While not a critical national issue, homework assignment is a topic that we are all going to have to form an opinion about now that legislation has been filed to ban it.
Probably no one likes homework. It creates extra work for teachers. Students are probably unanimous against homework. Even parents are not happy when family plans are disrupted by weekend homework assignments. But eliminating this educational tool is not a simple decision to make.
However, the complete schooling process is obviously more than teaching a young person to read, write, and do arithmetic. In a strong sense, the classroom environment is also a “practice” place for being an adult in the real world.
It teaches about how to deal with the authority of the teacher who is the “boss” of the classroom. A student must learn how to focus on a task surrounded sometimes by other students who are disruptive. There are the interpersonal relationships in a group setting. There is the discipline of both knowing when to talk and when not to in line with the reality of having to “go along to get along.”
Researchers at the University of Tübingen in Germany conducted a study in 2017 of 2,800 students between fifth and eighth grades. At the beginning of every school year, the kids answered questions about whether they gave their best effort on their past 10 homework assignments in math and German. They then reported on how neat and diligent they believed themselves to be.
Study author Richard Göllner wrote: “Our results show that homework is not only relevant for school performance, but also for personality development—provided that students put a lot of effort into their assignments.” The study found that students who said they took their homework seriously were more conscientious, and vice versa.
But the academic studies have shown—if not mixed results—at least that it is not a simple question of “homework or no-homework.”
A Duke University study in 2006 found that older students who were diligent about doing their homework performed better. Research published in the High School Journal indicates that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework scored about 40 points higher on the college entrance-mathematics test than their peers who spent no time on homework. However, an analysis from Stanford University in 2004 revealed that kids with too much homework were stressed and sleep-deprived.
Homework reinforces classroom teaching and allows for better retention of the subject matter, says another study. Further, the self-teaching that comes from homework, forces students to learn how to organize and manage time to improve study habits. Homework allows for greater parent-child interaction when the parent takes an active role in the homework process.
There is one general consensus though from the large number of studies that have been conducted.
From the Review of Educational Research: “In elementary school, homework had no association with achievement gains when measured by standardized tests results or grades. Fourth grade students who did no homework got roughly the same score in the National Assessment of Educational Progress math exam as those who did 30 minutes of homework a night.”
Therefore, House Bill 3611, which seeks to remove homework as a requirement, and have Kinder to Grade 12 students do academic activities solely within school premises, may be an overreach. There is a great difference between a fourth grade student and one in twelfth grade.