Human and Abilities

Research can immensely help practice in education. As seen in Lincoln Alternative High School as well as schools that use the Turnaround program, graduation rates can increase and dropout/suspension rates can decrease. If the Centers for Disease Control and Kaiser Permanete did not do a study to see if trauma affects education, no conclusions may have been found. This means that children who experienced trauma and educators may have been using and receiving the same discipline techniques that were not helping these children become more successful. It is so important to see what problems are and then research better ways to fix them. Then, once solutions are found they need to be practiced. This is why the Turnaround program is great, because it helps educators put research into practice. This allows room for actual change to take place. Practice can also inform the research to see if the research’s findings continue to work and be successful.

I find this debate about homework to be quite intriguing. Personally, I am all for a teacher that does not give homework. However, I have often been given homework and I personally thought it was helping me. I cannot help but wonder if it depends on the age of the student as to whether or not homework is helpful. Do older students have more success in school if they get homework as opposed to younger students who may need different stimulation? I found that the note home assumes that families can eat dinner as a family, read together and play outside. However, that is not always possible and if children do not get homework or do any of the things the teacher listed, would they be falling behind? These are just a few thoughts I had when looking at this but I feel they would be important to the teacher’s no-homework policy.

Personally, I believe that doing homework does help academic achievement. I believe that spending more time on material makes students retain it better. In research done about homework in early adolescence at Loyola University of Chicago, it was found that if students do homework alone, there is a more negative affect on grades. If students do in class work, the affect is neutral and if student do homework with their parents they often had higher academic achievement. However, another study by Duke University found that there was no strong evidence to support the association between homework-achievement and grades or knowing of the subject matter. This appears to tell me that we need more evidence to support whether or not homework is useful or not. Either way, though, both studies found that doing homework with a parent is helpful so that is quality information to know.

Citations

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. doi:10.3102/00346543076001001

Leone, C.M. & Richards, H. J Youth Adolescence (1989) 18: 531. doi:10.1007/BF02139072