Homework for young children: Is it worthwhile?

© 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved

Is homework for immature children helpful? Some schools assign homework to kids as immature every bit v or half-dozen. Only there isn't any compelling, scientific evidence in favor of the practice. Here'south a disquisitional look at the research — and the difficulties that homework can pose for families.

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Should teachers assign homework to preschoolers? Kindergartners? First graders? 2d graders?

You might remember the very question is outlandish. You might not have heard that homework for young children is a affair. But it is a matter.

In a survey of more than than 2700 kindergarten teachers – all working in the United States circa 2010 – 40% said they believed that "homework should be given to kindergarten children nigh every 24-hour interval" (Bassok et al 2016).

And the homework can be substantial. In a recent survey of nearly 1200 families living in Rhode Isle, researchers asked parents how much homework their children were getting. The answers?

The average kindergartner was sitting through 25 minutes a night. First and second graders were averaging approximately 28 minutes per night.

The researchers in this report were dumbfounded. They had expected to hear that some 1st graders and 2nd graders were getting homework. Only the amount took them by surprise.

And kindergartners? The researchers didn't remember kindergartners should exist getting any homework at all.

In their paper, the researchers note that the average homework session – 25 minutes each day – "may be both taxing for the parents and overwhelming for the children." The researchers besides warn that homework can displace important developmental experiences:

"[I]due north a period of life when children are focused on early stages of socialization and finessing motor skills, we anticipate that an overload of homework volition likely interfere with a kindergarten-anile child's power to play and participate in extra-curricular activities" (Pressman et al 2015).

The same concerns utilize to older children every bit well.

In an online essay for Edutopia,2nd grade teacher Jacqueline Fiorentino notes that homework "causes a lot of stress and fighting in most families." Information technology has the potential to turn young children against school. And kids "are are losing precious costless fourth dimension that could be used to engage in play and group activities similar organized sports, music lessons, and clubs."

What happens when nosotros give that free time dorsum to children? Fiorentino eliminated mandatory homework, and her kids flourished. They actually started doing more – using that extra time "to explore subjects and topics of interest to them."

With free time, free option, and encouragement, kids enthusiastically devoted themselves to voluntary projects, and shared the results at school.

Tell me most information technology

Fiorentino'southward feel will probably resonate with many parents – parents who know there is more at stake than misspent fourth dimension. Homework tin too accept a serious emotional toll on families.

Young children don't complete their homework by themselves. They need help. Coaching. Intense supervision. Do parents take the time and skills to provide this? What if a child resists? What if the child is too tired, too restless, too distracted to concentrate?

A child'due south abilities after school aren't the aforementioned as a kid's abilities before in the day.

At school, kids do piece of work in the context of a lesson plan. They accept the firsthand support of a teacher. Their minds are relatively fresh and ready to perform.

At home, kids have to begin their work outside the context of a lesson plan. The instructor who assigned the work isn't at that place to interpret or answer questions. And the child has already spent 5-7 hours at school. It's harder to focus.

So I'm not surprised to see opens in a new windowTeaching Week reporting that some kindergartners are taking an 60 minutes to exercise their homework. Personally, I've seen starting time graders coping with even longer assignments. Homework can become an ordeal, creating conflict, bad feelings, and family stress (Pressman et al 2015).

How does this happen? Why are teachers assigning and then much?

I'm guessing that they don't realize how long their assignments volition accept. They may be misled by their experiences in the classroom, and presume that kids will complete homework assignments as quickly as they complete classroom work.

But whatever the cause, one thing is clear: Homework comes with a downside. And whenever a selection comes with costs, we need to inquire ourselves if the benefits outweigh the costs.

What does the enquiry tell us?

Surprisingly petty.

In fact, if you dig into the research, it'south clear that studies don't justify homework for young children.

To meet what I mean, consider first what a skilful study ought to look similar. How can science help us make up one's mind the furnishings of homework on young children?

The best way is to conduct a controlled experiment.

What experiments need to prove — but don't

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To design a rigorous experiment, we randomly assign kids to i of two treatments: homework and no homework. And we need to make sure that – except for homework – the groups are otherwise similar.

Are kids roughly the same historic period? Do they come from similar socioeconomic backgrounds? If some kids take attention problems or learning disabilities, are they equally represented in both groups?

Fifty-fifty randomized experiments can end up with inequality between groups — especially if we are dealing with small sample sizes. So it's of import to check for disparities.

Information technology'due south as well important to make certain each grouping is starting the written report with similar levels of background knowledge and academic training.

For example, if I want to examination the effectiveness of homework for learning new words, I need to know if both groups brainstorm with similar noesis of those words. If I want to test the effectiveness of math homework, I need to know if both groups outset with similar levels of math proficiency.

Thus, nosotros should exam kids before the report begins (to understand their baseline academic skills) and and so re-examination them at the end.

This will aid united states to determine if homework itself — and not pre-existing differences betwixt students — is responsible for any group differences in outcome.

In addition, we must be mindful of the way groups are treated during the course of the experiment.

Are their classroom experiences like? Is the quality of teaching the same? Are kids exposed to the aforementioned lesson plans? The same instructional techniques?

If our groups feel dissimilar atmospheric condition in the classroom, this could influence the results. One grouping might outperform another because information technology had a more effective teacher. Or engaged in more effective classroom learning activities.

And so we should take intendance to control for these sources of variation too. Otherwise we'll exist left scratching our heads. How much of the outcome was acquired by classroom differences, and how much by homework?

Another crucial piece of the puzzle is the homework itself.

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Homework tin can have a multifariousness of forms, and it's a sure bet not all forms of homework accept the same effects.

Is it an open-concluded essay, or a series of multiple choice reading comprehension questions? Is information technology a worksheet of arithmetic drills, or a single, thought-provoking story problem? Is information technology handwriting practise? A family game? An independent research project? Is it an consignment to create artwork? Prepare a speech? Engage with some interactive educational software?

An experiment might signal that, say, after-school sessions with a specific mathematics learning app is helpful. But that wouldn't tell u.s. that kids also benefit from writing after-schoolhouse essays about whether cats are better than dogs.

Information technology'due south too obvious that the frequency, difficulty, and amount of homework could touch outcomes.

And then we need to keep track of what, exactly, homework consists of. Nosotros also need to know how often homework is assigned, and how long it takes kids to complete.

All of these steps should exist par for the form. If we had a number of such well-designed studies, we might be able to make some inferences. But has anyone ever washed it?

As far as I can tell, no such rigorous, experimental study has ever been published in a peer-reviewed periodical. Not for simple school students. And certainly not for the youngest children.

When Harris Cooper and his colleagues searched for experimental tests of homework, the researchers identified just iv studies that targeted unproblematic schoolhouse students (Cooper et al 2006).

All four studies were unpublished. Two were very modest — comparing outcomes in just two classrooms. And none of them met the criteria mentioned in a higher place.

For example, in a study of 2d graders, the written report author compared children enrolled in two different classrooms. One grade received homework and the other did non (Finstad 1987).

At the end of the report, kids in the homework class performed ameliorate on a mathematics test about place value. But the study was small (39 students full), and kids weren't randomly assigned to their classes.

Moreover, the written report author didn't provide information about the homework itself. We don't know how much work there was, how frequently it was assigned, how long it took children to complete (Cooper et al 2006).

As the report author herself noted, the results merited "further study on a larger scale" (Finstad 1987).

And nosotros tin can say the same about the remaining 3 studies.

• A small-scale written report of 3rd graders doesn't appear to accept controlled for pre-existing differences between the two classrooms being tested (Townsend 1995).

• Another study, of 5th graders, failed to command for the furnishings of different teachers (Foyle 1999).

• The final study, of 3rd and 4th graders, failed to find any differences betwixt classrooms assigned to either the homework or no-homework weather condition. And when the researcher tried looking for prove of improvement in individual children, the results were mixed: The homework had a negative event on achievement on 3rd graders, but a positive outcome on 4th graders (Meloy 1987).

So there is no ringing endorsement for homework here, and no data at all provided nearly kindergartners and 1st graders. At best, the evidence is ambiguous, weak, and contradictory.

What about other kinds of research? Non-experimental enquiry?

There is another way to study homework. What if we simply look for correlations in the everyday world? Run across if in that location are whatever links betwixt homework and academic outcomes? Practise kids who happen to do homework perform better in schoolhouse?

A number of studies take taken the correlational approach. But in one case once more, the results leave us mostly in the dark.

In 2006, Harris Cooper and his colleagues performed a meta-assay of existing correlational studies. They didn't find whatsoever substantial links between homework and achievement among elementary schoolhouse students (Cooper et al 2006).

More recently, researchers have re-examined the evidence – including a few, new unpublished studies – and found evidence that ane particular measure of homework is correlated with school performance: Kids who routinely plow in their homework tend to perform better academically (Fan et al 2017).

A like trend was reported past Castilian researchers in a peer-reviewed written report of ix- to thirteen-year-olds (Valle et al 2006).

Simply these studies present serious interpretive problems.

• Merely a few studies concern elementary schoolhouse students (as opposed to secondary school students). I tin observe only one study (a written report of 1st graders) that addresses very young school children.

• The bear witness is mixed, and some of the positive links come from studies with very pocket-size sample sizes.

• Correlation doesn't prove causation.

This last indicate is probably the most important.

Homework completion might be correlated with measures of superior academic accomplishment, but that doesn't prove that homework completion makes kids more knowledgeable or skilled.

Children who complete their assigned homework don't represent a random sample of the population. They probably have — on average — stronger academic skills. It's easier for them to keep up.

In addition, they may tend to be more compliant in the classroom, or discover the school work more engaging. They're more likely to have academic back up at domicile.

All of these factors could contribute to better school grades and college test scores. Then even if homework weren't helpful, nosotros'd look to meet homework completion linked with higher achievement.

Of all the correlational research I've seen, only one study — dissertation inquiry presented at an educational conference — seems to take student characteristics into account. Tracking 143 students in the 3rd grade, researchers plant that kids who completed math homework tended score higher on last mathematics tests, even afterward accounting for prior test scores, socioeconomic condition, and personal attitudes about homework (Pelletier and Normore 2007).

This is promising. But I can't tell from the conference proceedings what kind(southward) of homework were assigned, or how much time kids spent on homework. Information technology's also unclear how applicative the results are to younger children, like kindergartners. We need more research to address these questions.

So — overall — the correlational evidence isn't very helpful. Especially when it comes to prescribing homework assignments to children in the primeval grades.

What about the advantages of "spaced learning"? Oasis't researchers found that we larn improve when our learning sessions are spaced apart in time? Doesn't this suggest that homework is a skilful affair?

I've seen this argument on the cyberspace. The reasoning runs like this:

1. Experiments show that learning improves when learning sessions are spaced autonomously in time;
2. homework allows us to schedule learning sessions in the afternoon or evening, therefore
3. homework allows kids to enjoy the benefits of learning sessions that are spaced apart in time.

What'southward incorrect with this argument?

Information technology's true that experiments support the advantages of spaced learning.

But what is the optimal spacing between learning sessions for young children? Nosotros don't even so know.

As I volition note in an upcoming post, some researchers are interested in this question. But they haven't notwithstanding found answers that would support after-school learning sessions.

On the opposite, 1 study found that 1st and 2d graders learned the most nearly a biology topic when they received no more than one brief lesson per day (Vlach and Sandhofer 2012).

That doesn't bear witness that homework is detrimental. But it's clear that nosotros need more than inquiry before we can draw any conclusions.

Future studies may show that spaced learning is actually evidence against homework – not for it.

But hang on. This isn't proof that homework can't be helpful. Might futurity research written report new discoveries? Reveal that sure types of homework really do contribute to higher achievement?

opens Paradigm file

Perhaps.

Nosotros know that young children benefit from play. They learn when they voluntarily and enthusiastically immerse themselves in their ain, educational hobbies.

What if we blueprint homework that feels similar play? Assignments that are fun, brief,  age-appropriate, and attuned to the attention spans of children who've already spent the day at school?

Maybe it'due south possible to create homework that even kindergartners will savour and do good from. Peradventure, for example, we'll observe out that near kids thrive when they spend a few minutes each day using certain well-designed, game-like, afterwards-schoolhouse educational apps.

But no matter what nosotros notice in the future, we will have to attend to the details.

If a study reports that 5th graders benefit from 20 minutes of math homework each night, we shouldn't assume that the same would exist true for 1st graders.

Nor should we assume that all forms of math homework would be as constructive, fifty-fifty amongst 5th graders. Inquiry suggests that some forms of homework are better than others. Some have have been linked with superior examination performance. Others have really been linked with losses in test functioning.

And no matter what nosotros larn most achievement outcomes, we'll need to reckon the costs equally well as the benefits.

It won't be enough to show that doing homework helps little kids score a few extra points on a test. Nosotros will also accept to show that – on residual – the positives outweigh the negatives.

Meanwhile, I similar the approach taken by Jacqueline Fiorentino. Give young children free fourth dimension, and encourage them to follow their interests. Assistance parents support independent exploration at dwelling. Don't ask parents to play the role of homework cop. Don't ready families up for conflict and stress.

It seems to piece of work in Republic of finland, a country that produces some of the well-nigh high-achieving students in the earth. Kids don't begin uncomplicated school until the age of 7, and they don't normally receive homework until they are teenagers (Anderson 2011).

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More reading

Are you looking for information most valuable developmental activities? Come across my Parenting Science articles most the benefits of practice and outdoor play. In addition, check out my pages nearly fostering cognitive development in children.

For more than data well-nigh developmental limitations on a immature child's ability to concentrate, see my commodity about opens in a new windowworking memory in children.

And if yous're interested in the debate about homework, check out the writings of Alfie Kohn. He is a former teacher and well-known critic of homework. He doesn't only oppose homework for young children. He thinks schools should eliminate homework for older kids, too.

You can read about his ideas in his book, The Homework Myth. (Full disclosure: If you lot buy the book using this link, I volition receive minor committee.)

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References: Is homework for young children justified?

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Pelletier R and Normore AH. 2007. The predictive power of homework assignments on student achievement in mathematics. In S. Yard. Nielsen & M. South. Plakhotnik (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th Annual Higher of Pedagogy Inquiry Briefing: Urban and International Education Department (pp. 84-89). Miami: Florida International Academy. http://coeweb.fiu.edu/research_conference/

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Rueda MR, Posner MI, and Rothbart MK. 2004. Attentional control and cocky-regulation. In R. F. Baumeister & Grand. D. Vohs (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications (pp. 283-300). New York: Guilford Printing.

Townsend S. 1995. The furnishings of vocabulary homework on 3rd grade achievement. (Master'due south thesis, Kean College of New Bailiwick of jersey, 1995). (ERIC No. ED379643).

Valle A, Regueiro B, Núñez JC, Rodríguez Due south, Piñeiro I, Rosário P. 2016. Academic Goals, Student Homework Appointment, and Academic Achievement in Elementary School. Front Psychol. 7:463.

Vlach HA, Sandhofer CM. 2012. Distributing learning over time: the spacing issue in children's acquisition and generalization of scientific discipline concepts. Child Dev. 83(4):1137-44.

Title paradigm of daughter with pencil by opens in a new windowND Strupler / flickr

Image of brothers laughing by opens in a new windowmarco antonio torres / flickr

Blackness and white image of girl on the floor with homework sail by opens in a new windowSteve Depolo / flickr

Image of boys at computers Independence opens in a new windowLearning Eatables / flickr

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