students perspective on homework

• Corpus ID: 141453887

Student Perspectives on Homework.

• Jan Wilson , J. F. Rhodes
• Published 22 December 2010
• Education 3-13

16 Citations

The effectiveness of flipping classroom instruction with homework assignments so as to increase student understanding in algebra, homework – is there a connection with classroom assessment a review from sweden, the impact of social network on high school students’ physics homework: an experimental study, worst day to assign homework: a study of missing assignments and due dates in one rural missouri high school, understanding student variances in learning outcomes and task interpretations from multimedia presentations, the effect of mandatory assignments on students learning outcome and performance in introductory programming courses, regulation of motivation: predicting students’ homework motivation management at the secondary school level, the impact of the continuum of an education programme on pre-service teachers’ beliefs about english language education, factors affecting homework completion among students.

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Education scholar Denise Pope has found that too much homework has negative effects on student well-being and behavioral engagement. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

A Stanford researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.

“Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good,” wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .

The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students’ views on homework.

Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.

Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.

“The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students’ advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being,” Pope wrote.

Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.

Their study found that too much homework is associated with:

* Greater stress: 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.

* Reductions in health: In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.

* Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits: Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were “not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills,” according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.

A balancing act

The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.

Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as “pointless” or “mindless” in order to keep their grades up.

“This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points,” Pope said.

She said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.

“Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development,” wrote Pope.

High-performing paradox

In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. “Young people are spending more time alone,” they wrote, “which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities.”

Student perspectives

The researchers say that while their open-ended or “self-reporting” methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for “typical adolescent complaining” – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.

The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Media Contacts

Denise Pope, Stanford Graduate School of Education: (650) 725-7412, [email protected] Clifton B. Parker, Stanford News Service: (650) 725-0224, [email protected]

Is Homework Good for Kids? Here’s What the Research Says

A s kids return to school, debate is heating up once again over how they should spend their time after they leave the classroom for the day.

The no-homework policy of a second-grade teacher in Texas went viral last week , earning praise from parents across the country who lament the heavy workload often assigned to young students. Brandy Young told parents she would not formally assign any homework this year, asking students instead to eat dinner with their families, play outside and go to bed early.

But the question of how much work children should be doing outside of school remains controversial, and plenty of parents take issue with no-homework policies, worried their kids are losing a potential academic advantage. Here’s what you need to know:

For decades, the homework standard has been a “10-minute rule,” which recommends a daily maximum of 10 minutes of homework per grade level. Second graders, for example, should do about 20 minutes of homework each night. High school seniors should complete about two hours of homework each night. The National PTA and the National Education Association both support that guideline.

But some schools have begun to give their youngest students a break. A Massachusetts elementary school has announced a no-homework pilot program for the coming school year, lengthening the school day by two hours to provide more in-class instruction. “We really want kids to go home at 4 o’clock, tired. We want their brain to be tired,” Kelly Elementary School Principal Jackie Glasheen said in an interview with a local TV station . “We want them to enjoy their families. We want them to go to soccer practice or football practice, and we want them to go to bed. And that’s it.”

A New York City public elementary school implemented a similar policy last year, eliminating traditional homework assignments in favor of family time. The change was quickly met with outrage from some parents, though it earned support from other education leaders.

New solutions and approaches to homework differ by community, and these local debates are complicated by the fact that even education experts disagree about what’s best for kids.

The research

The most comprehensive research on homework to date comes from a 2006 meta-analysis by Duke University psychology professor Harris Cooper, who found evidence of a positive correlation between homework and student achievement, meaning students who did homework performed better in school. The correlation was stronger for older students—in seventh through 12th grade—than for those in younger grades, for whom there was a weak relationship between homework and performance.

Cooper’s analysis focused on how homework impacts academic achievement—test scores, for example. His report noted that homework is also thought to improve study habits, attitudes toward school, self-discipline, inquisitiveness and independent problem solving skills. On the other hand, some studies he examined showed that homework can cause physical and emotional fatigue, fuel negative attitudes about learning and limit leisure time for children. At the end of his analysis, Cooper recommended further study of such potential effects of homework.

Despite the weak correlation between homework and performance for young children, Cooper argues that a small amount of homework is useful for all students. Second-graders should not be doing two hours of homework each night, he said, but they also shouldn’t be doing no homework.

Not all education experts agree entirely with Cooper’s assessment.

Cathy Vatterott, an education professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, supports the “10-minute rule” as a maximum, but she thinks there is not sufficient proof that homework is helpful for students in elementary school.

“Correlation is not causation,” she said. “Does homework cause achievement, or do high achievers do more homework?”

Vatterott, the author of Rethinking Homework: Best Practices That Support Diverse Needs , thinks there should be more emphasis on improving the quality of homework tasks, and she supports efforts to eliminate homework for younger kids.

“I have no concerns about students not starting homework until fourth grade or fifth grade,” she said, noting that while the debate over homework will undoubtedly continue, she has noticed a trend toward limiting, if not eliminating, homework in elementary school.

The issue has been debated for decades. A TIME cover in 1999 read: “Too much homework! How it’s hurting our kids, and what parents should do about it.” The accompanying story noted that the launch of Sputnik in 1957 led to a push for better math and science education in the U.S. The ensuing pressure to be competitive on a global scale, plus the increasingly demanding college admissions process, fueled the practice of assigning homework.

“The complaints are cyclical, and we’re in the part of the cycle now where the concern is for too much,” Cooper said. “You can go back to the 1970s, when you’ll find there were concerns that there was too little, when we were concerned about our global competitiveness.”

Cooper acknowledged that some students really are bringing home too much homework, and their parents are right to be concerned.

“A good way to think about homework is the way you think about medications or dietary supplements,” he said. “If you take too little, they’ll have no effect. If you take too much, they can kill you. If you take the right amount, you’ll get better.”

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Homework’s implications for the well-being of primary school pupils—perceptions of children, parents, and teachers.

1. Introduction

1.1. homework—perspectives of students, teachers, and parents, 1.2. homework practices in primary education in romania, 1.3. present study, 2. methodology, 2.1. design, data collection methods, and procedures, 2.2. participants, 2.3. data analysis, 3. research findings, 3.1. homework not liked by students.

3.2. Students’ Negative Reactions When Doing Homework

3.3. Homework That Makes Children Feel Good

3.4. Homework Students Like

3.5. Checking and Assessing Homework

3.6. Suggestions for Improving Educational Practices Regarding Homework

4. Discussions

5. conclusions, author contributions, institutional reviewer board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Negru, I.; Sava, S. Homework’s Implications for the Well-Being of Primary School Pupils—Perceptions of Children, Parents, and Teachers. Educ. Sci. 2023 , 13 , 996. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100996

Negru I, Sava S. Homework’s Implications for the Well-Being of Primary School Pupils—Perceptions of Children, Parents, and Teachers. Education Sciences . 2023; 13(10):996. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100996

Negru, Iasmina, and Simona Sava. 2023. "Homework’s Implications for the Well-Being of Primary School Pupils—Perceptions of Children, Parents, and Teachers" Education Sciences 13, no. 10: 996. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100996

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Keep It Real: A Student Perspective on Homework

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Dominick Recckio, an accomplished high school student who blogs for Edutopia, surveyed students at his school on their homework habits and then wrote up some tips for both teachers and students on easing the nightly process. Within the post, he offers this reminder that students are often appreciative and receptive when teachers put work in a real-world context:

What could be a better way of answering students' biggest question—"When am I ever going to use this?"—than by showing them? There are many ways this could be done. Teachers could assign students the task of finding their own applications of certain principles at home, such as how electrical circuits can illustrate a concept for physics class, or how chemistry is applied in the kitchen. Or you could give them a list of things to notice at home or around town. For example, my town is right on the Erie Canal, and it has more heritage and history than most small towns. But when we study the era in history class, we never go out of the building and realize that it's right there.

While none of Recckio’s insights are revolutionary, perhaps they carry extra weight coming from a high school student than from another teacher or PD presenter. Thoughts?

A version of this news article first appeared in the Teaching Now blog.

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Understanding English Homework from High School Students’ Perspectives

• Illinois Wesleyan University

Research output : Faculty Advisor of Undergraduate Research

• English language arts
• students' perceptions

Disciplines

• Secondary Education and Teaching

T1 - Understanding English Homework from High School Students’ Perspectives

AU - Allen, Laura

AU - Pilotte, Nicole

AU - Leavitt, Robin

AU - Nillas, Leah A.

PY - 2009/4

Y1 - 2009/4

N2 - Current research on homework is missing the student perspective. This study aims to understand high school students’ perceptions of English homework and how we as teachers can promote students’ understanding and completion of homework. We surveyed fifty students, from two Midwestern high schools, to determine students’ feelings about homework, their motivation for completing assignments, and their preferences in homework design and assessment. Results suggest that students have negative associations with homework, despite thinking it is helpful and reinforces what is learned in class. In addition, grades are students’ primary motivation for completing homework, and time constraints due to extracurricular activities and other demanding classes is their primary reason for not completing their English homework. These findings suggest that students have the most positive experiences with English homework when they have adequate time to complete it, they receive formal feedback rather than completion points, assignments have a clear purpose that assists in students’ understanding of class material, and their preferences are acknowledged and taken into consideration when designing assignments.

AB - Current research on homework is missing the student perspective. This study aims to understand high school students’ perceptions of English homework and how we as teachers can promote students’ understanding and completion of homework. We surveyed fifty students, from two Midwestern high schools, to determine students’ feelings about homework, their motivation for completing assignments, and their preferences in homework design and assessment. Results suggest that students have negative associations with homework, despite thinking it is helpful and reinforces what is learned in class. In addition, grades are students’ primary motivation for completing homework, and time constraints due to extracurricular activities and other demanding classes is their primary reason for not completing their English homework. These findings suggest that students have the most positive experiences with English homework when they have adequate time to complete it, they receive formal feedback rather than completion points, assignments have a clear purpose that assists in students’ understanding of class material, and their preferences are acknowledged and taken into consideration when designing assignments.

KW - homework

KW - English language arts

KW - students' perceptions

M3 - Faculty Advisor of Undergraduate Research

Analyzing ‘the homework gap’ among high school students

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, michael hansen and michael hansen senior fellow - brown center on education policy , the herman and george r. brown chair - governance studies diana quintero diana quintero former senior research analyst, brown center on education policy - the brookings institution, ph.d. student - vanderbilt university.

August 10, 2017

Researchers have struggled for decades to identify a causal, or even correlational, relationship between time spent in school and improved learning outcomes for students. Some studies have focused on the length of a school year while others have focused on hours in a day and others on hours in the week .

In this blog post, we will look at time spent outside of school–specifically time spent doing homework–among different racial and socio-economic groups. We will use data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to shed light on those differences and then attempt to explain those gaps, using ATUS data and other evidence.

What we know about out-of-school time

Measuring the relationship between out-of-school time and outcomes like test scores can be difficult. Researchers are primarily confounded by an inability to determine what compels students to choose homework during their time off over other activities. Are those who spend more time on homework just extra motivated? Or are they struggling students who need to work harder to keep up? What role do social expectations from parents or peers play?

Previous studies have examined the impact of this outside time use on educational outcomes for students. A 2007 study using data from Berea College in Kentucky identified a causal relationship between hours spent studying and a student’s academic performance through an interesting measure. The researchers took advantage of randomly assigned college roommates, paying attention to those who came to campus with a video game console in tow. They hypothesized students randomly assigned to a roommate without a video game console would study more, since all other factors remained equal. That hypothesis held up, and that group also received significantly higher grades, demonstrating the causal relationship.

Other research has relied on data collected through the American Time Use Survey, a study of how Americans spend their time, and shown the existence of a gender gap and a parental education gap in homework time. Other studies have looked at the relationship between holding a job and student’s time use in discretionary activities , like sleep, media consumption, and time spent on homework. We are curious about out-of-school differences in homework time by race and income.

Descriptive statistics of time use

We began with a general sample of 2,575 full-time high school students between the ages of 15 and 18 from the ATUS, restricting the sample to their answers about time spent on homework during weekdays and school months (September to May). Among all high school students surveyed (those that reported completing their homework and those that did not), the time allocated to complete homework amounted to less than an hour per day, despite the fact that high school teachers report they assign an average of 3.5 hours of homework per day.

To explore racial or income-based differences, in Figure 1, we plot the minutes that students reporting spending on homework separately by their racial/ethnic group and family income. We observed a time gap between racial groups, with Asian students spending the most time on homework (nearly two hours a day). Similarly, we observe a time gap by the students’ family income.

We can also use ATUS data to isolate when students do homework by race and by income. In Figure 2, we plot the percentage of high school students in each racial and income group doing homework by the time of day. Percentages remain low during the school day and then expectedly increase when students get home, with more Asian students doing more homework and working later into the night than other racial groups. Low-income students reported doing less homework per hour than their non-low-income peers.

Initial attempts to explain the homework gap

We hypothesized that these racial and income-based time gaps could potentially be explained by other factors, like work, time spent caring for others, and parental education. We tested these hypotheses by separating groups based on particular characteristics and comparing the average number of minutes per day spent on homework amongst the comparison groups.

Students who work predictably reported spending less time on educational activities, so if working disproportionately affected particular racial or income groups, then work could help explain the time gap. Students who worked allocated on average 20 minutes less for homework than their counterparts who did not work. Though low-income students worked more hours than their peers, they largely maintained a similar level of homework time by reducing their leisure or extracurricular activities. Therefore, the time gap on homework changed only slightly with the inclusion of work as a factor.

We also incorporated time spent taking care of others in the household. Though a greater percentage of low-income students take care of other household members, we found that this does not have a statistically significant effect on homework because students reduce leisure, rather than homework, in an attempt to help their families. Therefore, this variable again does not explain the time gaps.

Finally, we considered parental education, since parents with more education have been shown to encourage their children to value school more and have the resources to ensure homework is completed more easily. Our analysis showed students with at least one parent with any post-secondary degree (associate or above) reported spending more time on homework than their counterparts whose parents do not hold a degree; however, gaps by race still existed, even holding parental education constant. Turning to income levels, we found that parental education is more correlated with homework time among low-income students, reducing the time gap between income groups to only eight minutes.

Societal explanations

Our analysis of ATUS could not fully explain this gap in time spent on homework, especially among racial groups. Instead, we believe that viewing homework as an outcome of the culture of the school and the expectations of teachers, rather than an outcome of a student’s effort, may provide some reasons for its persistence.

Many studies, including recent research , have shown that teachers perceive students of color as academically inferior to their white peers. A 2016 study by Seth Gershenson et al. showed that this expectations gap can also depend on the race of the teacher. In a country where minority students make up nearly half of all public school students, yet minority teachers comprise just 18 percent of the teacher workforce, these differences in expectations matter.

Students of color are also less likely to attend high schools that offer advanced courses (including Advanced Placement courses) that would likely assign more homework, and thus access to rigorous courses may partially explain the gaps as well.

Research shows a similar, if less well-documented, gap by income, with teachers reporting lower expectations and dimmer futures for their low-income students. Low-income students and students of color may be assigned less homework based on lower expectations for their success, thus preventing them from learning as much and creating a self-fulfilling prophecy .

In conclusion, these analyses of time use revealed a substantial gap in homework by race and by income group that could not be entirely explained by work, taking care of others, or parental education. Additionally, differences in educational achievement, especially as measured on standardized tests, have been well-documented by race and by income . These gaps deserve our attention, but we should be wary of blaming disadvantaged groups. Time use is an outcome reflecting multiple factors, not simply motivation, and a greater understanding of that should help raise expectations–and therefore, educational achievement–all around.

Sarah Novicoff contributed to this post.

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International Perspectives on Student Outcomes and Homework

DOI link for International Perspectives on Student Outcomes and Homework

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This synthesis of the latest knowledge on homework presents unique findings by researchers from various countries and diverse professional backgrounds.  It approaches the topic of homework from several perspectives, including

• its political and cultural contexts
• aspects of parental involvement and parent-child relationships
• school contexts and practices
• observable impacts

It highlights homework-specific concerns and considers two principal solutions.  Firstly, support initiatives from schools and communities.  Secondly, improved homework design, aimed at attracting greater student interest and promoting communication within families. Recommendations for practice and future research are also discussed.

A political analysis shows that current confusion about homework might stem from a tension between two prevailing ideologies, one stressing students’ improved achievement in competing economies, and the other privileging collaboration between the school, family and community. This book considers how both teachers and parents can ensure a balance between the child’s school life and his or her overall development. Certain community resources are available to parents and students, but these in no way absolve parents of the responsibility to maintain an interest in their child’s school activities.

International Perspectives on Student Outcomes and Homework proposes ideas and actions of relevance to everyone interested in the issue: school administrations, teachers in training and in practice, parents, and researchers eager to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field.  It is a perfect companion to International Perspectives on Contexts, Communities and Evaluated Innovative Practices , also edited by Rollande Deslandes, and published simultaneously by Routledge.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter | 6  pages, introduction, chapter 1 | 18  pages, homework in denmark: what kind of links between family and school, chapter 2 | 14  pages, parental involvement supports better student learning, chapter 3 | 8  pages, parents and children’s homework in france, chapter 4 | 14  pages, parents’ perspectives on homework: united kingdom, new zealand, australia and japan, chapter 5 | 15  pages, homework, gender, and family–school relations, chapter 6 | 19  pages, mind the gap greek- cypriot parents and their children’s homework, chapter 7 | 15  pages, parent–child dyad’s representations regarding homework and primary pupils’ views of parental involvement in homework, chapter 8 | 18  pages, homework management reported by secondary school students: a multilevel analysis, chapter 9 | 13  pages, elementary school teachers’ views of homework and parents–school relations, chapter 10 | 16  pages, does family involvement in homework make a difference investigating the longitudinal effects of math and language arts interventions.

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