[b:768c67f0b5]The Case Against Homework Comes Alive in Two Books

BY SARA BERMAN
November 28, 2006
http://www.nysun.com/article/44219

"No study has ever found an academic advantage to having kids do homework before high school" ... "Even in high school, there is no proof of a causal relationship between homework and academic achievement. There is a weak correlation such that some of the kids who do a lot of homework get higher grades and scores. But there has never been a shred of evidence to show that homework builds character, independence, discipline, or good work habits." - Alfie Kohn (from article)[/b:768c67f0b5]

Interesting ... I thought the most telling quote from the article was this:

The country’s top homework scholar, Duke University’s Harris Cooper, author of “The Battle over Homework: Common Ground for Administrators, Teachers, and Parents” (Corwin), analyzed nearly 200 studies and concluded that homework does not measurably improve academic achievement for children in grade school. He also found that for high school students in particular, performance diminished after two hours of homework.

Seems a relatively unsurprising conclusion. I also like the idea of a “homework scholar”.