Homework Ban Policies: Overview

Introduction

For more than a century, educators have considered homework an important educational component to reinforce concepts learned in the classroom. And for nearly as long, journalists, parents, and educators have debated the value of homework and questioned whether students are overburdened by increasing workloads outside the classroom. Research provides mixed conclusions, particularly for younger students: some studies report a positive relationship between homework and academic success, while others show no direct correlation. Still others suggest that the stress from too much homework can lead to physical and mental distress for students and their families. And while media anecdotes suggest that student homework burdens have increased significantly in the twenty-first century, data on this topic is similarly inconclusive.

In response to this debate, some schools are banning homework entirely, particularly for students in the younger grades. Others insist that homework is a vital component of the education process and encourage teachers to focus on quality over quantity.

Understanding the Discussion

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP): A standardized test administered by the US federal government (specifically the National Center for Education Statistics) that collects group-level data about US students' knowledge in various academic subjects at different grade levels.

National Education Association (NEA): A nationwide US professional organization comprising primary, secondary, andpostsecondary educators, education support staff, and administrators.

National Parent Teacher Association (PTA): A nationwide US organization that works with families and communities to advocate on behalf of school-age children.

History

The debate over whether to assign homework to students—and if so, how much—has persisted since the turn of the twentieth century. As early as January 1900, editor Edward Bok argued in the popular magazine Ladies' Home Journal that homework damaged children's physical and mental health. Although this concern faded from popular media during the 1920s, the discussion continued to surface every few decades.

The subject was revived at the turn of the twenty-first century, when magazines such as Newsweek, Time, and People started publishing stories about students suffering through multiple hours of homework per night. The articles profiled students and their families under stress due to homework burdens, and encouraged parents to push back against the perceived excess of work assigned to their children.

However, researchers' responses to these reports varied significantly. Some criticized the misleading nature of these articles, arguing that the data did not support the claims made. For example, a 2003 study conducted by the Brookings Institution and the RAND Corporation found that on average, about two-thirds of US high school students completed less than one hour of homework per night. The study further concluded that this amount had not increased significantly during the preceding twenty years. Researchers argue that, while the experiences of individual overburdened students might be real, they do not represent a broader trend among US schools.

But other researchers hesitate to dismiss such anecdotal reports as outliers and instead criticize the study methodology. For example, University of Arizona researcher Etta Kralovec observes that the RAND study used data gathered from a question on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test, which asked students how much homework they completed the previous night. Kralovec explains that most teachers intentionally assign little to no homework the night before a standardized test to ensure that students are well-rested for optimal performance, so these numbers may not accurately reflect a typical night of homework.

Researchers generally agree that homework increased significantly for students in kindergarten through second grade during the late 1900s and early 2000s. Furthermore, most research concludes that this increase had a neutral or negative correlation with academic performance. In an effort to keep homework levels effective and age-appropriate, the National Education Association (NEA) and National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) recommends ten to twenty minutes of homework per night for first-graders and an additional ten minutes per night for each grade level thereafter. Neither organization recommends homework for children in kindergarten. However, a 2015 study published in the American Journal of Family Therapy showed that the youngest students were often doing more homework than recommended by these guidelines—an average of twenty-eight minutes per night for first-graders, and twenty-nine minutes per night for second graders. And despite the recommendation for no homework, kindergarteners were doing an average of twenty-five minutes of homework per night.

This conflicting research led to debates over whether homework should be assigned at all, particularly in the lower grades, and professional opinions on homework bans vary significantly. On one side, experts argue that student performance and attitudes toward learning in classrooms improves when no homework is assigned. By contrast, other researchers argue that homework provides benefits that are not easily measurable by a survey and may not have immediately obvious benefits, such as time-management skills.

Even parents have mixed opinions on homework bans. While some welcome the freedom to engage in more open-ended activities, others worry that the lack of homework may cause their children to fall behind their more studious peers. Researcher Harris Cooper of Duke University observes that the most affluent school districts also tend to assign the most homework, suggesting that parental pressure for children to be competitive for elite university admission might contribute to the excess of assigned homework. A 2014 study conducted at Stanford University supports this idea, finding that high school students in ten high-performing schools in affluent California neighborhoods completed an average of more than three hours of homework per night—significantly more than reported by the RAND study. But while more homework correlated to higher academic engagement, it also correlated to higher stress levels and health problems, and 56 percent of the surveyed students said homework was the biggest source of stress in their lives.

The debate over how much homework is appropriate, particularly for younger students, is complicated by conflicting evidence as well as conflicting interpretations of the collected data. In the meantime, some school districts and individual teachers have tried to address the issue by involving students and their families. For example, in 2010, the Davis Joint Unified School District in northern California collected data from students and parents on homework's impact on life outside the classroom. The district already limited nightly homework time to match the National PTA and NEA's recommendations, but sought additional information to determine whether even this amount negatively affected students and their families, warranting a policy adjustment.

In 2016, several teachers and schools took this idea even further, making headlines for completely banning homework in their classrooms. In August 2016, Texas teacher Brandy Young banned homework for her second-grade class. She shared her decision in a letter sent to parents at the beginning of the school year, explaining that “research has been unable to prove that homework improves student performance.” She instead asked that students spend their evenings engaging in activities that “are proven to correlate with student success,” such as eating dinner with their families, reading together, and going to bed early.

One month later, Kelly Elementary School in Holyoke, Massachusetts, banned homework for the entire school, from kindergarten through grade 8. Principal Jackie Glasheen explained that school administrators wanted students to “engage with their families, talk about their school days and go to bed.” Kelly Elementary School consistently places among the lowest standardized testing scores in the state, and teachers initially argued that the students needed homework to reinforce the concepts taught in class. In response, the district extended the school day by two hours: instead of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., students began attending school from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

As growing research pointed to the benefits of playing and relaxing after school over completing homework, especially among younger students, more homework bans or policies limiting homework were adopted by US school districts during the 2010s. For example, schools in Ridgefield, Connecticut, instituted nightly time limits on homework for most students as well as homework bans on weekends and vacations. In Louisiana, the Lafayette Parish school district implemented a new policy in 2018 in which teachers were banned from grading homework at all grade levels. Still other districts, such as Marion County Public Schools in Florida, created policies that told teachers to stop assigning “meaningless homework,” placing emphasis instead on assignments such as nightly reading.

Policies banning or restricting homework became even more popular during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which closed many schools across the US in 2020 and 2021. The increased stress around school closures and remote learning led more schools to adapt their homework policies. Remote and hybrid learning arrangements also made attendance and homework completion difficult or impossible for students who lacked internet or computer access at home, underscoring the country's digital divide. Concerns over familial stressors and students' mental health, varying degrees of parent availability and support, and vastly increased screentime for students were other reasons educators cited for skipping homework.

Alternatives to traditional letter or numerical grades, such as pass/fail grading and so-called equitable grading, became more common. Equitable grading practices typically assess only summative work, such as essays and tests, but not classroom behavior, timeliness, or completed practice work, such as homework, in determining a final grade.

Homework Ban Today

As generative artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, such as ChatGPT, began to proliferate in late 2022, students turned to it for shortcuts on homework assignments. This further complicated the debate over whether to assign homework, what to assign, and what its purpose is. While some schools sought to ban generative AI from homework or devoted more classroom time to student assignments, other educators saw this development as further opportunity to teach new technological skills and reimagine homework.

The debate over banning or restricting homework has also spread internationally. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported in 2014 that lower scores on its standardized, Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), were associated with more time spent on homework. Poland made headlines a decade later when it banned homework for all students under age nine and made it optional for nine- to fourteen-year-olds.

Critics and skeptics of homework question not only the purpose, effectiveness, and equity of homework as an educational tool, but also the deeper issues of how instructional time should be spent and how mastery should be assessed. Supporters of homework continue to emphasize its utility in teaching organization, self-discipline, and accountability, and have called for new approaches to homework assignments. Some cite the ongoing feedback of graded homework as essential to learning and an accurate sense of one's competency. Still others claim homework bans disadvantage all students but especially those who lack educational support or resources at home. Some parents have expressed concerns that homework bans could further stress families as they seek ways to occupy children, increase screentime for children, and lead to reduced parental awareness of classroom learning.

In the end, researchers contend that whether homework is beneficial, neutral, or detrimental for students depends on what the homework is meant to achieve. But as students, parents, and teachers across the nation and around the world have different goals, objectives, and measures of success, the debate continues.

These essays and any opinions, information, or representations contained therein are the creation of the particular author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of EBSCO Information Services.

Bibliography

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