A new meta-analysis of studies examining the relationship between homework and student achievement looks at 30 years of data involving over 312,000 students worldwide. It was published in the journal Educational Research Review in March.
The researchers noted a split in the findings of the studies reviewed: about as many studies found a positive relationship between homework and student achievement as found a negative relationship. But the researchers wondered if there were confounding factors among the various studies that might explain the disparate results. To look into this hypothesis, they narrowed the more than 8,000 studies under review down to twenty-eight that contained sufficient data to compare along eight variables identified as having the potential to lead to the inconsistent results.
These eight are interesting and worth noting: grade level (could the findings be more consistent in high school vs. elementary school?), subject matter (science vs. math?), homework indicators (homework measured by time on task vs. effort or grade received), publication type (perhaps the bar for publication in a peer-reviewed journal vs. a dissertation lead to inconsistent reporting of findings?), publication year (might the see-sawing reputation of homework as help or hindrance over time lead to inconsistent reporting of findings?), sampling method (random assignment studies vs. others?), geographical region (does regional or national differences in approach to homework explain the inconsistent findings?), and measure of achievement (could the findings be more consistent when achievement is measured by standardized vs. non-standardized assessments?). Whew!
After considering the eight variables, analysts concluded that a small and positive relationship between homework and academic achievement in math and science exists. That relationship is stronger in elementary and high school over middle school (bucking a finding noted in previous meta-analyses) and is stronger for U.S. students than for their Asian counterparts, which the largely China-based researchers attribute to the rise of private tutoring in a number of Asian countries.
With each report of schools and parents opting out of homework so as not to stress out their kids, the arguments begin anew: What is the purpose of homework, how much should be given, what form should it take, how do we know it’s valuable? This research creates some coherence between fragmented findings that could be useful in answering these questions. For now, the age-old notion that homework can help continues to ring true.
SOURCE: Huiyong Fan, Jianzhong Xu, Zhihui Cai, Jinbo He, and Xitao Fan “Homework and students' achievement in math and science: A 30-year meta-analysis, 1986-2015,” Educational Research Review (March 2017).
