"Homework: New Research Suggests It May Be an Unnecessary Evil" by Alfie Kohn

[Goblinmonger]

24. Of course homework improves grades

when it is part of the grade. That's a tautology.

If there are studies which show causation between homework and improved understanding, let me know. Showing me a website that is trying to show homework is good isn't a study. And that website saying "The right kind of homework increases student achievement" is also not a study.

As to this:

Practice assignments reinforce newly acquired skills.

Is there ANYTHING in that rhetoric (again, not a study) that indicates that the "practice" has to be in the form of homework and that the same (or potentially even better) results couldn't be reached in the classroom under the supervision of someone trained to help the student when they make a mistake.

When a website devoted to pushing the importance of homework says there are "mixed feelings," you should know that it is probably more than just "mixed feelings." But again, show me an actual study that shows causation (not just correlation) and I'd be happy to give it a look. Personally, I'll go with Kohn when he says there has never been a study that shows that causation, especially when even Marzano couldn't tell him that claim was bullshit.

And don't tell me I'm "undermining" our educational system because I am in line with what ALL the research says. I take my profession very seriously.