The Value of Homework
These days with emerging studies of, whether we need to give our kids more space and outdoor time and, less instruction have been circulating throughout the presses. Scandanavian models of education, simply put less emphasis on classroom instruction and homework. Are we in the US doing something wrong? Do we really need to give lots of homework to our kids to achieve? But then, what is the value of homework? and why are we still allowing our kids to do it? The jury is still out on whether homework has contributed to kid’s academic achievement or not.
Unfortunately there are conflicting views whether homework is beneficial to students academic achievement or not. Scholastically speaking, there are both positive and negative views about homework and its purpose. Here are a few myths about the importance of homework in student’s academic success:
Myth 1: Homework increases academic achievement.
What researchers say: Cooper (1989a) argues that reviews on the link between homework and achievement often directly contradict one another and are so different in design that the findings of one study cannot be evaluated fairly against the findings of others.
Myth 2: Without excessive homework, students’ test scores will not be internationally competitive.
What researchers say: Information from international assessments shows little relationship between the amount of homework students do and test scores. Students in Japan and Finland, for example, are assigned less homework but still outperform U.S. students on tests (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development 2004). Other studies find a positive relationship in math, but not in reading (Fuchs et al. 2004).
Myth 3: Those who question homework want to weaken curriculum and pander to students’ laziness.
What researchers say: Kralovec and Buell (2001) note that homework critics rarely question the work assigned but rather the fact that the work is so often performed at home without adult supervision to aid the learning process.
There have been studies that have shown that moderate homework improves test scores. However, that the benefits of homework peak at about one hour to ninety minutes and after that test scores begin to decline. According to the National Education Association and the National Parent-Teacher Association, known as the “ten minute rule, ” which is ten minutes of homework per grade level per night. Starting from ten minutes from the first grade to 120 minutes at the senior high school level. This then poses another question, How much homework do teachers assign?
According to a survey by Harris Poll, of the amount of hours of homework was assigned by teachers and why they assign it. The pollsters received responses from 1,000 teachers from a public, private and parochial schools across the country. High school teachers from grades 9-12 reported assigning 3.5 hours of homework a week. Middle school teachers grades 6-8, reported assigning 3.2 hours of homework a week. Lastly, K-5 teachers assigned 2.9 hours of homework a week. These statistics show a spike from middle school to high school.
When the teachers were asked why they assigned homework the top three reasons were:
- to see how well students understand the lesson
- to help students develop essential problem solving skills
- to show parents what is learned in school
About one third of these teachers said they gave more homework to cover more content. But what was interesting was that the longer they stayed within the profession the less homework the teachers assigned. Homework needs to be assigned in moderation so our children avoid feelings of anxiety and stress. Tell us if you think teachers assign too much homework or not.
