What is the value of homework?

On October 7, 2017 By Patrick LarkinIn #IMMOOC, Alice Keeler, Homework, Uncategorized4 Comments

One topic that has been coming up during the community forums about the potential of a later start time for Burlington High School next year is homework. With this in mind, I thought I would share a clip from last week’s Innovator’s Mindset episode with Alice Keeler. Alice is a well-known math teacher and presenter from California who has changed her practice in regards to assigning homework to students.

In the clip, Alice also mentions John Hattie’s research on homework. Hattie is the Director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute. His research has gotten a lot of attention since the publication of his Visible Learning meta-study. I encourage you to watch Alice’s entire interview from last week and also to delve into the research that Hattie has done on the topic of homework.

What’s The Hold Up With Ditching Homework?

On March 28, 2016 By Patrick LarkinIn Homework2 Comments

This article originally appeared on my Edweek Blog Screen Shot 2016-03-25 at 1.50.36 PM.png

What would your perfect school or classroom look like? What are some of the age-old practices that you would revise or do away with? I am struck by the fact that despite overwhelming research that the elimination of certain practices would benefit students, we continue on with these “traditional” approaches. Maybe it’s just easier to maintain the status quo rather than spend the time and energy discussing changes to the way we have always done things. The main question for me is what do we have to lose? Or even better, what could we gain?

The first topic I would like to look at is homework. With close to 20 years of data telling us that there are no academic benefits to giving elementary students homework, there is no groundbreaking information here. A few articles over the last weeks have brought this topic back up in many school communities.

One of the pieces, Homework is wrecking our kids: The research is clear, let’s ban elementary homework by Heather Shumaker, first appeared in Salon earlier in March. The article references the efforts of Duke University Researcher Harris Cooper to go back through over 100 studies on the impact of homework that were conducted from the late 1980’s until 2006.

While the results of the research showed no impact on academic performance at the elementary level, the studies did find one area that homework impacted students in a significant way. Unfortunately this is a reference to the negative impact that homework had on the attitude of students toward school. Shumaker offers clear direction to school communities as to where we should focus our attention to best support the growth of the whole child.

“Non-academic priorities (good sleep, family relationships and active playtime) are vital for balance and well-being. They also directly impact a child’s memory, focus, behavior and learning potential. Elementary lessons are reinforced every day in school. After-school time is precious for the rest of the child.”

A School That Stopped Giving Homework

If you are looking for a concrete example of a school that has taken on the challenge of eliminating useless homework, look no further than the Cambridgeport School in Cambridge, MA. The efforts of Cambridgeport Principal Katie Charner-Laird were outlined on the Washington Post’s Answer Sheet blog in a post titled Principal: What happened when my school ended useless homework. After a review of Alfie Kohn’s The Homework Myth, Charnier-Ladd and her staff decided that they would step away from the old way of doing things and stop assigning nightly homework. Amazingly enough, meaningful learning outside of school increased in ways that many would not have imagined.

“I heard repeatedly from students, teachers, and parents about the significant, meaningful work they are doing at home. A fourth grader begged to take home his writing notebook on the third day of school so he could keep working on the story he had started in class. A class of fifth graders requested additional practice problems to take home with them. A father-daughter pair showed me the model they created of the setting of the book they were reading together…Our school may be giving less homework but we have more students engaged in more meaningful learning activities at home than ever before.”

Like Charnier-Ladd’s school, many of the schools that do away with traditional homework shift the focus to nightly reading for pleasure. While I know nightly reading for elementary students is not a new concept, I was struck by CNN segment last month that touched upon the impact that nightly reading had upon the brains of students. This is your child’s brain on reading discussed the following:

“The researchers saw that, when the young children were being told a story, a number of regions in the left part of the brain became active. These are the areas involved in understanding the meaning of words and concepts and also in memory.”

I am hoping that CNN (or someone) will do a follow up segment and call it This is your child’s brain on homework. But seriously, if we cannot come to an agreement as an entire school or community on reducing homework, why can’t we just have some classrooms pilot this practice? Let’s try it for a year and see if students who do not get traditional homework suffer academically when compared to their grade-level peers who do get nightly homework. At the same time, let’s be sure to document the types of learning/activities the students without traditional homework are doing outside of school. Really, what have we got to lose? More importantly, what will More importantly, what will we gain?!

Essential Learning Activities Should Be The Ultimate Goal

On January 3, 2014August 8, 2017 By Patrick LarkinIn Alfie Kohn, Education, Essential Learning, Homework, Scott McLeodLeave a comment

I caught the statement below from Lyn Hilt in the comment section of Scott McLeod’s post on whether or not parents should be allowed to have their children opt out of the use of technology in 1:1 settings.

“Here’s an idea, engage kids in essential learning activities at school, infuse the technology meaningfully, and let kids be kids and enjoy their lives outside of school by not assigning loads of homework. (And elementary kids? Zero homework.) If kids are so inclined, with their devices they can extend their thinking at home on their own time, but don’t make it mandatory… “

I’ve written several posts on homework in the past and I can’t help wondering what students would use their time for if they had the opportunity to “extend their thinking” on topics that they found most interesting. How much longer will we continue to ignore the research of Alfie Kohn surrounding homework? It has been nearly a decade since Kohn came to the following conclusions:

“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. Meanwhile, no study has ever substantiated the belief that homework builds character or teaches good study habits.”

I grow continually frustrated as I see my own students spending their time on so many low-level, rote tasks that really serve no essential purpose in preparing them for what they will face when it is time to prove that they have marketable skills that would be an asset to some organization. When they do find time to spend on some of the things that they are most interested in, I am amazed at some of the self-directed learning that they do in spite of the very traditional education they have had. I can only imagine what the possibilities would be if my kids spent six hours a day in learning environments that focused on the self-directed and collaborative skills that they need (and long for).

We need to change this cycle…

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Homework, Always A Hot Topic…

On June 17, 2013 By Patrick LarkinIn Homework, Kristen Swanson, Teach ThoughtLeave a comment

photo via http://www.flickr.com/photos/71443419@N00/6221553242/

As we approach the end of the school year, I have been looking back at some of the topics I have written about this year. One of the most popular topics (which I wrote about back in September) was homework.

Interestingly, I have also seen a few good posts on homework over the last week.
Last week Kristen Swanson posted The Great Homework Debate. She summed up the conversation quite nicely as follows:

“Homework is only a tool. It’s how we use (or misuse) homework that makes the difference. The three questions below can be helpful guides to determine if your homework is a force for good or evil:

AUTHENTIC: Would a student be required to do this task on personal time in real life?

All homework assignments should be authentic, or related to the requirements of real life. Some professions, such as general dentistry, don’t require any “take-home” work. However, orthodontists, architects, and editors have quite a bit of “take-home” work. Consider the professions related to the task you’re assigning. Would this task be done on personal time? If so, go ahead and assign it. If not, think twice. Be sure to communicate these connections to students; it will help them make more informed choices about their careers!

DELIBERATE: Does this task encourage students to engage in deliberate practice?

Deliberate practice requires you to design tasks that require specific and sustained efforts on individual areas of weakness. Have you identified a particular student’s weakness and targeted it through the assignment of the task? If so, go ahead and assign it. If your homework is monolithic and one-size-fits-all, then think twice.

ENGAGING: Would YOU be excited to complete this task?

Completing 50 rote math problems that look exactly the same doesn’t exactly inspire passion. Defining an arbitrary list of words doesn’t correlate with a love of reading and writing. Put simply, would you have the forbearance to complete the task you’ve just assigned? If not, don’t expect your students to be enthralled either! (Check out Nick Provenzano’s attempt to complete all the homework he assigned to students HERE.)

If your homework is authentic, deliberate, and engaging, then it’s likely a worthy tool within the educational program you’ve designed for students. Extending learning in safe, meaningful ways can help students accelerate their progress.”

Today, I came across Alternatives To Homework: A Chart For Teachers on Teach Thought. Check out the chart below.

Breaking News! No More Homework! (In France)

On October 18, 2012August 8, 2017 By Patrick LarkinIn Burlington Public Schools, Education Reform, Homework, Learning in Burlington, Ryan BretagLeave a comment

image via ristinaskybox.blogspot.com

In case you missed it French President Francois Hollande has vowed to eliminate homework for student in France as part of some sweeping education reforms he is proposing to lift France from its poor education ranking among countries in Europe. President Hollande was quoted as follows on his desire to eliminate homework in the New York Daily News:

“An education program is, by definition, a societal program. Work should be done at school, rather than at home.”

It will be interesting to see if the elimination of homework in France happens and how it impacts student learning. I cannot help wondering what would be lost if we eliminated homework across the board in American schools. I think Ryan Bretag’s great post, Two Questions about Homework, gets right to the heart of this issue.

Here are the two questions Ryan asks:

As a whole, would “achievement” drop if homework didn’t exist?
As a whole, would the joy of learning, living, & schooling increase if homework didn’t exist?

While the answer to the second question seems obvious, I would encourage classroom practitioners to give number one a try and find out for themselves.

We Have Some Work To Do On Homework…

On October 1, 2012August 8, 2017 By Patrick LarkinIn Alfie Kohn, Burlington Public Schools, Homework, John Spencer, Race To NowhereLeave a comment

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is my fourth post on subject of homework. The original post was prompted by reading some conversations on the topic that were taking place online and also some growing frustration with some of the homework I witnessed being assigned to my own kids. In addition, John Spencer had written a few thought-provoking posts on the topic and followed up with the creation of an open Facebook called Teachers and Parents Against Homework.

Since my initial post went up on this blog a week ago, there have been a number of comments written. I have also received feedback from a number of people both in person and via e-mail on their interest in pursuing this topic further. One parent’s comment (see below) sums things up well.

I am happy to bring forward this matter to the School Committee and formulate a plan so that we can discuss our homework practices in Burlington and see if there is a need to set focused guidelines on the assigning of homework. While I know that this work will be difficult due to the fact that so many people have strong opinions on the matter, I feel the task will be mad easier if we utilize the resources that are available from others who have had these discussions before us.

As a perfect lead in to a discussion of this in our school community, I want to share a great post on the topic that was written by Chris Wejr, a Principal in Agassiz, British Columbia. The post titled Homework Why’s and Homework-Wise provides a summary of the discussion that took place at his school in October 2010 as well as links to a number of great resources on the topic of homework. Thanks to Chris for allowing me to share the post below in its entirety.

“…the more we learn about learning, the more willing we may be to challenge the idea that homework has to be part of schooling”

Alfie Kohn

I remember my days in school when the bell would ring and the teacher would blurt out the homework for the next day. This work did very little to increase my learning and it often left me arguing with my mother, who happened to be a teacher, at the kitchen table about how to do the work correctly.

Lately I have seen a few blogs, newspaper articles, and journal articles (see below for links) questioning the purpose and practice of homework: Why do some teachers give homework and others do not? Why is homework given as a blanket assignment in which each child is given the same homework? What is effective homework? How much homework?

These questions, along with many others, led our staff (K-6) to discuss this topic at our last staff meeting. Here is a summary of our dialogue on the issue of homework:

The teaching and learning of the specific outcomes should happen at school – with students, teachers, and staff to support. According to the research by Alfie Kohn, “there is no evidence that any amount of homework improves the academic performance of elementary students.” Students should not be sent home with homework that relies on parents, family members or tutors to provide instruction. If the student is not learning this at school, who do we expect to teach it? We also need to keep in mind that not all students have someone that can help them at home – how does homework benefit these students?
Homework should be meaningful, relevant, and engaging. Students need to feel like they will benefit from the learning and feel they have ownership of the assignment. Student input about assignments can lead to a view that this is their learning, rather than the teacher’s assigned work to be done. Provide CHOICE; there are many ways that students can practice and/or demonstrate learning.
Homework should be differentiated. We all agreed that the time per day rules/policies (ie. 20 minutes/day for grade 2, 30 min/day for grade 3, etc) do very little to support the individual students. A learning activity that takes one student 10 minutes may take another student 30 minutes. Each student requires learning that is catered to their needs – homework should be differentiated just as it is done during school.
Homework should be flexible. Family time and play time are so important for students at any age! If a child is involved in activities on certain days and only has a small amount of time with the family that day, maybe homework can be given on a different day. Again, the learning activities need to keep the individual student in mind and we must respect students’ time. Is homework even necessary that day/week?
Homework should not be part of the grade. Although grades are a topic for another post, one of the worst things we can do to a students is grade them on their learning at home (or worse, give them zeros for not completing homework). Reflect on how much parent involvement there is and how this impacts the homework and learning. Is a student going home to an environment that supports homework or is the student leaving school to look after his/her younger siblings or go to a part-time job to help support their family? Homework must be designed to support learning; the assessment OF learning needs to take place in class when the teacher is there to support.
Reflect on the purpose of homework. If the students understands the learning outcomes, why do they need to spend more time on material they already understand; if the student does not understand the learning outcomes, how do we expect them to learn it at home? Is the homework “busy work” (ie. worksheets with 40 math questions, argh!) or is it going to actually enhance their learning? Is the particular assignment the BEST way to help the student learn? Is it necessary? Is this homework more important than being active and spending time with the family?

In addition, we often hear teachers and parents say that homework helps students to understand that in order to get ahead in the “real world”, you must do more and take responsibility for more. If we are relying on homework as the main way to teach responsibility, we are in trouble. Again, if a student goes home and has a parent that ensures their homework gets done, is the homework teaching them responsibility? What about the responsibility to spend time with and help friends and family or serve a purpose in the community? I agree that students should be responsible for their learning but in order to do this, we have to give them responsibility through voice and ownership; this can happen throughout the day and not just with homework.

So what can we, as parents and educators, do about the idea of homework? I think Kohn sums it up nicely,

It strikes me as curious on the face of it that children are given additional assignments to be completed at home after they’ve spent most of the day in school – and even more curious that almost everyone takes this fact for granted. Even those who witness the unpleasant effects of homework on children and families rarely question it.

I believe it is time that we all begin to question it.

Research/Links:

Homework Lady C. Vatterott
Abusing Research: The Study of Homework and Other Examples A. Kohn
The Truth About Homework A. Kohn
Rethinking Homework A. Kohn
Homework is killing our kids’ joy in education J. Ferry
More Teachers Flexing Around Homework E. Anderssen

Rethinking Homework J. Spencer

The Great Homework Debate: Does It Ever End? R. Collins
What Homework Should Be B. Kuhn
The Destructive Forces of Homework J. Bower
The 5 Hallmarks of Good Homework C. Vatterott
Show Us What Homework’s For K. Cushman
Homework Done Right J. Alleman, et al.
The Case Against Homework S. Bennett/N. Kalish

Homework Lady – by Cathy Vatterott

Homework is killing our kids’ joy in education – by John Ferry (Vancouver Province Newspaper)

More Teachers Flexing Around Homework – by Erin Anderssen (Globe and Mail)

Abusing Research: The Study of Homework and Other Examples – by Alfie Kohn

The Truth About Homework – by Alfie Kohn

Rethinking Homework – by Alfie Kohn

Rethinking Homework – by John Spencer

The Great Homework Debate: Does It Ever End? – by Remi Collins

What Homework Should Be – by Brian Kuhn

The 5 Hallmarks of Good Homework – by Cathy Vatterott (Educational Leadership Journal)

Show Us What Homework’s For – by Kathleen Cushman (Educational Leadership Journal)

Homework Done Right – by Janet Alleman, et al.

The Case Against Homework – by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish

The Homework Discussion Continues With Thoughts From B.C.

On September 28, 2012 By Patrick LarkinIn Alfie Kohn, Burlington Public Schools, David Truss, HomeworkLeave a comment

Photo via psychologytoday.com

It has been great reading the feedback on the post I wrote a few days back titled “How Necessary is Homework?” If you haven’t had a chance to read the post and the comments, I hope you’ll take a moment to read it and then add your opinion on the issue. It is imperative that we have open discussions about topics like this that have such a great impact on our students and that we review our practices to ensure that they are accomplishing the outcomes we desired.

Another positive of having this discussion in a web-based setting has been the fact that we have gotten feedback from people in other parts of the world who have had these same discussions. We are truly fortunate to live in a day and age where this type of sharing can take place so easily.

David Truss

One of the links shared came courtesy of David Truss, a school administrator from British Columbia. David shared a post he wrote back in April of 2011 titled “Homework.” I love how he handled the topic of homework when he was a classroom teacher:

“As a math teacher, my first lessons were not about Math they were about life. I wrote this formula on the board:

Equal is not equal to fair.

Sometimes certain students didn’t get homework, or they got alternate homework. Some didn’t write the pre-tests, some only did every other question, some only had to do 5 questions, some had to do them all. It’s not fair to give 3 students the same number of questions when one student is bored to death by them, one can do them in 20 minutes and still another student will struggle with them unsuccessfully for an hour… it would be equal, but not fair.”

The differentiation of homework amounts as described by David is definitely something that needs to be looked at closely. I encourage you to read the entire post here and I look forward to reviewing some of the other links on the topic of homework that David cited, including one from Alfie Kohn, one of the most well known advocates for less/no homework.

I hope people will continue to share their thoughts and links to relevant material on this topic.

Healthy Homework Guidelines (Video)

On September 25, 2012 By Patrick LarkinIn Alfie Kohn, Burlington Public Schools, Homework, Race To NowhereLeave a comment

The video above starts with Alfie Kohn stating, “Homework may be the greatest single extinguisher of children’s curiosity that we have yet invented.“

Whether you agree or not with this powerful statement, the video above from Reel Link Films, the producers of Race To Nowhere, is worth checking out in reference to the discussion on the assigning of homework. The video discusses the Healthy Homework Guidelines that have been developed. Check them out below.

1. HOMEWORK SHOULD ADVANCE A SPIRIT OF LEARNING

Educators at all grade levels should assign homework only when:

Such assignments demonstrably advance a spirit of learning, curiosity and inquiry among students.

Such assignments demonstrably provide a unique learning opportunity or experience that cannot be had within the confines of the school setting or school day.

Such assignments are not intended to enhance rote skill rehearsal or mastery. Rehearsal and repetition assignments should be completed within the confines of the school day, if they are required at all.

Such assignments are not intended as a disciplinary or punitive measure, nor as a means of fostering competition among or assessment of students.

2. HOMEWORK SHOULD BE STUDENT-DIRECTED

Educators at all grade levels, but particularly in elementary and middle grades, should limit take-home assignments to:

At-home reading chosen by the student.

Project-based work chosen by the student.

Experiential learning that integrates the student’s existing interests and family commitments.

Work that can be completed without the assistance of a sibling, caregiver or parent.

3. HOMEWORK SHOULD PROMOTE A BALANCED SCHEDULE

Educators at all grade levels should avoid assigning or requiring homework:

On non-school nights, including weekends, school holidays, or winter or summer breaks.

On the nights of major or all-school events, concerts, or sports activities.

When a child is sick or absent from school.

When it conflicts with a child’s parental, family, religious or community obligations.

How Necessary Is Homework? Join the Conversation

On September 24, 2012 By Patrick LarkinIn Homework, John Spencer, Race To NowhereLeave a comment

Photo via http://survivorpediatrics.wordpress.com/

Here’s an excerpt from his post:

I’ve written before about my belief that homework is far more destructive than constructive. I don’t think it increases learning, adds to motivation or develops a strong work ethic. For a long time, I assigned homework out of a sense that I was “supposed to.” I never questioned it as a practice. After getting rid of it, I remained quiet on the topic. After watching my sons lose necessary playtime and learning time to do extra-duty schoolwork (mostly packets), I grew more vocal.

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Category: Homework