Section 1: Academic Achievement - National Center for School ...

strategies that students could use to help them work independently on homework. In addition,
I wanted to give parent’s helpful hints and tips on how they could help their children do their
homework. The study also provided teachers with a protocol to follow when sending
homework assignments home. It also provided teachers with helpful tips to make homework
more beneficially for families.
Homework has been a part of students’ lives since the beginning of formal schooling in the
United States. The practice of homework, however, has always been debated by educators and
parents because of the positive and negative effects on children’s learning and attitudes
toward school. This causes homework to either be accepted or rejected.
Harris Cooper and Russell Gersten prepared a document for the U.S. Department of
Education on 100 years of homework. It stated that in the early 20 th century the mind was
viewed as a muscle that could be strengthened through mental exercise. Since exercise could
be done at home, homework was viewed favorably. In the 1940’s the shift went from
memorization to problem solving. Homework fell out of favor because it was closely linked
with the repetition of material. In the 50’s, Americans worried that education lacked rigor and
left children unprepared for the new technologies, such as computers. Many believed
homework could speed up the learning. In the 60’s and 70’s, educators and parents became
concerned that homework was crowding out social experiences. In the 1980’s and 90’s,
homework again came back into favor. Homework was pushed due to the rising academic
standards.
So the question remains the same throughout the years; to do or not to do homework?
Homework does have many benefits for young children. It serves as reinforcement for what is
taught in the classroom. This helps students realize that learning doesn’t stop when they leave
the classroom walls or when the school bell rings. It can teach them that learning takes place
anywhere. Homework can foster independence and responsibility. Doing homework everyday
at the same time helps develop this responsibility and prepares children for upper grade
expectations and adult responsibilities. It can also teach children to manage time. For many
students there is a sense of accomplishment. They take pride in homework assignments that
are a sign of a job well done.
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