NOVICE DEBATE

RESOURCE PACKET

Resolved:
Homework should
be banned.
 USING THIS PACKET
This packet contains resources that students
can use to prepare for the Novice Debate
Division within the Houston Urban Debate
League (HUDL).

Inside the packet, you will find a Novice

Format overview sheet that outlines the
times and order of speeches. There are also
a number of articles for both the Pro and
Con side of the following debate topic:

Resolved: Homework should be banned.

The articles found in the packet are only a

starting point. Students should conduct
additional research and think about the topic
and how it applies to their own experiences.
Novice Division Format
Constructive Speeches
Pro 1st Speaker 4 minutes The 1st speaker from the pro team should present their pre-written case.

Prep Time 1 minute Prepare for the next speech and talk with your partner.

Con 1st Speaker 4 minutes The 1st speaker from the con team should present their pre-written case.

Prep Time 1 minute Prepare for the next speech and talk with your partner.

Pro 2nd Speaker 4 minutes The second speaker from the pro team needs to respond and attack their
opponent’s case.

Prep Time 1 minute Prepare for the next speech and talk with your partner.

Con 2nd Speaker 4 minutes The second speaker from the con team needs to respond and attack their
opponent’s case. They should also respond to the opponent’s attacks if they
have time.

Prep Time 1 minute Prepare for the next speech and talk with your partner.
Rebuttal Speeches: New evidence, but no new arguments may be presented.
Pro 1st Speaker 3 minutes Find a way to explain issues in the light of all that has happened so far
without speaking too rapidly. This means that a limited number of issues can
be addressed.

Prep Time 1 minute Prepare for the next speech and talk you’re your partner.

Con 1st Speaker 3 minutes Find a way to explain issues in the light of all that has happened so far
without speaking too rapidly. This means that a limited number of issues can
be addressed.

Prep Time 1 minute Prepare for the next speech and talk you’re your partner.

Pro 2nd Speaker 3 minutes This frames, with clarity, why your team has won the debate. Before this
speech, ask, “If I were judging this round, what would I be voting on?”

Prep Time 1 minute Prepare for the next speech and talk with your partner.

Con 2nd Speaker 3 minutes This frames, with clarity, why your team has won the debate. Before this
speech, ask, “If I were judging this round, what would I be voting on?”

There will be no crossfire, POIs or CX, just straight arguments.

TOPIC OVERVIEW
10/4/2016 The Homework Debate ­ Finding Common Ground ­ Education Week
ducation  Week'  log >  Finding Common Ground
The Homework Debate

  Peter  DeWitt  on  Feruar  25,  2012  10:38  AM.

Wh do teacher elieve that homework i o important? I it reall important at all? Do teacher elieve that whatever the teach i o
extraordinar that tudent mut continue to work on aignment at home a well a chool? Or, are adminitrator making top-down
deciion that homework mut e a part of a tudent' nightl practice? I homework eing ued to teach tudent time management
technique? Whatever the reaon, homework till continue to e a hot topic among educator and parent.

Like an good deate, the one over homework ha valid point on oth ide. When done correctl, homework can e an extenion of chool
where tudent continue to work on project from home that the egan in the claroom. ome aignment are o engaging to tudent that
the want to continue doing reearch when the go home. It can alo provide parent with important inight into what their children are doing
in the claroom.

Unfortunatel, if homework i an evening of workheet it can e a chore more than a learning experience. ome educator end home
homework ecaue it i what the have alwa done. It' important to keep in mind that the homework that i ent home provide parent a
window into their claroom. If teacher are ending home workheet or other homework that i more oring than engaging, the parent ma
think their child' claroom provide the ame experience during the da.

For tudent who truggle with chool, homework can e an extenion of the agon the feel on a dail ai. When a tudent truggle during
the da, that truggling doen't magicall diappear when the get home. ometime their parent truggle a well, and the cannot provide
aitance to their child. Homework can act a a reminder of what the do not know and it' eaier to not complete the homework than it i to
complete it. Aking tudent to do more of the ame will not make them etter at it.

The Homework Routine 
When I egan teaching, m principal made claroom teacher give homework aed on the tudent' grade (kindergarten wa ten minute,
firt grade wa twent minute, etc.). I taught firt grade o we had to give aout twent minute of homework ever night. Twent minute
wa ea, after all it wa important for tudent to review what we did during the da. Unfortunatel, I found out week later that ome
tudent truggled for an hour each night with the homework that wa uppoed to e twent minute. Other tudent got through it on the
u and never had to complete it at home.

Parent didn't want to tell me that their child wa truggling with homework ecaue that could potentiall mean that there wa omething
wrong with their child. A much a I aked parent to write a note on top of the paper if their children ecame frutrated, the did not follow
that direction.

We alo had to give homework packet for vacation. When the tudent left for holida, winter or pring reak, the left with a packet of
workheet and a journal. After a few ear of thi practice a parent, who alo happened to e a teaching aitant, told me he would not
allow her child to complete the aignment ecaue that wa their pecial time with one another. he aured me that the did other tpe of
educational work together, and the chool need not end anthing home.

Other parent were not a honet ut the were ver avv. The tudent went all vacation without doing anthing and then two da efore
the went ack to chool the at down to complete the packet. I would hang a lot of it up on the wall ecaue I wanted it to eem relevant,
ut even I felt it wa merel u work to do during the week.

On the other end of the pectrum, there are time when parent get mad at educator for not giving their children enough homework. Thoe
parent elieve homework prepare their children for the future. The alo ak for extra workheet if their child i high achieving. That can
potentiall add to a child' dilike of chool.

In the nd
Homework uccum to outide influence. Teacher and tudent ma control their claroom environment ut the do not control the home
environment of their tudent. What ma e ea to complete during the da ma e a chore for the tudent at home. Teacher and
adminitrator need to undertand that the point of giving homework i not a routine, ut relevant practice for what their tudent are doing in
the claroom.

1/2
10/4/2016 The Homework Debate ­ Finding Common Ground ­ Education Week
Homework, if given at all, need to e engaging for a tudent. If the tudent i the onl one completing it at home, then it hould certainl e
tudent-centered ecaue that will increae the likelihood that it will get done at all. The point, however, i to not give tudent omething to
do at night a u work, ecaue the can find their own engaging activitie which can e more important to their development than
homework.
Thing to Rememer:

The ame homework aignment can take a hort or long period to complete depending on the ailit of the tudent

Not all home environment are conducive for completing homework

tudent who truggle in chool will continue to truggle on homework. The magic of a higher reading ailit or math ailit doen't
happen when the walk in their houe

Jut ecaue the teacher or parent had homework when the were ounger doen't mean the tudent have to have homework a well.
If educator want tudent to change with the time, their aignment have to change with the time a well.

Tet prep hould never e given for homework. It' oring and end the meage that all the chool think aout i achieving high
mark on a tet.

ometime parent want to help their children with homework ut ma not know the "right" wa or newet wa of doing it, which could
e counterproductive to getting it done correctl.

Follow Peter on Twitter.

Categorie:   Claroom  nvironment   Homework   Parental Involvement   chool Communit

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2012/02/the_homework_debate.html 2/2
 PRO
ARTICLES
10/4/2016 The Homework Myth | District Administration Magazine

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FATUR

The Homework Mth
enior editor Gar tager talk with Alfie Kohn aout hi new ook, The
Homework Mth: Wh Our Kid

 Gar tager — Ditrict Adminitration, Dec 2006
12/1/2006

   

Wh write a ook aout homework?

I'm alwa facinated-and more than a little ditured-when our practice are completel out of tep with
what the data a. Homework, I dicovered, i a tunningl clear example of that, ecaue more and more of
it i eing piled on ounger and ounger children, even a reearch continue to find aolutel no enefit to
making kid do more academic aignment at home after pending ix or even hour in chool. I wrote the
ook, firt, to make it more difficult for anone to claim with a traight face that "tudie how homework i
effective" or "homework teache kid good tud kill"; and econd, to tr to figure out wh homework
would continue to e aigned and accepted in the aence of evidence that it doe much good.

How doe thi ook relate to our previou work?

Well, the ame aic quetion run through a lot of what I write: "If we a we want thi (for kid), then how come we're doing that?"
I pent a ingle page on homework in an earlier ook [The chool Our Children Deerve] and decided recentl that the topic
warranted a ook of it own.

Advertiement

What advice would ou give a chool leader regarding homework?

Take erioul all the lovel rhetoric we repeat aout the need to do what' et for kid. e willing to quetion the conventional
widom, challenge traditional practice, and take ome flack for doing o. e guided  what the reearch a, not  preure from

https://www.districtadministration.com/article/homework­myth 1/5
10/4/2016 The Homework Myth | District Administration Magazine

people who know le aout learning than ou do. Ak ourelf whether what familie do in the evening hould e decided 
familie or  chool. Ak ourelf whether there' an reaon to elieve that kid who rarel get homework-who don't have to work
what i, in effect, a econd hift after chool i over-will e at an diadvantage

in term of their intellectual development. And aove all, help teacher and parent to remain focued on the overriding quetion: How
doe homework affect kid' interet in learning, their deire to read and think? If the effect in't poitive, we hould have dout aout
aigning it. If the effect i actuall negative, then the oligation to quetion the wa thing have alwa een done i even more
urgent.

What ort of homework might ou endore?

I hould e clear from The Homework Mth that I don't a there hould never e an homework. Rather, I ugget that we change
the default. There hould e no homework except on thoe occaion when teacher have good reaon to elieve that a given
aignment i likel to enefit mot tudent. To me, that eem like jut common ene and not a particularl radical idea. What'
izarre, I think, i the tatu quo, in which we a, "We're going to make ou kid do chool aignment at home jut aout ever
night. Later on, we'll figure out what to make ou do." That aume that homework in and of itelf, irrepective of the content, i
eneficial. There' not a hred of evidence to upport that poition.

o what homework might meet a tandard of proale enefit?

The kind that kid, in converation with one another and the teacher, decide i important enough to infringe on famil time. The kind
that logicall ha to e done at home, uch a interviewing parent aout famil hitor. The kind that conit of reading ook of
their own chooing, without a requirement to ummarize, analze, or write report aout what the've read, thu turning reading into
a chore.

What ha een the reaction to the ook?

It' een varied, a ou would expect. Lot of people love it ecaue it confirm their own upicion aout homework. Lot of people
hate it ecaue the jut know kid have to do workheet and the don't care what the reearch a. Ironicall, neither thee lover
nor the hater have to read the ook to know what the think aout it. The reaction I treaure are from people who were undecided
aout homework and find themelve convinced after the read it.

What' the illiet criticim leveled toward The Homework Mth?

I'm not ure aout "ill," ut the mot depreing repone ha een "If kid didn't get homework the'd jut it around plaing
video game."

And to thi ou repond ...?

Well, at leat with thi argument our card are on the tale. We're aing homework ma do nothing to help kid ecome etter
learner or etter people; it' literall uwork, which we give ecaue we don't trut children to decide what to do with their time-
or educator don't trut familie to make uch deciion.

Firt, I found chool that give little or no homework and dicovered that kid often pontaneoul extend on what happened in
chool, taking the initiative to continue learning on their own in a wa that the don't have time to do when their ackpack are
ulging with packet of workheet. econd, we're intereted in raiing well-rounded people, o kid' artitic, ocial and phical
development matter, too. Finall, even if ome kid jut chill out and do what the enjo after a da in chool, I think that' fine. After
all, we adult need time to relax after work, don't we?

Doe it grow tireome ucking educational trend and eing dimied a a contrarian?

Not a tireome a it would e to give people advice on how to get kid to do whatever the're told, or to figure out how to make
teacher conform to moronic mandate. I don't mind utantive challenge to m poition; in fact, I rather appreciate them. What
dicourage me are people whoe intant dimial, and ue of lael rather than argument, ugget that the're reall clamping
their hand over their ear and elling, "La-la-la-la-la! I can't liten to thi!" ut mae the econd or third time, the'll e more
open to hearing, reflecting and rethinking.

Gar . tager, gar@tager.org, i enior editor of Ditrict Adminitration and editor of The Pule: ducation' Place for Deate
(www.ditrictadminitration.com/pule).

https://www.districtadministration.com/article/homework­myth 2/5
10/4/2016 Schools try no­homework policies amid complaints about overload ­ TODAY.com

The end of homework? Why some schools are

banning homework
Fed up with the tension over homework, some schools are opting out altogether.

No-homework policies are popping up all over, including schools in the U.S., where the shift to the Common
Core curriculum is prompting educators to rethink how students spend their time.

“Homework really is a black hole,” said Etta Kralovec, an associate professor of teacher education at the
University of Arizona South and co-author of “The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families,
Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning.”

“I think teachers are going to be increasingly interested in having total control over student learning
during the class day and not relying on homework as any kind of activity that’s going to support student
learning.”

College de Saint-Ambroise, an elementary school in Quebec, is the latest school to ban homework,
announcing this week that it would try the new policy for a year. The decision came after officials found
that it was “becoming more and more difficult” for children to devote time to all the assignments they
were bringing home, Marie-Ève Desrosiers, a spokeswoman with the Jonquière School Board, told the
CBC.

Kralovec called the ban on homework a movement, though she estimated just a small handful of schools
in the U.S. have such policies.

Gaithersburg Elementary School in Rockville, Maryland, is one of them, eliminating the traditional
concept of homework in 2012. The policy is still in place and working fine, Principal Stephanie Brant told
TODAY Parents. The school simply asks that students read 30 minutes each night.

“We felt like with the shift to the Common Core curriculum, and our knowledge of how our students need
to think differently… we wanted their time to be spent in meaningful ways,” Brant said.

“We’re constantly asking parents for feedback… and everyone’s really happy with it so far. But it’s really a
culture shift.”

2/10
10/4/2016 Schools try no­homework policies amid complaints about overload ­ TODAY.com

It was a decision that was best for her community, Brant said, adding that she often gets phone calls from
other principals inquiring how it’s working out.

The VanDamme Academy, a private K-8 school in Aliso Viejo, California, has a similar policy, calling
homework “largely pointless.”

The Buffalo Academy of Scholars, a private school in Buffalo, New York, touts that it has called “a truce in
the homework battle” and promises that families can “enjoy stress-free, homework-free evenings and
more quality time together at home.”

Some schools have taken yet another approach. At Ridgewood High School in Norridge, Illinois, teachers
do assign homework but it doesn’t count towards a student’s final grade.

Many schools in the U.S. have toyed with the idea of opting out of homework, but end up changing
nothing because it is such a contentious issue among parents, Kralovec noted.

“There’s a huge philosophical divide between parents who want their kids to be very scheduled, very
driven, and very ambitiously focused at school -- those parents want their kids to do homework,” she
said.

“And then there are the parents who want a more child-centered life with their kids, who want their kids
to be able to explore different aspects of themselves, who think their kids should have free time.”

So what’s the right amount of time to spend on homework?

National PTA spokeswoman Heidi May pointed to the organization’s “10 minute rule,” which recommends
kids spend about 10 minutes on homework per night for every year they’re in school. That would mean
10 minutes for a first-grader and an hour for a child in the sixth grade.

But many parents say their kids must spend much longer on their assignments. Last year, a New York dad
tried to do his eight-grader’s homework for a week and it took him at least three hours on most nights.

More than 80 percent of respondents in a TODAY.com poll complained kids have too much homework.
For homework critics like Kralovec, who said research shows homework has little value at the elementary
and middle school level, the issue is simple.

“Kids are at school 7 or 8 hours a day, that’s a full working day and why should they have to take work
home?” she asked.

Follow A. Pawlowski on Google+ and Twitter.

http://www.today.com/parents/schools­try­no­homework­policies­amid­complaints­about­overload­1D80128324 3/10
10/4/2016 A teacher in Texas banned homework so kids could learn from life instead — Quartz

This teacher banned homework

so kids could learn from life
instead
The debate over whether homework helps kids learn or robs them of a proper childhood
is as heated as ever, as shown by the outpouring of attention for one teacher’s decision
to ban take-home assignments.

Brandy Young, a second-grade teacher in Texas, passed out a note to parents on “Meet
the Teacher Night” last week announcing that she would not assign homework for the
upcoming school year. Young said that she had done her homework on homework, and
decided it wasn’t helping.

Samantha Gallagher, whose daughter is in the class, took a photo of a note announcing
the new homework policy, which urged parents instead to use the time to “eat dinner as
a family, read together, play outside, and get your child to bed early.” Her Facebook post
about it has been shared more than 67,000 times.

http://qz.com/764076/this­teacher­banned­homework­so­kids­could­learn­from­life­instead/ 2/8
10/4/2016 A teacher in Texas banned homework so kids could learn from life instead — Quartz

Many people feel that increased academic standards and high-stakes testing are taking a
toll on kid’s mental health. “Children today are less free than they have ever been,” Peter
Gray, a psychologist and professor at Boston College, told Quartz. Too much time in
school and other structured activities means kids aren’t learning critical life-coping
skills.

Young told CBS that her decision was based on the fact that kids are more than the sum
of their grades:

[Students] work hard all day. When they go home they have other things they need to
learn there. I’m trying to develop their whole person; it’s not bene cial to go home
and do pencil and paper work.

The homework wars have been raging for years. Al e Kohn, perhaps the most prominent
homework critic, wrote The Homework Myth in 2006 arguing that the negative effects of
homework are well-known and the positive effects imagined. The work does not
reinforce learning nor improve academic results, while reducing precious time with
family and friends. He writes:

For younger students, in fact, there isn’t even a correlation between whether children
do homework (or how much they do) and any meaningful measure of achievement. At
the high school level, the correlation is weak and tends to disappear when more
sophisticated statistical measures are applied.

Not everyone agrees, as Quartz has covered before:

John Hattie, director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute, synthesized

more than 800 meta-studies covering more than 80 million students to gure out what
speci c factors are linked to better learning outcomes. Tom Sherrington, a teacher
who is a rm advocate of homework, analyzed Hattie’s research and concluded that
there is little bene t to homework for kids in primary school, but “excellent” results
for students in secondary school, or from age 11.

For younger students, in fact, there isn’t even a correlation between whether children
http://qz.com/764076/this­teacher­banned­homework­so­kids­could­learn­from­life­instead/ 3/8
10/4/2016 A teacher in Texas banned homework so kids could learn from life instead — Quartz

It’s not clear if Young was reading Kohn, Hattie, or just responding to the fact that her
young students didn’t seem to bene t from the added work. But comments on
Gallagher’s feed were clear in their support.

“I like this teacher. She has her head on right,” said one.

“Hopefully this will change some things,” added another, “but we do an hour of
homework each night plus studying for tests and reading.”

Many others just said “yes!” and “wow” and “jealous!”

In an email to Quartz, Gallagher says the reaction has been encouraging: “I am amazed
at the amount of attention the post is getting but not by the amount of support Mrs

Young’s policy has received. It’s incredible.”

candidates
http://qz.com/764076/this­teacher­banned­homework­so­kids­could­learn­from­life­instead/ 4/8
 CON
ARTICLES
10/4/2016 Two hours' homework a night linked to better school results | Education | The Guardian

Two hours' homework a night linked to better

school results
Any time spent on homework shows benefits, according to study published by Department for Education

Jeevan Vasagar, education editor

Thursday 29 March 2012 01.30 EDT

Spending more than two hours a night doing homework is linked to achieving better results in
English, maths and science, according to a major study which has tracked the progress of 3,000
children over the past 15 years.

Spending any time doing homework showed benefits, but the effects were greater for students
who put in two to three hours a night, according to the study published by the Department for
Education.

ADVERTISING

The finding on homework runs counter to previous research which shows a "relatively modest"
link between homework and achievement at secondary school.

The academics involved in the latest research say their study emphasises what students actually
do, rather than how much work the school has set.

Pam Sammons, a professor of education at Oxford University, said that time spent on homework
reflected the influence of the school – whether pupils were expected to do homework – as well as
children's enjoyment of their subjects.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/mar/29/homework­linked­better­school­results 1/3
10/4/2016 Two hours' homework a night linked to better school results | Education | The Guardian

Sammons said: "That's one of the reasons Indian and Chinese children do better. They tend to put
more time in. It's to do with your effort as well as your ability.

"What we're not saying is that everyone should do large amounts, but if we could shift some of
those who spend no time or half an hour into [doing] one to two hours – one of the reasons
private schools' results are better is that there's more expectation of homework."

The study controlled for social class, and whether pupils had a quiet place in which to do their
homework, but still found a benefit, Sammons said.

The research was conducted by academics from the Institute of Education, Oxford and Birkbeck
College, part of the university of London. It has tracked around 3,000 children from pre-school to
the age of 14.

It also finds that students who reported that they enjoyed school got better results. "This is in
contrast to findings during primary school where 'enjoyment of school' was not related to
academic attainment," researchers said.

Schools could ensure children had a better experience by improving the "behavioural climate",
making schoolwork interesting and making children feel supported by teachers, Sammons said.

The research shows that working-class parents can help their children succeed "against the odds"
by having high aspirations for them.

Children who did well from disadvantaged backgrounds were backed by parents who valued
learning and encouraged extra-curricular activities. "Parents' own resilience in the face of
hardship provided a role model for their children's efforts," the research says.

The study underlines the importance of a good primary school. Children who attended an
"academically effective" primary school did better at maths and science in later life. The study did
not find a link with performance in English.

Ministers have scrapped guidelines setting out how much homework children should be set amid
criticism that it can interfere with family life.

Under the last government, guidance was issued to all schools recommending they have a policy
on homework.

The guidelines suggested children aged five to seven should be set an hour a week, rising to half
an hour a night for seven- to 11-year-olds. Secondary schools were encouraged to set up to two
and a half hours a night for children aged 14-16.

Scrapping the guidelines frees headteachers to set their own homework policy, the government
says.

More news

Topics
Teaching Schools

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/mar/29/homework­linked­better­school­results 2/3
10/4/2016 Why Homework is Good for Kids | Huffington Post

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Why Homework is Good for Kids

  03/22/2007 03:45 pm ET | Updated Nov 17, 2011

    Like 64

Diane Ravitch   
Research Professor of Education, New York University; Author, ‘Reign of
Error’

Lately there has been an outpouring of books and articles against homework. Critics call
homework a form of child abuse and say that it prevents children from engaging in wholesome
activities. Government surveys say that most students spend an hour a day or less on
homework. Yet the campaign against homework never seems to abate.

Just this week came a new report from the National School Board Association’s Center for Public
Education saying that there is no conclusive evidence that homework “increases student
achievement across the board.”

Narrowly parsed, this is undoubtedly a true finding. For example, the study concluded that
students who don’t do their homework will not see any increase in their achievement in school.
Also, students in the early grades who have not yet learned how to read are less likely to benefit
from homework than students in high school. And students in low­income homes are less likely
to benefit from homework than those in higher­income homes because they are less likely to
complete it and less likely to have an adult in the home to help them.

The study found that Asian­American students were more likely to benefit from doing homework
than students from other ethnic groups. This is not because of some ethnic gene, but because
Asian­American students are more likely to complete the homework that is assigned to them.

While the latest study may fuel the fires of the anti­homework crowd, bear in mind that its bottom
line is that homework doesn’t help students who don’t do it, but very likely does help students
who actually complete their assignments. Duh.

But there is something else to be said in favor of homework.

When do students have time to read a book other than when it is assigned as homework? There

 is no time in school to read a book. A recent news article about the case against homework cited
Why Homework is Good for Kids    

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane­ravitch/why­homework­is­good­for­_b_44037.html 1/4
10/4/2016 Why Homework is Good for Kids | Huffington Post

a high school teacher who said that she would tell her students to read no more than 15 minutes
a day in their assigned novel (Jane Eyre). How stupid is that? How can anyone, young or old, get
engaged in a novel if he or she spends no more than 15 minutes a day reading? At that pace, it
seems like this class will be reading the same novel all year, if they manage to finish it at all.

When else do students have time to write an essay or write a research report? In school,
students may be able to write a few paragraphs, but it takes time to write an essay that is longer
than a page. If it is not done after school, it won’t be done at all.

So consider where the anti­homework crusade will take us: to a time when students read no
books, write no essays, and complete no research projects other than whatever can be fit into
the school day.

Because I am a historian, I can’t help but mention that this battle against homework first flared up
in 1900, led by the Ladies Home Journal. The Journal described homework as “A National Crime
at the Feet of American Parents” and claimed that children were “permanently crippled” by the
pressure of schooling and homework. It urged that children under the age of 15 should not be in
school more than four hours per day and should not be assigned any home study whatever.

So the campaign against homework goes on. Its success will guarantee a steady decline in the
very activities that matter most in education: Independent reading; thoughtful writing; research
projects.

Follow Diane Ravitch on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DianeRavitch

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10/4/2016 How Homework Benefits Students: The Homework Debate, Part Two

The Homework Debate: How Homework

Benefits Students
Posted November 21, 2013 by Monica Fuglei in Featured Stories (http://education.cu-portland.edu/category/blog/news/)
Updated January 6, 2016

Last week’s piece, The Case Against Homework (/blog/news/the-homework-debate-the-case-against-

homework/), articulated several points of view against homework as standard practice for teachers.
However, a variety of lessons, content-related and beyond, can be taught or reinforced through
homework and are worth exploring.

Four ways homework aids

students’ academic
achievement
Homework provides an opportunity for parents to
interact with and understand the content their
students are learning so they can provide another
means of academic support for students. Memphis
Parent writer Glenda Faye Pryor-Johnson says that,
“When your child does homework, you do
homework,” and notes that this is an opportunity for
parents to model good behavior for their children.

Pryor-Johnson also identi䎪es four qualities children develop when they complete homework that can
help them become high-achieving students:

1. Responsibility
2. Time management
3. Perseverance
4. Self-esteem

While these cannot be measured on standardized tests, perseverance has garnered a lot of attention
as an essential skill for successful students. Regular accomplishments like 䎪nishing homework build
self-esteem, which aids students’ mental and physical health. Responsibility and time management are
highly desirable qualities that bene䎪t students long after they graduate.

NYU and Duke professors refute the idea that homework

http://education.cu­portland.edu/blog/news/the­homework­debate­benefits­of­homework/ 1/4
10/4/2016 How Homework Benefits Students: The Homework Debate, Part Two

NYU and Duke professors refute the idea that homework

Menu
is unrelated to student success
In response to the National School Board Association’s Center for Public Education’s 䎪ndings that
homework was not conclusively related to student success, historian and NYU professor Diane Ravitch
contends that the study’s true discovery was that students who did not complete homework or who
lacked the resources to do so su䎼綠ered poor outcomes.

Ravitch believes the study’s data only supports the idea that those who complete homework bene䎪t
from homework. She also cites additional bene䎪ts of homework: when else would students be allowed
to engage thoughtfully with a text or write a complete essay? Constraints on class time require that
such activities are given as outside assignments.

5 studies support a significant relationship between homework completion

and academic success
Duke University professor Harris Cooper supports Ravitch’s assessment, saying that, “Across 䎪ve
studies, the average student who did homework had a higher unit test score than the students not
doing homework.” Dr. Cooper and his colleagues analyzed dozens of studies on whether homework is
bene䎪cial in a 2006 publication, “Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement? A Synthesis of
Research, 1987–2003.”

This analysis found 12 less-authoritative studies that link achievement to time spent on homework,
but control for many other factors that could in䎮煠uence the outcome. Finally, the research team
identi䎪ed 35 studies that found a positive correlation between homework and achievement, but only
after elementary school. Dr. Cooper concluded that younger students might be less capable of 
bene䎪ting from homework due to undeveloped study habits or other factors.

Recommended amount of homework varies by grade level

“Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement?” also identi䎪es the amount homework that serves
as a learning tool for students. While practice improves test scores at all grade levels, “Homework for
junior high students appears to reach the point of diminishing returns after about 90 minutes a night.
For high school students, the positive line continues to climb until between 90 minutes and 2.5 hours
of homework a night, after which returns diminish.”

Dr. Cooper’s conclusion — homework is important, but discretion can and should be used when
assigning it — addresses the valid concerns of homework critics. While the act of completing
homework has bene䎪ts in terms of developing good habits in students, homework must prove useful
for students so that they buy in to the process and complete their assignments. If students (or their
parents) feel homework is a useless component of their learning, they will skip it — and miss out on
the major bene䎪ts, content and otherwise, that homework has to o䎼綠er.

Continue reading — Ending the Homework Debate: Expert Advice on What Works
(/blog/news/ending-the-homework-debate-expert-advice-on-what-works/)

Monica Fuglei is a graduate of the University of Nebraska in Omaha and a current adjunct faculty
member of Arapahoe Community College in Colorado, where she teaches composition and creative
writing.

http://education.cu­portland.edu/blog/news/the­homework­debate­benefits­of­homework/ 2/4