I remember my elementary aged son coming home from school, dropping his backpack, grabbing some food and then running out the back door and tearing around the yard for hours, playing. I also recall him working on a video with friends, in the back yard, filming, shouting French phrases, laughing, and then spending hours upon hours editing which was long and arduous, but he kept at it (this was a homework assignment). I recall my daughter cranking out essay after essay for her senior English class during, groan, “boot camp.” (Which later in college she said helped her learn to write more than any other experience). I was thinking about homework and how there is value in having students complete work outside of school. This teaches both academic content and discipline. However, our ire rises when a child is home, not wanting or able to do the work -- or we feel the angst of a parent trying to help their son or daughter who is exhausted or reluctant, or when homework creates a conflict around vacation or family time.
Perseverance is a trait cited repeatedly by colleges and industry as necessary for success. We all know that those students who have sticktoitiveness and keep at the work learn valuable and necessary life lessons. The questions becomes, how much of this is good?. What is the role of homework? Everyone has opinions. What kind of homework, how much, how hard, how often? As you can imagine there are strong opinions on all aspects of the homework question. Some feel as though completing homework is essential to success. Others feel that children should only have focused and specific types of homework, yet others feel there should be limited or no homework. Often, when discussing homework, an individual might say “Research says that.....” and cite one of many studies.
Homework is well researched over time, geographic locations, age groups and content areas. Cooper, Robinson and Pitall (2006) wrote an in depth analysis of all of the homework research over a 16 year period --they looked at ALL the research into homework. Their conclusion is that homework does improve achievement, but there are limitations, optimum amounts and other factors that influence both the impact and success of homework.
Several weeks ago the high school literary magazine hosted a showing of Race to Nowhere. This film discusses some of our cultural values around our schedules, pressures and homework. The film presents a perspective around homework. Following the viewing, a panel of teachers and students replied to questions and discussed homework. I was refreshed by the student led event, and the current work of students at the high school who are sharing thoughts and opinions about homework.
As we move forward, I ask that we all take pause to look at the accumulated research. As a Supervisory Union, we have a policy on homework and with that policy comes specific guidelines. It is my role to develop those guidelines, and I invite all community members (PreK through 12th grade) - students, parents, teachers, to one or some of our four forums- two are in physical locations and two are digital through twitter and google+. During the forums, I will very briefly (five to ten minutes) share summaries of the research about the purpose and impact of homework. I will then ask for your experiences and insights so I can use information, along with the research, to help craft inclusive and appropriate homework guidelines. Please join in the conversation!
Monday April 15th Brown’s RIver Middle School Library 7 pm to 8 pm,
Tuesday April 16th Camel’s Hump Middle School Library 7 pm to 8 pm
Wednesday April 17th @jencesuvt #cesuvt Twitter conversation 7 pm to 8 pm
Wednesday May 1st Google+Hangout - Join Jennifer Botzojorns 7:30-8:30 pm
Citation
Cooper, H., Robinson, J., Patall, E. (2006). Does Homework Improve Achievement? A Synthesis of Research 1987-2003. Review of Educational Research. Vol. 76, No. 1. pp 1-62.
Here's a counterpoint that cites more current research. The author, Alfie Kohn, is full of his own biases, but he makes points worth considering.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2012/11/26/homework-an-unnecessary-evil-surprising-findings-from-new-research/
I appreciate the discussion around perseverance and "stick to it ness". The interesting challenge comes when a student has a lot of "stick to it ness" but not in the academic realm. So they are learning the quality outside of school but have no interest in doing it for the school purposes. This should somehow be acknowledged by the school team and celebrated.
ReplyDeleteI attended the meeting at Camels Hump Middle School.
ReplyDeleteAt the meeting, Jennifer Botzojorns handed out, "The Case For and Against Homework," Educational Leadership 64:6 (March 2007). The article took clear editorial stance.
The article surveys synthesis research on homework, providing a table that summarizes some studies. It appears that the scope of the research is restricted to the U.S., and in the latest cited study "authors found that all studies, regardless of type, had design flaws." -- from the abstract of "Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement? A Synthesis of Research, 1987–2003" REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH Spring 2006 vol. 76 no. 1 1-62.
It seems that all of the studies also ignore the opportunity cost of homework with respect to a student's time at home. But that doesn't prevent the article from complaining about the burden that eliminating homework would put on the school schedule:
"To drop the use of homework, then, a school or district would be obliged to identify a practice that produces a similar effect within the confines of the school day without taking away or diminishing the benefits of other academic activities -- no easy accomplishment."
I think that the correct idiom for this situation is, "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander." Wouldn't it be great if kids took care of their laundry at school?
Sound silly? Social research is very difficult because social systems are complex systems. It is almost impossible to arrive at a simple reductionist conclusion about homework, without applying a bunch of qualifying parameters that limits the meaningfulness of any conclusion.
One thing we can say about complex systems is that if you focus on even a weak process, rather than a symptom, you'll have a much more powerful effect.
What is the process, attitude, way-of-thinking, that results in homework being squirt out of the school schedule and into the home schedule? Why does it seem so difficult to squeeze homework into the home schedule?
One thing that we can say for sure: There are only so many hours in the day. This has not changed for the entirety of human existence.