Issue Paper
SED 625SC
Carole Smith
December 4, 2006
What is the value of homework?
One had to cram all this stuff into one’s mind, whether one likes it or not. This coercion
had such a deterring effect that, after I had passed the final; examination, I found the
consideration of any scientific problems distasteful for an entire year…It is in fact
nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely
strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation,
stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail. It is
a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted
by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe that it would be
possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible, with
the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry –
especially if the food, handed out under such coercion, were to be selected accordingly.”
-Albert Einstein
(quoted in Examining in Harvard College)
Over the last several weeks, I have read more articles about the subject of
homework than I even would have thought existed. More importantly, though, is the
questions that have come to my mind as a result of having read several different articles,
with differing points of views and purposes about the educational value – or lack thereof
– of homework. I now find myself looking at a standard practice differently and
questioning its value.
Briefly, here is what the current research has to say about homework

“There is no evidence that any amount of homework improves the academic
performance of elementary students” (Harris Cooper, the nations most prominent
homework researcher, after an exhaustive meta-analysis conducted in the 1980’s
and then confirmed in 20061).

At best, most homework studies show only an association, not a causal
relationship.

No evidence supports the idea that homework provides nonacademic benefits.
The idea that homework teaches good work habits or develops positive character
traits could be described as an urban myth except for the fact that its taken
seriously2.
As a teacher, and one that has always assigned homework, reading these new
perspectives was intriguing. At first it seemed that many articles were contradicting
each other, but more careful reading showed that not to be true. While many articles
argue that homework is beneficial, teaching life skills such as organization and time
management, those same articles will, at some point, admit that there is not any
current empirical evidence to support that, only what could be considered as
anecdotal evidence. Other articles point that there is evidence that more time spent on
homework shows an improvement in student achievement, but at some point will
admit to that only being the case in high school. Interestingly, research consistently
shows the greatest positive correlation between homework and achievement to be in
mathematics courses.
The initial meta-analysis was published as Harris Cooper, Homework (White Plaines, N.Y.:Longman,
1989); it was then released in an abridged and slightly updated version as The Battle over Homework, 2nd
ed. (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin, 2001). The quotation appeared on p. 109 of the 1989 edition. The
recent analysis is Harris Cooper, “Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement? A Synthesis of
Research , 1987-2003,” Review of Educational Research, vol. 76, 2006, pp.1-62
2
S. Zeigler, “Homework,” in Encyclopedia of Educational Research, 6th ed., vol.2 [New York: Macmillan,
1992], p. 603
Reflecting upon the results of this data has brought about several unanswered
questions to me, such as:

Research does not show that students achieve more with more time on
homework. Perhaps that is because gifted students that have mastery of
material do not need to do homework, for whether they spend 5 minutes or an
hour on their homework, they will test in the top percents.

Why has research not considered students IQ measures as a differential?

When the research looks at time spent weekly on homework, why is it not
being considered by its frequency; i.e. if a student is doing two hour of
homework a week, how many chunks is it broken up into? Does the
frequency of homework affect achievement?

Does doing unsupervised homework lead students to internalize incorrect
routines?

Is there a correlation between homework and grade inflation?
Coming from the perspective of a “life-long student” that is conditioned to doing
homework, it is not surprising that, without any thought or pre-planning, I automatically
assigned homework as a new teacher. In the several years since then, my attitudes have
changed somewhat; I spend more time deciding upon appropriate assignments and
believe that homework should be collected, graded, and returned. It is part of the joy of
teaching to try to instill a love of learning in our students, and it is hard to do this when
one is inundating students with tedious and repetitive homework assignments. Yet, I still
do see merit in carefully thought out assignments that allow students to practice new
material and skills. Perhaps that is partly due to the subject matter that I teach (advanced
chemistry) with its heavy emphasis on mathematics. I strongly question now the value of
homework in elementary school students, with the exception of having students read
regularly at home as well as at school. To guide myself in my teaching, I have come to
the following conclusions from the research I have read:
1. Homework assignments must be relevant to the topic covered in class and should
reinforce what has been taught.
2. If the homework is important enough to be assigned, than it is important enough
to be graded.
3. Homework should serve as a communication tool, with written feedback to
student.
4. Homework should not be weighted heavily in students grades
It is an interesting time to be an educator. Not a day goes by without an article in
the Los Angeles Times about education: what is believed to work, what isn’t,
immigration, standardized testing, the education budget, its administration, etc. I find
it interesting to now understand the “history of homework”, how since the 1950’s
with Sputnik, America has been racing to bring its students to higher levels of
achievement, and has used homework as a tool in that quest. Now, 50 years later,
repeated research is showing that homework does not lead to greater academic
success. It appears that an entire paradigm shift is required, and with a nation that is
slow to change I don’t foresee that happening. As educators continue to look at how
students learn, perhaps it is equally valuable to look at how they don’t learn.
References
1. Bempechat, Janine. 2004. “The Motivational Benefits of Homework: A Social
Cognitive Perspective.” Theory into Practice 43 Summer 2004: 189-196
2. Knore, C. Leon. “Grade Inflation in Elementary or Secondary Students’ Progress
Reports: The Contribution of Homework of Extra-Credit Projects.” American Secondary
Education v24 1996: 11-18
3. Kohn, Alfie. “Abusing Research: The Study of Homework and Other Examples.”
Phi Delta Kappan 88 Summer 2006: 9-22
4. Anderman, E.M., T. Griesinger, and G. Westerfield. 1998. “Motivation and Cheating
During Early Adolescence.” Journal of Educational Psychology 90: 84-93.
5. Butler, R. 1987. “Task-Involving and Ego-Involving Properties of Evaluation: Effects of
Different Feedback Conditions on Motivational Perceptions, Interest, and Performance.”
Journal of Educational Psychology 79: 474-82.
6. Butler, R, and M. Nisan. 1986. “Effects of No Feedback, Task-Related Comments,
and Grades on Intrinsic Motivation and Performance.” Journal of Educational
Psychology 78: 210-16.
7. Cooper, H. 1989. Homework. White Plains, NY: Longman.
8. Dewey, John. Interest and Effort in Education. New York: Collier, 1963.
9. Grolnick, W.S. and R.M. Ryan. 1987. “Autonomy in Children’s Learning: An
Experimental and Individual Difference Investigation.” Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology 52: 890-98.
10. Jongsma, Eugene. “Homework: Is it Worthwhile?” Reading Teacher 38 (1985): 7024.
11. Kohn, A. “From Grading to De-Grading.” High School Magazine v6, n5 March, 1999
pp. 38-43.
12. Kohn, A. “The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation.” Chronicle of Higher Education.
November 8, 2002, pp. B7-B9.
13. Salili, F., M.L. Maehr, R.L. Sorensen, and L.J. Fryans Jr. 1976. “A Further
Consideration of the Effects of Evaluation on Motivation.” American Educational
Research Journal 13: 85-102.