How Much Homework is Effective?

Long the bane of students’ existence, homework has been around pretty much since the beginning of time. The question, though, is does spending hours doing assignments at home reap significant benefits? It turns out that the answer to this question depends greatly on the age and grade level of the student. Below, we will explore homework’s place in a student’s life during their elementary, middle, and high school years.

Elementary School: When kids are younger, homework may be less beneficial for a few reasons. First of all, it may actually get in the way of other important and necessary “kid things” like playing and forming friendships. In fact, research has shown that play is important in fostering creativity as well as developing dexterity and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. While a small, manageable amount of homework may be appropriate for the elementary schooler, assignments that take time away from a kid’s chance to be creative may actually be counter-productive.

Additionally, many teachers feel that too much homework at this young age can turn students off to learning. Second-grade teacher Jacqueline Fiorentino feels that the minor benefits of homework do not outweigh the potential drawback of turning young children against school at an early age, so she experimented with dropping mandatory homework. She reported that, after dropping the mandatory assignments, students actually began voluntarily doing work at home. It’s important to remember that, for kids at this age, we are trying to foster a love of learning, so we need to be careful not to turn them away by overworking then after school hours.

Instead of long, arduous homework assignments, elementary school students might be better served by giving manageable assignments that don’t detract too much from natural, necessary play and social time.

Middle School: As kids become middle school aged, the amount of homework assigned should increase—but not too much. The idea is to instill good work and study habits and to teach students to delve deeply into a topic without burning them out. The burn-out can happen when students are taxed with too much homework; in fact, a 2015 study found that, when assigned more than 100 minutes of nightly homework, middle school students’ test scores began to decline. A quality not quantity approach works best with students in this age group. Too much homework can drain energy, but too little can open the door to poor study habits.

According to English teacher Brian Sztabnik, teachers should consider a few questions when assigning homework: how long will it take to complete? Have all learners been considered? Will the assignment encourage future success? This echoes the “quality not quantity” model and, in fact, the aforementioned study adds that middle school “teachers should avoid low-effort, repetitive assignments, and assign homework “with the aim of instilling work habits and promoting autonomous, self-directed learning.”

High School: It stands to reason that as students get closer to college, the amount of work and responsibility should increase. While, definitely, homework for high schoolers boosts learning and fosters a sense of independence, it still runs the same risks that it does for middle schoolers in terms of burn-out and energy drain. On top of this, we need to also remember that as age increases, so do students’ stress levels not to mention the fullness of their schedules. A middle school student simply may not be engaged in as many activities as a high school student, so it’s important that there is a balance that allows these older students to juggle everything in their busy lives.

Another major factor here is stress; high school students are more prone to anxiety, especially as they deal with standardized tests, college applications, higher-level sports and activities, and other stressors. For this reason, homework must be assigned in a way that does not add to a student’s worries. In fact, a 2013 study found that high school students can experience serious mental and physical health problems, from higher stress levels to sleep deprivation, when assigned too much homework. It’s so important to keep our students healthy as we keep them learning.

Putting it all together: It seems like the answer here is not more or less homework, but, rather, smarter homework. Taking into consideration developmental levels, life experience, and outside stressors is vital in ensuring that we are assigning a healthy amount of homework. While there is no “right” number, keeping students’ well-being first is a great way to ensure that we don’t burn them out, and that they are able to thrive at every academic level.

Written by Phil Lane

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