Does homework affect student learning?
The homework debate has often focused on how and why homework affects students’ learning and achievement scores. The problem with this focus is the lack of consistent results. Kralovec and Buell (2001) proposed that the public’s belief in the effectiveness of homework is based on three homework myths: Myth 1: Homework increases academic achievement. What researchers say: Cooper (1989a) argues that reviews on the link between homework and achievement often directly contradict one another and are so different in design that the findings of one study cannot be evaluated fairly against the findings of others. Myth 2: Without excessive homework, students’ test scores will not be internationally competitive. What researchers say: Information from international assessments shows little relationship between the amount of homework students do and test scores. Students in Japan and Finland, for example, are assigned less homework but still outperform U.S. students on tests (Organisation of Econo
