The Role of Homework in the Academic Success of Elementary Students

Abstract

Homework has historically been used in the American educational system, and its support has varied over the years. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the value and relevance of various homework types in the math academic success of elementary students. These types of homework included practice homework, preparation homework, and integration homework. The research questions included: 1) What effect does assigning homework versus no homework have on math academic performance?, 2) Which type of homework is most impactful on math academic performance?, and 3) What are the attitudes and opinions of elementary administrators, teachers, and parents regarding homework policies, student self-regulation and competence, and teacher support? A second-grade class was used as the experimental group, which was assigned the various homework types over a nine-week period during three math units. The first unit included practice homework, the second unit used preparation homework, and in the third unit, integration homework was assigned. Another second-grade class was used as the comparison group, which was not assigned any math homework during the research study. Data was collected from various assessments including unit tests, district quarterly assessments, and a nationally normed measure of academic progress. Pretest data from each group will be compared with posttest data to determine the homework’s impact on academic performance. Final statistical results along with survey outcomes and correlations will be reported at the end of the research study.

Keywords: homework, elementary students, homework purposes, homework value, mathematics achievement