Is Homework Bad?

Is homework being overassigned in the primary grades? More and more education experts are saying yes. Two new books on the subject are out now, including the latest endeavor by education expert Alfie Kohn. Instructor magazine recently ran an excerpt from the highly anticipated book. "There is no evidence to demonstrate that homework benefits students below high school age," Kohn argues in the book. "Even if you regard standardized test results as a useful measure (which I don't), more homework isn't correlated with higher scores for children in elementary school."

Even at the high school level, Kohn says, the benefits of homework are debatable. "Some studies do find a relationship between homework and test scores," Kohn says, "but it tends to be small. More important, there's no reason to think that higher achievement is caused by the homework."

Opponents of excessive homework argue that it forces parents to sacrifice already scarce family time for the sake of completing assignments, not because they are necessary for students to grasp concepts but because the schools have decided in advance that children must do something for each subject every night whether it's necessary or not.

So as you welcome students and parents back to school this year, do your own homework. Take a look at the new homework books out there and be prepared for those who have read them too. The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing by Alfie Kohn, and The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalisha, are both available now.

• Teacher Store
• 

  The Teacher Store

  Knowledge Quest! Read-Aloud Collection: The Water Cycle This fun and informative collection teaches children about the importance of water to the earth's living things and shows how every plant and animal receives the limited water on earth through the water cycle. Read the books in sequence to build vocabulary and knowledge around a topic. Each daily read-aloud provides one piece of the puzzle to help children on their knowledge quest to see the big picture! Choose recommended activities from the guidebook to suit your schedule and needs. Every guidebook provides: Summary of prior knowledge Content objectives Vocabulary lists Read-aloud guides Activities that target Common Core Supplemental book list Reward certificate List of collections for upcoming grades Knowledge Quest! helps you make learning fun, accelerate a child's vocabulary growth, and build skills that meet national standards. For complete information about this program, visit: scholastic.com/knowledgequest $50.00 Book Collection | Grades 3-4

  
  Knowledge Quest! Read-Aloud Collection: The Water Cycle
  Grades 3-4 $50.00
  
• Teacher Store
• 

  The Teacher Store

  Floors 2: 3 Below by Patrick Carman Charlie had his chocolate factory. Stanley Yelnats had his holes. Leo has the wacky, amazing Whippet Hotel. Now that Leo has uncovered a few secrets behind the wacky Whippet Hotel, he'll have to save it! Leo has explored the zany, wonderful Whippet Hotel from basement to top floor, with trains, flying goats, and mazes (among other things) in between. But even Leo doesn't know every secret of the Whippet - and when he discovers that there's more beneath the hotel than he'd thought, it doesn't take long for more adventures to unfold! $25.99 CD | Grades 3-7

  
  Floors 2: 3 Below
  Grades 3-7 $25.99