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Homework Guidelines for Elementary and Middle School Teachers

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Homework; the term elicits a myriad of responses. Students are naturally opposed to the idea of homework. No student ever says, “I wish my teacher would assign me more homework.” Most students begrudge homework and find any opportunity or possible excuse to avoid doing it.

Educators themselves are split on the issue. Many teachers assign daily homework seeing it as a way to further develop and reinforce core academic skills, while also teaching students responsibility. Other educators refrain from assigning daily homework. They view it as unnecessary overkill that often leads to frustration and causes students to resent school and learning altogether. 

Parents are also divided on whether or not they welcome homework. Those who welcome it see it as an opportunity for their children to reinforce critical learning skills. Those who loathe it see it as an infringement of their child’s time. They say it takes away from extra-curricular activities, play time, family time, and also adds unnecessary stress.

Research on the topic is also inconclusive. You can find research that strongly supports the benefits of assigning regular homework, some that denounce it as having zero benefits, with most reporting that assigning homework offers some positive benefits, but also can be detrimental in some areas.

The Effects of Homework

Since opinions vary so drastically, coming to a consensus on homework is nearly impossible. We sent a survey out to parents of a school regarding the topic, asking parents these two basic questions:

• How much time is your child spending working on homework each night?
• Is this amount of time too much, too little, or just right?

The responses varied significantly. In one 3 rd grade class with 22 students, the responses regarding how much time their child spends on homework each night had an alarming disparity. The lowest amount of time spent was 15 minutes, while the largest amount of time spent was 4 hours. Everyone else fell somewhere in between. When discussing this with the teacher, she told me that she sent home the same homework for every child and was blown away by the vastly different ranges in time spent completing it. The answers to the second question aligned with the first. Almost every class had similar, varying results making it really difficult to gauge where we should go as a school regarding homework.

While reviewing and studying my school’s homework policy and the results of the aforementioned survey, I discovered a few important revelations about homework that I think anyone looking at the topic would benefit from:

1. Homework should be clearly defined. Homework is not unfinished classwork that the student is required to take home and complete. Homework is “extra practice” given to take home to reinforce concepts that they have been learning in class. It is important to note that teachers should always give students time in class under their supervision to complete class work. Failing to give them an appropriate amount of class time increases their workload at home. More importantly, it does not allow the teacher to give immediate feedback to the student as to whether or not they are doing the assignment correctly. What good does it do if a student completes an assignment if they are doing it all incorrectly? Teachers must find a way to let parents know what assignments are homework and which ones are classwork that they did not complete.

2. The amount of time required to complete the same homework assignment varies significantly from student to student. This speaks to personalization. I have always been a big fan of customizing homework to fit each individual student. Blanket homework is more challenging for some students than it is for others. Some fly through it, while others spend excessive amounts of time completing it.  Differentiating homework will take some additional time for teachers in regards to preparation, but it will ultimately be more beneficial for students.

The National Education Association recommends that students be given 10-20 minutes of homework each night and an additional 10 minutes per advancing grade level. The following chart adapted from the National Education Associations recommendations can be used as a resource for teachers in Kindergarten through the 8 th grade.

It can be difficult for teachers to gauge how much time students need to complete an assignment. The following charts serve to streamline this process as it breaks down the average time it takes for students to complete a single problem in a variety of subject matter for common assignment types. Teachers should consider this information when assigning homework. While it may not be accurate for every student or assignment, it can serve as a starting point when calculating how much time students need to complete an assignment. It is important to note that in grades where classes are departmentalized it is important that all teachers are on the same page as the totals in the chart above is the recommended amount of total homework per night and not just for a single class.

Kindergarten – 4th Grade (Elementary Recommendations)

*If students are required to write the questions, then you will need to add 2 additional minutes per problem. (i.e. 1-English problem requires 4 minutes if students are required to write the sentence/question.)

5th – 8th Grade (Middle School Recommendations)

*If students are required to write the questions, then you will need to add 2 additional minutes per problem. (i.e. 1-English problem requires 5 minutes if students are required to write the sentence/question.)

Assigning Homework Example

It is recommended that 5 th graders have 50-60 minutes of homework per night. In a self-contained class, a teacher assigns 5 multi-step math problems, 5 English problems, 10 spelling words to be written 3x each, and 10 science definitions on a particular night.

3. There are a few critical academic skill builders that students should be expected to do every night or as needed. Teachers should also consider these things. However, they may or may not, be factored into the total time to complete homework. Teachers should use their best judgment to make that determination:

• Independent Reading – 20-30 minutes per day
• Study for Test/Quiz - varies
• Multiplication Math Fact Practice (3-4) – varies - until facts are mastered
• Sight Word Practice (K-2) – varies - until all lists are mastered

4. Coming to a general consensus regarding homework is almost impossible.  School leaders must bring everyone to the table, solicit feedback, and come up with a plan that works best for the majority. This plan should be reevaluated and adjusted continuously. What works well for one school may not necessarily be the best solution for another.

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What’s the Right Amount of Homework? Many Students Get Too Little, Brief Argues

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Arguments against homework are well-documented, with some parents, teachers, and researchers saying these assignments put unnecessary stress on students and may not actually be helping them learn.

But a new article for the journal Education Next argues that many American students don’t have too much homework—they have too little.

Anxiety about overscheduled students with upwards of three or four hours of homework a night has overshadowed another problem, writes Janine Bempechat, a clinical professor of human development at the Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development: Low-income students aren’t getting enough homework, and they may be suffering academically as a result.

“Eliminating homework is probably not as big a problem for high-income kids, because they have parents who will expose them to what they may not be getting after school,” Bempechat said in an interview with Education Week . “It’s lower-income students who are hurt the most when people argue that homework should be entirely eliminated.”

A widely endorsed metric for how much homework to assign is the 10-minute rule. It dictates that children should receive 10 minutes of homework per grade level—so a 1st grader would be given 10 minutes a day, while a senior in high school would have 120 minutes.

It’s hard to say exactly how closely American teachers hew to those guidelines. A 2013 study conducted by the University of Phoenix found that high school students are assigned about 3.5 hours of homework a night . But results from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment found that 15-year-olds in the U.S. say they have much less than that—about six hours of homework a week .

But the averages obscure the range in assigned work between low-income and high-income students, Bempechat argues. According to the PISA results, disadvantaged students in the U.S. spend three hours less a week on homework than advantaged students (five hours versus eight hours).

Some students may be receiving even less than that. In interviews with low-income students at two low-performing high schools in northern California, Bempechat and her colleagues found that most students reported receiving what she called “minimal homework": “perhaps one or two worksheets or textbook pages, the occasional project, and 30 minutes of reading per night.”

This is a problem, she writes, because high-quality homework—the kind that allows students to problem solve and comes with clear instructions and strategies for working through difficult problems—helps students develop key academic skills. Some research supports this claim: In a 2004 study , researchers at Columbia University and Mississippi State University found that homework can prepare students with the perseverance they would need to hold jobs in the future.

The research on whether homework leads to increased academic achievement is mixed: a 2006 meta-analysis found that at-home assignments led to increased scores on some tests in some grades , but other studies show no relationship for elementary age students.

But goal-setting, self-regulation, and “resilience in the face of challenge” can all be learned through homework, said Bempechat. These skills only become more important as students progress into higher grades with greater expectations for learner autonomy, she said.

Some critics of homework raise concerns that assigning outside work puts low-income students at a disadvantage, because their parents may not be able to offer as much guidance as higher-income parents.

Bempechat writes that it’s more important that parents support homework completion rather than give hands-on help with assignments . She cites a 2014 study by researchers at the City University of New York that found that low-income parents providing structure around homework was a significant predictor of middle school students’ math grades .

But other barriers to home-based assignments persist for low-income students, including the “homework gap:" the inequality between students who have internet at home and those who don’t, and the difficulty that students without access face in completing assignments. About 40 percent of students didn’t have internet access at home as of 2015. But most teachers—70 percent—assign homework that requires connectivity, according to a 2016 survey from the Consortium for School Networking, a national association for school technology leaders.

Teachers should be mindful of the resources students have at home, said Bempechat, and not assign work that requires tools they don’t have—whether that be internet access or even crayons and markers.

Image: Getty

A version of this news article first appeared in the Teaching Now blog.

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Homework: How Much Is Too Much?

Homework has benefits, but the research is clear: there are real consequences to assigning too much.

To learn more about the research cited in the video, check out the links below.

• Harris Cooper, Jorgianne Civey Robinson, and Erika A Patall’s artical on does Homework Improve Academic Achievement? A Synthesis of Research (2006)
• Rubén Fernández-Alonso, Javier Suárez-Álvarez, and José Muñiz’s study on adolescents’ homework performance in mathematics and science: Personal factors and teaching practices (2015)
• Robert J. Marzano, and Deborah J. Pickering’s study on special Topic / The Case For and Against Homework (2007)
• Mollie Galloway, Jerusha Conner, and Denise Pope’s study on nonacademic Effects of Homework in Privileged, High-Performing High Schools (2013)

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High-Quality Homework: How to Assign the Right Amount, and the Most Effective Formats of Homework

by Chandra Williams | Jul 16, 2019

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Although studies have shown that homework offers some benefits to students, assigning too much homework can actually cause students to experience higher stress levels and physical and mental health issues . In this article, we’ll discuss guidelines you can use to assign high quality homework for your students.

What is the “ten-minute homework guideline?”

The National PTA and National Education Association support the “ ten minute homework guideline ,” which suggests each student should have about ten minutes of homework per grade level. First-grade students should have between ten to twenty minutes of homework, with an additional ten minutes added for each subsequent grade level.

The ten-minute homework rule offers several benefits to students, including:

• Reduces the likelihood of students becoming overwhelmed.
• Prevents diminishing returns for academic success.
• Reduces the impact of the “homework gap,” a term indicating the disproportionate challenges faced by students who do not have access to the internet and other resources to complete homework assignments at their homes.
• Reduces impact on students who naturally take longer to complete homework assignments.

What purposes should homework accomplish?

Most homework assignments fall into one of the following four categories :

• Practice — Students have learned skills in class and practice using those skills on their own at home. For example, students learned the order of operations in math class and practice using these skills by solving some multi-step equations.
• Preparation — Students prepare to learn about a new concept in class the next day. For example, students read the first chapter of a new book which will be discussed in tomorrow’s English class.
• Study — Students review content they have already learned and practiced to prepare for a formative, unit, or benchmark assessment.
• Extend or Elaborate — Students have learned about a general concept in class, and complete individual work to expand their knowledge on the topic. For example, students learned about the formation of the United States in class, and each student will individually create a project exploring the history of a different state.

When students’ complete homework for the purpose of practicing skills, they may have single-skill assignments or cumulative assignments.

• Single-skill assignments are most effective when students need to master the skill taught in class. For example, students may list the steps of the scientific method.
• Cumulative assignments require students to decide which skill they need to use when solving a particular problem, and then properly use the skill. For example, students are presented with an experiment, must determine which steps in the scientific method need to be completed, and then must complete the experiment and demonstrate its results.

What is the most effective type of homework?

Existing studies have found that student performance is most positively affected when homework is used to build fluency, master new concepts, and proficiency. Students retain information better when the practice is conducted over several shorter sessions, rather than through one marathon session. Additionally, students should be able to use the same processes and skills with their homework assignments, which were modeled and demonstrated during class. In other words, homework assignments should be presented in the same format as classroom practices.

What are best practices for assigning homework?

Research suggests that homework is most effective when:.

• Assignments promote curiosity, leading to “ autonomous, self-directed learning .”
• Students have already “ demonstrated competence in the skill…before being asked to do it independently.”
• Teachers consider some students do not have access to the internet, a quiet working space, or homework help from parents or a tutor.
• Students understand the purpose of completing each homework assignment.
• Teachers provide feedback quickly, minimizing the chance for students to forget the assignment before they learn their scores.
• Teachers keep in mind that middle school and high school students may be assigned homework from all of their classes, and the ten-minute homework guideline applies to the combined homework load.

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The debate over homework flared anew in the fall 2016 school year as a handful of elementary school teachers implemented drastically reduced homework policies that went viral as parents rose to applaud or condemned them.

But others support a more traditional approach to the role of homework in a student’s academic growth, arguing that some homework helps to solidify the day’s lesson plan.

How much homework should elementary school students do?

The furor over the quantity of homework assigned to elementary students reached a fever pitch this year amid headlines touting research finding that assigning homework to these students does not improve their academic performance. While the headlines grabbed plenty of attention, they barely scratch the surface of this complicated issue.

Historically, proponents of homework cited research urging teachers to follow the “10-minute” rule, which means assigning students 10 minutes of homework per grade level. For instance,  a first-grader might have 10 minutes of homework a night while a third-grader could have up to 30 minutes of work. In theory, the quantity and intensity of homework should rise with age.

Note there is research supporting homework as a learning tool, especially as it relates to practice and retention. Studies do show that children as young as second grade improve their skills when they study at home to supplement in-class instruction — provided it doesn’t exceed the 10-minute rule per grade level.  This research is correlational rather than causational, so it’s difficult to determine cause and effect.

Still, many researchers argue that even this small amount of homework doesn’t help students learn or retain concepts. Rather, they suggest homework at an early age helps children establish good study habits and time management skills while keeping parents current on what their kids are learning in school.

The type of homework matters — especially for young students

Research has found that homework tied to a student’s interests (such as reading for pleasure) boosts academic performance. Therefore, activities like maintaining a reading log can help to promote academic success even if it isn’t directly tied to in-class work. Other assignments might tie to students’ interests outside the classroom. For instance, teachers might ask students to complete writing assignments where they describe a hobby.

Homework that is too difficult, however, can be severely detrimental to students. If students feel easily discouraged or unable to complete assignments, they can develop negative views on school and learning.

Harris Cooper, a Duke University professor who wrote the book “The Battle over Homework,” suggests that homework assignments should be minimal, easy to complete and designed to get parents involved (though the involvement should gradually fade as students get older).

Ultimately, the debate over homework policies appears unlikely to die down. In one note to parents that went viral this fall, Brandy Young, an elementary teacher, suggested that instead of completing homework in the evenings, students should enjoy time with their families — including eating dinner, playing outside, reading and getting to bed early.

Young argued that these factors had proved to promote students’ academic success. And research supports such findings: Quality family time that includes time to play, relax and get adequate sleep are huge determinants of student achievement.  While homework might help, it should not interfere with other aspects of the child’s home life.

Caitrin Blake has a BA in English and Sociology from the University of Vermont and a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Colorado Denver. She teaches composition at Arapahoe Community College.

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Too much homework: Should we apply the ’10-minute rule’ strictly?

It can seem unthinkable to ascribe just 10 minutes of homework per day to students.

In countries like Singapore where the pursuit of top grades is intense, 15-year-old students are assigned 9.4 hours of homework weekly, according to data from the OECD. Teens in Shanghai spend the most hours per week on homework (14 hours) globally.

On the other extreme end of the spectrum, high school students in Finland get less than three hours of homework per week.

But in the US, the standard for decades has been the “10-minute rule,” a guideline supported by both the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and the National Education Association.

This rule recommends that students are assigned a daily maximum of 10 minutes of homework per grade level. This mean that a third-grader, for example, should do 30 minutes of homework each night. When they reach high school, this goes up to about two hours each night.

Proposed by Harris Cooper of Duke University, the leading researcher on homework, middle-school students are recommended to do take on 90 minutes per day of homework – this is the optimal figure to enhance their academic achievement. For high school students, they should aim for 90 minutes to two and a half hours per day.

OECD data show 15-year-olds are assigned 6.1 hours of homework per week. This largely corresponds with a 2003 research from the Brookings Institution and the Rand Corporation.

The research had found that despite popular assumption, the majority of students in US schools only spend less than an hour a day on homework. This figure applies regardless of grade level and has been so for most of the past five decades, according to research from the Brookings Institution.

“Homework is beneficial, but only to a degree.” Here’s what the research shows for different grade levels. https://t.co/s3MLK1Uj8n — edutopia (@edutopia) September 28, 2019

In the updated 2014 version , research again shows “little evidence that the homework load has increased for the average student” despite news reports depicting students are now burdened by so much homework that their health and well-being are under attack. Those assigned more than two hours of homework per night are a minority, the research found.

“In national polls, parents are more likely to say their children have too little homework than too much.  And a solid majority says the amount of their children’s homework is about right,” the report said.

For the minority who are struggling with too much homework daily, studies show this would cause them more harm than good.

When middle school students were assigned more than 90-100 minutes of homework daily, they ended up performing worse on maths and science, one 2015 study found. It could also be counter-productive once fatigue, stress, and a loss of interest in academics set in.

But all this focus on numbers should not distract us from the quality of homework set. Different students have different capabilities. Struggling students – or  economically disadvantaged ones  – may end up taking twice as much time to complete an assignment compared to a more able peer.

Writing in Education Next , Janine Bempechat, a clinical professor of human development at the Boston University defined high-quality homework as: “Assignments that are developmentally appropriate and meaningful and that promote self-efficacy and self-regulation. Meaningful homework is authentic, allowing students to engage in solving problems with real-world relevance. More specifically, homework tasks should make efficient use of student time and have a clear purpose connected to what they are learning.”

More quality in homework also makes students believe in their competence when they accomplish something, especially for struggling students.

“Students whose teachers have trained them to adopt strategies such as goal setting, self-monitoring, and planning develop a number of personal assets—improved time management, increased self-efficacy, greater effort and interest, a desire for mastery, and a decrease in helplessness,” Bempechat wrote.

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How To: Choose the Right Amount of Daily Homework

Despite the differences in the recommendations from these sources, the table shows broad agreement about how much homework to assign at each grade. At grades 1-3, homework should be limited to an hour or less per day, while in grades 4-6, homework should not exceed 90 minutes. The upper limit in grades 7-8 is 2 hours and the limit in high school should be 2.5 hours.

Teachers can use the homework time recommendations included here as a point of comparison: in particular, schools should note that assigning homework that exceeds the upper limit of these time estimates is not likely to result in additional learning gains--and may even be counter-productive (Cooper, Robinson, & Patall, 2006).

It should also be remembered that the amount of homework assigned each day is not in itself a sign of high academic standards. Homework becomes a powerful tool to promote learning only when students grasp the purpose of each homework assignment, clearly understand homework directions, perceive that homework tasks are instructionally relevant, and receive timely performance feedback (e.g., teacher comments; grades) on submitted homework (Jenson, Sheridan, Olympia, & Andrews, 1994).

Attachments

• Download This Blog Entry in PDF Format: How To: Choose the Right Amount of Daily Homework
• Barkley, R. A. (2008). 80+ classroom accommodations for children or teens with ADHD. The ADHD Report, 16 (4), 7-10.
• Cooper, H., Robinson, J. C., & Patall, E A. (2006). Does homework improve academic achievement? A synthesis of research, 1987-2003. Review of Educational Research, 76 (1), 1-62. 
• Jenson, W. R., Sheridan, S. M., Olympia, D., & Andrews, D. (1994). Homework and students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders: A practical, parent-based approach. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27 , 538-548.

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Homework: How Much is Too Much?

We’ve settled into our regular school routines and I’m sure we’re all, on one level or another, dealing with our kids’ homework.  Our regular guest blogger Barbara Marques brings us her personal insight to homework struggles at home and then lends her professional experience as a teacher to give us some hints and tips in how to handle that daily workload.

  By Barbara Marques

When my oldest daughter was in first grade, we were spending more than an hour a night on math, reading and spelling homework.  By September of her second grade year, we were already up to over two hours a night!

The Daily Drama

At homework time, my daughter’s sweet personality would change before my eyes. She became frustrated and angry – and things only went downhill from there. At one point, I contacted her teacher and kindly suggested that she back off on the homework. I was faced with an interesting irony.  As a teacher, I firmly believed in the value of homework and assigned it nightly. As a parent, I was overwhelmed by the volume assigned to my child!

How Much is Too Much Homework?

Just how much homework should elementary students have? The National Education Association (NEA) endorses the following guidelines:  10-20 minutes of homework for 1 st graders, ten minutes per grade level for 2 nd through 12 th graders (for example, 20 minutes for a 2 nd grader or 50 minutes for a 5 th grader). 

The Important Functions of Homework

As a teacher, I know that elementary school homework has many important functions. For example, there is power in repeated practice (just ask any math or reading teacher). Homework also helps young children develop study skills, organization (using a daily planner) and accountability. As parents, we can view homework as an opportunity to work one-on-one with our children and communicate that education matters. It allows us to see firsthand where our children struggle.

How to Deal with Too Much Work

If your elementary child is spending more than an hour a night on homework, a parent-teacher conference is in order. In my case, my daughter’s homework struggle was an indicator of a bigger problem – dyslexia – which may have been overlooked for another couple of years if I hadn’t gone in to talk with the teacher about how long it was taking us to get through a chapter book in the 2 nd grade.  

The Procrastination Factor

Sometimes teachers genuinely overdo it with homework – sometimes our kids just make it seem that way.  A distracted child (mine included) can take a 20 minute assignment and stretch it out over an hour or longer. (Try to sitting in the same, quiet room with them to keep them on task.)  Add a little procrastination to the mix – like they’ve had two weeks to read a chapter book and create a shoebox diorama, but didn’t start until 8:00 tonight – and a valid homework can suddenly seem excessive. 

There are Guidelines

Most school districts have implemented guidelines on how much homework should be assigned. When I taught middle school, we were asked to keep homework time down to 15 minutes per core subject.  As a general rule, the educational benefit of any work your child’s teacher sends home should equal the time spent on it – if not, they’re just doing busy work. If your district has no guidelines in place, consider speaking up at the next school board meeting.

Barbara Marques is a former Texas math and social studies teacher and the mother of two elementary school-aged daughters.

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Homework tips for the new school year

HAMBURG, N.Y. — The first week of school is rounding out on Friday, but it might come with a weekend challenge — homework.

Educators have some tips for you as we start this new school year. For every grade, the generally accepted rule is 10 minutes a night.

What You Need To Know

Expect 10 minutes of homework per grade level   don't force your child to finish an assignment they're struggling with write a note to the teacher and explain what was difficult.

The summer slide is real, and if you've noticed that in your student, you’re not alone. One of the most beneficial tips is to celebrate even the smallest of completions. Kids need to be motivated. Renee Kumiega, who is the principal at Cloverbank Elementary School says don’t be the bad guys — leave that to the educators. Kumiega says communication with your child’s educator is key.

We are rounding out the first week of school! I hope it well for your kiddos! This weekend might come with a challenge...homework! To finish my #BackToSchool series here are some tips on that thanks to @FrontierCSD . 📔✏️ pic.twitter.com/ph2D0R8YPC — Breanna Fuss (@BreannaFuss) September 6, 2024

“The attempt, the effort coming back to school, asking the question, that's the success," Kumiega said. "So if the paper isn't done, that's OK. But if the child can clearly tell the teacher what they struggled with, that's the success so that we can guide their instruction the next day.”

Kumiega says you can write a note at the top of the paper explaining what was difficult. You can send a message on whatever app you use as well.

In terms of when to do homework, Kumiega says you know your child best. Do what works for them.

Kids Receive 3 Times the Recommended Homework Load, Study Says

E lementary school children often receive far more homework than recommended by a leading education group, according to new research. The study , published in the American Journal of Family Therapy , found that the average first and second grader had three times the recommended homework load.

The National Education Association recommends that elementary school students receive 10-20 minutes of homework per night in first grade. That figure should grow by 10 minutes per year, the NEA recommends. The study found that teachers regularly assign homework that exceeds that recommendation.

The survey, based on an analysis of survey results from more than 500 parents in Rhode Island, suggests that the average student spends nearly 30 minutes on homework in the first grade, a number that grows steadily over the years. Time spent on homework peaks in 10th grade at 54 minutes per night, according to the study.

Researchers also found a disparity in homework patterns based on parents’ education level as well as a family’s racial background. On average, parents of Hispanic students said their children spent significantly more time on homework than their non-Hispanic counterparts in second, third and 12th grades.

For children with parents of different education levels, time spent on homework was consistent in early years. However, a sharp disparity emerges in high school, where children of parents with college degrees spent significantly more time on homework.

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