are more likely headed to work after school, taking care of siblings while their parents work or dealing with an unstable home life. Adding homework into the mix is one more thing to deal with - and if the student is struggling, the task of completing homework can be too much to consider at the end of an already long school day.

While all students may groan at the mention of homework, it may be more than just a nuisance for poor and disadvantaged children, instead becoming another burden to carry and contend with.

Beyond the logistical issues, homework can negatively impact physical health and stress - and once again this may be a more significant problem among economically disadvantaged youth who typically already have a higher stress level than peers from more financially stable families.

Yet, today, it is not just the disadvantaged who suffer from the stressors that homework inflicts. A 2014 CNN article, "Is Homework Making Your Child Sick?", covered the issue of extreme pressure placed on children of the affluent. The article looked at the results of a study surveying more than 4,300 students from 10 high-performing public and private high schools in upper-middle-class California communities.

"Their findings were troubling: Research showed that excessive homework is associated with high stress levels, physical health problems and lack of balance in children's lives; 56% of the students in the study cited homework as a primary stressor in their lives," according to the CNN story. "That children growing up in poverty are at-risk for a number of ailments is both intuitive and well-supported by research. More difficult to believe is the growing consensus that children on the other end of the spectrum, children raised in affluence, may also be at risk."

When it comes to health and stress it is clear that excessive homework, for children at both ends of the spectrum, can be damaging. Which begs the question, how much homework is too much?

How Much Homework Is Too Much Homework?

The National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association recommend that students spend 10 minutes per grade level per night on homework. That means that first graders should spend 10 minutes on homework, second graders 20 minutes and so on. But a study published by The American Journal of Family Therapy found that students are getting much more than that.

While 10 minutes per day doesn't sound like much, that quickly adds up to an hour per night by sixth grade. The National Center for Education Statistics found that high school students get an average of 6.8 hours of homework per week, a figure that is much too high according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It is also to be noted that this figure does not take into consideration the needs of underprivileged student populations.

In a study conducted by the OECD it was found that "after around four hours of homework per week, the additional time invested in homework has a negligible impact on performance." That means that by asking our children to put in an hour or more per day of dedicated homework time, we are not only not helping them, but - according to the aforementioned studies - we are hurting them, both physically and emotionally.

What's more is that homework is, as the name implies, to be completed at home, after a full day of learning that is typically six to seven hours long with breaks and lunch included. However, a study by the APA on how people develop expertise found that elite musicians, scientists and athletes do their most productive work for about only four hours per day. Similarly, companies like Tower Paddle Boards are experimenting with a five-hour workday, under the assumption that people are not able to be truly productive for much longer than that. CEO Stephan Aarstol told CNBC that he believes most Americans only get about two to three hours of work done in an eight-hour day.

When Does Homework Actually Help?

In the scope of world history, homework is a fairly new construct in the U.S. Students of all ages have been receiving work to complete at home for centuries, but it was educational reformer Horace Mann who first brought the concept to America from Prussia.

Since then, homework's popularity has ebbed and flowed in the court of public opinion. In the 1930s, it was considered child labor (as, ironically, it compromised children's ability to do chores at home). Then, in the 1950s, implementing mandatory homework was hailed as a way to ensure America's youth were always one step ahead of Soviet children during the Cold War. Homework was formally mandated as a tool for boosting educational quality in 1986 by the U.S. Department of Education, and has remained in common practice ever since.
Homework improves student achievement. Homework helps reinforce classroom learning. Homework helps students develop good study habits and life skills.
School work assigned and completed outside of school hours is not without its benefits. Numerous studies have shown that regular homework has a hand in improving student performance and connecting students to their learning. When reviewing these studies, take them with a grain of salt; there are strong arguments for both sides, and only you will know which solution is best for your students or school.
Homework allows parents to be involved with their children's learning.
Being responsible for completing at-home assignments helps students practice organization, time management, following directions, critical thinking and independent problem-solving.

Parents can see what their children are learning and working on in school every day.

Parents can participate in their children's learning by guiding them through homework assignments and reinforcing positive study and research habits.

Homework observation and participation can help parents understand their children's academic strengths and weaknesses, and even identify possible learning difficulties.

Negative Effects of Homework for Students
Students with too much homework have elevated stress levels. Students with too much homework may be tempted to cheat. Homework highlights digital inequity.
While some amount of homework may help students connect to their learning and enhance their in-class performance, too much homework can have damaging effects.

Today, homework often requires a computer and/or internet connection, which many students do not have access to outside of school.
Homework does not help younger students.
Students in low-income families are disproportionately affected by a lack of internet access, which further exacerbates the social and economic divide between them and their more affluent peers.

How Teachers Can Help

To help students find the right balance and succeed, teachers and educators must start the homework conversation, both internally at their school and with parents. But in order to successfully advocate on behalf of students, teachers must be well educated on the subject, fully understanding the research and the outcomes that can be achieved by eliminating or reducing the homework burden. There is a plethora of research and writing on the subject for those interested in self-study.
YOU'RE INVITED! Watch Free Webinar on USD's Online M.Ed. Program >>
For teachers looking for a more in-depth approach or for educators with a keen interest in educational equity, formal education may be the best route. If this latter option sounds appealing, there are now many reputable schools offering online master of education degree programs to help educators balance the demands of work and family life while furthering their education in the quest to help others.

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Is Homework Necessary? Education Inequity and Its Impact on Students

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Does homework help students? Discussing the pros and cons of homework, plus discerning how much homework is too much.

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This is an Article published by Stanford on March 10th 2014 written by Clifton B. Parker titled "Stanford research shows pitfalls of homework"

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This is an Article published by Stanford on March 10th 2014 written by Clifton B. Parker titled "Stanford research shows pitfalls of homework"

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A Stanford 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," Pope said.

She 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.

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Stanford research shows pitfalls of homework

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A Stanford researcher found that students in high-achieving communities who spend too much time on homework experience more stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance and even alienation from society. More than two hours of homework a night may be counterproductive, according to the study.