how much homework should 4th grader have

What’s the Right Amount of Homework?

Decades of research show that homework has some benefits, especially for students in middle and high school—but there are risks to assigning too much.

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Many teachers and parents believe that homework helps students build study skills and review concepts learned in class. Others see homework as disruptive and unnecessary, leading to burnout and turning kids off to school. Decades of research show that the issue is more nuanced and complex than most people think: Homework is beneficial, but only to a degree. Students in high school gain the most, while younger kids benefit much less.

The National PTA and the National Education Association support the “ 10-minute homework guideline ”—a nightly 10 minutes of homework per grade level. But many teachers and parents are quick to point out that what matters is the quality of the homework assigned and how well it meets students’ needs, not the amount of time spent on it.

The guideline doesn’t account for students who may need to spend more—or less—time on assignments. In class, teachers can make adjustments to support struggling students, but at home, an assignment that takes one student 30 minutes to complete may take another twice as much time—often for reasons beyond their control. And homework can widen the achievement gap, putting students from low-income households and students with learning disabilities at a disadvantage.

However, the 10-minute guideline is useful in setting a limit: When kids spend too much time on homework, there are real consequences to consider.

Small Benefits for Elementary Students

As young children begin school, the focus should be on cultivating a love of learning, and assigning too much homework can undermine that goal. And young students often don’t have the study skills to benefit fully from homework, so it may be a poor use of time (Cooper, 1989 ; Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). A more effective activity may be nightly reading, especially if parents are involved. The benefits of reading are clear: If students aren’t proficient readers by the end of third grade, they’re less likely to succeed academically and graduate from high school (Fiester, 2013 ).

For second-grade teacher Jacqueline Fiorentino, the minor benefits of homework did not outweigh the potential drawback of turning young children against school at an early age, so she experimented with dropping mandatory homework. “Something surprising happened: They started doing more work at home,” Fiorentino writes . “This inspiring group of 8-year-olds used their newfound free time to explore subjects and topics of interest to them.” She encouraged her students to read at home and offered optional homework to extend classroom lessons and help them review material.

Moderate Benefits for Middle School Students

As students mature and develop the study skills necessary to delve deeply into a topic—and to retain what they learn—they also benefit more from homework. Nightly assignments can help prepare them for scholarly work, and research shows that homework can have moderate benefits for middle school students (Cooper et al., 2006 ). Recent research also shows that online math homework, which can be designed to adapt to students’ levels of understanding, can significantly boost test scores (Roschelle et al., 2016 ).

There are risks to assigning too much, however: A 2015 study found that when middle school students were assigned more than 90 to 100 minutes of daily homework, their math and science test scores began to decline (Fernández-Alonso, Suárez-Álvarez, & Muñiz, 2015 ). Crossing that upper limit can drain student motivation and focus. The researchers recommend that “homework should present a certain level of challenge or difficulty, without being so challenging that it discourages effort.” Teachers should avoid low-effort, repetitive assignments, and assign homework “with the aim of instilling work habits and promoting autonomous, self-directed learning.”

In other words, it’s the quality of homework that matters, not the quantity. Brian Sztabnik, a veteran middle and high school English teacher, suggests that teachers take a step back and ask themselves these five questions :

• How long will it take to complete?
• Have all learners been considered?
• Will an assignment encourage future success?
• Will an assignment place material in a context the classroom cannot?
• Does an assignment offer support when a teacher is not there?

More Benefits for High School Students, but Risks as Well

By the time they reach high school, students should be well on their way to becoming independent learners, so homework does provide a boost to learning at this age, as long as it isn’t overwhelming (Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). When students spend too much time on homework—more than two hours each night—it takes up valuable time to rest and spend time with family and friends. A 2013 study found that high school students can experience serious mental and physical health problems, from higher stress levels to sleep deprivation, when assigned too much homework (Galloway, Conner, & Pope, 2013 ).

Homework in high school should always relate to the lesson and be doable without any assistance, and feedback should be clear and explicit.

Teachers should also keep in mind that not all students have equal opportunities to finish their homework at home, so incomplete homework may not be a true reflection of their learning—it may be more a result of issues they face outside of school. They may be hindered by issues such as lack of a quiet space at home, resources such as a computer or broadband connectivity, or parental support (OECD, 2014 ). In such cases, giving low homework scores may be unfair.

Since the quantities of time discussed here are totals, teachers in middle and high school should be aware of how much homework other teachers are assigning. It may seem reasonable to assign 30 minutes of daily homework, but across six subjects, that’s three hours—far above a reasonable amount even for a high school senior. Psychologist Maurice Elias sees this as a common mistake: Individual teachers create homework policies that in aggregate can overwhelm students. He suggests that teachers work together to develop a school-wide homework policy and make it a key topic of back-to-school night and the first parent-teacher conferences of the school year.

Parents Play a Key Role

Homework can be a powerful tool to help parents become more involved in their child’s learning (Walker et al., 2004 ). It can provide insights into a child’s strengths and interests, and can also encourage conversations about a child’s life at school. If a parent has positive attitudes toward homework, their children are more likely to share those same values, promoting academic success.

But it’s also possible for parents to be overbearing, putting too much emphasis on test scores or grades, which can be disruptive for children (Madjar, Shklar, & Moshe, 2015 ). Parents should avoid being overly intrusive or controlling—students report feeling less motivated to learn when they don’t have enough space and autonomy to do their homework (Orkin, May, & Wolf, 2017 ; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008 ; Silinskas & Kikas, 2017 ). So while homework can encourage parents to be more involved with their kids, it’s important to not make it a source of conflict.

How Much Homework Is Enough? Depends Who You Ask

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Editor’s note: This is an adapted excerpt from You, Your Child, and School: Navigate Your Way to the Best Education ( Viking)—the latest book by author and speaker Sir Ken Robinson (co-authored with Lou Aronica), published in March. For years, Robinson has been known for his radical work on rekindling creativity and passion in schools, including three bestselling books (also with Aronica) on the topic. His TED Talk “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” holds the record for the most-viewed TED talk of all time, with more than 50 million views. While Robinson’s latest book is geared toward parents, it also offers educators a window into the kinds of education concerns parents have for their children, including on the quality and quantity of homework.

The amount of homework young people are given varies a lot from school to school and from grade to grade. In some schools and grades, children have no homework at all. In others, they may have 18 hours or more of homework every week. In the United States, the accepted guideline, which is supported by both the National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association, is the 10-minute rule: Children should have no more than 10 minutes of homework each day for each grade reached. In 1st grade, children should have 10 minutes of daily homework; in 2nd grade, 20 minutes; and so on to the 12th grade, when on average they should have 120 minutes of homework each day, which is about 10 hours a week. It doesn’t always work out that way.

In 2013, the University of Phoenix College of Education commissioned a survey of how much homework teachers typically give their students. From kindergarten to 5th grade, it was just under three hours per week; from 6th to 8th grade, it was 3.2 hours; and from 9th to 12th grade, it was 3.5 hours.

There are two points to note. First, these are the amounts given by individual teachers. To estimate the total time children are expected to spend on homework, you need to multiply these hours by the number of teachers they work with. High school students who work with five teachers in different curriculum areas may find themselves with 17.5 hours or more of homework a week, which is the equivalent of a part-time job. The other factor is that these are teachers’ estimates of the time that homework should take. The time that individual children spend on it will be more or less than that, according to their abilities and interests. One child may casually dash off a piece of homework in half the time that another will spend laboring through in a cold sweat.

Do students have more homework these days than previous generations? Given all the variables, it’s difficult to say. Some studies suggest they do. In 2007, a study from the National Center for Education Statistics found that, on average, high school students spent around seven hours a week on homework. A similar study in 1994 put the average at less than five hours a week. Mind you, I [Robinson] was in high school in England in the 1960s and spent a lot more time than that—though maybe that was to do with my own ability. One way of judging this is to look at how much homework your own children are given and compare it to what you had at the same age.

Many parents find it difficult to help their children with subjects they’ve not studied themselves for a long time, if at all.

There’s also much debate about the value of homework. Supporters argue that it benefits children, teachers, and parents in several ways:

• Children learn to deepen their understanding of specific content, to cover content at their own pace, to become more independent learners, to develop problem-solving and time-management skills, and to relate what they learn in school to outside activities.
• Teachers can see how well their students understand the lessons; evaluate students’ individual progress, strengths, and weaknesses; and cover more content in class.
• Parents can engage practically in their children’s education, see firsthand what their children are being taught in school, and understand more clearly how they’re getting on—what they find easy and what they struggle with in school.

Want to know more about Sir Ken Robinson? Check out our Q&A with him.

Q&A With Sir Ken Robinson

Ashley Norris is assistant dean at the University of Phoenix College of Education. Commenting on her university’s survey, she says, “Homework helps build confidence, responsibility, and problem-solving skills that can set students up for success in high school, college, and in the workplace.”

That may be so, but many parents find it difficult to help their children with subjects they’ve not studied themselves for a long time, if at all. Families have busy lives, and it can be hard for parents to find time to help with homework alongside everything else they have to cope with. Norris is convinced it’s worth the effort, especially, she says, because in many schools, the nature of homework is changing. One influence is the growing popularity of the so-called flipped classroom.

In the stereotypical classroom, the teacher spends time in class presenting material to the students. Their homework consists of assignments based on that material. In the flipped classroom, the teacher provides the students with presentational materials—videos, slides, lecture notes—which the students review at home and then bring questions and ideas to school where they work on them collaboratively with the teacher and other students. As Norris notes, in this approach, homework extends the boundaries of the classroom and reframes how time in school can be used more productively, allowing students to “collaborate on learning, learn from each other, maybe critique [each other’s work], and share those experiences.”

Even so, many parents and educators are increasingly concerned that homework, in whatever form it takes, is a bridge too far in the pressured lives of children and their families. It takes away from essential time for their children to relax and unwind after school, to play, to be young, and to be together as a family. On top of that, the benefits of homework are often asserted, but they’re not consistent, and they’re certainly not guaranteed.

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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: A New User's Guide

Cory Turner

If you made it past the headline, you're likely a student, concerned parent, teacher or, like me, a nerd nostalgist who enjoys basking in the distant glow of Homework Triumphs Past (second-grade report on Custer's Last Stand, nailed it!).

Whoever you are, you're surely hoping for some clarity in the loud, perennial debate over whether U.S. students are justifiably exhausted and nervous from too much homework — even though some international comparisons suggest they're sitting comfortably at the average.

Well, here goes. I've mapped out six, research-based polestars that should help guide you to some reasonable conclusions about homework.

How much homework do U.S. students get?

The best answer comes from something called the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP . In 2012, students in three different age groups — 9, 13 and 17 — were asked, "How much time did you spend on homework yesterday?" The vast majority of 9-year-olds (79 percent) and 13-year-olds (65 percent) and still a majority of 17-year-olds (53 percent) all reported doing an hour or less of homework the day before.

Another study from the National Center for Education Statistics found that high school students who reported doing homework outside of school did, on average, about seven hours a week.

If you're hungry for more data on this — and some perspective — check out this exhaustive report put together last year by researcher Tom Loveless at the Brookings Institution.

An hour or less a day? But we hear so many horror stories! Why?

The fact is, some students do have a ton of homework. In high school we see a kind of student divergence — between those who choose or find themselves tracked into less-rigorous coursework and those who enroll in honors classes or multiple Advanced Placement courses. And the latter students are getting a lot of homework. In that 2012 NAEP survey, 13 percent of 17-year-olds reported doing more than two hours of homework the previous night. That's not a lot of students, but they're clearly doing a lot of work.

Source: Met Life Survey of the American Teacher, The Homework Experience, 2007. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption

That also tracks with a famous survey from 2007 — from MetLife — that asked parents what they think of their kids' homework load. Sixty percent said it was just right. Twenty-five percent said their kids are getting too little. Just 15 percent of parents said their kids have too much homework.

Research also suggests that the students doing the most work have something else in common: income. "I think that the debate over homework in some ways is a social class issue," says Janine Bempechat, professor of human development at Wheelock College. "There's no question that in affluent communities, children are really over-taxed, over-burdened with homework."

But the vast majority of students do not seem to have inordinate workloads. And the ones who do are generally volunteering for the tough stuff. That doesn't make it easier, but it does make it a choice.

Do we know how much homework students in other countries are doing?

Sort of. Caveats abound here. Education systems and perceptions of what is and isn't homework can vary remarkably overseas. So any comparison is, to a degree, apples-to-oranges (or, at least, apples-to-pears). A 2012 report from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development pegged the U.S. homework load for 15-year-olds at around six hours per week. That's just above the study's average. It found that students in Hong Kong are also doing about six hours a week. Much of Europe checks in between four and five hours a week. In Japan, it's four hours. And Korea's near the bottom, at three hours.

Source: OECD, PISA 2012 Database, Table IV.3.48. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption

How much homework is too much?

Better yet, how much is just right? Harris Cooper at Duke University has done some of the best work on homework. He and his team reviewed dozens of studies, from 1987 to 2003, looking for consensus on what works and what doesn't. A common rule of thumb, he says, is what's called the 10-minute rule. Take the child's grade and multiply by 10. So first-graders should have roughly 10 minutes of homework a night, 40 minutes for fourth-graders, on up to two hours for seniors in high school. A lot of of schools use this. Even the National PTA officially endorses it.

Homework clearly improves student performance, right?

Not necessarily. It depends on the age of the child. Looking over the research, there's little to no evidence that homework improves student achievement in elementary school. Then again, the many experts I spoke with all said the same thing: The point of homework in those primary grades isn't entirely academic. It's about teaching things like time-management and self-direction.

But, by high school the evidence shifts. Harris Cooper's massive review found, in middle and high school, a positive correlation between homework and student achievement on unit tests. It seems to help. But more is not always better. Cooper points out that, depending on the subject and the age of the student, there is a law of diminishing returns. Again, he recommends the 10-minute rule.

What kinds of homework seem to be most effective?

This is where things get really interesting. Because homework should be about learning, right? To understand what kinds of homework best help kids learn, we really need to talk about memory and the brain.

Let's start with something called the spacing effect . Say a child has to do a vocabulary worksheet. The next week, it's a new worksheet with different words and so on. Well, research shows that the brain is better at remembering when we repeat with consistency, not when we study in long, isolated chunks of time. Do a little bit of vocabulary each night, repeating the same words night after night.

Similarly, a professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, Henry "Roddy" Roediger III , recommends that teachers give students plenty of little quizzes, which he says strengthen the brain's ability to remember. Don't fret. They can be low-stakes or no-stakes, says Roediger: It's the steady recall and repetition that matter. He also recommends, as homework, that students try testing themselves instead of simply re-reading the text or class notes.

There's also something known as interleaving . This is big in the debate over math homework. Many of us — myself included — learned math by focusing on one concept at a time, doing a worksheet to practice that concept, then moving on.

Well, there's evidence that students learn more when homework requires them to choose among multiple strategies — new and old — when solving problems. In other words, kids learn when they have to draw not just from what they learned in class that day but that week, that month, that year.

One last note: Experts agree that homework should generally be about reinforcing what students learned in class (this is especially true in math). Sometimes it can — and should — be used to introduce new material, but here's where so many horror stories begin.

Tom Loveless, a former teacher, offers this advice: "I don't think teachers should ever send brand-new material that puts the parent in the position of a teacher. That's a disaster. My own personal philosophy was: Homework is best if it's material that requires more practice but they've already received initial instruction."

Or, in the words of the National PTA: "Homework that cannot be done without help is not good homework."

How Much Homework Should a 4th Grader Have?

• Post author: Marie
• Post published: September 27, 2020
• Post category: Classroom Management / Support for Students / Uncategorized
• Post comments: 55 Comments

Some kids love to do homework.  But most do not.  They spend the whole day in school.  They get home hungry, tired of sitting, studying, and being quiet, and ready to go play with the neighbors or chill and hang out around the house.  Unfortunately, though, homework has become an essential part of life for most students in America, even in elementary school.

So then, if homework is so universal, the next question becomes, how much homework should a 4th grader have?  According to research from multiple sources, the  National Education Association  and the  National PTA  both say that the appropriate amount of work for students is 10 minutes for each grade level.  That would mean 40 minutes for a 4th grader.  But what does that look like in reality?  Some parents complain that their students are coming home with hours of homework.  And what studies have been done to corroborate these recommendations?  We are going to take a look at all of this and more.

First, I do want to note that the information regarding these recommendations from both the NEA and National PTA is no longer available and I was not able to find updated guidelines from either site.  Very curious!

Table of Contents

What Do the Experts Say About How Much Homework for 4th Graders?

As I mentioned above, both the NEA and NPTA recommend 10 minutes per grade, which makes a 4th grade homework load around 40 minutes per night.

A survey was conducted in March and April of 2017 by University of Phoenix that sought to find out exactly how much homework teachers were assigning their students.  1,001 full-time teachers were asked how much homework they assign on a weekly basis.  For K-12 teachers, 62 percent said they assigned less than three hours a week.

The survey also reported that 27 percent of the teachers surveyed said they assign one hour or less per week.  All of these figures are in line with parents’ expectations that their children should not have more than one hour a day for elementary school.

From Kindergarten to 5th grade specifically, teachers averaged assigning less than 3 hours weekly.

But What Does This Really Mean Regarding Homework Amounts for 4th Graders?

The problem with these figures is that students and parents don’t necessarily agree that those figures represent the actual time it takes to do the assigned homework.

First of all, this is an average.  That means that some teachers assign much less homework while others assign much more.  The actual amounts of assigned homework can swing wildly from none to 18 hours a week.

Second, while the teachers may think that the assignment they are giving for homework will only take a certain amount of time, that could be very different for the students.

Some reasons for this would be that a student is having difficulty understanding it–either the concept or the directions for the assignment.  Or the student could just take longer than other students.  One more reason could be that the teacher’s estimate of completion was different than it actually took most of the students to complete it.

Third, each student works at their own pace.  Some students will finish a half hour assignment in 10 or 15 minutes, while others may take upwards of an hour.  It is virtually impossible for a teacher to assign a 30-minute assignment that takes exactly 30 minutes for everyone.

Working Through the Differences in Homework Ability for 4th Graders?

So how do we work through those discrepancies?

The first answer is to keep communication open between the teacher and the parents.

Teachers could be assigning homework that a previous class was easily able to finish in the allotted time.  But maybe the current class is not able to do that.  There really is no way for the teacher to know that unless the parents let them know.

These are great things to bring up in teacher parent conferences.  But sometimes, that is too far into the school year.

A better solution would be to send home a quick survey to the parents a couple of weeks after school starts.  Not only does this help the teacher to know which students are doing well with their homework; it also lets them know WHICH students are struggling and HOW they are struggling.  And the sooner the teacher knows that, the sooner these problems can be worked out to make the student more successful sooner.

Having surveys sent home allows the teacher to individualize what each student needs.  This is critical to class-wide success.

Also, keep in mind that homework assignments are likely going to take longer at the beginning of the school year, when students are learning what the expectations of the teacher are.  As the school year progresses and students and teachers get to know each other better, shorter homework times will naturally follow suit.

How Much Homework is Too Much for a 4th Grader?

It is very hard to put a specific number on it, but I would say that the 40 minute rule for 4th graders is actually a great standard.  It allows them to get their feet wet in preparing for independent work and deadlines.  But it isn’t so long that it is daunting or overly difficult for them to get through.

Much research has been done regarding the amount of homework to give students of all ages.  And while it has proven to be very beneficial in the high school years, the opposite has proven true in the elementary/middle school years.

The reason for this is because of the need in high school to put complex concepts to practice longer in order for the student to actually master the concepts they are learning.  In the younger grades, two other things come to play that make this step in learning not as necessary.

First, younger children’s brains have an immense ability to memorize and absorb the information they receive whereas high school students’ brains tend more towards analyzing and testing the information they receive.

Second, the concepts they are learning aren’t as complicated as the older grades.  So, as a whole they are able to master them much more quickly and easily.

The Effects of Too Much Homework for Younger Students

Interestingly enough, studies showed that younger students who had 90 minutes or more of homework nightly on a regular basis actually started scoring lower on tests–likely because they were simply burned out.

Reasonably speaking, there will be times that a 40-minute homework load will turn into a couple of hours.  Maybe your student is having a hard time focusing (check out my  article  on whether listening to music while studying can help students focus or distract them!) for whatever reason.  Maybe they aren’t feeling well or are feeling too tired to be productive.  It could be any number of reasons.  Parents can help their children to focus better in times that they are having difficulty.  Here is a chart  you can send home that can help out with that:

As long as homework isn’t taking longer than normal on a regular basis, then your child will be fine with it.

Probably the best test as to whether students are getting too much homework is if they are frustrated by it on a nightly basis.  And if that is the case, more harm is definitely being done than benefit.

What are the Benefits of Giving a 4th Grader Homework?

In figuring out how much homework a 4th grader should have, we should consider what the benefits of doing homework at that age are.

So then, why should we assign homework at all?  Shouldn’t teachers try to complete the day’s learning during the school day?  Is the reason for homework just to finish what didn’t get done during the school day?

While sometimes homework is a matter of finishing what the teacher didn’t get done during the day, there are many reasons that it is beneficial to do homework as opposed to work exclusively in the classroom.

Some of the benefits of bringing home some assignments are:

• It teaches students independence.
• The space in time between the lesson and homework allow the child to absorb what they have learned and then try to put it into practice later.
• It can help students learn problem-solving to get through unfamiliar work independently.
• Students will gain self confidence as they are able to do their work outside of a classroom setting.
• Students can gain a sense of accomplishment for doing something on their own.

There are many more benefits, but these are the most notable ones that benefit students that are in the 4th grade range.

What are the Drawbacks of Giving a 4th Grader Homework?

For as good as the advantages of giving a 4th grader homework are, there are also some disadvantages.  Every yin has its yang, doesn’t it?

Here is a brief list of a few of the disadvantages of giving a 4th grader homework:

• Parents may not be able to help students with their homework (could be their knowledge level or a time constraint).
• Students may  not have enough time in the evening to do it because of family or other obligations.
• Sporting or other extra-curricular activities could also take away time for students to be able to finish their homework.
• Difficulties in the home that prevent productive homework time.
• Unexpected events that come up could make it difficult to find time for homework.

 Honestly, I don’t feel they are as numerous or outweigh the advantages, but it is necessary to at least think about them for a moment.  And it is equally necessary to help students that are having difficulty getting their homework done find ways to be able to get to it and be more efficient with it.   That could take some creative ways to accomplish.

Regardless of how this works out, it is important for teachers to help students that are sincerely trying to find better ways to make sure it is accomplished.

What if There was no Homework for 4th Graders?

There are a number of teachers who have decided that their elementary students would have no homework.  Of course, the vast majority of students were happy about this.  And I expect a large number of parents were as well, since it meant one less thing for them to see to on weeknights that are already over-scheduled with life.  But what did the teachers think of it once they implemented it?

Many teachers said that it actually increased the work that their students did at night.  Because they weren’t being forced to do specific homework assignments, they were then able to find the time to study and do things that interested them.  And because they were interested in those subjects, they tended to be more eager about spending time on those things.

The biggest key here to things working out that way is for parents to limit screen time to a moderate amount of time.  We as adults realize how easy it is to get sucked down the rabbit hole of the internet and/or games.  It is no different for kids, especially when they have been at school all day and really just want to chill.  Until they are capable of forming their own good habits, as parents we need to be able to help them develop those habits.  And that will take some steadfast work!

So, after looking into how much homework a 4th grader should have, it is pretty clear that there is great value in 4th graders having some homework, but not too much.  Some amount of homework will allow students to learn lifelong study skills that will help them succeed well beyond their school years.  But on the other hand, too much homework can cause students to get burned out, and eventually even cause their grades to fall.

What has your experience been in the classroom and with kids at home?  Did you have difficulties and, if so, what were they?  Spill the tea in the comments below!

If you loved this article, I think you will also love the following articles:

10 Great Tips to Make Homework Fun for 4 th  Graders

Did My Student Copy and Paste? Here’s How to Find Out

How to Teach Students to Summarize the Right Way

Does Listening to Music Help Students Focus?

Does Chewing Gum Help Students Focus?

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This post has 55 comments.

This is such a comprehensive examination of how much, pros and cons of homework. I always think of it as a definitive benefit, but it may not always be like that. My son who is in 5th grade has never brought homework home. He always does it in breaks or study periods because he likes to be homework free at home. He rarely needs any help with it. I think it is his sheer wish to not have to do anything school-related at home that keeps him motivated to be so disciplined about it. I think in this day and age of constant information bombardment if homework was just reading quietly for an hour, it would be more than enough. Thank you for highlighting this.

I agree with all of that, Stella. And the way your son is able to finish his homework at school makes for a perfect balance. It allows him to leave his work for the day at school and spend quality time at home. I love that! Unfortunately, there are a lot of schools where that is the case, and also many students that don’t have the self discipline to get it done in study periods. But it is great that the possibility is there for those who do use it!

I’m not a parent yet but homework’s can help kids for their responsibility as students to working their school task. This post help a lot.

Yes, Maysz, you are right. Homework is a great way for students to learn responsibility

Great post. Thanks for sharing your insights about the pros and cons of homework.

A lot of homeworks has both its pros and cons, so thank you for talking about it in your article. Informative and helpful as well 🙂

I think every student should have some homework to keep them busy and applying what they’re learning to practical tasks, but it should really be managed. Many of our societies operate on a too much work basis, and the more work we give young kids, the more we’re grooming them to continue future stressed societies.

You are absolutely right, Nkem–balance is key!

I feel like homework can be a good thing, but too much leads to stress. This is super helpful Marie!

Exactly, Krysten–that balance can be so hard to achieve, especially when students vary so widely. One assignment can be quick and easy for one student but torture for another. Assigning the right types and amount of homework can be very tricky! I hope all is well with you and work has lightened up some! Stay well!

When I was young, this was a question that was never asked. We just did our homework, Its different nowadays.

My experience is exactly the same as yours, Kathy! It is indeed very different now.

This actually has good ideas which I believe can help parents, educators to understand that how much a 4th grader can do!

Thank you, Monidipa!

As a homeschooler for over 25 years, it’s hard to relate but you made some good points. It is very important for our young people to become independent learners so some homework is a good thing.

Independent learning is critical to success in life, so I agree with you, Portia! And as for the homeschooling part, when I homeschooled (I still am right now), I assigned minimal homework. It was only done when something had a critical deadline or the kids were dragging their feet and not working efficiently during school time. They learned to work more efficiently very quickly in order to get the benefit of no homework. 🙂

This is great info for moms that homeschool elementary kids!

Wow, you have raised great questions and I think it’s constantly on mine or many parents’ minds. I do think quality over quantity – communication is key to make sure they gain knowledge and learn something new, and those skills are reinforced through exercises. After all, it should be fun, not pain.

You are exactly right! When homework is painful on a regular basis, it does much harm to the students. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

Personally, I think it is like everything it is all about balance and not overdoing it especiallly at that age xx

I agree 100%–balance is the number one issue!

Being an educator, I could find it totally relevant to discuss. I am sure many good points are to take away from here.

Thank you, Shilpa!

Interesting information, I had no idea there was a set time for how much homework kids should have. I can’t remember how much I had during that time, but it seems like 40 mins to an hour was about right.

My experience was pretty much the same as yours. Since I was a book nerd, though, I often did more homework than was required and ended up significantly ahead. I had no life, lol!

We need to find balance on homework. I believe it is important to not overload your students and let them enjoy their spare time. This post is great to understand how much a 4th grader can do.

Thank you, Kevin. And you are right. Once the balance factor is achieved, the rest falls into place pretty well. The kids learn more effectively when homework is not too heavy or too light.

Some days I would like homework better than other – I think 40 minutes is a lot though 😮

It can be a lot for students that have a more difficult time. Splitting into two 20- minute periods would be very helpful though! Thank you for sharing, Renata!

This was a great read. I never thought of this before, but I guarantee that a bazillion parents across America are right this very second.

You are right, Ben–especially with all of the distance learning going on. Parents have never been more invested in their kids homework! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

This is very informative. I also agree anything past 40 mins and you have lost that child.

Yes, Jackline–overtaxing the kids will actually make life so much harder. It will make them hate that aspect of learning. And that will affect the way they learn for the rest of their lives.

Wow, I didn’t know a lot of things! Thanks for explaining it so well ☺ Parents will find it super helpful!

This was extremely helpful and very informative! I never knew about the 10 minute per grade rule but I think that is a great rule to live by!

Kileen cute & little

I think the 10 minute rule is pretty perfect for age appropriate school work! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Kileen!

Always love your insights! And I couldn’t agree more on this one. I especially like the idea of conducting a survey at the start of the school year. This would truly help identify the possible challenges a student may face as well.

Thank you, Lucy! You are right. The more communication between teacher and student, the better things will be accomplished. 🙂

As you clearly highlighted here homework has both pros and cons. As a parent, I feel that homework is important to reinforce the concepts that kid learned in the class. But it shouldn’t be too much that it becomes stressful. I prefer homework that’s given for the weekend.

I agree, Mayuri, and I love the idea of placing more homework on the weekend when there is a bit more time. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

I remember having way too much homework when I was in 4th grade. I agree that anything over 40 minutes is too much. Very insightful to read!

I’m sorry for your experience, Hannah. I was fortunate to have an amazing 4th grade teacher. She actually helped most of us to complete our homework before the school day was over. And she was great with rewarding students with a job well done. I wish all students could have had such a good experience.

I agree that homework does teach independence. Kids at the 4th grade level should start learning personal responsibility for their studies.

I agree, Alexis. 4th grade is a perfect time for students to start learning and practicing independence!

This are truly great insights. I feel that my daughter is overworked and has too much homework now that we have shifted to online classes due to the pandemic.

Thank you for sharing this and I will share this with her class adviser.

It is a very difficult time for homework and learning, Clarice. I hope that you are able to find a balance with your daughter. I think that parents homeschooling in conjunction with the schools they attended is very difficult for everybody involved. And because of that I hope that we get to some sort of normal sooner than later. Fortunately, our kids can be pretty resilient!

This is a really interesting topic. I think having a balance about homeworks is really important.

Thank you, Toni!

great post! my daughter is in sk and I still have some time but this is very insightful, thanks for sharing.

Thank you, Melissa!

Wow learning is totally different than I had when i was growing up. With the virtual learning this all makes sense.

I agree, Lily. Learning has changed so much! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

I think some activities should be via fun activities rather than assignments. Also, it should just be few assignments. Do you agree?

Superb post.Thanks for sharing your insights about the pros and cons of homework. you have wrote it very deeply.

The kids are studying too hard. Parent expectations and peer pressure are making it very difficult. The Corona pandemic has given them a much-needed break. Just my personal opinion, of course.

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The debate over homework flared anew in the fall 2016 school year as a handful of elementary school teachers implemented drastically reduced homework policies that went viral as parents rose to applaud or condemned them.

But others support a more traditional approach to the role of homework in a student’s academic growth, arguing that some homework helps to solidify the day’s lesson plan.

How much homework should elementary school students do?

The furor over the quantity of homework assigned to elementary students reached a fever pitch this year amid headlines touting research finding that assigning homework to these students does not improve their academic performance. While the headlines grabbed plenty of attention, they barely scratch the surface of this complicated issue.

Historically, proponents of homework cited research urging teachers to follow the “10-minute” rule, which means assigning students 10 minutes of homework per grade level. For instance,  a first-grader might have 10 minutes of homework a night while a third-grader could have up to 30 minutes of work. In theory, the quantity and intensity of homework should rise with age.

Note there is research supporting homework as a learning tool, especially as it relates to practice and retention. Studies do show that children as young as second grade improve their skills when they study at home to supplement in-class instruction — provided it doesn’t exceed the 10-minute rule per grade level.  This research is correlational rather than causational, so it’s difficult to determine cause and effect.

Still, many researchers argue that even this small amount of homework doesn’t help students learn or retain concepts. Rather, they suggest homework at an early age helps children establish good study habits and time management skills while keeping parents current on what their kids are learning in school.

The type of homework matters — especially for young students

Research has found that homework tied to a student’s interests (such as reading for pleasure) boosts academic performance. Therefore, activities like maintaining a reading log can help to promote academic success even if it isn’t directly tied to in-class work. Other assignments might tie to students’ interests outside the classroom. For instance, teachers might ask students to complete writing assignments where they describe a hobby.

Homework that is too difficult, however, can be severely detrimental to students. If students feel easily discouraged or unable to complete assignments, they can develop negative views on school and learning.

Harris Cooper, a Duke University professor who wrote the book “The Battle over Homework,” suggests that homework assignments should be minimal, easy to complete and designed to get parents involved (though the involvement should gradually fade as students get older).

Ultimately, the debate over homework policies appears unlikely to die down. In one note to parents that went viral this fall, Brandy Young, an elementary teacher, suggested that instead of completing homework in the evenings, students should enjoy time with their families — including eating dinner, playing outside, reading and getting to bed early.

Young argued that these factors had proved to promote students’ academic success. And research supports such findings: Quality family time that includes time to play, relax and get adequate sleep are huge determinants of student achievement.  While homework might help, it should not interfere with other aspects of the child’s home life.

Caitrin Blake has a BA in English and Sociology from the University of Vermont and a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Colorado Denver. She teaches composition at Arapahoe Community College.

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How To: Choose the Right Amount of Daily Homework

Despite the differences in the recommendations from these sources, the table shows broad agreement about how much homework to assign at each grade. At grades 1-3, homework should be limited to an hour or less per day, while in grades 4-6, homework should not exceed 90 minutes. The upper limit in grades 7-8 is 2 hours and the limit in high school should be 2.5 hours.

Teachers can use the homework time recommendations included here as a point of comparison: in particular, schools should note that assigning homework that exceeds the upper limit of these time estimates is not likely to result in additional learning gains--and may even be counter-productive (Cooper, Robinson, & Patall, 2006).

It should also be remembered that the amount of homework assigned each day is not in itself a sign of high academic standards. Homework becomes a powerful tool to promote learning only when students grasp the purpose of each homework assignment, clearly understand homework directions, perceive that homework tasks are instructionally relevant, and receive timely performance feedback (e.g., teacher comments; grades) on submitted homework (Jenson, Sheridan, Olympia, & Andrews, 1994).

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• Download This Blog Entry in PDF Format: How To: Choose the Right Amount of Daily Homework
• Barkley, R. A. (2008). 80+ classroom accommodations for children or teens with ADHD. The ADHD Report, 16 (4), 7-10.
• Cooper, H., Robinson, J. C., & Patall, E A. (2006). Does homework improve academic achievement? A synthesis of research, 1987-2003. Review of Educational Research, 76 (1), 1-62. 
• Jenson, W. R., Sheridan, S. M., Olympia, D., & Andrews, D. (1994). Homework and students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders: A practical, parent-based approach. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27 , 538-548.

How Much Homework Is Too Much?

Are schools assigning too much homework.

Posted October 19, 2011

Timothy, a fifth grader, spends up to thirteen hours a day hunched over a desk at school or at home, studying and doing homework. Should his parents feel proud? Now imagine, for comparison's sake, Timothy spending thirteen hours a day hunched over a sewing machine instead of a desk.

Parents have the right to complain when schools assign too much homework but they often don't know how to do so effectively.

Drowning in Homework ( an excerpt from Chapter 8 of The Squeaky Wheel )

I first met Timothy, a quiet, overweight eleven-year-old boy, when his mother brought him to therapy to discuss his slipping grades. A few minutes with Timothy were enough to confirm that his mood, self-esteem , and general happiness were slipping right along with them. Timothy attended one of the top private schools in Manhattan, an environment in which declining grades were no idle matter.

I asked about Timothy's typical day. He awoke every morning at six thirty so he could get to school by eight and arrived home around four thirty each afternoon. He then had a quick snack, followed by either a piano lesson or his math tutor, depending on the day. He had dinner at seven p.m., after which he sat down to do homework for two to three hours a night. Quickly doing the math in my head, I calculated that Timothy spent an average of thirteen hours a day hunched over a writing desk. His situation is not atypical. Spending that many hours studying is the only way Timothy can keep up and stay afloat academically.

But what if, for comparison's sake, we imagined Timothy spending thirteen hours a day hunched over a sewing machine instead of a desk. We would immediately be aghast at the inhumanity because children are horribly mistreated in such "sweatshops." Timothy is far from being mistreated, but the mountain of homework he faces daily results in a similar consequence- he too is being robbed of his childhood.

Timothy's academics leave him virtually no time to do anything he truly enjoys, such as playing video games, movies, or board games with his friends. During the week he never plays outside and never has indoor play dates or opportunities to socialize with friends. On weekends, Timothy's days are often devoted to studying for tests, working on special school projects, or arguing with his mother about studying for tests and working on special school projects.

By the fourth and fifth grade and certainly in middle school, many of our children have hours of homework, test preparation, project writing, or research to do every night, all in addition to the eight hours or more they have to spend in school. Yet study after study has shown that homework has little to do with achievement in elementary school and is only marginally related to achievement in middle school .

Play, however, is a crucial component of healthy child development . It affects children's creativity , their social skills, and even their brain development. The absence of play, physical exercise, and free-form social interaction takes a serious toll on many children. It can also have significant health implications as is evidenced by our current epidemic of childhood obesity, sleep deprivation, low self- esteem, and depression .

A far stronger predictor than homework of academic achievement for kids aged three to twelve is having regular family meals. Family meals allow parents to check in, to demonstrate caring and involvement, to provide supervision, and to offer support. The more family meals can be worked into the schedule, the better, especially for preteens. The frequency of family meals has also been shown to help with disordered eating behaviors in adolescents.

Experts in the field recommend children have no more than ten minutes of homework per day per grade level. As a fifth- grader, Timothy should have no more than fifty minutes a day of homework (instead of three times that amount). Having an extra two hours an evening to play, relax, or see a friend would constitute a huge bump in any child's quality of life.

So what can we do if our child is getting too much homework?

1. Complain to the teachers and the school. Most parents are unaware that excessive homework contributes so little to their child's academic achievement.

2. Educate your child's teacher and principal about the homework research-they are often equally unaware of the facts and teachers of younger children (K-4) often make changes as a result.

3. Create allies within the system by speaking with other parents and banding together to address the issue with the school.

You might also like: Is Excessive Homework in Private Schools a Customer Service Issue?

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Guy Winch, Ph.D. , is a licensed psychologist and author of Emotional First Aid: Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure, and Other Everyday Hurts.

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1. Encourage reading in any way you can 2. Treat your child as though he's an author 3. Make math part of her everyday life 4. Teach your child how to listen 5. Support your child's teacher and the school rules 6. Tell the teacher everything 7. Make sure your child is ready for school 8. Spend time in your child's classroom 9. Encourage responsibility and independence 10. Ask your child about school every day

1. Encourage reading in any way you can There is no way to overestimate the importance of reading. It not only enhances learning in all of the other subject areas, it exposes children to a wealth of information and experiences they might not otherwise enjoy. It stimulates the imagination, nourishes emotional growth, builds verbal skills, and influences analyzing and thinking. In fact, according to every teacher I spoke to, reading to or with your child every day is the single most important thing you can do.

You shouldn't worry so much about how well your child is reading in any particular grade. Different children acquire reading skills at different ages and in different ways. But you can promote a love of reading by giving your child lots of fun experiences with print at whatever level she's in. When she can read independently, and enjoys reading a variety of books, you can support her in these ways:

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2. Treat your child as though he's an author He doesn't have to be Hemingway or Shakespeare. All he has to do is grow up thinking that he can put thoughts and words onto paper. And the sooner he starts, the better.

By now, your child is becoming a confident writer, and isn't afraid to use improper spellings on her first drafts. She knows she can go back and correct spelling mistakes during the revise process.

How to help:

3. Make math part of her everyday life Leave the flashcards, workbooks, and other skill-and-drill stuff to the teacher. At home, the best way to help your child learn to love math is to play with numbers, and to frequently point out the various ways in which math makes our lives easier. By working with tangible objects, and counting, sorting, estimating, measuring, looking for patterns, and solving real-life problems, children learn to think in mathematical terms, without worrying whether or not they're "smart enough" to do math.

Almost anything you do that involves numbers and/or problem solving will build your child's math skills. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

4. Teach your child how to listen Teachers who've been around for 15 or more years say they've seen a definite decline in children's attention spans and listening skills since they first started teaching. Many of them attribute it not only to the fast and entertaining pace of television and computer games, but to the fact that many children today don't have a lot of time to just sit around, listening and talking to family members. Between parents' jobs and children's after-school activities, it's hard, sometimes, to get everyone in the same room for a family dinner once a week.

But being able to focus on what other people are saying is an important element in learning. So, whenever possible, try to build your child's listening skills. Here are some strategies that will help:

5. Support your child's teacher and the school rules Even if you don't agree with them. It doesn't do any child any good to hear her parents say that school is "a waste of time," that school rules are "dumb," or that what she's learning is "stupid" or "useless." Your child doesn't have a choice about going to school, so she might as well feel good about where she's spending her time. She'll be more motivated to work hard and succeed if she thinks you think that what she's doing is worthwhile.

So even if a school rule seems silly or unfair to you, or you think your child's teacher is dead wrong about something, don't make a big issue about it in front of your child . Instead, take your concerns straight to the source.

The key steps toward resolution The best way to approach a problem or disagreement involving the school is to:

Sometimes you just have to accept a less-than-perfect teacher or classroom situation. In most cases, it won't do permanent damage to your child, and it may even help him develop some healthy coping skills. Also, sometimes things that upset parents about school don't really bother the students. So you may want to talk to your child first, before forging ahead with a complaint, or requesting a transfer for your child. In some cases, moving a child from one classroom to another mid-year would be worse — from the child's point of view — than having him stick it out with a weak teacher.

On the other hand, you shouldn't feel intimidated by school personnel. If you feel you have a legitimate complaint (or if your child's health, safety, or welfare is at stake), and your gut keeps telling you to fight for your child, you should do that. Just try to remember, at every step of the way, that the less hostility you communicate, the more likely people will be to listen carefully to your concerns, and work toward a mutually acceptable solution. Let the power of persistence — rather than the impact of aggression — carry your case.

If the teacher calls you The steps outlined above should also be followed if the teacher calls you to discuss problems your child is causing at school. Even if you think the teacher is wrong, or your child insists that she's innocent, go into the conference with your mind open and your demeanor calm and friendly. Most teachers aren't "out to get" their students; they genuinely want to make the child's school year a success.

6. Tell the teacher everything That is, everything that's happening at home that might affect how your child behaves in school. That includes positive changes (such as the birth of a baby, a move to a bigger and better house, or even a vacation to Disney World), as well as negative ones (a separation or divorce, a death or illness in the family, a parent who's lost a job).

It's not that teachers are nosy. It's that most children are not terribly skilled at handling excitement or coping with changes or stress. And they all carry their baggage from home into the classroom. Even something little, like a fight with a sibling in the car on the way to school, can affect a child's behavior or performance at school.

If a teacher knows there's a problem or change at home, she's less likely to react inappropriately when behavior goes awry at school. Under normal circumstances, for instance, a dip in grades might prompt a teacher to suggest extra help or tutoring. If she knows that the child just got a new baby brother, however, she might react instead by pulling the child aside and inviting her to talk about how she's feeling now that she's a big sister.

You needn't go into all of the gory details of what's happening at home, either. All the teacher expects to hear is, "I just wanted to let you know that we're moving to a new house next week, and Allan is pretty nervous about the whole thing" or "If Sheila seems a little hyper these days it's because her aunt is taking her to her first Broadway play this weekend."

What else do teachers want to know?

7. Make sure your child is ready for school All through elementary school, it's the parent's job to make sure a child:

8. Spend time in your child's classroom Even if it's only once a year, and you have to take a half-day off from work to do it. All children get a real thrill when they see their parent in their classroom. It sends a powerful message that you care about your child, and about her education.

Seeing the classroom firsthand is also the best way for you to get a perspective on what and how the teacher is teaching, what kinds of challenges the teacher is facing, what the class chemistry is, how your child fits in within the group, and how she interacts with specific peers. Plus, it will give you a better idea of the kinds of questions you should ask to draw your child out when talking about school.

In most schools, you don't need an excuse to visit the classroom. Just ask the teacher if you can come in and observe. If you want an excuse, volunteer. Teachers are always looking for parents to:

If you have lots of time to give, you might consider:

At the very least, you should plan to make time to attend:

9. Encourage responsibility and independence Both of these are essential to independent learning. And both will make it easier for your child to adjust to the demands of school, and get along with his teacher and classmates. So, whenever possible, let your child do things for himself — and for others.

For example, encourage him to:

10. Ask your child about school every day It isn't always easy to get the scoop on school from your own child. If you ask a perfectly normal, sincere question like, "What did you do at school today?", you're likely to get the classic response: "Nothing."

One reason is that so many things happen in the classroom that it's hard for the average child to answer a question like that. She can't remember everything she did, and even if she could, she wouldn't know where to start. It doesn't help to ask, "What did you learn at school today?" or "How was school today?" either. Both will elicit one-word answers ("Nothing" or "Fine"), because they're too broad and too vague for most children to process.

But it's still important to ask about school, because it teaches your child that school is important, and that you really are interested in her life. So how can you get your child to open up? Here's what other parents say really works:

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Homework; the term elicits a myriad of responses. Students are naturally opposed to the idea of homework. No student ever says, “I wish my teacher would assign me more homework.” Most students begrudge homework and find any opportunity or possible excuse to avoid doing it.

Educators themselves are split on the issue. Many teachers assign daily homework seeing it as a way to further develop and reinforce core academic skills, while also teaching students responsibility. Other educators refrain from assigning daily homework. They view it as unnecessary overkill that often leads to frustration and causes students to resent school and learning altogether. 

Parents are also divided on whether or not they welcome homework. Those who welcome it see it as an opportunity for their children to reinforce critical learning skills. Those who loathe it see it as an infringement of their child’s time. They say it takes away from extra-curricular activities, play time, family time, and also adds unnecessary stress.

Research on the topic is also inconclusive. You can find research that strongly supports the benefits of assigning regular homework, some that denounce it as having zero benefits, with most reporting that assigning homework offers some positive benefits, but also can be detrimental in some areas.

The Effects of Homework

Since opinions vary so drastically, coming to a consensus on homework is nearly impossible. We sent a survey out to parents of a school regarding the topic, asking parents these two basic questions:

• How much time is your child spending working on homework each night?
• Is this amount of time too much, too little, or just right?

The responses varied significantly. In one 3 rd grade class with 22 students, the responses regarding how much time their child spends on homework each night had an alarming disparity. The lowest amount of time spent was 15 minutes, while the largest amount of time spent was 4 hours. Everyone else fell somewhere in between. When discussing this with the teacher, she told me that she sent home the same homework for every child and was blown away by the vastly different ranges in time spent completing it. The answers to the second question aligned with the first. Almost every class had similar, varying results making it really difficult to gauge where we should go as a school regarding homework.

While reviewing and studying my school’s homework policy and the results of the aforementioned survey, I discovered a few important revelations about homework that I think anyone looking at the topic would benefit from:

1. Homework should be clearly defined. Homework is not unfinished classwork that the student is required to take home and complete. Homework is “extra practice” given to take home to reinforce concepts that they have been learning in class. It is important to note that teachers should always give students time in class under their supervision to complete class work. Failing to give them an appropriate amount of class time increases their workload at home. More importantly, it does not allow the teacher to give immediate feedback to the student as to whether or not they are doing the assignment correctly. What good does it do if a student completes an assignment if they are doing it all incorrectly? Teachers must find a way to let parents know what assignments are homework and which ones are classwork that they did not complete.

2. The amount of time required to complete the same homework assignment varies significantly from student to student. This speaks to personalization. I have always been a big fan of customizing homework to fit each individual student. Blanket homework is more challenging for some students than it is for others. Some fly through it, while others spend excessive amounts of time completing it.  Differentiating homework will take some additional time for teachers in regards to preparation, but it will ultimately be more beneficial for students.

The National Education Association recommends that students be given 10-20 minutes of homework each night and an additional 10 minutes per advancing grade level. The following chart adapted from the National Education Associations recommendations can be used as a resource for teachers in Kindergarten through the 8 th grade.

It can be difficult for teachers to gauge how much time students need to complete an assignment. The following charts serve to streamline this process as it breaks down the average time it takes for students to complete a single problem in a variety of subject matter for common assignment types. Teachers should consider this information when assigning homework. While it may not be accurate for every student or assignment, it can serve as a starting point when calculating how much time students need to complete an assignment. It is important to note that in grades where classes are departmentalized it is important that all teachers are on the same page as the totals in the chart above is the recommended amount of total homework per night and not just for a single class.

Kindergarten – 4th Grade (Elementary Recommendations)

*If students are required to write the questions, then you will need to add 2 additional minutes per problem. (i.e. 1-English problem requires 4 minutes if students are required to write the sentence/question.)

5th – 8th Grade (Middle School Recommendations)

*If students are required to write the questions, then you will need to add 2 additional minutes per problem. (i.e. 1-English problem requires 5 minutes if students are required to write the sentence/question.)

Assigning Homework Example

It is recommended that 5 th graders have 50-60 minutes of homework per night. In a self-contained class, a teacher assigns 5 multi-step math problems, 5 English problems, 10 spelling words to be written 3x each, and 10 science definitions on a particular night.

3. There are a few critical academic skill builders that students should be expected to do every night or as needed. Teachers should also consider these things. However, they may or may not, be factored into the total time to complete homework. Teachers should use their best judgment to make that determination:

• Independent Reading – 20-30 minutes per day
• Study for Test/Quiz - varies
• Multiplication Math Fact Practice (3-4) – varies - until facts are mastered
• Sight Word Practice (K-2) – varies - until all lists are mastered

4. Coming to a general consensus regarding homework is almost impossible.  School leaders must bring everyone to the table, solicit feedback, and come up with a plan that works best for the majority. This plan should be reevaluated and adjusted continuously. What works well for one school may not necessarily be the best solution for another.

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How Much Homework Do American Kids Do?

Various factors, from the race of the student to the number of years a teacher has been in the classroom, affect a child's homework load.

In his Atlantic essay , Karl Taro Greenfeld laments his 13-year-old daughter's heavy homework load. As an eighth grader at a New York middle school, Greenfeld’s daughter averaged about three hours of homework per night and adopted mantras like “memorization, not rationalization” to help her get it all done. Tales of the homework-burdened American student have become common, but are these stories the exception or the rule?

A 2007 Metlife study found that 45 percent of students in grades three to 12 spend more than an hour a night doing homework, including the six percent of students who report spending more than three hours a night on their homework. In the 2002-2003 school year, a study out of the University of Michigan found that American students ages six through 17 spent three hours and 38 minutes per week doing homework.

A range of factors plays into how much homework each individual student gets:

Older students do more homework than their younger counterparts.

This one is fairly obvious: The National Education Association recommends that homework time increase by ten minutes per year in school. (e.g., A third grader would have 30 minutes of homework, while a seventh grader would have 70 minutes).

Studies have found that schools tend to roughly follow these guidelines: The University of Michigan found that students ages six to eight spend 29 minutes doing homework per night while 15- to 17-year-old students spend 50 minutes doing homework. The Metlife study also found that 50 percent of students in grades seven to 12 spent more than an hour a night on homework, while 37 percent of students in grades three to six spent an hour or more on their homework per night. The National Center for Educational Statistics found that high school students who do homework outside of school average 6.8 hours of homework per week.

Race plays a role in how much homework students do.

Asian students spend 3.5 more hours on average doing homework per week than their white peers. However, only 59 percent of Asian students’ parents check that homework is done, while 75.6 percent of Hispanic students’ parents and 83.1 percent of black students’ parents check.

Teachers with less experience assign more homework.

The Metlife study found that 14 percent of teachers with zero to five years of teaching experience assigned more than an hour of homework per night, while only six percent of teachers with 21 or more years of teaching experience assigned over an hour of homework.

Math classes have homework the most frequently.

The Metlife study found that 70 percent of students in grades three to 12 had at least one homework assignment in math. Sixty-two percent had at least one homework assignment in a language arts class (English, reading, spelling, or creative writing courses) and 42 percent had at least one in a science class.

Regardless of how much homework kids are actually doing every night, most parents and teachers are happy with the way things are: 60 percent of parents think that their children have the “right amount of homework,” and 73 percent of teachers think their school assigns the right amount of homework.

Students, however, are not necessarily on board: 38 percent of students in grades seven through 12 and 28 percent of students in grades three through six report being “very often/often” stressed out by their homework.

About the Author

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How Much Homework Should Students Have (Ask the Experts)

November 2, 2017 rethinkmathteacher.com Teaching Resources 1

The debate over homework wages on as test scores decline, parent frustration increases, and the ability to cheat eases with new apps and smartphones. We ask the experts, ‘How Much Homework Should Students Have?”

The NEA says that students should have 10 minutes of homework per night, times the grade that they are in (so 3 rd graders should have 30 minutes a night, 7 th graders should have 70 minutes per night, etc.) http://www.nea.org/tools/16938.htm

Our experts weigh in:

We want Children to Understand that they are always Learners

– Maurice J. Elias of Edutopia.org

“We want children to understand that they are always learners. In school, we refer to them as “students” but outside of school, as children, they are still learners. So it makes no sense to even advertise a “no homework” policy in a school. It sends the wrong message.”

“Children should be encouraged to read, write, perform arithmetic, better understand the world around them in terms of civics, science, and the arts, and, of course, develop their people skills — their emotional intelligence. This encouragement should be part of everyday family interactions outside of school, and the school should provide developmental guidance to all parents, in the appropriate languages, to help them do this.”

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/homework-vs-no-homework-wrong-question-maurice-elias

Homework can be Damaging

– Shana Mckay of ScaffoldedMath.com

My answer to this question has changed over the years. Now as a mom, the thought of someday fighting with my daughter over homework during the precious few hours I will see her each week makes my heart ache. I also recently read in Jo Boaler’s book Mathematical Mindsets that homework widens the achievement gap. If 30% of a kid’s grade is participation in homework, and that kid has a job to support her family, her grade will never be as high– making it impossible for her to compete for the top colleges. The feeling that “I’m not good enough despite my effort” is also damaging, especially when a kid starts having the choice to take more math or not. So I am really torn. I hope this is an OK answer! It’s something I struggle with. Jo Boaler suggests reflection homework as a way to give homework that is not rote practice. I like this idea.

https://scaffoldedmath.blogspot.com/

– Linda Kardamis of Teach4TheHeart.com

More work doesn’t necessitate more learning. It can be overwhelming, especially your to lower skilled students. Less work can lead to greater quality of work, and promote more family time.  I recommend assigning less problems, giving time in class to complete, and having students write on their paper how long it took them to complete.

https://teach4theheart.com/why-you-should-give-way-less-homework/

Some, with Peer Help Time in Class

– Jamie Riggs of MissMathDork.com

After working in a district where homework was a HUGE issue, based on their home circumstances, I started taking a different stance on homework.  I still wanted my students to practice, we just started doing it in different ways.  I devoted 15 minutes of my class every day to enrichment and remediation. During this 15 minutes of time students had multiple options – 1) get homework help from a peer, 2) help a peer, 3) work on an extension activity alone or with a peer, 4) get help from the teacher at the roundtable, 5) create your own math project to work on.  Students were empowered to make their own choice.  Because of the culture that I had set in my classroom, students had no problem asking each other for help or being the peer helper.  Those who wanted to work alone could, those who wanted help got it, the only rule in the classroom was that everyone had to be working on something mathematical, either on the list or approved by me.  It took a little while to get it rolling, but eventually, those 15 minutes of time were my favorite 15 minutes of the day.

www.MissMathDork.com

Enough to be Meaningful and to Reinforce the Skill

– Kathy Ngo Martin of PreAlgebraTeachers.com

I think students should receive enough homework to review the skills being worked on. I don’t believe students should have “busy work.” I can’t say a set amount of minutes or problems, but I will say I usually assign between 10-20 problems per night, and we usually do 5 together in class.

www.PreAlgebraTeachers.com

Ditch that Homework

– Matt Miller and Alice Keeler, authors of “Ditch that Homework”

“Research can’t prove it’s a best practice. It causes family conflict and stress. Plus, it widens the gap between the haves and the have nots.”

http://www.alicekeeler.com/2017/07/27/ditch-homework-make-homework-obsolete/

Done Right, It Can Be Awesome

– Matt Foster of TeamTomEducation.com

When done right, homework can be a time for shared reading with parents. It can build healthy work habits and inspire students to complete passion projects normally not allowed in a school day.

My take is simple. There are some horrible types of homework. And there some types of homework that are simply awesome.

Here are my top 5 things to avoid and 4 must-haves in homework.

• Never assign homework that requires adult assistance for a student to figure out.
• Never assign homework that surpasses the Rule of 10. Ten minutes multiplied by the grade level equals maximum homework time.
• Never assign homework without choice.
• Never grade homework for accuracy.
• Never assume all students have equal access to parental support and resources.

To gain benefits from homework, here are 4 must-haves.

• Provide choice in homework tasks and topics to tap into a variety of skills and interests.
• Provide homework that builds fluency with already mastered skills or concepts.
• Provide passion projects that students want to do.
• Provide options for recording homework.

TeamTomEducation.com

Homework in Primary School has an Effect of Around Zero

– John Hattie, author of Visible Learning for Teachers

“Homework in primary school has an effect of around zero. In high school it’s larger. (…) Which is why we need to get it right. Not why we need to get rid of it (…) Five to ten minutes has the same effect of one hour to two hours (…) The best thing you can do is to reinforce something you’ve already learnt.”

https://visible-learning.org/2014/09/john-hattie-interview-bbc-radio-4/

Work for Home

– John Bennett of johncbennettjr.com

I’d rather think in terms of ‘Work for Home’ (W4H) than homework (HW). It’s not the HW that the teacher assigns for grading that has any value. It’s the W4H that’s aligned with what the student (with teacher input) believes needs needs further work for better learning – not for grading – that’s important. This emphasizes the learning, not the assumed needs from the teacher for grading!!!

Meet the Experts

Learn more at teach4theheart.com , or follow on Facebook @Teach4theHeart

Join at  www.PreAlgebraTeachers.com , follow on Facebook , or join her Facebook group

nice blog on maths for sharing those who want to how to learn the basics.

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How Many Hours of Homework Should Be Expected in Fourth Grade?

Jennifer brozak, 26 sep 2017.

With each passing grade, the amount of time your child spends on homework will likely increase. While homework can a have a definite purpose by reinforcing the skills and concepts your child is learning in the classroom, too much homework can be frustrating for both you and your child -- and even have a detrimental effect on his academic success. Some parents have reason to be concerned about the amount of time their fourth grader spends cracking the books at home.

Explore this article

• Time Limits
• Types of Assignments
• Warning Signs
• Take Action

1 Time Limits

According to research endorsed by the National Education Association, children should receive no more than 10 minutes of homework per grade level, starting with first grade. This means that kindergarteners should receive zero homework, while children in fourth grade should be expected to complete no more than 40 minutes per night. More than that has been shown to have absolutely no positive effective on children and, in fact, can cause them to become disinterested in learning, according to education expert Alfie Kohn.

2 Types of Assignments

As your child inches into the higher grades, expectations -- especially those associated with high-stakes standardized testing -- will rise. As such, reading, math and science homework will likely become part of your child’s nightly homework routine. Students also may be expected to complete short spelling and vocabulary assignments at home or work on more extensive projects over a period of time.

3 Warning Signs

If your fourth grader is routinely spending much longer than the recommended 40 minutes on his nightly homework, constantly needs your help to complete assignments, or if the amount of work he’s bringing home seems excessive, talk to his teacher. Struggling to complete grade-appropriate assignments may be a sign of a learning or emotional issue, and he may need to be tested or reassessed to rule out underlying problems.

4 Take Action

If you’re worried that your child’s teacher is piling on excessive amounts of homework for his grade level, you have every right to be worried. First, try talking to his teacher and explain your concerns. Discuss evidence from education researchers like Kohn, which proves that too much homework can be detrimental to a child’s academic progress. If your child’s teacher is unwilling to budge on the issue, talk to the school’s principal. Still not getting anywhere? Join with other parents who may be experiencing the same issue and approach the school board.

• 1 Great Schools: How Much Homework is Too Much?
• 2 NEA: Research Spotlight on Homework

About the Author

As a mother, wife and recovering English teacher, Jennifer Brozak is passionate about all things parenting and education. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and St. Vincent College, Jennifer writes features for the IN Community magazine network and shares her daily escapades on her blog, One Committed Mama.

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How Much Time Should Be Spent on Homework?

At the elementary level homework should be brief, at your child’s ability level and involve frequent, voluntary and high interest activities. Young students require high levels of feedback and/or supervision to help them complete assignments correctly. Accurate homework completion is influenced by your child’s ability, the difficulty of the task, and the amount of feedback your child receives. When assigning homework, your child’s teachers may struggle to create a balance at this age between ability, task difficulty and feedback. Unfortunately, there are no simple guiding principles.

We can assure you, however, that your input and feedback on a nightly basis is an essential component in helping your child benefit from the homework experience.

What is the recommended time in elementary school?

In first through third grade, students should receive one to three assignments per week, taking them no more than fifteen to twenty minutes. In fourth through sixth grade, students should receive two to four assignments per week, lasting between fifteen and forty-five minutes. At this age, the primarily goal of homework is to help your child develop the independent work and learning skills that will become critical in the higher grades. In the upper grades, the more time spent on homework the greater the achievement gains.

What is the recommended time in middle and high school?

For students in middle and high school grades there are greater overall benefits from time engaged in practicing and thinking about school work. These benefits do not appear to depend as much upon immediate supervision or feedback as they do for elementary students. In seventh through ninth grade we recommend students receive three to five sets of assignments per week, lasting between forty-five and seventy-five minutes per set. In high school students will receive four to five sets of homework per week, taking them between seventy-five and 150 minutes per set to complete.

As children progress through school, homework and the amount of time engaged in homework increases in importance. Due to the significance of homework at the older age levels, it is not surprising that there is more homework assigned. Furthermore, homework is always assigned in college preparatory classes and assigned at least three quarters of the time in special education and vocational training classes. Thus at any age, homework may indicate our academic expectations of children.

Regardless of the amount of homework assigned, many students unsuccessful or struggling in school spend less rather than more time engaged in homework. It is not surprising that students spending less time completing homework may eventually not achieve as consistently as those who complete their homework.

Does this mean that time devoted to homework is the key component necessary for achievement?

We are not completely certain. Some American educators have concluded that if students in America spent as much time doing homework as students in Asian countries they might perform academically as well. It is tempting to assume such a cause and effect relationship.

However, this relationship appears to be an overly simple conclusion. We know that homework is important as one of several influential factors in school success. However, other variables, including student ability, achievement, motivation and teaching quality influence the time students spend with homework tasks. Many students and their parents have told us they experience less difficulty being motivated and completing homework in classes in which they enjoyed the subject, the instruction, the assignments and the teachers.

The benefits from homework are the greatest for students completing the most homework and doing so correctly. Thus, students who devote time to homework are probably on a path to improved achievement. This path also includes higher quality instruction, greater achievement motivation and better skill levels.

Authors: Dr. Sam Goldstein and Dr. Sydney Zentall

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Homework wars: how much homework is enough?

Evaluating the homework policies of schools.

In choosing a school for your child, you’ll want to look at its homework policies. You might be surprised by how much these vary between schools.

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Figure 1: The distribution for the amount of homework assigned in Grade 6 among schools featured on OurKids.net.

There’s a long-standing and contentious debate over homework . Should homework be assigned to school-age children? If so, in what grades? And how much homework should be assigned? There’s no shortage of disagreement about these questions.

On the one hand, traditionalists are pro-homework. They claim that homework helps students learn. They also claim schools should start assigning it in Grade 1, and increase the amount in each grade.

Progressives , on the other hand, are anti-homework. They claim that homework is mostly ineffective, and that schools should assign little, if any, homework—especially in the earlier grades.

Understanding this debate can help you evaluate the homework policy of any prospective school. And this can help you decide if a school’s a good fit for your family.

Figure 2: The average amount of homework assigned by grade for schools featured on OurKids.net.

(1) The case for homework

(2) the case against homework, (3) recent research on homework, (4) homework in public schools, (5) homework in canadian private schools, (6) guidelines for evaluating homework policies.

It has long been held that homework—assuming it’s well-designed—is crucial to learning and development.

In Cultural Literacy (1987), the traditionalist Hirsch argues for the value of homework. Homework, he urges, gives students more time to reinforce knowledge they’ve learned in the classroom. And this gives them a stronger basis for future learning.

For example, by memorizing the multiplication tables or the location of every country in Europe, students can learn important concepts and expand their body of knowledge. Coming back to material after a period away from it is a time-tested strategy for retaining information. Homework provides exactly that, supporters argue. And this enables students to move on to new material during class.

In addition, it’s argued, regular homework also helps students practice skills. Many skills require lots of practice to become ingrained habits, says Michael Zwaagstra, a well-known homework advocate. Why, he asks (in What’s Wrong with our Schools?  (2009)), would academic skills be any different?

A pianist can improve by practicing scales and a basketball player can improve by spending hours in the gym. In the same way, students can improve skills learned in school through practice. 

Basic skills like grammar, spelling, and multiplication tables require drill, says Barr (2007). Learning how to begin projects, searching for answers, and problem-solving are skills that adults use daily, and must be learned early through homework.

Homework not only helps with academics, but it also builds study skills and character.

This view aligns with the frequently discussed “practice principle.” According to Malcolm Gladwell, among others, one needs at least 10,000 hours of practice to master challenging skills, such as playing the guitar, writing a short story, or serving a tennis ball.

Arguments for homework:

• It gives students a time and context to reinforce knowledge gained in the classroom.
• It gives students a time and context to practice skills learned in the classroom and needed for future studies, and life.
• It can instill study habits and organization skills.
• It can lead to better self-direction and self-discipline.
• It can allow students to work on things not directly covered in class (for instance, through independent studies or book reports). This can expand the breadth and depth of learning.
• It allows parents to be more involved in their children’s studies by encouraging them to help out with homework.
• It can lead to a willingness to learn during leisure time, and inspire a love of learning.

Sometimes homework can be frustrating for students and parents. Often, though, these problems stem from homework being poorly designed, it’s argued. In other words, we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater:

The best way to address the homework issue is for teachers to ensure they have a good reason for assigning the homework. Homework should be meaningful and provide students with the opportunity to practice skills and concepts they have recently learned in school. Ensuring that homework is properly designed and relevant to what students are learning is the best way to alleviate concerns about its effectiveness. (Zwaagstra, 2009)

• 84% of schools featured on OurKids.net start assigning homework in Grade 1 or earlier.
• 9% of schools featured on OurKids.net don’t start assigning homework until Grade 7 or higher.
• 5.6% of schools featured on OurKids.net don’t assign homework at any grade level.

Figure 3: The average amount of homework assigned by grade for traditional schools featured on OurKids.net.

The case for homework seems pretty straightforward, right? Well, not according to homework’s critics. In the last 40 years or so, homework has been criticized by many.

Critics claim homework can interfere with student motivation and family life. Alfie Kohn (in “ The Homework Myth ”), a well-known progressivist and homework opponent, sums up this line of thinking:

"The negative effects of homework are well known. They include children’s frustration and exhaustion, lack of time for other activities, and possible loss of interest in learning.  Many parents lament the impact of homework on their relationships with their children; t hey may also resent having to play the role of enforcer and worry that they will be criticized either for not being involved enough with the homework or for becoming too involved."

Kralovec and Buell (in “ End Homework Now ”, 2001), two other homework opponents, describe how homework can be a major source of stress for families:

Homework squeezes family life. All parents have educational agendas for their children. They want to pass on their cultural heritage, religious beliefs , and important life skills. They want to teach their children how to be good citizens and how to share in the responsibilities of running a home. More homework makes parents put their own agendas on hold even as they often struggle to help their children cope with homework assignments. Additionally, families need time to constitute themselves as families. According to a 1998 survey by Public Agenda, nearly 50 percent of parents reported having a serious argument with their children over homework, and 34 percent reported homework as a source of stress and struggle. Parents often have conflicting feelings about homework, viewing it as a way for their children to succeed but also as imposing serious limits on family time.

Zwaagstra (2009), meanwhile, tries to address this kind of claim:

Perhaps the most specious and troublesome claim is that homework takes away time for more valuable activities for students, such as exercising or talking to parents. Using the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research data—often quoted by homework opponents—one quickly finds that the average television viewing for school-aged children is more than two hours a day. If there is anything that takes time away from constructive childhood activities, it is watching mindless television programs. (One wonders whether homework opponents plan to encourage governments to pass laws that restrict the number of hours that children are permitted to watch television during weeknights.)

But parent concerns over homework are real. In Canada, a 2007 study from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) showed that—at least in Ontario —many parents question both the amount of homework and the nature of homework.

The study revealed that much assigned homework seems unnecessary to parents, isn’t taken up in class, shared or evaluated, and when it is, it’s often not quick enough. It also revealed that many parents are concerned about the affect homework has on their family life.

Responses to the parent survey included:

“ I feel that my child is being asked to complete homework that is too difficult for her to do on her own. She needs the help of one or both parents. This seems to me to be inappropriate. I do not mind helping my child with homework, but it seems that at least she should be given at least some homework that she can complete on her own. ”

It would seem that the teachers are either too rushed or can't be bothered to communicate well what is expected from the homework assignments.

That there is so much quantity, I wonder if the benefits of learning from the work is being outweighed by the negative effects such as less ‘down’ time, less family time, stress of completing assignments, emphasis on completing work instead of learning something.

I think most of the assigned homework thus far has been either busy work and a complete waste of time, or it is part of the curriculum that the teacher has not had time to cover and is sending it home to extend the school day.

Homework starts too young. Children are in structured activities all day between school and daycare . For working parents —as soon as you get home you have to start in on all of the assigned homework. This is impacting the quality time you are able to spend as a family unit. Under the age of 10 I highly question how homework actually contributes to learning outcomes. I believe that if kids had time for free play, family time, and outdoor activity —academic results would actually be higher in the end.

Indeed, the argument against homework goes beyond the question of infringing on family time and being annoying. Homework’s critics also question how effective it is at improving grades—especially in the early school years (such as preschool and elementary school).

In fact, Kohn, one of homework’s harshest critics, has argued homework has no positive effects. This is a common view in the anti-homework camp.

Numerous studies conducted since the 1980s have looked at the benefits of homework, and according to Kohn (not to mention Kralovec, Buell and others), none have proven its value. In particular, they show no positive correlation between homework and high grades.

Arguments for less homework:

• For children, spending time on homework means that they aren’t spending as much time on other valuable activities. These may include spending time with family and friends, and engaging in sports and other extracurricular activities . For teens , too much homework makes it hard to balance their academic and social lives.
• Homework is often assigned as “busy-time” work, with little pedagogical value.
• The research on homework outcomes, critics maintain, doesn’t support assigning it, especially in the younger grades.
• Homework—especially in large amounts —can lead to frustration, exhaustion, and poor mental and physical health in some students.
• For some students, homework can interfere with the love of learning that’s crucial, both in the school years and beyond.
• There’s a strong correlation between homework and dropout rates, studies show .

Assigning homework often turns into a way for teachers to offload the job of teaching students in class, critics argue. Students should be able to learn the required material and skills within class—even if that means finding more class time for practice and review.

Figure 4: The average amount of homework assigned by grade for progressive schools featured on OurKids.net.

So, who’s right? Is homework a good thing or not? And in terms of what academic outcomes? And, what does research say about the effectiveness of homework?

The Duke homework study

Well, there have been several studies on homework. One of the biggest  was the Duke study , led by Harrison Cooper. In this study, Duke University researchers reviewed more than sixty research studies on the effectiveness of homework between 1987 and 2003. It concluded that homework does have a positive effect on student achievement, such as grades.

According to Cooper, the study shows the right amount of homework depends on the grade level. For elementary school students, no amount of homework—large or small—affects academic achievement.

For middle school students, academic achievement continues to improve with more homework, until assignments last between one and two hours a night. For high school students, the more homework, the higher the achievement, up to a limit of about two to three hours a night.

While the study seemed to show that homework’s a critical part of the learning process, Cooper noted it also showed that too much homework can be counter-productive for students at all levels.

The research appeared to be consistent with the “10-minute” rule,  now quite commonly accepted, at least in traditional , academically-oriented schools. According to the 10-minute rule, teachers should add 10 minutes of homework for each grade a student completes, starting with the first grade. In other words, a first-grader would be assigned 10 minutes of homework, a second-grader 20 minutes, a third-grader 30 minutes, and so on.

Criticisms of the Duke study

Yet many have disputed these results. Kohn, for example, has argued that the results, taken as a whole, are inconclusive. At best, the research shows that homework can have minor benefits on the achievement levels of high school students:

There is absolutely no evidence of any academic benefit from assigning homework in elementary or middle school. For younger students, in fact, there isn’t even a correlation between whether children do homework (or how much they do) and any meaningful measure of achievement. At the high school level , the correlation is weak and tends to disappear when more sophisticated statistical measures are applied. Meanwhile, no study has ever substantiated the belief that homework builds character or teaches good study habits.

The results of the Duke study have also been disputed for other reasons. First, many of the research studies were poorly designed. Second, the research focused mostly on academic achievement as the desirable outcome. Only a few studies looked at homework’s affect on attitudes toward school and subject matter. And no studies looked at other outcomes such as study habits, cheating, or participation in community activities.

Overall, research on the effectiveness of homework is less than conclusive. Some studies have led to different, and in some cases, conflicting interpretations of the data. Yet we can draw some tentative conclusions from the research. These conclusions include the following:

What the research says about homework:

• Completing homework seems to have little or no impact on the academic achievement of elementary school students.
• Completing homework seems at least weakly correlated with academic achievement in high school and possibly middle school students.
• There’s an upper limit to the amount of homework that should be assigned to students at any level.
• It becomes counter-productive to assign very large amounts of homework.
• Some homework is not well-designed, given feedback, or returned promptly by teachers .
• Some homework is not monitored very closely by teachers.
• The question of how homework influences attitudes towards school, study habits, and work ethic requires further study.

As a parent, it’s important to select a school that’s the right fit for your child. Part of this decision will involve looking at a school’s homework policy.

In both the public and private school system , homework policies vary widely. Different schools have different homework policies, and these policies can vary among classes and teachers within the same school.

Yet in public schools , unlike private schools, homework policies can be regulated by the government. If your child is in a public school, it’s important to know whether the government regulates homework policies in your school district, and if so, how.

Consider the following example:

TDSB homework policy

One homework policy was recently enacted by the Toronto District School Board  (TDSB) , in April of 2008. This policy emerged in response to complaints from parents and students about the amount of homework assigned.

The new policy allowed teachers in Toronto to assign only a minimal amount of homework to elementary students: no more than one hour per evening to Grade 7 and 8 students (in total), and no more than two hours per evening to high school students (in total). In addition, the policy forbid teachers from assigning homework over holidays and from disciplining students who fail to complete their homework on time.

This policy has  received mixed reviews, and it’s unclear whether it’s achieved its objectives. Some teachers claim that the restrictions on homework significantly slow down the pace of class. This results in more advanced students sometimes feeling unchallenged and unstimulated in class. This is because much in-class time is spent covering material that could be completed as homework.

On the other hand, some have defended these kinds of policies. They’ve claimed they tend to free up extra time. Children can spend more time with their families, participate in extracurricular activities, socialize with friends, and pursue other interests and hobbies.

In private schools, like public schools, there’s a wide range of homework policies. Unlike in public schools, though, private school policies aren’t regulated by the government. Private schools are normally free to come up with their own homework policies.

Yet, private schools vary in their educational objectives. And these objectives affect their homework policies.

Private schools can be divided into two main homework camps:

Traditional private schools

On the one hand, traditional, academic schools tend to be more pro-homework. These schools have a standard curriculum which is content-based and rooted in the core disciplines. Their teachers typically deliver a unified and tightly structured curriculum through direct instruction.

These schools also tend to have what we at Our Kids define as a rigorous academic culture . This means they highly value academic performance and use many tests and assignments to evaluate it.

Traditional schools view homework as essential to education. They assign homework to school-age students on a regular basis, increasing the amount and level of difficulty with each grade.

Progressive private schools

On the other hand, progressive schools tend to be more anti-homework. These schools include (but aren’t limited to) Montessori , Waldorf , and Reggio Emilia schools . They typically provide little direct instruction, and less objective evaluation than traditional schools.

Instead of teaching core subjects through transmitting factual knowledge, progressive schools place children’s interests and ideas at the heart of the learning experience. They also tend to have what we at Our Kids call a supportive academic culture , one focused largely on instilling a love of learning and lifelong curiosity in students.

Many progressive schools view homework as less essential to education and assign less homework to students than traditional schools, especially in the upper grades. In fact, some progressive schools do not assign homework in any grade.

Classroom flipping

Many of these anti-homework progressivist schools use a practice called classroom flipping . In these schools, students do more “sit-down” learning at home, such as reading or writing . Meanwhile, they do more applied learning activities in class, such as group exercises or in-class presentations.

Classroom flipping is similar to the way some university courses are taught. At this level, students often do “sit-down” reading and studying at home, and then have class and group discussions in school.

Because classroom flipping is a fairly new practice, there’s been little to no research done on it. We’ve begun, though, to compile some data on classroom flipping, including which schools featured on OurKids.net use this practice. Our main aim is to be able to draw some conclusions about its value, in comparison with more traditional approaches to homework.

• 20.3% of schools featured on OurKids.net use the practice of classroom flipping.

Figure 5: The average amount of homework assigned by grade for traditional versus progressive schools, as featured on OurKids.net. Note that while traditional schools on average assign more homework than progressive schools, a significant difference doesn’t emerge until the high school years, from Grade 9 to 12.

The jury is still out on homework. Despite lots of research, there’s little agreement on the merits of homework, and its merits versus its costs. But research seems to suggest, if nothing else, that homework can enhance learning in many ways.

Part of choosing the right school for your child involves looking at schools’ homework policies. To start, you should find out whether your child’s current or prospective school has a homework policy. If the school doesn’t have a homework policy, you should find out whether any of its programs, classes, or teachers have homework policies.

If your child’s school (or program or class) does have a homework policy, you should ask for a hard or softcopy of the homework policy document. With this in hand, you can take a close look at the homework policy, and decide whether it’s appropriate and well-suited for your child.

Although there’s no such thing as the perfect or “one-size-fits-all” homework policy, good ones provide an explicit set of guidelines for assigning homework.

These guidelines should be well-supported by the relevant research. Ideally, they should also be clearly communicated to teachers and educators, and in some cases, students and parents .

Below, we provide you our own set of guidelines for evaluating a school’s homework policy. This is meant to help you decide whether a school's homework policy passes muster. Keep in mind, this list is not exhaustive.

Best homework practices

• Homework should be carefully designed and monitored to achieve the right learning outcomes for students: improved learning, better study habits, higher academic achievement, and the like.  
• Homework should have a specific purpose: “busy time” homework with no pedagogical value isn’t permissible.  
• Homework should be differentiated according to students’ particular learning needs , where appropriate.  
• Teachers should typically provide written or oral feedback on homework within a reasonable time-period.  
• Too much homework shouldn’t be assigned: the maximum should be approximately one to two hours a day for high school students and one hour a day for elementary and middle school students.  
• The amount of homework assigned to students should be gradually increased with each grade, by around ten minutes.  
• Homework may be designed to involve parents/guardians in supporting their children’s learning. But parents should rarely, if ever, be asked to play a formal instructional role in their homework.  
• Homework shouldn’t require resources or technology to which students may not have access.  
• Homework should be designed and communicated so that students understand what’s expected of them before leaving school.  
• Homework should be designed to require no additional teaching outside the classroom.  
• Ideally, homework help should be offered.

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