Why I Dislike Homework and How the Research Backs Me Up
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Do your kids spend hours a night doing homework?
Mine do.
And I hate it– maybe even more than they do.
Seriously, I’d much rather that my kids get much needed down-time to: play, nap, read, run, swing, dance, twirl, build, create, draw, invent, or design.
Yet I sit inside with them, trying to pretend that I’m enthusiastic and supportive, helping them to stay focused, answering questions that come up. Ugh. (And don’t get me started trying to describe the melt-downs when you have a child with Sensory Processing Disorder and ADHD. Homework is that much more of a nightmare.)
Remember when I asked you on Facebook about homework? Most of you didn’t support homework either.
And to be clear, I didn’t care for homework as a fifth grade teacher either. My students rarely had homework unless they didn’t finish something in class. (Lesson to use your time wisely.) No homework meant that they could read, play, do sports, have family time . . .
The majority of research supports no homework. (So does common sense, one could argue, . . . at least, I’d argue anyway.)
Homework Research
1. There is no evidence showing that early elementary homework is beneficial (Cooper, 1989 a; Cooper, Robinson & Patall, 2006) ASCD with the exception of  some studies showing correlation on math tests. (NCTM, 2008)
2. Too much homework affects a child’s sleep. Lack of sleep negatively impacts brain function. (Wolfson, 1998)
3. Homework is detrimental to student achievement and makes children depressed. (Australian Institute of Family Studies following 10,000 students)
4. Too much homework is not helpful to student achievement. (Cooper, Civey, and Patall, 2006.)
5. Mixed research showing homework developing good study habits – some research shows yes, some no. (Cooper, 1989a, Cooper, Robinson, & Patall, 2006) ASCD (Kohn, 2006 The Homework Myth.)
6. Time spent on homework for secondary students sometimes correlates to achievement but not with elementary students and not consistently for secondary. (Plude, Enns, and Broudeur 1994) NCTMÂ and (Maltese, and Fan, 2012)
7. Many countries (Japan, Denmark and Czech Republic) with high test scores have instructors who assign no or little homework. (Mullis, Martin, Gonzalez, Kelly and Smith, 1998.)
You’ll find more research on two articles from which I learned the most and synthesize the homework research: Jane Bluestein’s blog and on ASCD.
Recommendations for Homework (if given)
While I’ll always believe that homework should be little to none, IF homework is assigned here are my recommendations.
Homework should:
– be able to be completed independently, without the help of an adult
– have been well-covered in class and is an opportunity to deepen knowledge
– promote mastery of a skill the student hasn’t yet mastered with an engaging task
– be clear and purposeful to the learner
– give students autonomy to learn a topic interesting to them
– be coordinated with other teachers so there isn’t an overwhelming amount
– be differentiated (considering different abilities of the learners, different modalities of learning, etc.)
I think less homework just makes sense.Â
But there’s the rub. What’s up with all the homework our kids are assigned?
What do you think?
Have you advocated for less homework in your child’s life? Or would you do so now that you know the research and know you’re not alone? Please elaborate in the comments.Â
As an educator in the elementary grades, I believe the only homework worth anything is reading. Reading for 20 minutes a night is the only homework needed, in my opinion, in the elementary grades. And, it is already differentiated, read to your child, read with your child, or read independently. And, if the student is not reading, it will be obvious.
I totally agree – thanks for your comment! ~ Melissa
Interesting to read about how homework is issued and done in other countries… I must say that I think it’s important for pupils to have some homework, preferably almost every day. But at elementary level, something that thay can get done by themselves and in 15, max 30 minutes. In my opinion, it’s important (and essential for learning) for the pupil to take some time at home to review those things that were learnt during the school day.
But then, here in Finland the average length of a school day for kids aged 7-12 y.o. is 4, 5 or max 6 hours. So they probably have more time for homework and for fun and games after school than in the US or the UK.
Frankly, I do not think that Finnish children would be able, for instance, to learn English very well if they didn’t have any homework. Having 2 English language lessons a week at school simply isn’t enough for learning a foreign language, one has to do some work at home, too.
However, I was horrified to find out the amount of homework children may have to face in other countries. I’d definitely be against for an elementary level pupil spending 1-2 hours a night for homework! Also the idea that some district would require the teacher to give a certain amount of homework for children every day (or ever) sounds totally absurd to me. And what’s the idea of giving anyone homework focusing on things that were not taught during the school day? What kind of a teacher does that sort of thing?!
By the way, most 7 year olds walk to school in Finland with their friends and with no adult supervision (except for the first weeks when starting school so that they learn to take a safe route). So that doesn’t sound too bad for me.
Thank you for this page, Melissa! I find it very inspirational!
Susanna,
Wow – thanks! It’s so interesting to hear about Finland’s homework and the length of your school day. You also have the best test scores (which people care about) in the world. So, whatever you’re doing, we should be doing here, too!!
Glad you commented and shared this – thank you!
~Melissa
I have my degree in elementary education and while I think there is some need for the occasional assignment to be completed at home I totaly agree with you in advocating less homework for elementary aged children.
We are now living in the UK and experiencing quite a few differences from American schools. After having been homeschooled for kindergarten our son, who turns 7 this Friday, was put into “Primary 3” here in Scotland. This Is basically 1st and a half grade. He has some ridiculous homework expectations placed on him.
We easily spend 2 hours a night on homework. There is mandatory weekly spelling assignments and numeracy as well as reading with him having to come up with and write out “deep thinking questions” about what was read. The latest now has included “homework challenges” the first of which was tying his shoes. This week’s challenge? Walk to school with friends and no grown up at least once a week. What?!
(In addition he has 2 teachers because they are doing a “teacher share” program where two teachers who don’t want to be full time so they spilt the week and each teach the class on different days–ridiculous.)
MrsA, I actually believe that a proper “teacher share” can be a benefit to all involved. And, it is practiced in the United States in some school districts.
I am a teacher in Scotland, with a P3 daughter, and I assure you that 2 hours of homework daily is not the norm.
In my school, or homework policy is a piece of maths and a piece of language a week. Both are revision work that a child should be able to do independently. There is also a weekly reading expectation – I teach 10-11yr olds and I expect them to read and prepare a chapter of a book for a literature group discussion. Less able readers might have a brief daily reading task. That’s it.
My daughter’s school is much less consistent, and, as a parent who wants to support her child, I find it very frustrating. Assignments are handed out randomly and with little explanation ( I often have non-teaching friends phoning for clarification!) and these tasks have interfered with other activities my child is involved in. However, due to the level of complaints, my daughter’s school is now reviewing their homework policy.
Having seen both sides, I think ‘home study’ has its place. My favourite kind is the student-generated type ie they ask for extra practice on things they find challenging – and, yes, it does happen! I think one of the most important aspects of homework is the information it gives a parent about what their child is doing in class. An involved parent can then support and enrich.
Finally, I would like to address MrsA’s comments re teachers ‘who don’t want to be full-time’ so do job-share. There are many reasons why teachers choose not to work full-time – for most, it means they can spend more time with their own children, something MrsA has clearly valued and enjoyed as she has been able to home-school. In my case, my health means I have to work part-time. However, I do not know a single part-time teacher who does not work more than their paid hours to ensure the class they co-teach has continuity of care and curriculum. It is also something that is monitored by school management. If we think about a child holistically, they have many ‘teachers’ in a time period and, of course, the most important one is the parents, who spend considerably more time ‘teaching’ a child than any class teacher does. The old saying of ‘ it takes a village to raise a child’ is never more appropriate than in a school. If it was so important to only have one educator, why did you stop home-schooling, Mrs A?
thanks for your comments.
I love this post! I truly believe that time after school (whether with family, a caregiver, friends, or some kind of after-school program) should be used for other things not just homework. Although promoting a home-school connection and keeping parents in the loop on what their child is learning during the day is great, some thought and moderation must go into it.
One of the kids I care for is 8, in 3rd grade, and tests way above her peers in almost every subject yet she struggles to complete 1.5-2.5 hours of homework every night plus 20 minutes of reading. Her homework usually consists of some combination of math worksheets, reading comp, and vocabulary but a lot of it has nothing to do with what she’s learning in class. The worst is when her teacher will send home math that hasn’t even been taught in class yet and makes for a huge struggle after school. Another one I dislike is a weekly activity with her 20 vocab words: write each word in a different color. Seriously? She’s 8, not an idiot – this is total busy work.
Although this one goes over pretty smoothly because as a fairly girly 8 yr old she enjoys picking out all the colors and focusing on writing perfectly, but she would have more fun (and use more brain power) writing colorful notes to her friends than copying words from a list. In fact, usually she comes home from school and wants to tell me all about the lastest group she and her friends have come up with -like a spy team- and how she needs to make training plans and job descriptions and she can’t wait to get to work on all these things. Hmm, making lists, timelines, descriptions all from her memory and imagination while learning new vocabulary and having discussions about what she’s working on because she’s so brimming with excitement seems like a WAY better use of her time 🙂
When I taught I followed the guidelines of my district because I had to. Our district requires 30 min a night for k-3 and 1 hour a night 4-6. I totally agree that homework is more important (but still not hours of it) for middle and high school. I think in elementary it should be more about establishing a routine and long term habits. Also, being home with kids, I can see that I used to assign my 30 min or hour based on how long it would take kids in the class. Now that two of my kids are in school, I see that (and my kids don’t have academic or behavior problems) it takes kids longer at home than at school. I don’t know if it’s because their brains are done for the day or what, but what I see in the homework packet that I think would really take my son an hour in class, takes him far longer at home. If I went back to the classroom, and I’m currently considering it, I’d make a lot of changes. I’d be brave enough to not assign as much as the district wants and take the lumps that come with that. I’d assign more things that would be fun or physical and less academic. I’d let parents know an order of priority to my homework, and if their kids are going in order on the assignments and reach a certain time frame, cut them off…without punishment for not finishing.
yeah, Alicia! 🙂
I love this: “I’d let parents know an order of priority to my homework, and if their kids are going in order on the assignments and reach a certain time frame, cut them off…without punishment for not finishing.”
My 8 year old had a math assignment to be completed on an online site and spent 2 hours–and many tears from her and me–one evening to get the assignment done. It was horrible and exhausting for all of us and I think the only thing she got out of it was the memory of homework being horrible that night.