Abstract
Homework is, has been, and will be for the foreseeable future a common practice of most schools. Most teachers assign homework on a nightly basis with the expectation that students will perform the tasks independently outside of the classroom setting. Is this practice important to students? Do students within varying achievement levels perceive homework’s importance differently? In order to understand how students perceive homework, research needs to be conducted to examine student perception. This research categorizes the effects of homework on students and researches how these effects may or may not influence student perceptions. Sources of Data Data for this thesis was first collected through a review of the current literature on the issue. Harris Cooper (1989), in a “Synthesis of Research on Homework,” defined the practice and examined the history of research on homework. Theodore D. Reinhardt, Theodore, Bray, and Kehle (2004), in “Improving Homework Accuracy: Interdependent Group Contingencies and Randomized Components,” explored the idea of the effectiveness of specific homework practices on student performance. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (2007), in the “MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: The Homework Experience. A Survey of Students, Teachers and Parents,” discussed student perceptions of homework. A survey was also conducted of fifth-grade student perceptions to explore their perception of whether or not they felt homework was important. Ninety-nine surveys were collected and analyzed. Conclusions Reached The survey results validated much of the existing research regarding students’ perceptions of the importance of homework. Most students, regardless of achievement level, had an opinion. Of those students with opinions about homework’s importance, most felt it was important to them, made them a better student, and was a good extension of what was taking place in the classroom.