Homework Is Broken...But We Can Fix It!

This past week I had the privilege of presenting at the Heartland Christian Teachers' Convention. It's a group of some 500+ teachers from Christian schools in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Nebraska, and they gather on the Dordt College campus each October for a few days for professional development and mutual encouragement. It was always something I looked forward to in my years teaching in K-12 in Iowa, and since joining the faculty at Dordt seven years ago, I still regularly attend. While I was in grad school, I took a few years off from presenting, but this year, the planning committee asked, and I agreed.

My topic? Homework, of course! Over the past few years, I've blogged a fair amount in response to my research on the topic of homework. (If you'd like to read, here's over a dozen posts for your consideration...) I've had many K-12 teachers mention to me over the years that they would like me to meet with their faculty and share this research. So I figured it's still a hot enough topic that I might have things to share.

I knew I would have about 60 people coming to my session, which I ambitiously titled "Homework is Broken...But We Can Fix It!" I decided I would begin by surveying them--just to get a handle on who was in the room, and their initial beliefs about homework.

You, like me, might find these results interesting...

First question, a softball, just so I could know who was in the room:

Interesting to me how many middle and high school teachers I had at this session. Not sure what
to make of that, honestly. Makes me wonder if it's because they are the ones hearing
 the most from parents about homework?

Then a few questions to get at their beliefs about homework:

My very cynical wondering in response to this question is how they know how long it takes
their students to do the work they have assigned. Even if they do it themselves...they are
adults who know the content well...not novices who are learning this for the first time, right?

This is a fascinating stat...with almost a third not sure if their school has a policy or not!

Here too, I'm interested in the wedge of this pie who responded "I don't know." Hmmm...

Finally, the real kicker...the "why are you here in this session?" question...

Most reported that they do believe homework can be beneficial, but they want to learn more
about doing it well. Second most common response: unsure if homework is beneficial, and want
to learn more about what research says. Only one person admitted that s/he is a firm believer in
the value of homework.

So all of this was informative and interesting for me, and it gave me confidence to not hold back.

I shared the highlights of the research I've done that indicates homework has little value at all for elementary students, and only moderate benefits for middle and high school students. I shared that even Marzano--who strongly advocates for homework as one of his nine high-yield teaching strategies--gives very clear guidance for what effective homework looks like. I strongly stated my belief that assigning coloring, and word finds, and crossword puzzles, and the like are not valuable or acceptable for homework--they are just busywork. I argued against grading homework for compliance. I encouraged them to have a real conversation with their colleagues about homework--and to really talk about their schools' homework policies, particularly if they don't currently have one.

I spoke pretty forcefully, honestly. I worried a little that I might be off-putting, but I just feel so strongly about this topic. And, as my wise, wise wife said, "They don't have to agree with you, but at least you gave them food for thought." I think she's right about that. I hope that they had plenty to chew on, and I hope they'll continue the conversation with their colleagues back at school too.

If you're interested, you can view my slides:

I'm feeling challenged today to work on this with the pre-service teachers I serve. There is another theme that has come through strongly in the research on education I've done over the past dozen years or so: teachers tend to teach as they were taught, unless they are shown a compellingly different way. I hope I can do just that: give my students a vision of a different way to think about homework.

Actually, that's what I hope for all of the teachers who were in my session last week too: I hope that they were able to imagine a different role for homework in schools today. And, if nothing else, maybe they'll become part of the #nomorecrappyhomework movement!