When is homework a burden, not a help?

Florence resident Michelle Atkins fills many roles in life between her job as a nurse, wife and mother of four school-aged children.

Because her children are her priority, she holds another title in her household: Homework Queen.

"With children in kindergarten, second, fourth and seventh grades, we have a lot of homework every day," she said. "Sometimes, the kids are doing homework late into the night. Sometimes, that's all there's time for."

Still, Atkins doesn't begrudge her duty to help her children with homework. In fact, as a registered nurse who recently earned her bachelor's degree, she understands the value of homework when assigned in moderation and for the right reasons.

"Most of their classes are 50 minutes, and the teachers usually assign homework to give the kids additional time to think about some new concept or idea that was discussed at school, and I think that's good," she said. "What I don't like is busy work, and teachers should realize that parents do know the difference. I tell my kids all the time that my own knowledge was enhanced by having homework, and that still holds true for them."

A recent joint study by Binghamton University and the University of Nevada showed that teachers have responded to national statistics of the U.S. lagging behind other countries academically by assigning more homework.

"We found that if a teacher has a high-achieving group of students, pushing them harder by giving them more homework could be beneficial," said Daniel Henderson, associate professor of economics at Binghamton University in a news release about the study's results.

"Similarly, if a teacher has a low-ability class, assigning more homework may help since they may not have been pushed hard enough.

"But for the average-achieving classes, who may have been given too much homework in an attempt to equate them with higher-achieving classes, educators should be using other methods to improve student achievement. Given these students' abilities and time constraints, learning by doing may be a more effective tool for improvement."

University of Nevada officials examined the connection between test scores and extra homework.

While past studies have shown that nearly all students benefit from being assigned more homework, researchers in Nevada found that only about 40 percent of the students surveyed would significantly benefit from an additional hour of homework each night.

Colbert Heights Elementary Principal Bobby Montgomery said it is incumbent upon teachers to consider why they are giving homework.

"Consider what homework is designed for - the work or responsibility?" Montgomery said. "I say let them be kids when they leave here and have family time. When I taught and assigned homework, I viewed it as teaching them responsibility, to get it done and back in. There's no problem with assigning homework as long as teachers don't create a burnout situation.

"Teachers teach hard during the school day, so there shouldn't be that much homework to be done. It's a different society now, and parents don't have the kind of time they once did to help their children with homework."

Karen Creasy, a fourth-grade teacher at Harlan Elementary School in Florence, has her own theory about homework, one that has worked for her students for the past 12 years.

"I believe it serves a purpose for practice but I don't believe in giving a lot of homework," she said. "I give it for review purposes, just a few problems for reinforcement of the concepts we've learned that day or week. And, I don't give homework on weekends because kids need to be kids. They need time to play and just be kids."

As for the lower-achieving students, Creasy said homework usually isn't as beneficial because in many cases the students don't grasp the concept in class and then reinforce lacking skills at home.

"I gauge my classes every year on what they need in the way of homework to better themselves," Creasy said. "I think about many factors like home life and who's going to be helping them with homework, if anyone. I'm a parent myself, and I've spent many hours in a single night with my own children doing homework that seemed very unnecessary. I don't want parents or the children in my class to feel that way."

As states have responded to the increased pressure to pass mandated tests by forcing students to hit the books even harder, the average achievers shouldn't be exempt from homework, Henderson said. "It only means that this population may also benefit from other activities such as sports, art or music rather than additional hours of math homework."

Atkins' daughter Amber, a fourth-grader, said she doesn't have a problem with homework and in fact believes, "it makes me better in school."

"I have quite a bit of homework, always in spelling," she said. "I pretty much have math and reading to do every night, too, but it's not that big of a deal."

Henderson suggests that teachers consider the fact that every student is unique, and while umbrella policies on homework may benefit some, they generally cannot be applied to all.

"Teachers should consider quality over quantity when it comes to homework assignments," Henderson said. "In the end, it should be up to the individual teacher to decide how to motivate and educate the students."

Lisa Singleton-Rickman can be reached at 740-5735 or lisa.singleton-rickman@TimesDaily.com.