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New study: Homework only beneficial in high school
Homework for young students may not be needed
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=740&sid=2805195
WASHINGTON - Students are saddled with homework every day across the world -- but it might not be helping them.
A new study from Sydney University in Australia finds that doing homework in elementary and middle school doesn't have any real benefit, reports Australia's Herald Sun .
In countries where kids do the most homework, research shows that their achievement results go down. Richard Walker, an associate professor from Sydney University's education faculty, says it's because students are unhappy about being overloaded when there are other valuable activities they want to do.
Homework only seems to pay off for high school juniors and seniors, the study found. But homework is still given to younger students, partly because parents want it.
And students aren't the only ones doing the work. Parents frequently help their children with homework. Walker says a little bit of homework can be helpful because it encourages students to become self-directed learners. But he says that only happens when students are given some assistance with it.
Do you think homework is a good thing for your kids, whether they like it or not? Or is there a case to be made that it's too much of a good thing? Is the work load your kids bring home after school too heavy a load?
Link to the Australian article: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/give-kids-a-break-from-homework/story-fn7x8me2-1226311842258
I couldn't find one to the actual study.
Re: New study: Homework only beneficial in high school
Is that a factor of homework or just overscheduled kids?
Also, part of me is going all "get off my lawn" and say "You'd rather be playing XBox? Well, tough noogies kid. Sit your butt at the table and do you math first."
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I flat out told my son's teacher I was in the Alfie Kohn camp on homework in 1st grade.
He reads at home and does math worksheets at home, but I don't do spelling words or the other homework that comes home. He's 7. If I did all the homework he's supposed to do we're talking probably 1 hour a night and that is 1 hour of my active involvement because he's too young to do it all by himself.
Above Us Only Sky
So how does that impact your child's grades?
not at all. He still gets 100s on his spelling tests and has rapidly progressed in reading this year. He's in the top math group.
Above Us Only Sky
I am not a fan of homework for young children. Kids spend 7 hours a day doing work at school. When they get home it should be time for playing outside, helping with dinner, fun activities with parents and siblings.
I am not saying that a child should not have to finish any work that they weren't able to finish at school. The school that I teach at is required to give homework at 10 minutes per grade-level (10 minutes for 1st grade, 20 minutes for 2nd grade) and I don't like that policy because I think it just turns into busy work.
I also think that homework causes some major stress in the evenings for families. It is constantly 'Did you finish your homework?' 'Go sit down and finish!' 'Let me check your homework.' And for some families it takes up their evening.
Is the homework graded? If so, is he getting 0s on it?
She doesn't. I was upfront at the beginning of the years about my feelings on homework.
The ones I think homework hurts the most are the kids with LDs. I have friends whose kids have LDs and the kids come home with unfinished work that they have to complete plus homework and it makes for a very stressful homelife in addition to school being miserable.
Above Us Only Sky
I'm torn on this.
I teach 8th grade. I happen to believe that kids don't need much, if any, homework for the most part. However, I also don't think it's fair to dump them into high school without any transition, so I give assignments that I wouldn't normally (read these 10 pages and take notes, for example) just because it's been mandated that I do so by the high school.
I do think there's something to be said for kids practicing skills at night. I just think that a lot of teachers don't know how to do homework right.
And there are a crapton of parents (and teachers) who assume that if kids aren't working 4 hours a night, they're not learning anything.
We have this problem w/ SS. He has ADHD and by the time he's home to do homework, the meds have worn off and it's a huge struggle getting him to focus. It's stressful for everyone and usually results in arguing b/c he gets frustrated and cops an attitude. He ends up staying up w/ DH past his bedtime to get it done, so then he's missing sleep, which he needs in order to help him focus in the morning.
By middle school I see no problem on getting kids to learn how to take notes, outline, and start writing papers that will prepare them for high school and college. When my 1st grader comes home with 1 hour of homework and he's a smart kid and flies through it, that's my issue. I see no value in making him do worksheets for the sake of sending something home.
Above Us Only Sky
By middle school I see no problem on getting kids to learn how to take notes, outline, and start writing papers that will prepare them for high school and college. When my 1st grader comes home with 1 hour of homework and he's a smart kid and flies through it, that's my issue. I see no value in making him do worksheets for the sake of sending something home.
Above Us Only Sky
Oh, you and I agree on this. 1st graders do not need homework. No way. I kind of think that if I can't teach it in the 90 minutes I have with kids, I'm doing something wrong...
However, you are in the minority of parents on this topic.
This is good news for my homeschooling plans. I'll add this to the list of studies to give to all of my critics.
SD had some ridiculous homework last night that would have been more appropriate for 7th and 8th grade than 10th grade. She had to read a chapter of history book and hand in 1 page of notes. By 10th grade she should have already learned that she needs to take notes as she reads and not be forced to hand in "proof" that she read. The "proof" that she read would be obvious from a pop-quiz or her test results.
Above Us Only Sky
SD had some ridiculous homework last night that would have been more appropriate for 7th and 8th grade than 10th grade. She had to read a chapter of history book and hand in 1 page of notes. By 10th grade she should have already learned that she needs to take notes as she reads and not be forced to hand in "proof" that she read. The "proof" that she read would be obvious from a pop-quiz or her test results.
Above Us Only Sky
I think that some homework is necessary, and the kids just want more time to screw around on Facebook, X-Box, etc., which is even more of a waste of time.
I also believe that a lot of kids don't do jack squat during the school period, so then they have work to take home. A child productively working during the school day would probably not have much work left over, but if you talk and goof off, yeah, it'll accumulate.
It's a question of priorities. I don't buy the idea that teachers shouldn't give homework so that parents have less stress. Their goal is to help the students learn the material. A major problem is that teachers, not parents or even students, are accountable for the test scores, and they get you either way. If the kids don't pass the test, you're screwed. If you have really smart kids in your class that got 455 (55 points over the proficiency cutoff) last year and get a mere 445 this year, you're screwed because they "didn't make a year's worth of growth."
It's hard to worry about kids not having enough time for fresh air, time with the family, and the like when they have weekends off, holidays off, two and a half summer months... basically 176 days. Our problem is having too low expectations, not too high. Seriously, I had a 13-year-old today ask me what "rid" meant on a quiz, and then another told me it meant "rescue." I know that's an archaic definition, but it obviously didn't mean rescue in the context in whcih it was presented.
(I'm too lazy to change back to my name. I'm not speaking as Breitbart.)
Homework isn't usually graded.
I guess I'm in the minority but I have no problem with kids having a reasonable amount of homework. Both p&p have about 30 minutes a day, if pinky isn't having a circus music kind of afternoon. Not only does it reinforce the skills they're learning and form good habits for when they get older, but it also allows me to see what they're working on and see for myself if they are understanding the concepts being presented to them or if they need more help.
For instance, both of them started to struggle and their grades in math dipped recently. Were it not for what I could see in their homework, I would have had to wait until their grades came out, then contact the teacher, then hope I don't have to stalk her to get an answer and then hope her answer is the right one.
Instead, I made them write their multiplication tables twice a day in addition to drilling them on them every morning while waiting for the bus. They did much better and their grades came up well before the marking period ended.
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I'm a high school teacher and I'm not a big fan of homework either. My seniors only have it when they have a paper to write (which isn't often at all), and my freshman only have it when they haven't finished the class work, which is technically because they probably weren't managing their in class time well.
Now, I have regular and LD kids, so this is obviously different for honors/AP kids. But I just don't think it does that much for them all the time.
It should reinforce, but never overwhelm kids.
As if homework is so black and white (ie. homework vs no homework).....arrgh. Homework assigned well, for reinforcement and in moderation, and homework actually performed by the students is a good thing. You can't convince me otherwise.
Are you sure the purpose (or the only purpose) was to "prove" she read it? Granted, taking notes on a whole chapter seems a bit much for a youngster, but I'm willing to bet that this exercise was required as part of the whole "preparing the kids for the state tests". Taking notes is no longer a skill just for high schoolers.
I think a lot is worthless, but a little is beneficial. We do maybe 30 mins most nights a week. 20 mins of reading, 5 mins of math review and 5 mins of vocab review. I wouldn't do it if I didn't think it works and it really does seem to make a difference. I don't mind an occassional worksheet home to reinforce skills learned in class and a review packet before a test either. But, homework just for the sake of homework is pointless for us at this point.
To be clear, though, work sheets and reviews are done on the weekend. DS has ADHD and there's NO way we could do it on a weeknight. So far, his teacher has been very accomodating about this. When/if we have a teacher that is not, he will need to go on an IEP.
I agree with Helper on this one. I had a class in HS where we had to hand in our notes every so often to show that we were taking them, and we had to have them organized in a very particular fashion. In the 12th grade. I took more notes than I actually needed to for mastering the material, just so I could get full credit.
On the other hand, I guess it helped prepare me for the micromanagement I deal with now on a daily basis.
What is the flipped classroom? I've never heard of this.
And I agree with you re: good homework. Sticking with Helper's example, I'd say that for a high school class, assigning a reading that is followed by a quiz/essay/discussion is useful. Or practice problems in math class. Forced note-taking is dumb.