Is the solution to more "quality time" at home less homework? The article starts off with a mother who thinks her family life is suffering because of homework, but then points out that she may be the exception, rather than the rule:
Most mornings, the Shurtz kids gather around their Clearfield breakfast table for a few minutes of reading and discussion about religion, relationships, even sex. Rena Shurtz says it's the only time she and her five teenagers can study subjects she believes are just as important as the sometimes-voluminous amounts of English, math and science homework that fill their evenings...
Shurtz is hardly the only parent who thinks an increasing glut of homework is suffocating students and squeezing out family time. But she's hardly the norm, and according to a recent study, she may be the exception rather than the rule.
A 2003 study by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based research group, found that homework levels have remained relatively flat since the 1980s...the study also found that most students, including high-schoolers, spend less than an hour a day on homework...
Some of the more vocal complainers are students enrolled in AP classes, but one research sensibly points out that no one's twisting their arms:
"At the high school level, what you're talking about is a degree of choice," [Duke University research professor Harris Cooper] says. "The students who take five honors and AP courses ought to be doing so in full recognition that they're going to be doing five hours of homework a night."
And for those who doubt the value of homework at the early grades, think again. Research suggests a positive correlation between standardized test scores and increased homework time as students age.
A good rule of thumb, Cooper says, is 10 minutes of homework per day, per grade level. For example, an average third-grader should do 30 minutes a night, an average sixth-grader an hour and a 12th-grader two hours.
Students who do this much work are not only helping to boost their K12 grades, but are also learning important self-discipline for college. And one school has invited parents in to help them help their kids:
That's why third-grade teacher Jamin Burton launched a weekly homework night -- for parents.
The Spanish-speaking teacher at Beehive Elementary in Kearns recognized that parents of his non-English-speaking students struggled to help them with their reading, spelling and math assignments. So on Tuesday nights, he invites parents to his classroom for a 90-minute session to go over homework and other difficulties they may have with English.
Posted by kswygert at March 22, 2004 12:54 PM