Another type of study compares homework to in-class supervised study. Overall, the positive relationship is about half as strong as in the first type of study. When homework and in-class study were compared in elementary schools, in-class study proved superior.
Further children get in their school careers, the more homework becomes a benefit to them. Before third grade, most children cannot learn outside lessons from their homework. They can do it and understand what they do, but they cannot fully apply it. As students start to read to learn, a love of reading becomes essential. Younger students, however, do most of their learning by playing and exploring the world around them. Small amounts of homework benefit students at this age, as long as it does not interfere with their exploration of the world.
Within the body of correlational research, some studies report a positive homework-achievement connection, some a negative relationship, and yet others show no relationship at all. Researchers point to a number of possible factors, such as developmental issues related to how young children learn, different goals that teachers have for do my homework younger as compared to older students, and how researchers define homework. In some middle-class and affluent communities, where pressure on students to achieve can be fierce, yes. Many low-income parents value homework as an important connection to the school and the curriculum—even as their children report receiving little homework.
The guideline doesn’t account for students who may need to spend more—or less—time on assignments. In class, teachers can make adjustments to support struggling students, but at home, an assignment that takes one student 30 minutes to complete may take another twice as much time—often for reasons beyond their control. And homework can widen the achievement gap, putting students from low-income households and students with learning disabilities at a disadvantage. People still remain with the thought that homework should still be given out, because there’s an assumption that the students will be benefited with the work. One of the biggest reasons being that it provides learning, which it is the whole purpose of the kids attending school.
But for the 21 percent of the school-age population who live in poverty—nearly 11 million students ages 5–17—homework is one tool that can help narrow the achievement gap. Yet research shows that low-income parents who are unable to assist with homework are far from passive in their children’s learning, and they do help foster scholastic performance. In fact, parental help with homework is not a necessary component for school success.
More specifically, homework tasks should make efficient use of student time and have a clear purpose connected to what they are learning. An artistic rendition of a period in history that would take hours to complete can become instead a diary entry in the voice of an individual from that era. By allowing a measure of choice and autonomy in homework, teachers foster in their students a sense of ownership, which bolsters their investment in the work. Home-school partnerships have succeeded in engaging parents with homework and significantly improving their children’s academic achievement. For example, Joyce Epstein of Johns Hopkins University has developed the TIPS model , which embraces homework as an integral part of family time.
One of the positive effects of homework is that it forces decision making and compromises to be made. However, when we look at the research that focuses on the link between homework and academic achievement we see that homework does in fact have a positive impact on students’ grades. Sharp (2002) states there is a direct link between students spending time on homework and their achievement in secondary school.