HOMEWORK:  QUANTITY

RESEARCH FINDING:

Student  achievement rises significantly when teachers  regularly 
assign homework and students conscientiously do it.

COMMENT:

Extra  studying  helps children at all levels  of  ability.   One 
research  study reveals that when low-ability students do just  1 
to  3 hours of homework a week,  their grades are usually as high 
as  those  of average-ability students who do  not  do  homework.  
Similarly,  when  average-ability  students  do 3 to 5  hours  of 
homework a week, their grades usually equal those of high-ability 
students who do no homework.

Homework boosts achievement because the total time spent studying 
influences how much is learned.   Low-achieving high school  stu-
dents study less than high achievers and do less homework.   Time 
is  not the only ingredient of learning,   but without it  little 
can be achieved.


Teachers,  parents,  and students determine how much, how useful, 
and how good the homework is.   On average, American teachers say 
they  assign about 10 hours of homework each week--about 2  hours 
per school day.  But high school seniors report they spend only 4 
to 5 hours a week doing homework, and 10 percent say they do none 
at  all or have none assigned.   In contrast,  students in  Japan 
spend about twice as much time studying outside school as  Ameri-
can students. 


Coleman,  J. S., Hoffer, T., and Kilgore, S. (l982).  High School 
Achievement:  Public, Catholic and Private Schools Compared.  New 
York:  Basic Books.

Keith,  T.  Z.  (April  l982).   "Time Spent on Homework and High 
School Grades:  A Large-Sample Path Analysis."  Journal of Educa-
tional Psychology, Vol. 74, No. 2, pp. 248-253.

National Center for Education Statistics.  (April l983).   School 
District Survey of Academic Requirements and Achievement.   Wash-
ington, D.C.:  U.S. Department of Education, Fast Response Survey 
Systems.  ERIC Document No. ED 238097.

Rohlen,  T.  P.  (l983).   Japan's High Schools.   Berkeley,  CA:  
University of California Press.
                                                            
Walberg,  H. J. (l984).  "Improving the Productivity of America's 
Schools."  Educational Leadership, Vol. 4l, No. 8, pp. l9-36.