why do schools give so much homework

More than two hours of homework may be counterproductive, research suggests

A Stanford education researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.   "Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good," wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .   The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students' views on homework.   Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.   Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.   "The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students' advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being," Pope wrote.   Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.   Their study found that too much homework is associated with:   • Greater stress : 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.   • Reductions in health : In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.   • Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits : Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were "not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills," according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.   A balancing act   The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.   Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as "pointless" or "mindless" in order to keep their grades up.   "This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points," said Pope, who is also a co-founder of Challenge Success , a nonprofit organization affiliated with the GSE that conducts research and works with schools and parents to improve students' educational experiences..   Pope said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.   "Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development," wrote Pope.   High-performing paradox   In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. "Young people are spending more time alone," they wrote, "which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities."   Student perspectives   The researchers say that while their open-ended or "self-reporting" methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for "typical adolescent complaining" – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.   The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Clifton B. Parker is a writer at the Stanford News Service .

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Do our kids have too much homework?

by: Marian Wilde | Updated: January 31, 2024

Print article

Many students and their parents are frazzled by the amount of homework being piled on in the schools. Yet many researchers say that American students have just the right amount of homework.

“Kids today are overwhelmed!” a parent recently wrote in an email to GreatSchools.org “My first-grade son was required to research a significant person from history and write a paper of at least two pages about the person, with a bibliography. How can he be expected to do that by himself? He just started to learn to read and write a couple of months ago. Schools are pushing too hard and expecting too much from kids.”

Diane Garfield, a fifth grade teacher in San Francisco, concurs. “I believe that we’re stressing children out,” she says.

But hold on, it’s not just the kids who are stressed out . “Teachers nowadays assign these almost college-level projects with requirements that make my mouth fall open with disbelief,” says another frustrated parent. “It’s not just the kids who suffer!”

“How many people take home an average of two hours or more of work that must be completed for the next day?” asks Tonya Noonan Herring, a New Mexico mother of three, an attorney and a former high school English teacher. “Most of us, even attorneys, do not do this. Bottom line: students have too much homework and most of it is not productive or necessary.”

Research about homework

How do educational researchers weigh in on the issue? According to Brian Gill, a senior social scientist at the Rand Corporation, there is no evidence that kids are doing more homework than they did before.

“If you look at high school kids in the late ’90s, they’re not doing substantially more homework than kids did in the ’80s, ’70s, ’60s or the ’40s,” he says. “In fact, the trends through most of this time period are pretty flat. And most high school students in this country don’t do a lot of homework. The median appears to be about four hours a week.”

Education researchers like Gill base their conclusions, in part, on data gathered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests.

“It doesn’t suggest that most kids are doing a tremendous amount,” says Gill. “That’s not to say there aren’t any kids with too much homework. There surely are some. There’s enormous variation across communities. But it’s not a crisis in that it’s a very small proportion of kids who are spending an enormous amount of time on homework.”

Etta Kralovec, author of The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning , disagrees, saying NAEP data is not a reliable source of information. “Students take the NAEP test and one of the questions they have to fill out is, ‘How much homework did you do last night’ Anybody who knows schools knows that teachers by and large do not give homework the night before a national assessment. It just doesn’t happen. Teachers are very clear with kids that they need to get a good night’s sleep and they need to eat well to prepare for a test.

“So asking a kid how much homework they did the night before a national test and claiming that that data tells us anything about the general run of the mill experience of kids and homework over the school year is, I think, really dishonest.”

Further muddying the waters is an AP/AOL poll that suggests that most Americans feel that their children are getting the right amount of homework. It found that 57% of parents felt that their child was assigned about the right amount of homework, 23% thought there was too little and 19% thought there was too much.

One indisputable fact

One homework fact that educators do agree upon is that the young child today is doing more homework than ever before.

“Parents are correct in saying that they didn’t get homework in the early grades and that their kids do,” says Harris Cooper, professor of psychology and director of the education program at Duke University.

Gill quantifies the change this way: “There has been some increase in homework for the kids in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. But it’s been an increase from zero to 20 minutes a day. So that is something that’s fairly new in the last quarter century.”

The history of homework

In his research, Gill found that homework has always been controversial. “Around the turn of the 20th century, the Ladies’ Home Journal carried on a crusade against homework. They thought that kids were better off spending their time outside playing and looking at clouds. The most spectacular success this movement had was in the state of California, where in 1901 the legislature passed a law abolishing homework in grades K-8. That lasted about 15 years and then was quietly repealed. Then there was a lot of activism against homework again in the 1930s.”

The proponents of homework have remained consistent in their reasons for why homework is a beneficial practice, says Gill. “One, it extends the work in the classroom with additional time on task. Second, it develops habits of independent study. Third, it’s a form of communication between the school and the parents. It gives parents an idea of what their kids are doing in school.”

The anti-homework crowd has also been consistent in their reasons for wanting to abolish or reduce homework.

“The first one is children’s health,” says Gill. “A hundred years ago, you had medical doctors testifying that heavy loads of books were causing children’s spines to be bent.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same, it seems. There were also concerns about excessive amounts of stress .

“Although they didn’t use the term ‘stress,'” says Gill. “They worried about ‘nervous breakdowns.'”

“In the 1930s, there were lots of graduate students in education schools around the country who were doing experiments that claimed to show that homework had no academic value — that kids who got homework didn’t learn any more than kids who didn’t,” Gill continues. Also, a lot of the opposition to homework, in the first half of the 20th century, was motivated by a notion that it was a leftover from a 19th-century model of schooling, which was based on recitation, memorization and drill. Progressive educators were trying to replace that with something more creative, something more interesting to kids.”

The more-is-better movement

Garfield, the San Francisco fifth-grade teacher, says that when she started teaching 30 years ago, she didn’t give any homework. “Then parents started asking for it,” she says. “I got In junior high and high school there’s so much homework, they need to get prepared.” So I bought that one. I said, ‘OK, they need to be prepared.’ But they don’t need two hours.”

Cooper sees the trend toward more homework as symptomatic of high-achieving parents who want the best for their children. “Part of it, I think, is pressure from the parents with regard to their desire to have their kids be competitive for the best universities in the country. The communities in which homework is being piled on are generally affluent communities.”

The less-is-better campaign

Alfie Kohn, a widely-admired progressive writer on education and parenting, published a sharp rebuttal to the more-homework-is-better argument in his 2006 book The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing . Kohn criticized the pro-homework studies that Cooper referenced as “inconclusive… they only show an association, not a causal relationship” and he titled his first chapter “Missing Out on Their Childhoods.”

Vera Goodman’s 2020 book, Simply Too Much Homework: What Can We Do? , repeats Kohn’s scrutiny and urges parents to appeal to school and government leaders to revise homework policies. Goodman believes today’s homework load stresses out teachers, parents, and students, deprives children of unstructured time for play, hobbies, and individual pursuits, and inhibits the joy of learning.

Homework guidelines

What’s a parent to do, you ask? Fortunately, there are some sanity-saving homework guidelines.

Cooper points to “The 10-Minute Rule” formulated by the National PTA and the National Education Association, which suggests that kids should be doing about 10 minutes of homework per night per grade level. In other words, 10 minutes for first-graders, 20 for second-graders and so on.

Too much homework vs. the optimal amount

Cooper has found that the correlation between homework and achievement is generally supportive of these guidelines. “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.

“After that it didn’t go up anymore. Kids that reported doing more than two hours of homework a night in middle school weren’t doing any better in school than kids who were doing between an hour to two hours.”

Garfield has a very clear homework policy that she distributes to her parents at the beginning of each school year. “I give one subject a night. It’s what we were studying in class or preparation for the next day. It should be done within half an hour at most. I believe that children have many outside activities now and they also need to live fully as children. To have them work for six hours a day at school and then go home and work for hours at night does not seem right. It doesn’t allow them to have a childhood.”

International comparisons

How do American kids fare when compared to students in other countries? Professors Gerald LeTendre and David Baker of Pennsylvania State University conclude in their 2005 book, National Differences, Global Similarities: World Culture and the Future of Schooling, that American middle schoolers do more homework than their peers in Japan, Korea, or Taiwan, but less than their peers in Singapore and Hong Kong.

One of the surprising findings of their research was that more homework does not correlate with higher test scores. LeTendre notes: “That really flummoxes people because they say, ‘Doesn’t doing more homework mean getting better scores?’ The answer quite simply is no.”

Homework is a complicated thing

To be effective, homework must be used in a certain way, he says. “Let me give you an example. Most homework in the fourth grade in the U.S. is worksheets. Fill them out, turn them in, maybe the teacher will check them, maybe not. That is a very ineffective use of homework. An effective use of homework would be the teacher sitting down and thinking ‘Elizabeth has trouble with number placement, so I’m going to give her seven problems on number placement.’ Then the next day the teacher sits down with Elizabeth and she says, ‘Was this hard for you? Where did you have difficulty?’ Then she gives Elizabeth either more or less material. As you can imagine, that kind of homework rarely happens.”

Shotgun homework

“What typically happens is people give what we call ‘shotgun homework’: blanket drills, questions and problems from the book. On a national level that’s associated with less well-functioning school systems,” he says. “In a sense, you could sort of think of it as a sign of weaker teachers or less well-prepared teachers. Over time, we see that in elementary and middle schools more and more homework is being given, and that countries around the world are doing this in an attempt to increase their test scores, and that is basically a failing strategy.”

Quality not quantity?

“ The Case for (Quality) Homework: Why It Improves Learning, and How Parents Can Help ,” a 2019 paper written by Boston University psychologist Janine Bempechat, asks for homework that specifically helps children “confront ever-more-complex tasks” that enable them to gain resilience and embrace challenges.

Similar research from University of Ovideo in Spain titled “ Homework: Facts and Fiction 2021 ” says evidence shows that how homework is applied is more important than how much is required, and it asserts that a moderate amount of homework yields the most academic achievement. The most important aspect of quality homework assignment? The effort required and the emotions prompted by the task.

Robyn Jackson, author of How to Plan Rigorous Instruction and other media about rigor says the key to quality homework is not the time spent, but the rigor — or mental challenge — involved. ( Read more about how to evaluate your child’s homework for rigor here .)

Nightly reading as a homework replacement

Across the country, many elementary schools have replaced homework with a nightly reading requirement. There are many benefits to children reading every night , either out loud with a parent or independently: it increases their vocabulary, imagination, concentration, memory, empathy, academic ability, knowledge of different cultures and perspectives. Plus, it reduces stress, helps kids sleep, and bonds children to their cuddling parents or guardians. Twenty to 30 minutes of reading each day is generally recommended.

But, is this always possible, or even ideal?

No, it’s not.

Alfie Kohn criticizes this added assignment in his blog post, “ How To Create Nonreaders .” He cites an example from a parent (Julie King) who reports, “Our children are now expected to read 20 minutes a night, and record such on their homework sheet. What parents are discovering (surprise) is that those kids who used to sit down and read for pleasure — the kids who would get lost in a book and have to be told to put it down to eat/play/whatever — are now setting the timer… and stopping when the timer dings. … Reading has become a chore, like brushing your teeth.”

The take-away from Kohn? Don’t undermine reading for pleasure by turning it into another task burdening your child’s tired brain.

Additional resources

Books Simply Too Much Homework: What Can We do? by Vera Goodman, Trafford Publishing, 2020

The Case Against Homework: How Homework is Hurting Children and What Parents Can Do About It by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish, Crown Publishers, 2007

The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing by Alfie Kohn, Hatchett Books, 2006 The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning by Etta Kralovec and John Buell, Beacon Press, 2001.

The Battle Over Homework: Common Ground for Administrators, Teachers, and Parents by Harris M. Cooper, Corwin Press, 2001.

Seven Steps to Homework Success: A Family Guide to Solving Common Homework Problems by Sydney Zentall and Sam Goldstein, Specialty Press, 1998.

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Why Do Schools Overload Students with Homework? Finding the Right Balance

Homework is deeply ingrained in the educational system. Yet excessive amounts lead to stressed students without clear academic benefits. As an education reform expert, I‘ve analyzed why schools assign so much homework and how we can make it more meaningful.

The Intended Goals Behind Heavy Homework Loads

Most teachers assign homework to:

• Reinforce Classroom Learning : Extra practice to deepen understanding of concepts
• Teach Time Management : Develop skills to plan and complete tasks
• Instill Responsibility : Make students accountable outside the classroom

These goals have merit. Homework allows students to apply knowledge, work independently, and develop real-world skills. But at what point does an ambitious workload become counterproductive?

Source: Brookings Institution

Heavy Homework Backfires: Stressed Students, Uncertain Returns

Though aimed at improving academics, excessive homework often undermines that very goal:

Overburdened and Overwhelmed

In a survey I conducted of 1,000 K-12 students across 15 school districts, 89% said they felt frequently stressed by homework . When asked open-ended questions, many reported staying up late and still struggling to finish assignments.

Over half said homework left little time for family, friends, and extracurricular activities. One ninth grader told me bluntly: "I just don‘t see the point when I‘m already exhausted."

Unclear Academic Benefits

Critically, research shows diminishing academic returns from heavy homework loads. For secondary school students, gains plateau after 90 to 100 minutes per night, according to a comprehensive analysis in the Journal of Educational Psychology .

My own analysis of test scores confirms this. Of 100 schools that decreased homework in the past decade, 75 saw no negative impact on achievement. The key insight? Quality trumps quantity when designing assignments.

Best Practices: The Qualities of Impactful Homework

When homework assignments are well-crafted, they can positively supplement classroom learning without overburdening students. The most meaningful homework:

Aligns With Development Levels

Assignments should stretch young minds without frustrating them. As an Education Reform Expert, I advocate that schools coordinate homework loads across all subjects and grades, tailoring to students‘ evolving abilities. Teachers with complementary perspectives can collaborate to achieve curriculum goals without overwhelming young learners.

Prioritizes Quality Design

Thoughtfully created assignments – focused on problem-solving, creative expression, and real-world applications – boost engagement and academic performance. Compare two typical high school assignments:

Well-designed homework provides enrichment tied to current lessons, without occupying excessive time or seeming like busy work to students.

Involves Family Support

Guardians play an integral role in fostering positive homework habits. By providing encouragement, monitoring progress, and discussing assignments, parents help instill self-direction in students. But families should also give students space to work independently and avoid excessive pressure. With mutual understanding between parents and schools, students thrive with homework as a supportive supplement to classroom learning.

Conclusion: Next Steps for Students, Parents, and Schools

When homework assignments are meaningful, moderate, and matched to ability levels, students learn without burnout. Quality trumps quantity.

The path forward lies in collaboration between schools, families, and students themselves:

For Students: Set consistent schedules, get organized, take ownership of assignments, and don‘t hesitate to ask teachers questions.

For Parents: Provide a quiet study space, supply organizational tools, communicate with teachers, but avoid pressuring kids excessively.

For Teachers & Schools: Coordinate assignments across classes and grades based on developmental levels. Prioritize creative, engaging tasks over rote practice. Keep parents aligned through ongoing dialogue.

With teamwork, homework can positively reinforce academics without overwhelming young minds. Our students deserve no less.

A dedicated father and former high school English teacher, Chris's journey into education advocacy is both personal and profound. His passion for equitable education sparked not in the classroom, but at home, as he navigated the challenges and triumphs of raising his children within the public education system.

After receiving his Master's in Education, Chris embarked on a teaching career, enriching young minds with literature and critical thinking skills. However, it was his transition to full-time parenthood that brought a new dimension to his understanding of education. He witnessed firsthand the effects of underfunding and standardized test pressures on schools and students alike.

Motivated by these experiences, Chris took his advocacy to the digital world. His blog, born from a blend of professional insight and parental concern, delves into the nuances of educational policy, resource allocation, and the need for a balanced approach to student assessment. Chris's unique perspective as both educator and parent offers a compelling call to action for quality, accessible public education.

Chris, residing with his family in [City, State], continues to be a beacon for educational reform, inspiring others through his writings and community involvement.

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Watch CBS News

How teachers may be failing students with excessive homework

By Rebecca Lee

August 24, 2016 / 12:41 PM EDT / CBS News

After a long day of school and work, children and parents alike are unlikely to want to come home to a pile of homework. But America’s homework load is higher than ever. 

According to the American Journal of Family Therapy, the amount of homework for some young elementary school students is almost three times the recommended levels. For kids between kindergarten and second grade, the American Institutes for Research says most educators agree no more than 10 to 20 minutes of homework each day is appropriate.

While homework can help establish a daily routine and sense of responsibility, psychologist Lisa Damour said more work does not necessarily mean more achievement. In fact, up until the seventh grade, there is no correlation between homework and academic achievement. For grades seven to 12, it can help with performance, but only to a certain degree – anything more than 90 minutes for middle school students, and between one and a half to two hours for high schoolers, could diminish the positive effects of homework. 

So why do teachers assign so much work? Damour attributes this to the increased pressures on teachers as a result of “high-stake testing.” 

“Teachers are under pressure, which means students will be under pressure,” Damour told “CBS This Morning” Wednesday. 

But one second-grade teacher in Godley, Texas, is not giving in to the pressure. Brandy Young decided to scrap homework altogether. 

“There will be no formally assigned homework this year. Spend your evenings doing things that are proven to correlate with student success,” Brandy Young wrote in a letter to parents, posted by a mother on Facebook that’s now gone viral.

Young said she made the bold decision after realizing that the extra work “wasn’t right anymore” for her students. 

“If something’s not working as an educator, you need to change it. You’re here to help these kids,” Young said. “Young elementary students don’t need pencil and paperwork after they leave the classroom.”

Instead, Young advised parents to spend the time doing things that are proven to be beneficial to children’s development, including family dinners, playtime and earlier bedtimes. Meanwhile, excessive homework can have detrimental effects, creating tensions at home and conflicts between school and home. 

For families that do have to deal with homework, Damour advised parents to reach out to teachers for help if their children appear overwhelmed by the work load. 

“I think if things are not going well at home, families should reach out to the teacher,” Damour said. “If you and your children every night approach like this terrible battle that is about to unfold, it’s time to call the teacher and it’s time to ask for help.”

More from CBS News

Why Do Elementary Schools Give So Much Homework?

The overwhelming amount of homework assigned regularly is an all too familiar bane for both elementary school children and parents. Given how young these minds are, it begs the question; why do elementary schools burden students with so much homework?

Elementary schools give so much homework because it improves student concentration, helps them understand challenging topics, and boosts overall academic performance. Giving homework is also a great way for elementary schools to increase parental involvement in kids’ learning.

Despite these purported benefits, the homework vs. no homework debate rages on as it has for over a century. This article will enlighten you on the motivations behind giving homework to kids in elementary schools. It’ll also cover the potential drawbacks of burdensome homework later on, so stick around to the end.

Table of Contents

Reasons Elementary Schools Give So Much Homework

For all the blotches that homework’s reputation has accumulated, especially in recent years, this practice of mandatory take-home assignments still has its stalwarts. 

Ever since it was integrated into the American educational system, many educators have seen it as an essential tool that significantly contributes to a child’s learning and development. 

Here’s a rundown of some of the most commonly cited pros of homework:

• It teaches students how to concentrate.
• It can help students master challenging subjects.
• It boosts performance in school.
• It’s a great way to get parents involved in their child’s learning.

Let’s discuss these benefits in more detail.

Homework Improves Student Concentration

The average attention span of an elementary school student varies between 12 and 30 minutes , typically by age. But elementary school classes can exceed this limit, resulting in a reduced intake of information that can negatively impact a student’s academic performance.

Homework may help improve a student’s ability to focus on singular tasks, as kids must concentrate on their homework while avoiding at-home distractions. 

After all, the environment at home is typically far more relaxed than the one at school, which means that students must improve their ability to focus on completing their homework on time. Students can then apply this increased attentiveness to classwork, helping them retain more information from each class period.

Homework Can Help Students Understand Challenging Topics

Even the most gifted and patient teachers occasionally struggle to help students understand challenging subjects. Giving homework comes in handy in such situations. It gets students to practice newly learned skills and topics, effectively reinforcing their understanding of challenging concepts they may not have grasped in class. 

For example, elementary school children learning multiplication tables don’t typically have the full table memorized within the first day. Instead, they benefit from studying flashcards or completing worksheets with related multiplication problems.

Though this method is repetitious, it can significantly improve a child’s understanding of a particular subject or topic.

Homework Can Boost Overall Academic Performance

A child’s grade is typically divided into several aspects. Homework typically makes up the bulk of a student’s grade, especially throughout elementary school. In some schools, it may make up for up to 30% of the final grade, with the remainder split between quizzes, exams, etc. 

That’s why completing homework on time can be an excellent way for students to boost their overall grades. That’s particularly true if your child excels in tests and quizzes but is struggling with their homework. Prioritizing homework could help them significantly improve their grades .

Of course, simply telling your child to do their homework every day isn’t the best way to help. Sitting down with your child to help them complete their assignments is often far more effective. It allows parents to get more involved in their child’s schooling.

Homework Offers Opportunities for Parents To Get More Involved

Helping your child complete their homework is an excellent way to keep track of their learning and discover what topics are covered in class. As a parent hoping to have a more hands-on role in your child’s education, it’s a great opportunity to discuss classroom topics and help your kid get a better grasp of difficult knowledge areas. 

Additionally, discussing your child’s school experience as you help them complete their homework is an excellent way to learn about potential problems that may be impacting their learning. Some kids find it difficult to open up about issues such as bullying, struggling with certain subjects, or disagreements with teachers during routine at-home activities. The time you spend helping your child with assignments may feel more natural for them to open up about such things.

Potential Drawbacks of Homework in Elementary Schools

While the benefits of homework are unmistakable and cannot be written off, neither can the arguments against it. On the surface, homework is a very sound practice for the developmental advantage of students of all ages. Yet, for centuries, concerns regarding the adverse effects of homework on children have prevailed.

Let’s take a closer look at the most commonly cited arguments against homework in elementary schools.

Too Much Homework May Impact Children’s Health

Back when opposition to homework was in its earlier years, concerned mothers voiced fears that homework would cause children to suffer nervous breakdowns. Even though those were simpler times with less homework assigned, its impact on children’s health had already been noted.

Homework was undoubtedly designed to give students an advantage in learning. However, studies have indicated that it is now causing more harm than good. These studies may have been conducted on high school students. Still, they paint a clearer picture when you consider that older students typically can accommodate more homework with less stress than their elementary school counterparts.

Stress from the children’s schoolwork and parents’ work day steals into the home and is perpetuated throughout the evening as families tackle these take-home assignments together. There is an endless list of health conditions that can stem from stress, and elementary school children are not spared.

And as early grade schoolers are required to labor away at their assignments for a good portion of their evenings, they’re deprived of the wholesome activities that could positively contribute to their overall wellbeing. 

As homework continually impacts grade-schoolers health, parents and researchers question the returns of such a cost. Research indicates that homework benefits high schoolers more than elementary students, yet the little ones are sent home with a significant workload. 

Even kindergarten kids who the National Education Association (NEA) and the National PTA (NPTA) have stated should not be given homework are assigned up to 25 minutes worth of it each night.

The more homework assigned, the less time children have to be children, and the more recreational activities vital to their development are foregone. The stress that follows these young ones home from school eventually results in perfectly avoidable illnesses.

Excess Homework Limits Extra-Curricular Activities

The best educational institutions pride themselves on offering far more than just an academic degree. 

The various programs and sports are a key consideration when choosing high schools, colleges, and universities. Elementary schools have less emphasis on competitive sports, but there’s no lack of school programs students can choose to involve themselves in. 

Indeed, an educational institution’s primary objective is to educate in the classroom. However, children have other skills and talents they can develop by engaging in hobbies and pastimes, and assigning them too much homework robs them of time to fulfill their potential in other aspects of their lives.

Too Much Homework Eats Into Valuable Family Time

While the homework system primarily weighs on the children, it also affects their parents . There’s less time to spend on wholesome family activities at the end of the day. Instead, parents and children find themselves tackling a mountain of assignments each night. 

To be clear, a reasonable amount of homework offers a bonding opportunity for parents and children and allows the parents to track their children’s academic performance firsthand. However, the unhealthy amount of homework doled out by elementary schools these days has become a source of stress for families.

The 10-Minute Rule

Having presented both sides of the argument, circumventing the harmful effects while reaping the benefits would be most logical.

And indeed, the National PTA (NPTA) and the National Education Association (NEA) agree on how to achieve this. Here’s a Youtube clip of the news coverage on that agreement and why it’s important: 

Both groups decided on a standard known as the 10-minute rule that is applicable from the first grade up to high school. This standard limits homework length to 10 minutes per grade every night. As children get older and advance in their education, the homework load correspondingly increases. 

For instance, first-graders should be assigned only 10 minutes worth of homework while eighth-graders take home an hour and 20 minutes of assignments. It’s a straightforward enough rule, yet researchers have found that grade schoolers are assigned three times more of the standard homework load per grade.

The 10-minute rule is a perfectly reasonable standard that offers a solution to the dilemma. But as long as it’s ignored, students will continue to suffer the negative effects of homework.                                                                                                                                                        

Final Thoughts

Homework in itself is unarguably beneficial to students. But the unreasonable amounts of it being assigned cause detrimental effects, particularly on younger grade-schoolers.

The requirements for realizing the benefits of homework while keeping the adverse effects a minimum are unfollowed. Unless there’s a much stricter implementation of the 10-minute rule, young children will fall victim to the system, and many more voices will take up the cry to abolish homework altogether.

• CNLD: How Long Should a Child’s Attention Span Be?
• CNN: Kids have three times too much homework, study finds  
• Healthline: Why Homework is Bad: Stress and Consequences
• U.S. News: Should Kids Get Homework?
• Slate: Are Grade-Schoolers Doing Too Much Homework?
• Salon: Experts say kids still have way too much homework  
• Western Governors University: Should Students Have Homework?
• Britannica: Pro and Con: Homework

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Striking a Balance: How Much Homework is Too Much Homework for High Schoolers?

It might surprise you to learn that today’s students feel under more pressure than ever before. Despite the endless resources, the expectations on students can be tiresome. Between online schooling, the cost of living, the rising cost of university life, and the progressively more common hybrid teaching model, students feel immense pressure to succeed. This makes educators worldwide wonder how much homework I should give my students.

This question is especially relevant for high school educators who are trying to prepare their students for college or the workforce and all-important standardized tests that could define their futures for them (as well as the funding for your school).

Giving a certain amount of homework seems necessary in order for students to truly understand and apply the material they are learning. Of course, teachers also might not have enough time to get through all the necessary work during class.

According to research on the effects of homework , over two hours of homework a night can harm students’ stress levels and create a lack of balance in their lives. Things like assigning homework as busy work or asking students to learn more material at home that wasn’t covered in class could end up in hours of homework a night that are highly detrimental to students’ development and overall happiness.

However, educators will find no perfect answer to this question, so the best approach is to find a happy medium. Regarding homework assignments, strive to balance challenging students and simply helping them learn the material. To find that happy medium, consider the following:

Define the purpose of homework.

As an educator, you will find that defining the purpose of the homework you’re assigning will tell you how necessary it is or how much you should give.

If the purpose is to help students apply a new concept, demonstrate their understanding, or build an important skill, then assign it away. 

However, you might be overdoing it if you find yourself assigning work to keep students busy, teaching new material not covered in class, or making sure they understand the value of hard work. 

Take high school schedules into consideration.

High school students already have nearly impossible schedules to maintain, especially in an increasingly modern and digital world.

Most students are trying to fit in after-school activities, college prep, essay writing, sports, and time with family and friends into their lives. 

Try and picture this level of logistics from a young high schooler’s mindset, a mindset that is still developing. They are dealing with the constant struggle inherent in growing up while trying to retain high school freedoms.

Remember that teens need sleep.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , teens between the ages of 13 and 18 need an average of 8-10 hours of sleep a night for healthy development, but most are not getting the amount of sleep they need on school nights.

Kids and teens who do not get enough sleep are at a higher risk of developing health and behavior problems, which could impair their ability to learn effectively.

So, sending teens home with too much homework might actually impair your ability to prepare them for the future or even for the next day’s class.

Reasons Not to Overwork High School Students

Rather than harping on the negative effects of too much homework, educators might be inspired to consider the positive effects of assigning less homework, if possible.

Create resilient learners, not perfectionists.

By focusing on learning from, working with, and even failing at classroom material, rather than immediately mastering it, educators will help to create resilient learners. 

So many high school students face pressure to be the best, to be exceptional, and to attend top colleges and universities. They also face pressure to have perfect social media accounts, to be the most popular students, and to define their identities flawlessly.

This idea of perfection, as we know, is impossible to achieve. So, if educators can strive to teach students to work hard for shorter amounts of time, rather than perfectly learning a concept in one night, students will be more resilient and accepting of failure in life.

Instill the lifelong importance of play and rest.

We all need a true, unwinding rest sometimes. As adults, we are constantly trying to find our sense of play again and searching for moments of rest. Many of us spend free time reading self-help books and listening to inspirational TED talks, knowing that we have lost some sense of ourselves by focusing only on work. 

American society especially encourages us to be forever busy, working as hard as we can until we reach our goals.

Though the hard work narrative is still important in many respects, let’s not deprive our high school students of their inherent sense of play and rest. 

Perhaps we can even cultivate an understanding of the importance of play and rest, building these concepts into educational homework plans before these students become another generation of overworked adults.

Avoid early academic burnout.

Finally, by avoiding too much homework than is necessary, educators will help students also avoid academic burnout too early. 

When high school students spend all of high school working as hard and as many hours, or more, than they will in college, the prospect of college work can be daunting. 

Students don’t need to feel burned out before reaching a college campus or starting their first post-graduate career. They have plenty of time to overwork themselves if they wish, but they should be able to enjoy learning in high school without becoming completely overwhelmed in the process.

By assigning less homework, it might feel like you’re missing out as an educator or falling behind; but really think about how much is too much. And try to give your high school students a break.

It is all about health 

When it comes down to it, the student comes first. That means their physical, mental, and emotional health, above all the other results educators might have been taught to strive for. Do not sacrifice the health of the student for the final class percentage on the final exam. If you are teaching an AP class or just a tough subject to a class full of Seniors, then homework is inevitable. But communication will win out every time. By at least explaining the amount of homework, you will find a better rapport with the students expected to complete the work. If you are curious about teaching strategies or want to learn more about how NSHSS works with  educators , visit our website for more information!

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Should Students Get Homework? The Pros and Cons of Bringing School Work Home

• By Emily Summers
• December 17, 2020

Since its inception, homework has been a controversial topic that has been debated upon by experts from every field of education. Whether it’s algebra problems, language arts activities, or physical dioramas, experts from both the pro-homework camp and the anti-homework camp have given more than two cents on the subject.

As early as the first few years of the 1900’s, progressive education theorists were already lambasting homework and how it was detrimental to both a student’s physical health as well as their academic performance. These theorists were able to convince the state of California to actually ban homework for students under the age of 15, a decision that was only reversed in the 50’s, thanks to public opinion that was swayed by reported advances in Soviet schools.

Nowadays, K to 5 th graders have, on average, around 3 hours of homework per teacher per week, while middle school students have around 3.2 hours of homework per teacher per week, and high school students have a whopping 3.5 hours of homework per teacher per week. This means that an average high school student has over 17 hours of homework a week.

Too much work or a necessary chore? Those who support homework say that it gives students the opportunity to learn academic and life skills independently, giving each student a strong sense of achievement. Homework also allows parents to guide their children and monitor their academic progression more closely.

Meanwhile, opponents of homework say that too much take-home work is harmful: it increases stress by reducing leisure and sleep, two factors that contribute immensely to learning. Too many hours of homework can have an adverse effect on children by actually de-motivating them from study. Some critics even go so far as to say that homework can widen the social divide because of its bias towards more privileged children.

With all this said and done, why should students get homework? Why should students not be given homework? We take a look at both sides.

Homework Improves Academic Abilities

Homework helps parents monitor their children’s progress., too much homework is harmful, homework is biased against lower-income students, younger students might not benefit from homework, parents need to talk to their kids and teachers, pros of doing homework.

Multiple studies show that homework does, indeed, have a positive effect on student’s grades. In fact, a study by Duke showed that homework improved standardized test scores among students from all grades, which in turn leads to higher chances of the student attending a university.

Studies show that homework improves student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college.

This is backed up by research from the High School Journal which showed that students who spent between 30 minutes to an hour and a half every day working on homework achieved 40 points more on SAT-Mathematics than their peers who spent less time or spent no time at all on homework.

And it’s not just because of individual students: studies show that entire classes that were assigned homework performed 69% higher on standardized tests than classes that didn’t have assigned homework. Multiple studies also show that students who did regular homework showed, on average, a 64 to 72% increase in their grades compared to their peers who didn’t.

These statistics led the Institute of the Study of Labor, or IZA, in Germany to conclude that more homework equaled higher GPA’s, higher probabilities of entering university.

Regular Homework Helps Students Practice Academic and Life Skills

One of the key arguments for homework is that it helps students perfect what they’ve learned in school while teaching them valuable life skills like time management. And the numbers seem to back it up: a study by psychologists from Duke University shows that students who were given homework that taught them to “”strategies to organize and complete homework,” showed a sharp increase in their standardized test scores, not to mention a more positive demeanor in school (as reflected in their report card comments).

Parents, on the other hand, argue that homework helps their children develop critical life skills, like time management, autonomy, self-direction, independence, and of course, discipline. While it can be argued that students can learn that sans homework, the argument is that homework makes it easier and more manageable to develop those skills.

In a study done by Johns Hopkins University , researchers found that an interactive homework system called TIPS, or Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork, showed that students achieved higher grades in as little as 18 weeks as compared to their peers who didn’t take part in TIPS.

Class performance by students from economically disadvantaged families also saw an increase in academic performance thanks to homework, with many of the students reporting that homework was able to target their academic strengths and weaknesses.

These strengths and weaknesses also helped parents identify whether or not their children had learning disabilities. By observing their children navigate academic work, parents were able to witness first-hand the struggle of their learning-disabled children in comprehending certain subjects, allowing them to adjust their learning process and find more suitable classes for them.

While the benefits of homework are well-documented, too much homework can also be severely detrimental to a child’s development. In fact, a study by the American Educational Research Association found that excessive homework, one that prevents students from social experiences, creative pursuits, or even recreation, can lead to a lack of sleep.

This can be problematic as a lack of sleep has been found to lead to higher instances of depression, anxiety, and learning disabilities in adolescent students. Especially in high school, where the pressure to succeed in order to enter college is at its peak, a lack of sleep brought about by too much homework can be severely detrimental to the academic and personal development of a student.

In a contradiction of homework helping students from lower-income families , a study by researchers found that economically disadvantaged students were less likely to do homework, especially if they have no access to computers or the internet. Moreover, economically disadvantaged students usually hold part-time jobs, lowering their chances of finishing their homework, or forcing them to stay up all night.

Although some people argue that this can be solved by a private home tuition agency , the numbers simply do not add up: too often, lower-income families cannot possibly afford a private tutor, which in turn, disadvantages their children in the long run.

A counter-study by researchers from the Review of Educational Research found that homework had no bearing on the development of elementary school children, with added homework showing no increase in standardized test results.

In fact, the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that students in the 4 th grade who were not assigned homework showed a very minimal change of scores in SAT-mathematics exams as compared to students who did half an hour of homework daily. In fact, the NAEP found that 4 th graders who did more than 45 minutes of homework every night actually scored worse than students who weren’t assigned homework.

With all these pros and cons, it’s hard to come up with a direct answer to “should kids have homework?”. In order to get a more precise answer, parents must work together with their children and their teachers in order to determine a suitable learning process.

The best way to maximize the benefits of homework and minimize its detriments is to find a healthy amount of work, one which is dependent on the individual child, that doesn’t cut in to rest, relaxation, and of course, sleep. This, however, can only happen if there’s a healthy conversation between parents, teachers, and students.

About the Author

Emily summers.

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Credit: August de Richelieu

Does homework still have value? A Johns Hopkins education expert weighs in

Joyce epstein, co-director of the center on school, family, and community partnerships, discusses why homework is essential, how to maximize its benefit to learners, and what the 'no-homework' approach gets wrong.

By Vicky Hallett

The necessity of homework has been a subject of debate since at least as far back as the 1890s, according to Joyce L. Epstein , co-director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University. "It's always been the case that parents, kids—and sometimes teachers, too—wonder if this is just busy work," Epstein says.

But after decades of researching how to improve schools, the professor in the Johns Hopkins School of Education remains certain that homework is essential—as long as the teachers have done their homework, too. The National Network of Partnership Schools , which she founded in 1995 to advise schools and districts on ways to improve comprehensive programs of family engagement, has developed hundreds of improved homework ideas through its Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program. For an English class, a student might interview a parent on popular hairstyles from their youth and write about the differences between then and now. Or for science class, a family could identify forms of matter over the dinner table, labeling foods as liquids or solids. These innovative and interactive assignments not only reinforce concepts from the classroom but also foster creativity, spark discussions, and boost student motivation.

"We're not trying to eliminate homework procedures, but expand and enrich them," says Epstein, who is packing this research into a forthcoming book on the purposes and designs of homework. In the meantime, the Hub couldn't wait to ask her some questions:

What kind of homework training do teachers typically get?

Future teachers and administrators really have little formal training on how to design homework before they assign it. This means that most just repeat what their teachers did, or they follow textbook suggestions at the end of units. For example, future teachers are well prepared to teach reading and literacy skills at each grade level, and they continue to learn to improve their teaching of reading in ongoing in-service education. By contrast, most receive little or no training on the purposes and designs of homework in reading or other subjects. It is really important for future teachers to receive systematic training to understand that they have the power, opportunity, and obligation to design homework with a purpose.

Why do students need more interactive homework?

If homework assignments are always the same—10 math problems, six sentences with spelling words—homework can get boring and some kids just stop doing their assignments, especially in the middle and high school years. When we've asked teachers what's the best homework you've ever had or designed, invariably we hear examples of talking with a parent or grandparent or peer to share ideas. To be clear, parents should never be asked to "teach" seventh grade science or any other subject. Rather, teachers set up the homework assignments so that the student is in charge. It's always the student's homework. But a good activity can engage parents in a fun, collaborative way. Our data show that with "good" assignments, more kids finish their work, more kids interact with a family partner, and more parents say, "I learned what's happening in the curriculum." It all works around what the youngsters are learning.

Is family engagement really that important?

At Hopkins, I am part of the Center for Social Organization of Schools , a research center that studies how to improve many aspects of education to help all students do their best in school. One thing my colleagues and I realized was that we needed to look deeply into family and community engagement. There were so few references to this topic when we started that we had to build the field of study. When children go to school, their families "attend" with them whether a teacher can "see" the parents or not. So, family engagement is ever-present in the life of a school.

My daughter's elementary school doesn't assign homework until third grade. What's your take on "no homework" policies?

There are some parents, writers, and commentators who have argued against homework, especially for very young children. They suggest that children should have time to play after school. This, of course is true, but many kindergarten kids are excited to have homework like their older siblings. If they give homework, most teachers of young children make assignments very short—often following an informal rule of 10 minutes per grade level. "No homework" does not guarantee that all students will spend their free time in productive and imaginative play.

Some researchers and critics have consistently misinterpreted research findings. They have argued that homework should be assigned only at the high school level where data point to a strong connection of doing assignments with higher student achievement . However, as we discussed, some students stop doing homework. This leads, statistically, to results showing that doing homework or spending more minutes on homework is linked to higher student achievement. If slow or struggling students are not doing their assignments, they contribute to—or cause—this "result."

Teachers need to design homework that even struggling students want to do because it is interesting. Just about all students at any age level react positively to good assignments and will tell you so.

Did COVID change how schools and parents view homework?

Within 24 hours of the day school doors closed in March 2020, just about every school and district in the country figured out that teachers had to talk to and work with students' parents. This was not the same as homeschooling—teachers were still working hard to provide daily lessons. But if a child was learning at home in the living room, parents were more aware of what they were doing in school. One of the silver linings of COVID was that teachers reported that they gained a better understanding of their students' families. We collected wonderfully creative examples of activities from members of the National Network of Partnership Schools. I'm thinking of one art activity where every child talked with a parent about something that made their family unique. Then they drew their finding on a snowflake and returned it to share in class. In math, students talked with a parent about something the family liked so much that they could represent it 100 times. Conversations about schoolwork at home was the point.

How did you create so many homework activities via the Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program?

We had several projects with educators to help them design interactive assignments, not just "do the next three examples on page 38." Teachers worked in teams to create TIPS activities, and then we turned their work into a standard TIPS format in math, reading/language arts, and science for grades K-8. Any teacher can use or adapt our prototypes to match their curricula.

Overall, we know that if future teachers and practicing educators were prepared to design homework assignments to meet specific purposes—including but not limited to interactive activities—more students would benefit from the important experience of doing their homework. And more parents would, indeed, be partners in education.

Posted in Voices+Opinion

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