Giving Compass' Take:

• Chelsea Waite at Christensen Institute shares how the debate over homework is being muddled.

• What other data can be used to analyze approaches to homework? What roles are educators and parents playing in this? 

• Here's an article on challenging traditional homework in elementary schools. 

Debates over the purpose and benefit of homework seem to be cyclical. A recent Atlantic article summarized the state of affairs with regards to homework, tracing its history and analyzing debates for and against homework in today’s schools. Is homework a proven best practice for increasing achievement? Is it a lot of hot air that only persists because of tradition? Or is it a mixed bag that should only be assigned based on what’s needed to actually further student learning?

A matter of circumstances, not seat time

First, too often we fail to recognize when both sides of the homework debate perpetuate an assumption that seat time equals learning. The “10 minutes per grade level” rule of thumb exemplifies this assumption by trying to right-size homework time based on age, not actual learning (or the time that learning takes).

Bridging need and demand

Given that determining what kids need is one of the sanctified roles of the education sector, no doubt there is plenty of room to run with a circumstance-based approach to homework. Understanding these various circumstances, however, is only half the battle. Even with precision that moves beyond seat-time based policies, homework could still feel like the place students’ dreams go to die.

Read the full article about the debate over homework by Chelsea Waite at Christensen Institute.