Kids today are overwhelmed!" A parent recently wrote in an email to GreatSchools.org "My first-grade son was required to research a significant person from history and write a paper of at least two pages about the person, with a bibliography. How can he be expected to do that by himself? He just started to learn to read and write a couple of months ago. Schools are pushing too hard and expecting too much from kids" (Wilde, 2011). However, the homework paradigm affects more than just the student -- it affects parents, teachers, caregivers, and any secondary programs (sports, music, etc.) that children participate in. Some studies show that students are not, on average, doing significantly more homework now than in the past; while others say that there are far more "things" to learn, more avenues of learning, and with standardized testing, a greater push to complete a curriculum at a faster pace.

According to the Brown Center Report on American Education, American students have one of the lightest homework loads in the world; on average about 1 hour per day. Fully 50% of all U.S. students in Elementary and Middle School have no homework at all. This same research says that about 65% of American parents do not think there is too much homework given (Brown Center, 2003).

Why then, is there a conundrum and such disagreement about the subject of homework and assessment? Many find that the battle over homework is one of the things that differentiate a hierarchy in education -- from the privileged to the poor. At one end, we tend to see higher income parents who push their children into college preparatory, test prep, and other advanced courses; overscheduling their sporting and music events in between -- all so they will look fantastic when they apply to college. On the other hand, inner city teachers work tirelessly, often without adequate textbooks and materials, just to find any learning opportunities. We do not really have a national education system that has parity -- some students probably do have too much homework -- some not enough (Lahey, 2012).

Clearly, there are cases in which some students are simply overwhelmed. One student reported up to 13 hours a day...

From a psychological standpoint, this is counterproductive to the educational experience. but, this is not the norm, and there are certainly three things that can be done to help alleviate this experience:
Talk with the teacher and the school -- find out the reasons for excessive homework. Is the child not doing work in class? Or is the classwork too far advanced for that student?

Educate and converse with the teacher about the individual student -- teachers want students to succeed, not fail -- the teacher may be unaware that the student is taking 3-4 hours nightly to finish a worksheet?

Create dialog and allies within the system by working with other parents, the PTA, and the administration to find a win-win scenario (Winch, 2010).

Continual and mindful assessments are an important part of the learning experience. In curriculums that are increasing in complexity and detail, assessment is the only way that the student, parent, and teacher will be on the same page for understanding progress. Homework is part of that assessment too, as well, but should be mitigated for age, appropriateness, and content.

REFERENCES

Ainsworth, L. And Viegut, D. (2006). Common Formative Assessments. Thousand Oaks:

Sage/Corwin Press.

Brown Center for Education. (2003). Do Students Have Too Much Homework?

Brookings Institution. Retrieved from: http://www.brookings.edu/gs/brown/20031001.pdf

Kralovec, E. And Buell, J. (2011). The End of Homework. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Lahey, J. (March 6, 2012). The Destructive "Too Much Homework" Myth. The New

York Times. Retrieved from: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/the-destructive-too-much-homework-myth/

Wilde, M. (2011). Do Our Kids Have Too Much Homework? GreatSchools.org.

Retrieved from: http://www.greatschools.org/students/homework-help/251-homework-is-too-much.gs

Winch, G. (2010). How Much Homework is Too Much? Psychology Today. Retrieved from: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-squeaky-wheel/201110/how-much-homework-is-too-much