The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students' views on homework.
Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.
Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.
"The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students' advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being," Pope wrote.
Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.
Their study found that too much homework is associated with:
: 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.
: In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.
: Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were "not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills," according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.
The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.
Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as "pointless" or "mindless" in order to keep their grades up.
"This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points," said Pope, who is also a co-founder of , a nonprofit organization affiliated with the GSE that conducts research and works with schools and parents to improve students' educational experiences..
Pope said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.
"Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development," wrote Pope.
In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. "Young people are spending more time alone," they wrote, "which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities."
The researchers say that while their open-ended or "self-reporting" methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for "typical adolescent complaining" – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.
The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.
___
.
Brooke Donald, Communications Manager, Stanford Graduate School of Education: 650-721-1402, | to our monthly newsletter
|
© Stanford Graduate School of Education | 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA 94305-3096 | (650) 723-2109 |
List of study locations.
Photo | Place | Library | Open/Closed | Features | Reserve this space |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Whiteboard, Large table (70 x 96 in.), Quiet | |||||
Large table (70 x 96 in.), Quiet | |||||
Quiet, Natural light, Soft seating | |||||
Monitor, Large table (70 x 96 in.), High resolution scanner, Natural light, Multimedia station | |||||
GIS station, Multimedia station, Natural light, Monitor | |||||
Conversation space, Monitor, Whiteboard, Natural light | |||||
Monitor, Whiteboard, Natural light, Conversation space | |||||
Scanner, Monitor, Natural light, Soft seating | |||||
Quiet, Natural light, Soft seating | |||||
Quiet, Monitor, Large table (70 x 96 in.) | |||||
Large monitor (30 x 55 in.), Whiteboard, Conversation space | |||||
Large monitor (30 x 55 in.), Large table (70 x 96 in.), Whiteboard, Conversation space | |||||
Conversation space, Whiteboard, Large monitor (30 x 55 in.) | |||||
Large monitor (30 x 55 in.), Whiteboard, Conversation space, Large table (70 x 96 in.) | |||||
Large monitor (30 x 55 in.), Large table (70 x 96 in.), Conversation space, Whiteboard | |||||
Large monitor (30 x 55 in.), Large table (70 x 96 in.), Whiteboard, Conversation space | |||||
Conversation space, Large monitor (30 x 55 in.), Whiteboard | |||||
Conversation space, Large monitor (30 x 55 in.), Whiteboard | |||||
Natural light, Large table (70 x 96 in.), Conversation space, Whiteboard | |||||
Large monitor (30 x 55 in.), Whiteboard, Conversation space | |||||
Conversation space, Large table (70 x 96 in.), Monitor, Natural light, Soft seating, Whiteboard | |||||
Soft seating, Monitor, Quiet, Natural light, Large table (70 x 96 in.), High resolution scanner | |||||
Monitor, Soft seating, Large table (70 x 96 in.), Natural light, Quiet | |||||
Multimedia station, Natural light, Quiet, Scanner, Soft seating | |||||
Individual study carrels, Large table (70 x 96 in.), Natural light, Quiet, Soft seating | |||||
GIS station, Individual study carrels, Large table (70 x 96 in.), Monitor, Quiet, Soft seating | |||||
High resolution scanner, Large table (70 x 96 in.), Monitor, Natural light, Quiet | |||||
High resolution scanner, Monitor, Natural light, Quiet, Scanner, Soft seating | |||||
Large table (70 x 96 in.), Whiteboard, Quiet | |||||
Quiet, Whiteboard | |||||
Monitor, Natural light, Quiet, Soft seating | |||||
Large table (70 x 96 in.), Large monitor (30 x 55 in.), Natural light, Quiet |
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Denise Pope, Stanford Graduate School of Education: (650) 725-7412, [email protected] Clifton B. Parker, Stanford News Service: (650) 725-0224, [email protected] Subscribe to Stanford Report
Stanford educator Denise Pope finds that quality is more important than quantity when it comes to evaluating homework assignments for K-12 students. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero) The quality of a ...
In 2013, research conducted at Stanford University found that students in high-achieving communities who spend too much time on homework experience more stress, physical health problems, a lack of ...
This study used survey data to examine relations among homework, student well-being, and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper middle class communities. Results indicated that students in these schools average more than 3 hr of homework per night.
In the Stanford Report story about the research, Denise Pope, a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of the study published in the Journal of Experimental Education, says, "Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good." The study was ...
For students at competitive high schools in upper middle-class areas, homework may be a double-edged sword. The authors of a study published in the peer-refereed Journal of Experimental Education concluded that, on the one hand, heavy homework loads and associated pressure to achieve in these schools are providing the students with "the skills required to get ahead in a competitive ...
Stanford professors develop and use an AI teaching tool that can provide feedback on students' homework assignments in university-level coding courses, a previously laborious and time-consuming ...
Stanford University issued the following news release: A Stanford researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter. "Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good," wrote Denise ...
In a study led by Denise Pope, senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, researchers found that excessive homework proved detrimental to student well-being and engagement. The ...
students get older, homework shows an increasing trend in how much it affects the student's learning. One important study revealed that "the average high school student in a class doing homework would outperform 75% of the students in a no-homework class. In junior high school, the average homework effect was half this magnitude.
A Stanford education researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter. "Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good," wrote Denise Pope, a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a
A Stanford researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter. ... Their study found that too ...
Educators often treat homework as a Goldilocks problem. Grounded in the belief that homework is ... Challenge Success is a non-profit organization affiliated with the Stanford University Graduate School of Education. We partner with schools, families, and communities to embrace a broad definition of success and ... their study of nearly 5,000 ...
Stanford conducted a study surveying over 4,300 students in 10 high performing high schools in California. More than 70% of the students said they were "often or always stressed over schoolwork," with 56% claiming that homework was the main stressor. ... The study argues that homework should have a purpose and benefit, which should be to ...
The quality of a homework assignment is important to student achievement, says Stanford Graduate School of Education senior lecturer Denise Pope. But the devil is in the details, according to Pope, who recently published a book that included research on the subject. "The quality of the homework assignment and whether or not students find it meaningful can have a significant
Homework can affect both students' physical and mental health. According to a study by Stanford University, 56 per cent of students considered homework a primary source of stress. Too much homework can result in lack of sleep, headaches, exhaustion and weight loss. Excessive homework can also result in poor eating habits, with families ...
A new study found that too much homework is bad for children's health. Researchers at Stanford say hitting the books for three or more hours a night won't necessarily make a child perform ...
Denise Pope, a senior lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-leader of the Stanford homework study, says homework that qualifies as busy work — an assignment given merely as routine practice or policy — discourages learning and can cause students to feel as though their efforts are pointless.
In 2014, research at Stanford University found that too much homework can have a negative impact on children. Homework can help to establish a routine and to develop independent learning skills ...
Conducted by Denise Pope, a senior lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Education and a published author in the "Journal of Experimental Education", research has found students experience more stress, more physical health problems, a lack of balance and even social isolation when assigned too much homework. The research used a sample of 4,317 students...
Students often fail to see the point of their homework assignments—and that's a problem, says Denise Pope, Senior Lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Education. "A lot of them think it's busy work or meaningless. If you have a lot and don't see the purpose of it, you're not going to do it well.". In this episode of School's ...
representative sample of American adults aged 25 to 74 years old. The study was approved by Stanford University's Institutional Review Board, and informed consent was obtained from all survey participants. We used Prolific (www. prolific.co) to recruit an online sample of 1700 individuals between age 25 and 74 who were currently living in the
A Stanford education researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter. ... Their study found that too much homework is associated with: • Greater stress: 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according ...
Last week Treasa O'Loughlin, a mother of three from Cashel, Co Tipperary, was so busy at work that she didn't have time to help her six-year-old daughter complete her homework on time.
Features: GIS station, Individual study carrels, Large table (70 x 96 in.), Monitor, Quiet, Soft seating