The homework conundrum: Quality or quantity?

“Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to assigning homework to students, experts say. “The point is not about the ‘right number of minutes,’” said Joyce Epstein, a professor and co-director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University School of Education. Research suggests that educators should work toward better homework, not more homework, Epstein said. Teachers need to connect homework to big-picture learning goals and show students the purpose it fulfills beyond busywork, said Denise Pope, senior lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Education. In addition, they should offer extremely clear instructions and differentiate as much as possible. “You probably don’t want to be grading homework, and never use it as a form of assessment,” she said. Debunking the fixed-time rule The concept of 10 minutes per grade level per night for homework is not based on strong research, said Katie Newhouse, a professor and director of special education programs at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. As a ballpark, Newhouse said, she recommends about 60 to 90 minutes total for high school students, or about 20 to 30 minutes per subject, and “maybe not every subject has homework every night.” For younger students, Newhouse suggests 30 to 60 minutes tops. “For that age group, it’s more about finding ways to understand what they’re learning,” she said. The 10 minute-per-grade idea is an extrapolation of a study that said two hours per night was the maximum likely to produce benefits for high school seniors, Pope said. And there’s certainly something to the idea that younger children should have less, she said. But there isn’t much research tying homework to efficacy or achievement, she said, adding, “It should be developmentally appropriate, things kids can do on their own.” Epstein, who along with colleagues has developed a program called Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork , said many educators don’t pay enough attention to the fact that struggling middle and high school students stop doing homework “because it does not interest them or they think it will not help them.” “A fixed-time rule is not wise," Epstein said. Instead, she said "good design and understanding of children’s needs, abilities and talents" all need to come into play. She added: “There is not one way to assign homework. Rules just make for the same assignments over and over again — which can get boring.” Accounting for inequities in students’ lives Pope, who co-wrote a 2020 white paper on features that make homework effective and helped create a 2024 guide for teachers about homework , agreed there is no right answer about time-on-task. She added that it’s difficult to research this — in part because that would require students or parents to keep logs and factor out time spent, for example, texting with friends or being otherwise distracted while doing homework. The amount of homework assigned should take into account inequities in students’ lives, or the fact that older students might have an after-school job or have to care for younger siblings while parents are at work, Newhouse said. She suggested a “flipped classroom” approach where work is assigned for classtime, with students asked to watch lectures at home. Or, Newhouse said, assignments could be made on Monday to be due on Friday — enabling students to pace themselves — with daily check-ins to ensure progress. “There’s autonomy around 'this is the deadline,' which is connected to how the world can be,” she said. Also speaking to potential inequities among students, Pope said not every student has a quiet place to do homework, or tools like rulers, computers or working internet available. In addition, high school students may work an after-school job until late at night, "and then they’re coming home and starting their homework,” she said. “This is where I get really nervous when people say, ‘Homework is 10% of your grade.’”

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