Research Regarding Homework

Center for Public Education

• Key lessons: What Research says about the value of Homework.

• Skim the article and find:– Two things you agree with– Two things that surprise you

• Stand up, find a three-ish group not from your table and share what you found.

Another Article from The Center for Public Education

• Frequently Asked Questions:• Please read at your leisure.

Research on Effectiveness of Homework

• Dependent on type of research completed.• Homework can improve children’s scores on

class or unit test. This comes from a variety of grade levels and subjects.

• A broader measure comes from NAEP and finds a positive relationship between how much homework kids do and their achievement on NRT test.

Average Math Scores On NAEP 2000

200220240260280300320

0 15 30 45 60 >60

Time in minutes reported spent on homework

Scor

e on

NAEP

Ass

essm

ent

4th 8th 12th

Looking at the DATA

• When it comes to amount of time spent on homework there seems to be a point of diminishing returns.

• Not keeping up with homework is a contributing factor to students dropping out of school. (concept of compacting)

• Focus on Quality rather than Quantity. (Quality School by Glasser)

Correlation Data

• There is a positive correlation between homework and achievement.– With elementary students no correlation was

found. Half of the studies were positive and the other half negative.

– With middle level students a correlation was found.

– With secondary students a strong correlation was found. Of 23 studies, 20 were positive.

Is Homework Effective at All Levels? (from Marzano)

• A meta analysis of research showed– 24 percentile gain in high school– 12 percentile gain in middle school– 6 percentile gain in elementary

• Other studies have shown a positive effect for homework in grades as low as 2nd.

• Difference were found when using homework assigned or actual homework completed.

Why is Grade Level Important?

• Possible reasons from Harris Cooper• Attention span is less younger children• Younger students have less well-developed

study skills• Poor achieving students spend more time on

homework because it is difficult for them.• Time management and study skills are

necessary for homework to be effective

Supervised Study VS Homework

• Two different forms of same strategy• In elementary school students supervised

study had a more positive effect than homework.

• A possible explanation is that elementary students are still learning how to study.

What About Homework Building Character, Self Discipline, Study Habits, or Organizational Skills

• There have been no studies that show homework promotes good work habits, independence, or self-discipline.

• A positive correlation is found, but is homework causing attitudes or attitudes causing homework?

• In the early grades teachers use homework to build study skills, time management, and get parents involved.

• Many teachers are fixated on homework at THE way to teach responsibility, as though we have not other avenues. Yet we tend to neglect all other ways students could be given responsibility in the classroom– Involve them in decision making about their learning– Teaching them how to self-assess– Letting them design learning tasks– Help manage classroom and school facilities– Provide responsibility for choosing how they wish to

learn• “Rethinking Homework” p 11

• If we are using homework to teach responsibility, won’t 10 minutes of homework work just as well as 60 minutes?

• If we are using homework to teach time management, don’t long-range projects that require scheduled planning do a better job of that than daily assignments.

Homework Does Not Teach Responsibility….

• Parents do.• Says Debra Pickering one of co-writers with

Robert Marzano • Students need to be taught organization, time

management, stress management, goal setting, etc

In the Elementary

• “Teachers may use homework to build time management and study skills in the earlier grades because they are aware of it limited potential for improving achievement until these skills have been learned.” – p 31 The Battle Over Homework

Haris Cooper

• Instead, homework for young children should help them develop good study habits, foster positive attitudes toward school, and communicate to students the idea that learning takes work at home as well as at school. P67 Art and Science of Teaching.

Other Research

• After school activities contributed significantly to prediction on student achievement

What are Essential Characteristics of Good Homework

• IT DEPENDS ON THE GOAL– Practice skills, repetition or rehearsal• math facts, spelling, vocabulary

– Parent involvement– Relevance of school work to students’ world• Calculate percentages in athletic events• Nutrition fact of cereal or fast food

• Good assignments have a variety of goals

Stand Up

Touch 3 different walls

Find someone who you have not shared with and discuss under what conditions is homework

effective?

Lotus Chart

• Fill in the squares around research regarding homework.

Reading Mathematics Text Books

• Different than reading regular text• Have students use sticky notes to mark locations in

book– Write page on sticky note and keep separate

• Early in the year read a section with students to model how they should read and what should be done

• On a regular basis assign a section to read and have students learn from the book rather.