HOMEWORKDOES IT INCREASE STUDENT

ACHIEVEMENT?

By: Carmen SerranoSocial Studies, JFK Teacher

• FOR YEARS AMERICANS HAVE BEEN CONCERNED ABOUT FALLING BEHIND IN EDUCATION AND THEY MAY HAVE BEEN CORRECT IN DOING SO.

• IN A RECENT REPORT BY THE ANNIE E. CASEY FOUNDATION, ONE OUT OF THREE STUDENTS SCORED "BELOW BASIC" ON THE 2009 NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATION PROGRESS (NAEP) READING TEST. EVEN MORE ALARMING IS THE FACT THAT MORE THAN 67 PERCENT OF ALL US FOURTH GRADERS SCORED "BELOW PROFICIENT,"

• AMERICAN STUDENTS RANKED 25TH IN MATH, 17TH IN SCIENCE AND 14TH IN READING.

• THE UNITED STATES PLACES 17TH IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD FOR EDUCATION, ACCORDING TO A GLOBAL REPORT BY EDUCATION FIRM PEARSON (2007).

WHY HOMEWORK HAS BECOME SO CONTROVERSIAL?

• SOVIET UNION LAUNCHED SPUTNIK CAUSED THE UNITED STATES TO FOCUS ON EDUCATION, ESPECIALLY IN THE AREAS OF SCIENCE AND MATH (NELSON 2007).

• A NATION AT RISK WAS PUBLISHED, AND IT CRITICIZED UNITED STATES EDUCATION, CALLING IT MEDIOCRE (U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, 1983).

• NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND LEGISLATION WAS IMPLEMENTED TO SECURE ALL CHILDREN’S EDUCATION (PL 107-110, 2001).

• HOMEWORK HAS BECOME A COMMON AND WELL-KNOWN STUDENT DAILY ROUTINE (COOPER, ROBINSON, & PATALL, 2006).

• DOES HOMEWORK REALLY HELP STUDENTS INCREASE THEIR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE?

• DO STUDIES SHOW A LINK BETWEEN HOMEWORK AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT?

• THERE IS VERY LITTLE CORRELATION BETWEEN HOMEWORK AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT (COOPER, 2006).

• KOHN (2006) ARGUES THAT NONE OF THE RESEARCH SHOWS A CONNECTION BETWEEN HOMEWORK AND INDEPENDENT THINKING. (KOHN, 2006).

• SO WHY DO TEACHERS CONTINUE TO GIVE HOMEWORK?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY• COLLECTING HOMEWORK BECAME FRUSTRATING!!!!

• IS HOMEWORK A MAJOR COMPONENT OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT?

• AM I FAILING TO PROMOTE HIGH ACADEMIC STANDARDS BY NOT GIVING HOMEWORK?

• WILL ASSIGNING HOMEWORK HELP THEM UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT BETTER?

• IS MY IMPLEMENTATION OF HOMEWORK CORRECT? AM I ASSIGNING THE RIGHT WORK?

• DOES HOMEWORK HELP INCREASE THEIR CRITICAL THINKING SKILL?

• THE PURPOSE OF THIS ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT IS TO IMPROVE MY EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES AND DETERMINE IF USING HOMEWORK BENEFITS STUDENT LEARNING.

• TO DETERMINE IF ASSESSMENT RESULTS ARE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT AMONG STUDENTS WHO WERE GIVEN HOMEWORK AND STUDENTS WHO WERE NOT GIVEN HOMEWORK.

• THE POTENTIAL OF LEADING TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES ON HOMEWORK IMPLEMENTATION.

RESEARCH QUESTION

• 1. WHAT ARE THE STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS CONCERNING HOMEWORK?

• 2. HOW DOES HOMEWORK IMPACT STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT?

SIGNIFICANCE

• THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS STUDY IS TO GAIN INSIGHT AS TO WHETHER HOMEWORK ACTUALLY HELPS INCREASE STUDENT LEARNING.

• HOMEWORK CONTRIBUTES TO THE CORPORATE STYLE AND COMPETITIVE CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES (KRALOVEC AND BUELL, 2000)

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF HOMEWORK?

• BUTLER (1987) STATES THAT HOMEWORK SHOULD BE ACTIVITIES THAT REINFORCE LEARNING, PROVIDE PRACTICE, AND ALLOW STUDENTS TO APPLY NEW LEARNED SKILLS.

• COOPER (2007) DEFINES HOMEWORK AS "TASKS ASSIGNED TO STUDENTS BY SCHOOL TEACHERS THAT ARE INTENDED TO BE CARRIED OUT DURING NON-SCHOOL HOURS” (P. 4).

• HOMEWORK SHOULD BE FUN, AND RELATED TO LIFE SKILLS (KOHN, 2006)

• HOMEWORK HELPS STUDENTS DEVELOP SELF-DISCIPLINE, RESPONSIBILITY, AND GOOD HABITS AND ATTITUDES (PAULU, 1995).

PERCEPTION OF HOMEWORK• MORE THAN 80% OF TEACHERS AND

77% OF STUDENTS AFFIRMED THAT HOMEWORK IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THEM; APPROXIMATELY 90% OF TEACHERS AND PARENTS AND 69% OF STUDENTS BELIEVED THAT HOMEWORK HELPED STUDENTS LEARN MORE IN SCHOOL (MARKOW, KIM, AND LIEBMAN 2007)

• ONLY 10% OF PARENTS BELIEVED THAT THEIR CHILDREN HAD TOO MUCH, WHILE 25% BELIEVED THEY HAD TOO LITTLE, AND 64% OF PARENTS BELIEVED THEIR CHILDREN HAD ABOUT THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF HOMEWORK (GILL & SCHLOSSMAN, 2003

LITERATURE REVIEWADVANTAGE OF HOMEWORK

• HOMEWORK INCREASES LEARNING AND, THEREFORE, SHOULD BE CONTINUED AND MODIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT WHEN NECESSARY (MARZANO & PICKERING, 2007).

•

• HOMEWORK ENHANCES CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION, CONNECTS FUTURE LESSONS, BOOSTS FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS, AND ADDS TO THE STUDENT’S INTEREST IN LEARNING (ALLEMAN, 2010).

ADVANTAGE OF HOMEWORK• STUDENTS REMEMBER ONLY 50% OF THE INFORMATION. THUS,

HOMEWORK WILL REINFORCE OR HELP STUDENTS APPLY THAT INFORMATION (KURUTS, 2006).

• THERE IS A POSITIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE AMOUNT OF HOMEWORK GIVEN AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT. (BEMPECHAT, 2004)

• SINCE 1962, OUT OF 20 STUDIES DONE, 14 ARE PRO-HOMEWORK ; OUT OF 50 STUDIES, 43 SHOWED STUDENTS WHO DID THEIR HOMEWORK IMPROVED IN THEIR ACHIEVEMENT (COOPER, 2000).

• ALSO NOTED THAT STUDENTS WHO DO HOMEWORK WILL OUTPERFORM STUDENTS WHO DO NOT DO HOMEWORK BY 69% ON A STANDARDIZED TEST. COOPER (2000)

• ALSO SHOWS THAT THE POSITIVE CORRELATION IS MUCH STRONGER FOR SECONDARY STUDENTS THAN ELEMENTARY STUDENTS (COOPER, 2006)

• HOMEWORK COMPLETION SIGNIFICANTLY INFLUENCES STUDENT’S SELF-REGULATORY BEHAVIOR AND MOTIVATIONAL BELIEFS, AND THAT HOMEWORK IMPROVES STUDENTS’ SELF-EFFICACY AND INSTILLS RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS THEIR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT (BEMBENUTTY, 2009)

• HOMEWORK FOSTERS SELF-REGULATION SKILLS, IT ALLOWS STUDENTS TO PRACTICE BEHAVIOR SUCH AS PLANNING, ORGANIZATION, OVERCOMING OBSTACLES, PERSISTENCE AND STAYING ON TASK (XU, M., BENSON, S.N.K., MUDREY-CAMINO, R., & STEINER, R. P., 2010)

• DUKE UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS HAVE REVIEWED MORE THAN 60 RESEARCH STUDIES ON HOMEWORK BETWEEN 1987 AND 2003 AND CONCLUDED THAT HOMEWORK DOES HAVE A POSITIVE EFFECT ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT.

• DURHAM, N.C. 2013, DUKE UNIVERSITY

LITERATURE REVIEWDISADVANTAGE OF HOMEWORK

• RECENTLY, HOMEWORK HAS BECOME “A SOURCE OF COMPLAINT AND FRICTION BETWEEN HOME AND SCHOOL MORE OFTEN THAN OTHER TEACHING ACTIVITIES” (COOPER, 2001 P. IX).

• TEACHERS LACK THE SKILLS TO DESIGN HOMEWORK THAT ACTUALLY BENEFITS THE STUDENT’S LEARNING (COOPER, 2007).

• REVIEW OF 60 STUDIES NOTED THAT TOO MUCH HOMEWORK MAY REDUCE THE EFFECT OF HOMEWORK OR MAY EVEN BECOME A HINDRANCE TO STUDENT LEARNING (COOPER, 2007)

LITERATURE REVIEWDISADVANTAGE OF HOMEWORK

• IF THERE IS A CORRELATION BETWEEN HOMEWORK AND ACHIEVEMENT, IT IS NOT SUFFICIENT ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY THAT CONCLUSION AND THAT SEVERAL FACTORS SURROUNDING HOMEWORK AND ACHIEVEMENT NEED TO BE CONSIDERED (KOHN, 2006)

• HOMEWORK SEEMS TO BE TAKING OVER SOME OF THE TIME MEANT TO BE FOR SOCIALIZATION. (KOHN, 2006).

• FOUND CONTRADICTING RESEARCH STUDIES—THAT SHOWED HOMEWORK DOES BENEFIT LEARNING WHILE OTHER RESEARCHERS ARGUED THAT IT DOES NOT (KOHN, 2006)

• HOWEVER, SOME EDUCATORS BELIEVE THAT HOMEWORK IS INEFFECTUAL AND EVEN HARMFUL TO LEARNING AND SHOULD BE BANNED (KOHN, 2006).

DISADVANTAGE OF HOMEWORK• 4 OUT OF 10 PARENTS POLLED BELIEVED THAT

MOST OF THE HOMEWORK GIVEN WAS MERELY BUSYWORK (PAUL, 2011)

• TOO MUCH HOMEWORK CAN BE HARMFUL TO A CHILD’S HEALTH AND FAMILY TIME (BENNET & KALISH 2006, P. 53).

• CAUTIONED TEACHERS NOT TO GIVE TOO MUCH HOMEWORK BECAUSE THIS MAY DIMINISH ITS’ EFFECTIVENESS OR EVEN BECOME COUNTERPRODUCTIVE (COOPER, ROBINSON, AND PATALL, (2006)

• HOMEWORK SHOULD NOT BE GIVEN TOO OFTEN, BUT WHEN IT IS GIVEN, THEN IT SHOULD BE REALISTIC IN LENGTH AND THE DIFFICULTY SHOULD BE BASED ON STUDENTS’ SKILL LEVEL.( GOOD AND BROPHY ,2003)

• CLAIM THAT HOMEWORK CAN BE HARMFUL TO STUDENT’S WELL-BEING WHEN TEACHERS ARE NOT TRAINED IN HOW TO ASSIGN HOMEWORK. THE AUTHORS RECOMMEND REDUCING THE AMOUNT OF HOMEWORK GIVEN, DESIGNING MORE VALUABLE ASSIGNMENTS, AND AVOIDING GIVING HOMEWORK DURING HOLIDAYS OR BREAKS (BENNET AND KALISH, 2006)

• HOMEWORK IS “FORCED LABOR.” TEACHERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO EVERYTHING INSIDE THE CLASSROOM (SCHNURMACHER, 2012).

• PRINCIPAL BANNED HOMEWORK IN HIS SCHOOL AND NOTED THAT EXCELLENT TEACHING DOES NOT REQUIRED HOURS OF HOMEWORK (NELSON, 2007).

• REPORTED THAT ONE QUARTER OF STUDENTS FINISH HOMEWORK ONLY SOMETIMES, RARELY, OR NEVER (MARKOW ET AL. (2007)

• CONDUCTED A STUDY ON ALTERNATIVE HIGH SCHOOLS AND WERE AMAZED TO DISCOVER THAT HOMEWORK WAS ONE OF THE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS THAT CAUSED STUDENTS TO DROP OUT OF SCHOOL. (KRALOVEC AND BUELL’S, 2000)

• SUGGEST THAT POLICYMAKERS SHOULD LOOK INTO THE QUALITY OF HOMEWORK BEING ASSIGNED IN ORDER TO MAKE HOMEWORK PRACTICES EFFECTIVE (BAKER AND LE TENDRE, 2005)

• COOPER ET. AL., (2006) NOTE THAT SINCE HOMEWORK HAS BOTH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES, A NEED FOR CONTINUED RESEARCH IS NECESSARY.

METHODOLOGY• RESEARCH SETTING

• THIS STUDY WILL TAKE PLACE AT A PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL IN SCHOOL YEAR 2013-2014.

• THE SCHOOL USES A BLOCK SCHEDULE FORMAT WITH ALTERNATING PERIODS EACH DAY. STUDENTS TAKE THREE 100-MINUTES CLASSES PER DAY.

• THE PARTICIPANTS OF THIS STUDY WILL BE STUDENTS IN MY U. S. HISTORY CLASS (N=130).

• THE CLASSES CHOSEN FOR THE STUDY WILL BE CALLED CLASS A AND CLASS B. CLASS A WILL BE PERIOD 1 AND 3, WHILE CLASS B WILL BE PERIOD 2, 4, AND 6. CLASS A WILL BE NOT BE GIVEN HOMEWORK AND CLASS B WILL BE GIVEN HOMEWORK.

• CONSENT FORMS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED FOR STUDENTS AND PARENTS TO SIGN. THE STUDENTS WHO RETURN THE CONSENT FORMED WITH SIGNATURES WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE STUDY.

• INTERVENTION

• DAY’S LESSONS USING LECTURES AND POWER POINT PRESENTATIONS

• GROUP B WILL RECEIVE HOMEWORK

• ALL GROUPS WILL RECEIVE QUIZZES

• DATA COLLECTION

• I WILL USE MY GRADE BOOK AS ONE FORM OF COLLECTING MY DATA.

• I WILL SURVEY STUDENTS AT THE END OF THE PROJECT

THANK YOU!

• COOPER POINTED OUT THAT THERE ARE LIMITATIONS TO CURRENT RESEARCH ON HOMEWORK. FOR INSTANCE, LITTLE RESEARCH HAS BEEN DONE TO ASSESS WHETHER A STUDENT'S RACE, SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS OR ABILITY LEVEL AFFECTS THE IMPORTANCE OF HOMEWORK IN HIS OR HER ACHIEVEMENT.

• HOMEWORK 'BRIDGES THE GAP BETWEEN LEARNING AT SCHOOL AND LEARNING AT HOME' AND SHOULD THEREFORE BE CONSISTENT WITH AND CONNECTED TO THE LEARNING EXPERIENCES BEING PROVIDED IN THE CLASSROOM. AS WELL AS EMPHASIZING CURRICULUM RELEVANCE, SCHOOL HOMEWORK POLICIES SHOULD ENSURE THAT HOMEWORK

• IS APPROPRIATE FOR EACH STUDENT'S AGE AND ABILITY

• TAKES INTO ACCOUNT STUDENTS' OTHER COMMITMENTS, SUCH AS SPORT, PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT AND HOME RESPONSIBILITIES

• TAKES INTO ACCOUNT TECHNOLOGY SUCH AS EMAIL AND THE INTERNET SO THAT STUDENTS WITHOUT ACCESS ARE NOT DISADVANTAGED.