The Case for Quality Homework: Why it improves learning, and how parents can help - Edu... - 0 views
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John Evans on 17 Dec 18"Any parent who has battled with a child over homework night after night has to wonder: Do those math worksheets and book reports really make a difference to a student's long-term success? Or is homework just a headache-another distraction from family time and downtime, already diminished by the likes of music and dance lessons, sports practices, and part-time jobs? Allison, a mother of two middle-school girls from an affluent Boston suburb, describes a frenetic afterschool scenario: "My girls do gymnastics a few days a week, so homework happens for my 6th grader after gymnastics, at 6:30 p.m. She doesn't get to bed until 9. My 8th grader does her homework immediately after school, up until gymnastics. She eats dinner at 9:15 and then goes to bed, unless there is more homework to do, in which case she'll get to bed around 10." The girls miss out on sleep, and weeknight family dinners are tough to swing. Parental concerns about their children's homework loads are nothing new. Debates over the merits of homework-tasks that teachers ask students to complete during non-instructional time-have ebbed and flowed since the late 19th century, and today its value is again being scrutinized and weighed against possible negative impacts on family life and children's well-being."
