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What does your research say about the zero benefit, or even negligible effect, you think homework in general has on primary school pupils?

Modified on Fri, 11 Oct at 4:54 PM

What does Dr. Hattie’s research say about the zero benefit, or even negligible effect, he thinks homework in general has on primary school pupils? What, if any, homework is beneficial in primary and secondary school students. Why are schools so wedded to homework and what is it doing to our kids? Does it risk making learning a negative experience and do kids actually learn anything when doing homework under duress?

Answer: “Homework involves ‘tasks assigned to students by school teachers that are meant to be carried out during non-school hours’ (Cooper, 1989, p. 7). It is a hotly contested area, and my experience is that many parents judge the effectiveness of schools by the presence or amount of homework—although they expect to not be involved in this learning other than by providing a quiet and secluded space, as they believe that this is the right conditions for deep and meaningful learning. The overall effects are positive, but there are some important moderators. Cooper (1989) has written many studies and conducted a series of meta-analyses on homework. He argued that the effects of homework are twice as large for high as for junior high, and twice as large again for junior high as for elementary students.

The largest effects were in mathematics, whereas the effects in science and social studies were the smallest, with English in the middle. The positive effects of homework were negatively related to the duration of the homework treatment (see also Trautwein, Köller, Schmitz, & Baumert, 2002). Shorter is better, but, for elementary students, Cooper, Lindsay, Nye, and Greathouse (1998) estimated a correlation of near zero (d = -0.04) between time spent on homework and achievement. Student attitude to homework was not related to completion or grade, and nor did parent facilitation relate to student attitude to homework: ‘Parent support for autonomous student behavior showed a positive relationship to achievement, whereas direct instructional involvement showed a negative relationship’ (Cooper, Jackson, Nye, & Lindsay, 2001, p. 197). My reading of Cooper’s results suggests that more task-oriented homework had higher effects than did deep learning and problem-solving homework. It is likely that this interaction is because of the importance of the teaching cycle to ensure appropriate learning, feedback, and monitoring (especially for deeper learning), whereas rehearsal of basic skills (surface knowledge) can be undertaken with minimal teacher supervision. Homework involving higher level conceptual thinking, and project-based was the least effective. Trautwein, Köller, Schmitz, and Baumert (2002) aimed to identify the key components of homework that made the difference, with a particular emphasis on untangling the interactions between homework and student characteristics. They found that a lot of homework and a lack of monitoring seem to indicate an ineffective teaching method. They warned against homework that undermined a student’s motivation and that led to the student internalizing incorrect routines, and they favored short, frequent homework that was closely monitored by the teachers. It would probably be more effective to construct these opportunities under the gaze of a teacher, in the school.

Teaching does matter when it comes to students learning. The manner in which parents become involved may or may not make a difference. The effects are greater for higher than for lower ability students and for older rather than younger students. For too many students, homework reinforces that they cannot learn by themselves, and that they cannot do the schoolwork. For these students, homework can undermine motivation, internalize incorrect routines and strategies, and reinforce less effective study habits, especially for elementary students. There are marked differences in effect sizes between elementary (d = 0.15) and high school (d = 0.64), which probably reflects the more advanced skills of studying involved in high school. It is important to note, however, that prescribing homework does not help students develop time management skills—there is no evidence this occurs. High school teachers are more likely to assign homework related to learning subject matter, and the effects are highest, whatever the subject, when homework involves rote learning, practice, or rehearsal of the subject matter. Perhaps one set of reasons why the effects of homework are lower in elementary levels is that younger children are less able than older children to ignore irrelevant information or stimulation in their environment, have less effective study habits, and that they receive little support (from teachers or parents) (Muhlenbruck, Cooper, Nye, & Lindsay, 1999)” “(John Hattie, personal communication, November 30, 2017).

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TO GIVE OR NOT TO GIVE HOMEWORK…That is the question!

The amount of homework students are given differs greatly across grade levels and states. Some students are given hours of work while other students are assigned little or no work to be done at home.

So what’s appropriate? What is the purpose of homework? What are the advantages and disadvantages of homework? How much homework should be assigned? How important is the quality of the assignments? And most importantly: Does homework increase student achievement?

These questions represent the ongoing debate surrounding homework for the past two decades. According to a survey by the University of Michigan , homework has doubled over the last twenty years, especially in the younger grades, due to the school’s requirement to meet higher-than-ever achievement goals for children. Although homework has academic and non-academic advantages and disadvantages, the majority of studies conducted reveal inconclusive evidence that assigning homework increases student achievement. Most studies show positive effects for certain students, others suggest no effects, and some even suggest negative effects according to research by Alfie Kohn , an independent scholar (2006).

Let’s begin with the purpose of homework…

Educators assign homework for different reasons and purposes. Homework is assigned either as practice , preparation , extension , or integration of grade-level skills and concepts.

PRACTICE HOMEWORK reinforces learning from the skills and concepts already taught in the classroom. Practice homework promotes retention and automaticity of the concept , skill, and content taught. Examples include practicing multiplication facts or writing simple sentences in order to commit theses skills and concepts to long-term memory .

PREPARATION HOMEWORK is assigned to introduce content that will be addressed in future lessons. However, research suggests that homework is less effective if it is used to teach new or complex skills. For these types of assignments, students typically become stressed which can create a negative perspective towards learning and school.

EXTENSION HOMEWORK requires students to use previously taught skills and concepts and apply them to new situations or projects. For instance, students may use the concept of area and perimeter to build a flowerbed.

INTEGRATION HOMEWORK requires the student to apply learned skills and concepts to produce a single project like reading a book and writing a report on it.

Homework also serves other purposes not directly related to instruction. Homework can help establish communication between parents and children; it can be used as a form of discipline; and it can inform parents about school topics and activities.

The Homework Debate

The homework debate often focuses on how and why homework affects student learning and achievement. Harris Cooper, a professor of psychology, and colleagues (2006) found there are both positive and negative consequences of homework.

The Benefits

Homework provides practice with content, concepts, and skills taught at school by the teacher. It can foster retention and understanding of the academic content. Some studies suggest that homework correlates with student achievement. Cooper, Robinson, and Patall (2006) discovered a positive correlation between the amount of the homework students do and their achievement at the secondary level. Some studies also suggest that assigning homework improves the achievement of low-performing students and students in low-performing schools. However, the correlation between student achievement and homework given to elementary students is inconclusive. Most research only supports homework for middle and high school students (Cooper 1989a; Kohn 2006).

There are also non-academic reasons for assigning homework. Corno and Xu (2004) discovered that homework fosters independence, develops time-management skills, and teaches responsibility. Assigning homework to primary age students can establish better study habits and skills for secondary education (Bempechat, 2004). Homework promotes a positive attitude towards school and keeps families informed about their child’s learning.

The Potential Harm

Homework also has negative associations. It can lead to boredom if the student has already mastered the skills, and it can lead to loss of interest in school due to burnout. Cheating is involved with homework by either copying another student’s work or when help is received from adults in an attempt to finish all the assignments. Also, assigning excessive amounts of homework may result in unneeded stress and pressure on the child, which affects the student’s emotions, behaviors, thinking ability, and physical health.

The correlation between homework and student achievement is inconsistent. In The Battle Over Homework , Cooper determined that the average correlation between the time primary children spent on homework and achievement was around zero. Not to mention, the amount of homework completed had no effect on test scores. David Baker and Gerald LeTendre, professors of education at Penn State , found that countries that assign minimal amounts of homework, like Japan, were the most successful school systems compared to Greece and Iran school systems where students are given a lot of work.

Another concern surrounding homework is its interference with the student’s time to relax and take their minds off work as well as family time. Students are spending too much time completing homework assignments instead of playing outside or enjoying leisure activities, which teach and enhance important life skills.

In addition, homework decreases the time spent with family. As Alfie Kohn states in The Homework Myth , “ Why should children be asked to work a second shift? It’s unconscionable to send children to work for nearly eight hours a day, then have them go home and work for 2-5 more hours. Secondly, it reduces the amount of time that children could be spending with their families. Family time is especially important to a growing child and without it social problems can crop up and a family unit can be compromised by a lack of time being spent together .”

The Amount of Homework

The frequency and duration of each assignment does not necessarily suggest a correlation between homework and student achievement. “ We found that for kids in elementary school there was hardly any relationship between how much homework young children did and how well they were doing in school, but in middle school the relationship is positive and increases until the kids were doing between an hour to two hours a night, which is right where the 10-minute rule says it’s going to be optimal,” stated Harris Cooper. The 10-minute rule was created by the National PTA which suggests 10 minutes per a grade should be assigned (e.g., 70 minutes for 7 th grade). “After that it didn’t go up anymore. Kids that reported doing more than two hours of homework in middle school weren’t doing any better in school than kids who were doing between an hour to two hours ,” said Harris Cooper.

Quantity Versus Quality

Effective homework is homework with a purpose. According to Cooper, some teachers assign ‘shotgun homework’ : blanket drills, questions, and problems. Students are given homework that is not furthering the concepts and skills. The homework is assigned because it has been drilled into our collective mind that homework produces higher performing students. However, homework is most effective when it covers material already taught, is given for review, or is used to reinforce skills previously learned. Students should not be assigned homework on concepts and skills they do not grasp.

DataWORKS Educational Research recommends assigning homework to provide additional repetitions of the content to promote retention and automaticity . The reason for homework is to practice the content, NOT to learn the content. Students learn the content (skills and concepts) from the lesson taught at school. Students need to be able to complete the work at home without assistance because some students do not have an English-speaking parents or guardians to help them.

In conclusion, research is inconsistent in determining if homework increases student achievement. As educators, the amount, frequency, and the purpose should be considered prior to assigning homework. Homework should be used effectively! Instead of the quantity of homework, educators should improve the quality of the assignments. Homework assignments must be well-designed. So, when assigning homework, please consider the effectiveness of it, homework should positively impact the student learning. Otherwise, the debate about homework will continue without an answer – to give or not to give !

Kohn, Alfie (2007). Rethinking Homework .

Kohn, Alfie. The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2006).

Cooper, H. (1989). Homework. White Plains, NY: Longman.

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.

What is your stance on homework? What do you think is an appropriate amount of homework? Why do you assign homework? Please share your experiences in the comment section below.

Author: patricia bogdanovich.

Patricia has held various positions with DataWORKS since 2002. She currently works as a Curriculum Specialist. Patricia helped develop and create many of the early resources and workshops designed by DataWORKS, and she is an expert in analysis of standards. Patricia plans to blog about curriculum and assessments for CCSS and NGSS, classroom strategies, and news and research from the world of education.

difference between homework and research

Homework: Facts and Fiction

Living reference work entry
First Online: 09 November 2021
Cite this living reference work entry

Rubén Fernández-Alonso 4 , 5 &
José Muñiz 6

Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE))

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4 Citations

Homework is a universal student practice. Despite this universality, the role that homework plays in student academic performance is complex and open to various interpretations. This chapter reviews the current available evidence about the relationships between homework and achievement. We begin by examining the differences between countries and follow that by reviewing the influence of variables related to student homework behavior, teaching practices around assigning homework, and the role of the family in helping with homework. The results indicate that the relationship between time spent on homework and school results is curvilinear, and the best results are seen to be associated with moderate amounts of daily homework. With regard to student homework behavior, there is abundant evidence indicating that the “how” is much more important than the “how much.” Commitment and effort, the emotions prompted by the task, and autonomous working are three key aspects in predicting academic achievement. Effective teaching practice around homework is determined by setting it daily and systematic review. Although family involvement in the educational process is desirable, in the case of homework, direct help has doubtful effects on student achievement.

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Extending a model of homework: a multilevel analysis with Chinese middle school students

Understanding the Quality of Effective Homework

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Department of Education, Government of Principado de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain

Rubén Fernández-Alonso

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Nebrija University, Madrid, Spain

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Fernández-Alonso, R., Muñiz, J. (2021). Homework: Facts and Fiction. In: Nilsen, T., Stancel-Piątak, A., Gustafsson, JE. (eds) International Handbook of Comparative Large-Scale Studies in Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38298-8_40-1

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38298-8_40-1

Received : 31 January 2021

Accepted : 03 February 2021

Published : 09 November 2021

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Online ISBN : 978-3-030-38298-8

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(PDF) Homework vs. Home-learning: A Lifelong Learning ...
The third research question asked what the students' thoughts were relative to homework vs. home- learning. Neutral and positive opinions were merged for ease of data analysis.
PDF Homework or Not? That is the (Research) Question.
—For high school students, homework is effective until between 90 minutes and 2-1/2 hours of homework a night, after which returns diminish. It remains difficult to show causation between increased homework and higher achievement, due to influencing factors such as teacher effectiveness and class participation, researchers say. Most
(PDF) Investigating the Effects of Homework on Student Learning and
Homework has long been a topic of social research, but rela-tively few studies have focused on the teacher's role in the homework process. Most research examines what students do, and whether and ...
PDF What the research says about HOMEWORK
RESEARCH SAYS: Homework serves the distinct purpose to "provide students with an opportunity to practice," according to a 25 year quantitative metaanalysis (Cooper, et al 2006). Homework has the highest impact on achievement in high school and the lowest in elementary school (Hattie 2009, p.235). According to Balli
Homework and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review of research
Lastly, it was seen that there was not a significant difference with regard to the effect sizes of the studies with respect to all variables, except the course type variable in the research. http ...
What does your research say about the zero benefit, or even negligible
Homework involving higher level conceptual thinking, and project-based was the least effective. Trautwein, Köller, Schmitz, and Baumert (2002) aimed to identify the key components of homework that made the difference, with a particular emphasis on untangling the interactions between homework and student characteristics.
The relationship between homework time and academic performance among K
This can cause boredom with homework and learning. To lessen their load and make homework more effective, it is important to establish the connection between homework duration and academic achievement. Objectives. To evaluate the relationship between homework time and academic performance among K-12 students. Search Methods
Homework or No Homework
However, the correlation between student achievement and homework given to elementary students is inconclusive. Most research only supports homework for middle and high school students (Cooper 1989a; Kohn 2006). There are also non-academic reasons for assigning homework.
Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement? A Synthesis of Research
Homework is the means by which the relationship between home and school is demonstrated and developed, leading to more consistent progress in all aspects of school life. The current research was carried out in Gilgit Baltistan to find out the impact of homework on the academic performance of students at secondary level.
PDF Homework: Facts and Fiction
relationships between homework and achievement. We begin by examining the differences between countries and follow that by reviewing the inﬂuence of variables related to student homework behavior, teaching practices around assigning homework, and the role of the family in helping with homework. The R. Fernández-Alonso (*)