Does More Homework Mean More Learning?

When I was in high school, I had a sardonic teacher named Mr. Green. He taught history and always assigned reading homework from the textbook in preparation for the next class meeting. As all the students groaned in unison, Mr. Green would say, "We always have homework, stop complaining!" And he was right; we DID always have homework. I don't think we went one class meeting without it. The surprising thing, is that none of my peers ever asked the question, why? Why do we always have homework? What is the purpose of assigning work outside of school?

I always assumed we had homework because our teachers couldn't fit all the material we needed to learn during class. So by assigning homework, we could learn more on our own time to compensate for the lack of time. But we all know that not all students do their homework, and even for those that complete homework, it doesn't mean they absorbed any pertinent information. Is there truth behind the common myth that homework means more learning? Is there even a significant advantage to giving students more work? I decided to find out for myself!

As an aspiring teacher, I believe there are some benefits to assigning homework for our students. Homework can enhance the time we have in class with out students. According to a 2006 article written by researchers at Duke University, homework can require students to integrate separately learned skills and concepts (Cooper, Robinson, & Patall, 2006). While we direct these skills and concepts in class, students can continue learning at home by applying them in assignments without the teacher telling them what to do next. But there are also arguments that any activity [homework] remains rewarding for only so long, and children may become overexposed to  academic tasks (Bryan, Nelson, & Mathru, 1995).

This topic has continued to be controversial for many years, but some research I found cannot be ignored. In an article discussing how homework effects our students, the authors pointed out how students always speak of the high stakes of homework in terms of grades (Sallee & Rigler, 2008). It's true, nearly every homework assignment I have ever been given had a grade associated with it. Sometimes it was a simple completion grade. But in core subject areas, like math, science and history, homework quality was a heavy percentage of our overall grade in the class. These authors further argued that the high expectation for all students to read and understand the material in a way that both enables them to complete the homework AND prepare for a quiz in class the next day is a lot to expect of grade school students (Sallee & Rigler, 2008). The authors ask, if teachers put high pressure on performance (grades) and little allowance for questioning and uncertainty (outside of class), it again leads us to the question of the high expectations of homework (Sallee & Rigler, 2008). I think this expectation is too much to ask of all students. There is too much variance between how each student learns best, and making them figre it out on their own is not going to benefit most students. Not all of them have parents at home who have time to help them with homework when questions arise. We might be unintentionally making students use outside resources to perform on homework assignments. I don't think this enhances learning at all. If anything, I think it makes students discouraged with learning. If they have to learn everything on their own anyway, why should they attend class? Why should they pay attention in class? What is the point of school?

In another study, the authors interviewed many teachers asking why they assigned homework to students. They responded that they gave homework on a regular basis to students to meet parent expectations and to meet school district requirements, and both of these reasons for assigning homework are consistent with findings from other educational researchers (Brock, Fisher, Flood, Lapp, & Tao Han, 2007). These findings seem ridiculous to me! It is my teaching philosophy that we are here to help our STUDENTS learned more about the world and to cater to their individual needs to achieve academic excellence, not to please parents. Although I do understand wanting to follow district requirements, this seems like a ridiculous standard. I would ask any colleague who was in favor for homework standards this question; to what extent do those teachers take into account their students needs to successfully complete their homework? Is there a specific and reachable objective for each assignment? If the answer is no, then I don't believe that homework should be assigned.

I have concluded from my research that the amount of homework assigned in a class is not conducive to the amount of information students learn. Just because we are giving a certain amount of homework every night does not mean that students are learning more overall. We should be teaching our students valuable information and concepts during class in an atmosphere that fosters high level, critical thinking. This is the only way we can ensure that our students are getting positive experiences from their academic careers. 


Resources:

Cooper, H., Robinson, J., & Patall, E. (2006). Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement? A Synthesis of Research, 1987-2003. Review of Educational Research, 76(1), 1-62.

Bryan, T., Nelson, C., & Mathru, S. (1995). Homework: A survey of primary students in regular, resource, and self-contained special education classrooms. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27, 85-90.

Sallee, B., & Rigler, N. (2008). Doing our homework on homework: How does homework help? English Journal, 98(2), 46-51

Brock, C., Fisher, D., Flood, J., Lapp, D., & Tao Han, K. (2007) Does homework matter? An investigation of teacher perceptions about homework practices for children from non-dominant background. Urban Education, 42(4) 19-24