Homework

At its basic level, homework consists of tasks assigned to students by school teachers that are meant to be carried out during nonschool hours. In most schools across the nation, the daily assignment of homework is as predictable an event as the afternoon dismissal bell. Yet this deeply rooted and quite ordinary aspect of children's schooling is fraught with controversy over its purpose and benefits. Whereas teachers, parents, and even students agree that homework should play some role in schooling, both the amount assigned and the time students should be expected to devote to schoolwork after school remain vexing issues. Research on the extent to which homework boosts academic achievement has yielded contradictory findings, and this has served to fuel the recent anti-homework movement of the 1990s. Fortunately, methodological advances in data analysis, as well as theoretical advances in social cognition, have allowed for a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of the effects homework on students' learning and motivation.

Studying the impact of homework on academic achievement may seem relatively straightforward, but it is, in fact, multifaceted. According to the model proposed by Harris Cooper, a prominent researcher of homework, the effectiveness of homework varies as a function of (a) exogenous variables (student grade, subject matter, motivation), (b) assignment characteristics (e.g., amount and purpose of homework), (c) classroom factors (e.g., available resources), (d) home-community factors (e.g., whether students have space and materials), and (e) classroom follow-up factors (e.g., teacher feedback). The effects of homework on achievement can be measured [Page 495]through grades received or on the basis of whether an assignment is completed at all. Such outcomes can be positive or negative, assessed in the short or long term, and can include nonacademic factors, such as whether students are developing more efficient study skills or are experiencing less leisure time. Viewed in this light, the study of homework emerges as rather complex, and the research literature reflects this complexity.

This entry provides an overview of the current state of researchers' knowledge on the benefits of homework, both academically and motivationally. In addition, this entry describes the historical and contemporary context around the practice of homework, considers the relationship between homework and school achievement, addresses motivation in learning—and more specifically, the literature on the relationship between children's beliefs about learning and their school achievement—and examines research on the relationship between homework and motivation.