LE: What is your position on the concern of research?
When I address this question, I respond to as a teacher and as the parent of school age children. I do see homework as having a role in the academic process and I do not agree with Alfie Kohn (see post), who appears to think research is useless, or worse, has a negative impact. While Kohn asserts there is practically no research study that shows homework to be beneficial, I did not see a convincing quantity of tough data to support getting rid of all homework.
Yes, the amount of research need to be based upon the students age and grade level. As a lot of Kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are self-contained, it should be fairly simple to offer mathematics research one night, spelling or checking out one night, and so on to avoid overloading 5 to 8-year-olds. Students need to not end up being bored or frustrated if teachers are creative with projects and in communicating the purpose of the project. Those are my goals as a fourth-grade instructor. I see research to extend learning. Would I assign 30 math problems to students who I understand would have problem with them, or to students who have shown their understanding of the skill? No, in those cases, it is my task as the instructor to modify the projects.
Our book points out it can take 24 repeatings of an ability for a trainee to reach 80% competency. I believe practicing abilities is worthwhile. Kohns contrast with tennis does not make good sense to me. There are skills in tennis you should practice to enhance. There are fundamental mathematics abilities kids need to practice to develop a solid structure prior to moving on to higher-level mathematics skills. Kohn explains how trainees might end up being better at remembering, but not believing. I see this as 2 different things; we need students to keep in mind specific facts and after that move on to using those skills as thinkers and issue solvers.
As a parent, it can be difficult to squeeze in homework some nights! We do the finest we can, and if we have problems or concerns, I reach out to the teacher. Again, good teachers make it a point to understand what some home situations might be like and to modify appropriately.

When considering research, instructors find it advantageous to communicate their policy with the households of their students. After recently completing a Learners Edge course, Jennifer Lindsey, a fourth grade instructor from Pennsylvania, assessed her homework approach which includes the purposeful roles instructors and families play.

I do see homework as having a role in the educational process and I do not concur with Alfie Kohn (see short article), who appears to believe research is useless, or worse, has an unfavorable effect. While Kohn asserts there is practically no research study that proves research to be useful, I did not see a persuading quantity of difficult information to support doing away with all homework.
Yes, the quantity of homework need to be based on the trainees age and grade level. As the majority of Kindergarten-3rd grade instructors are self-contained, it should be fairly simple to give math research one night, spelling or reading one night, and so on to prevent straining 5 to 8-year-olds. Homework can be a divisive subject in the education community, and we hope you can appreciate this instructors point of view.

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Homework can be a dissentious subject in the education community, and we hope you can appreciate this instructors point of view. How do you communicate with families about homework?