how much homework for 4th grade

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What’s the Right Amount of Homework?

Decades of research show that homework has some benefits, especially for students in middle and high school—but there are risks to assigning too much.

Many teachers and parents believe that homework helps students build study skills and review concepts learned in class. Others see homework as disruptive and unnecessary, leading to burnout and turning kids off to school. Decades of research show that the issue is more nuanced and complex than most people think: Homework is beneficial, but only to a degree. Students in high school gain the most, while younger kids benefit much less.

The National PTA and the National Education Association support the “ 10-minute homework guideline ”—a nightly 10 minutes of homework per grade level. But many teachers and parents are quick to point out that what matters is the quality of the homework assigned and how well it meets students’ needs, not the amount of time spent on it.

The guideline doesn’t account for students who may need to spend more—or less—time on assignments. In class, teachers can make adjustments to support struggling students, but at home, an assignment that takes one student 30 minutes to complete may take another twice as much time—often for reasons beyond their control. And homework can widen the achievement gap, putting students from low-income households and students with learning disabilities at a disadvantage.

However, the 10-minute guideline is useful in setting a limit: When kids spend too much time on homework, there are real consequences to consider.

Small Benefits for Elementary Students

As young children begin school, the focus should be on cultivating a love of learning, and assigning too much homework can undermine that goal. And young students often don’t have the study skills to benefit fully from homework, so it may be a poor use of time (Cooper, 1989 ; Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). A more effective activity may be nightly reading, especially if parents are involved. The benefits of reading are clear: If students aren’t proficient readers by the end of third grade, they’re less likely to succeed academically and graduate from high school (Fiester, 2013 ).

For second-grade teacher Jacqueline Fiorentino, the minor benefits of homework did not outweigh the potential drawback of turning young children against school at an early age, so she experimented with dropping mandatory homework. “Something surprising happened: They started doing more work at home,” Fiorentino writes . “This inspiring group of 8-year-olds used their newfound free time to explore subjects and topics of interest to them.” She encouraged her students to read at home and offered optional homework to extend classroom lessons and help them review material.

Moderate Benefits for Middle School Students

As students mature and develop the study skills necessary to delve deeply into a topic—and to retain what they learn—they also benefit more from homework. Nightly assignments can help prepare them for scholarly work, and research shows that homework can have moderate benefits for middle school students (Cooper et al., 2006 ). Recent research also shows that online math homework, which can be designed to adapt to students’ levels of understanding, can significantly boost test scores (Roschelle et al., 2016 ).

There are risks to assigning too much, however: A 2015 study found that when middle school students were assigned more than 90 to 100 minutes of daily homework, their math and science test scores began to decline (Fernández-Alonso, Suárez-Álvarez, & Muñiz, 2015 ). Crossing that upper limit can drain student motivation and focus. The researchers recommend that “homework should present a certain level of challenge or difficulty, without being so challenging that it discourages effort.” Teachers should avoid low-effort, repetitive assignments, and assign homework “with the aim of instilling work habits and promoting autonomous, self-directed learning.”

In other words, it’s the quality of homework that matters, not the quantity. Brian Sztabnik, a veteran middle and high school English teacher, suggests that teachers take a step back and ask themselves these five questions :

• How long will it take to complete?
• Have all learners been considered?
• Will an assignment encourage future success?
• Will an assignment place material in a context the classroom cannot?
• Does an assignment offer support when a teacher is not there?

More Benefits for High School Students, but Risks as Well

By the time they reach high school, students should be well on their way to becoming independent learners, so homework does provide a boost to learning at this age, as long as it isn’t overwhelming (Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). When students spend too much time on homework—more than two hours each night—it takes up valuable time to rest and spend time with family and friends. A 2013 study found that high school students can experience serious mental and physical health problems, from higher stress levels to sleep deprivation, when assigned too much homework (Galloway, Conner, & Pope, 2013 ).

Homework in high school should always relate to the lesson and be doable without any assistance, and feedback should be clear and explicit.

Teachers should also keep in mind that not all students have equal opportunities to finish their homework at home, so incomplete homework may not be a true reflection of their learning—it may be more a result of issues they face outside of school. They may be hindered by issues such as lack of a quiet space at home, resources such as a computer or broadband connectivity, or parental support (OECD, 2014 ). In such cases, giving low homework scores may be unfair.

Since the quantities of time discussed here are totals, teachers in middle and high school should be aware of how much homework other teachers are assigning. It may seem reasonable to assign 30 minutes of daily homework, but across six subjects, that’s three hours—far above a reasonable amount even for a high school senior. Psychologist Maurice Elias sees this as a common mistake: Individual teachers create homework policies that in aggregate can overwhelm students. He suggests that teachers work together to develop a school-wide homework policy and make it a key topic of back-to-school night and the first parent-teacher conferences of the school year.

Parents Play a Key Role

Homework can be a powerful tool to help parents become more involved in their child’s learning (Walker et al., 2004 ). It can provide insights into a child’s strengths and interests, and can also encourage conversations about a child’s life at school. If a parent has positive attitudes toward homework, their children are more likely to share those same values, promoting academic success.

But it’s also possible for parents to be overbearing, putting too much emphasis on test scores or grades, which can be disruptive for children (Madjar, Shklar, & Moshe, 2015 ). Parents should avoid being overly intrusive or controlling—students report feeling less motivated to learn when they don’t have enough space and autonomy to do their homework (Orkin, May, & Wolf, 2017 ; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008 ; Silinskas & Kikas, 2017 ). So while homework can encourage parents to be more involved with their kids, it’s important to not make it a source of conflict.

Should Kids Get Homework?

Homework gives elementary students a way to practice concepts, but too much can be harmful, experts say.

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Effective homework reinforces math, reading, writing or spelling skills, but in a way that's meaningful.

How much homework students should get has long been a source of debate among parents and educators. In recent years, some districts have even implemented no-homework policies, as students juggle sports, music and other activities after school.

Parents of elementary school students, in particular, have argued that after-school hours should be spent with family or playing outside rather than completing assignments. And there is little research to show that homework improves academic achievement for elementary students.

But some experts say there's value in homework, even for younger students. When done well, it can help students practice core concepts and develop study habits and time management skills. The key to effective homework, they say, is keeping assignments related to classroom learning, and tailoring the amount by age: Many experts suggest no homework for kindergartners, and little to none in first and second grade.

Value of Homework

Homework provides a chance to solidify what is being taught in the classroom that day, week or unit. Practice matters, says Janine Bempechat, clinical professor at Boston University 's Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.

"There really is no other domain of human ability where anybody would say you don't need to practice," she adds. "We have children practicing piano and we have children going to sports practice several days a week after school. You name the domain of ability and practice is in there."

Homework is also the place where schools and families most frequently intersect.

"The children are bringing things from the school into the home," says Paula S. Fass, professor emerita of history at the University of California—Berkeley and the author of "The End of American Childhood." "Before the pandemic, (homework) was the only real sense that parents had to what was going on in schools."

Harris Cooper, professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University and author of "The Battle Over Homework," examined more than 60 research studies on homework between 1987 and 2003 and found that — when designed properly — homework can lead to greater student success. Too much, however, is harmful. And homework has a greater positive effect on students in secondary school (grades 7-12) than those in elementary.

"Every child should be doing homework, but the amount and type that they're doing should be appropriate for their developmental level," he says. "For teachers, it's a balancing act. Doing away with homework completely is not in the best interest of children and families. But overburdening families with homework is also not in the child's or a family's best interest."

Negative Homework Assignments

Not all homework for elementary students involves completing a worksheet. Assignments can be fun, says Cooper, like having students visit educational locations, keep statistics on their favorite sports teams, read for pleasure or even help their parents grocery shop. The point is to show students that activities done outside of school can relate to subjects learned in the classroom.

But assignments that are just busy work, that force students to learn new concepts at home, or that are overly time-consuming can be counterproductive, experts say.

Homework that's just busy work.

Effective homework reinforces math, reading, writing or spelling skills, but in a way that's meaningful, experts say. Assignments that look more like busy work – projects or worksheets that don't require teacher feedback and aren't related to topics learned in the classroom – can be frustrating for students and create burdens for families.

"The mental health piece has definitely played a role here over the last couple of years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the last thing we want to do is frustrate students with busy work or homework that makes no sense," says Dave Steckler, principal of Red Trail Elementary School in Mandan, North Dakota.

Homework on material that kids haven't learned yet.

With the pressure to cover all topics on standardized tests and limited time during the school day, some teachers assign homework that has not yet been taught in the classroom.

Not only does this create stress, but it also causes equity challenges. Some parents speak languages other than English or work several jobs, and they aren't able to help teach their children new concepts.

" It just becomes agony for both parents and the kids to get through this worksheet, and the goal becomes getting to the bottom of (the) worksheet with answers filled in without any understanding of what any of it matters for," says professor Susan R. Goldman, co-director of the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Illinois—Chicago .

Homework that's overly time-consuming.

The standard homework guideline recommended by the National Parent Teacher Association and the National Education Association is the "10-minute rule" – 10 minutes of nightly homework per grade level. A fourth grader, for instance, would receive a total of 40 minutes of homework per night.

But this does not always happen, especially since not every student learns the same. A 2015 study published in the American Journal of Family Therapy found that primary school children actually received three times the recommended amount of homework — and that family stress increased along with the homework load.

Young children can only remain attentive for short periods, so large amounts of homework, especially lengthy projects, can negatively affect students' views on school. Some individual long-term projects – like having to build a replica city, for example – typically become an assignment for parents rather than students, Fass says.

"It's one thing to assign a project like that in which several kids are working on it together," she adds. "In (that) case, the kids do normally work on it. It's another to send it home to the families, where it becomes a burden and doesn't really accomplish very much."

Private vs. Public Schools

Do private schools assign more homework than public schools? There's little research on the issue, but experts say private school parents may be more accepting of homework, seeing it as a sign of academic rigor.

Of course, not all private schools are the same – some focus on college preparation and traditional academics, while others stress alternative approaches to education.

"I think in the academically oriented private schools, there's more support for homework from parents," says Gerald K. LeTendre, chair of educational administration at Pennsylvania State University—University Park . "I don't know if there's any research to show there's more homework, but it's less of a contentious issue."

How to Address Homework Overload

First, assess if the workload takes as long as it appears. Sometimes children may start working on a homework assignment, wander away and come back later, Cooper says.

"Parents don't see it, but they know that their child has started doing their homework four hours ago and still not done it," he adds. "They don't see that there are those four hours where their child was doing lots of other things. So the homework assignment itself actually is not four hours long. It's the way the child is approaching it."

But if homework is becoming stressful or workload is excessive, experts suggest parents first approach the teacher, followed by a school administrator.

"Many times, we can solve a lot of issues by having conversations," Steckler says, including by "sitting down, talking about the amount of homework, and what's appropriate and not appropriate."

Study Tips for High School Students

Tags: K-12 education , students , elementary school , children

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How Much Homework Is Too Much?

Are schools assigning too much homework.

Posted October 19, 2011

Timothy, a fifth grader, spends up to thirteen hours a day hunched over a desk at school or at home, studying and doing homework. Should his parents feel proud? Now imagine, for comparison's sake, Timothy spending thirteen hours a day hunched over a sewing machine instead of a desk.

Parents have the right to complain when schools assign too much homework but they often don't know how to do so effectively.

Drowning in Homework ( an excerpt from Chapter 8 of The Squeaky Wheel )

I first met Timothy, a quiet, overweight eleven-year-old boy, when his mother brought him to therapy to discuss his slipping grades. A few minutes with Timothy were enough to confirm that his mood, self-esteem , and general happiness were slipping right along with them. Timothy attended one of the top private schools in Manhattan, an environment in which declining grades were no idle matter.

I asked about Timothy's typical day. He awoke every morning at six thirty so he could get to school by eight and arrived home around four thirty each afternoon. He then had a quick snack, followed by either a piano lesson or his math tutor, depending on the day. He had dinner at seven p.m., after which he sat down to do homework for two to three hours a night. Quickly doing the math in my head, I calculated that Timothy spent an average of thirteen hours a day hunched over a writing desk. His situation is not atypical. Spending that many hours studying is the only way Timothy can keep up and stay afloat academically.

But what if, for comparison's sake, we imagined Timothy spending thirteen hours a day hunched over a sewing machine instead of a desk. We would immediately be aghast at the inhumanity because children are horribly mistreated in such "sweatshops." Timothy is far from being mistreated, but the mountain of homework he faces daily results in a similar consequence- he too is being robbed of his childhood.

Timothy's academics leave him virtually no time to do anything he truly enjoys, such as playing video games, movies, or board games with his friends. During the week he never plays outside and never has indoor play dates or opportunities to socialize with friends. On weekends, Timothy's days are often devoted to studying for tests, working on special school projects, or arguing with his mother about studying for tests and working on special school projects.

By the fourth and fifth grade and certainly in middle school, many of our children have hours of homework, test preparation, project writing, or research to do every night, all in addition to the eight hours or more they have to spend in school. Yet study after study has shown that homework has little to do with achievement in elementary school and is only marginally related to achievement in middle school .

Play, however, is a crucial component of healthy child development . It affects children's creativity , their social skills, and even their brain development. The absence of play, physical exercise, and free-form social interaction takes a serious toll on many children. It can also have significant health implications as is evidenced by our current epidemic of childhood obesity, sleep deprivation, low self- esteem, and depression .

A far stronger predictor than homework of academic achievement for kids aged three to twelve is having regular family meals. Family meals allow parents to check in, to demonstrate caring and involvement, to provide supervision, and to offer support. The more family meals can be worked into the schedule, the better, especially for preteens. The frequency of family meals has also been shown to help with disordered eating behaviors in adolescents.

Experts in the field recommend children have no more than ten minutes of homework per day per grade level. As a fifth- grader, Timothy should have no more than fifty minutes a day of homework (instead of three times that amount). Having an extra two hours an evening to play, relax, or see a friend would constitute a huge bump in any child's quality of life.

So what can we do if our child is getting too much homework?

1. Complain to the teachers and the school. Most parents are unaware that excessive homework contributes so little to their child's academic achievement.

2. Educate your child's teacher and principal about the homework research-they are often equally unaware of the facts and teachers of younger children (K-4) often make changes as a result.

3. Create allies within the system by speaking with other parents and banding together to address the issue with the school.

You might also like: Is Excessive Homework in Private Schools a Customer Service Issue?

View my short and quite personal TED talk about Psychological Health here:

Check out my new book, Emotional First Aid: Practical Strategies for Treating Failure, Rejection, Guilt and Other Evreyday Psychological Injuries (Hudson Street Press).

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Copyright 2011 Guy Winch

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Guy Winch, Ph.D. , is a licensed psychologist and author of Emotional First Aid: Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure, and Other Everyday Hurts.

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How Much Homework Is Enough? Depends Who You Ask

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Editor’s note: This is an adapted excerpt from You, Your Child, and School: Navigate Your Way to the Best Education ( Viking)—the latest book by author and speaker Sir Ken Robinson (co-authored with Lou Aronica), published in March. For years, Robinson has been known for his radical work on rekindling creativity and passion in schools, including three bestselling books (also with Aronica) on the topic. His TED Talk “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” holds the record for the most-viewed TED talk of all time, with more than 50 million views. While Robinson’s latest book is geared toward parents, it also offers educators a window into the kinds of education concerns parents have for their children, including on the quality and quantity of homework.

The amount of homework young people are given varies a lot from school to school and from grade to grade. In some schools and grades, children have no homework at all. In others, they may have 18 hours or more of homework every week. In the United States, the accepted guideline, which is supported by both the National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association, is the 10-minute rule: Children should have no more than 10 minutes of homework each day for each grade reached. In 1st grade, children should have 10 minutes of daily homework; in 2nd grade, 20 minutes; and so on to the 12th grade, when on average they should have 120 minutes of homework each day, which is about 10 hours a week. It doesn’t always work out that way.

In 2013, the University of Phoenix College of Education commissioned a survey of how much homework teachers typically give their students. From kindergarten to 5th grade, it was just under three hours per week; from 6th to 8th grade, it was 3.2 hours; and from 9th to 12th grade, it was 3.5 hours.

There are two points to note. First, these are the amounts given by individual teachers. To estimate the total time children are expected to spend on homework, you need to multiply these hours by the number of teachers they work with. High school students who work with five teachers in different curriculum areas may find themselves with 17.5 hours or more of homework a week, which is the equivalent of a part-time job. The other factor is that these are teachers’ estimates of the time that homework should take. The time that individual children spend on it will be more or less than that, according to their abilities and interests. One child may casually dash off a piece of homework in half the time that another will spend laboring through in a cold sweat.

Do students have more homework these days than previous generations? Given all the variables, it’s difficult to say. Some studies suggest they do. In 2007, a study from the National Center for Education Statistics found that, on average, high school students spent around seven hours a week on homework. A similar study in 1994 put the average at less than five hours a week. Mind you, I [Robinson] was in high school in England in the 1960s and spent a lot more time than that—though maybe that was to do with my own ability. One way of judging this is to look at how much homework your own children are given and compare it to what you had at the same age.

Many parents find it difficult to help their children with subjects they’ve not studied themselves for a long time, if at all.

There’s also much debate about the value of homework. Supporters argue that it benefits children, teachers, and parents in several ways:

• Children learn to deepen their understanding of specific content, to cover content at their own pace, to become more independent learners, to develop problem-solving and time-management skills, and to relate what they learn in school to outside activities.
• Teachers can see how well their students understand the lessons; evaluate students’ individual progress, strengths, and weaknesses; and cover more content in class.
• Parents can engage practically in their children’s education, see firsthand what their children are being taught in school, and understand more clearly how they’re getting on—what they find easy and what they struggle with in school.

Want to know more about Sir Ken Robinson? Check out our Q&A with him.

Q&A With Sir Ken Robinson

Ashley Norris is assistant dean at the University of Phoenix College of Education. Commenting on her university’s survey, she says, “Homework helps build confidence, responsibility, and problem-solving skills that can set students up for success in high school, college, and in the workplace.”

That may be so, but many parents find it difficult to help their children with subjects they’ve not studied themselves for a long time, if at all. Families have busy lives, and it can be hard for parents to find time to help with homework alongside everything else they have to cope with. Norris is convinced it’s worth the effort, especially, she says, because in many schools, the nature of homework is changing. One influence is the growing popularity of the so-called flipped classroom.

In the stereotypical classroom, the teacher spends time in class presenting material to the students. Their homework consists of assignments based on that material. In the flipped classroom, the teacher provides the students with presentational materials—videos, slides, lecture notes—which the students review at home and then bring questions and ideas to school where they work on them collaboratively with the teacher and other students. As Norris notes, in this approach, homework extends the boundaries of the classroom and reframes how time in school can be used more productively, allowing students to “collaborate on learning, learn from each other, maybe critique [each other’s work], and share those experiences.”

Even so, many parents and educators are increasingly concerned that homework, in whatever form it takes, is a bridge too far in the pressured lives of children and their families. It takes away from essential time for their children to relax and unwind after school, to play, to be young, and to be together as a family. On top of that, the benefits of homework are often asserted, but they’re not consistent, and they’re certainly not guaranteed.

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The Guide to 4th Grade: Reading and Writing

Review reading and writing curricula for 4th grade, including what to expect and resources to support learning..

Congratulations: Your child is officially a member of the “upper” grades! As fourth graders, students deepen their skills to prepare for middle school. That being said, they still learn like elementary school students do. Most fourth graders are developmentally very much still children — they enjoy and learn from play, and they thrive in nurturing and warm environments. However, the content of most 4th grade curricula pushes students to think, analyze, and learn in more sophisticated and structured ways than they did in the “lower” grades.

In 4th grade, students learn how to deeply think about and make connections in new material, and grasp more complex concepts across all subjects. They also write with clarity, flow, and structure similar to that of traditional essays. Fourth graders are encouraged to be more independent in how they learn, and depend less on their teacher's guidance. They research, plan, and revise their work more by themselves — setting the foundation to be lifelong, self-starting learners.

Read on for what to expect this year, and shop all books and resources for 4th grade at The Scholastic Store . 

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Reading in 4th Grade

Much of the 4th grade reading curriculum teaches students how to analyze the books they read. Rather than just understand the plot and information given in a text, students are encouraged to think about the messages and how they relate to their own lives. They also compare texts to each other and make connections both within one text and across multiple texts.

In short, 4th graders begin to learn how to think and talk about a text to find deeper meanings and messages. This is done both with texts students read independently and those read by the whole class or smaller groups of students. Teachers may often use a class read-aloud to show students strategies for thinking about and analyzing what they read, encouraging them to do this in their own reading. Students also do this as they write in more detail about the texts they read. 

To build reading skills, your 4th grader :

• Uses specific examples from the text to explain characters’ motivations, main events, central themes, or ideas about a text.
• Uses the context of a text to determine the meaning of a word.
• Understands and can explain the differences between narrative prose, drama, and poetry.
• Identifies and refers to the different parts of poems and plays, such as verses, settings, and characters.
• Interprets and connects information from illustrations, graphs, charts, or other sources related to the text.
• Identifies, compares, and contrasts different perspectives from which texts are written (for example, first and third person).
• Compares and contrasts the way different texts address the same issue, theme, or topic.
• Makes connections between people, events, or important ideas in a text.
• Uses previous knowledge to read unfamiliar multi-syllable words.
• Reads grade-level texts with accurate comprehension, pacing, and expression.

Fourth Grade Reading Activities

Read and Research Together : Read the same book as your child independently, together, or a combination of both. Talk about the book as you read it, reviewing main ideas and plots and expressing your opinions. Then read an additional book or books on the same subject and compare and contrast how they dealt with the same issue. 

Compare Perspectives : Read two texts — one written in first person and one in third person — about the same event. Talk with your child about the differences and why they thinks these differences exist. Or, try it yourself! After sharing an experience with your child, each of you can write about it from your own perspective. Talk about the differences between what you wrote to gain a better understanding of perspective.

Read magazine and newspaper articles. Focus on the illustrations, graphs, or charts. Point out to your child what they show, ask them to help you interpret them, and discuss how they help explain or elaborate on the text. 

Writing in 4th Grade

Much of the 4th grade writing curriculum focuses on developing writing that has clarity and structure, and that uses reasons, facts, and details to support and strengthen arguments. Fourth graders are taught to organize their writing, ensure that it flows well, and group together related components. As students learn to think more deeply about concepts they are taught, they are encouraged to write in deeper ways as well. They do this by going beyond simply stating the facts — they express ideas, make connections, and provide details and emotions when appropriate.

To build writing skills, your 4th grader :

• Writes opinion pieces that express a point of view; have an introduction, a conclusion, reasons, and facts to support the opinion; and group together related ideas.
• Writes informative/explanatory pieces that present information on a topic, use facts and details, and group together related topics; provides introductions and conclusions in these pieces.
• Writes narrative pieces that use specific details, descriptions, and dialogue to convey a real event; includes an introduction and conclusion in each piece.
• Plans, revises, and edits their writing.
• Uses technology to publish, research, and communicate with others under the proper guidance of an adult or teacher.
• Types with a beginner’s accuracy and ability (for example, types one page of text within one sitting).
• Completes research projects by taking notes, organizing them, and presenting them; lists the texts and resources used.
• Writes for both long (over weeks) and shorter (one sitting or a couple of days) periods of time.

Fourth Grade Writing Activities

Ask Why : When your child expresses their opinion about something, ask them why they think that or how they know it is true. This will help them learn to support their opinion with reasons and/or facts. Do the same when you express your opinion or ideas about something.

Email with your Child : Set up an email account for your child and write emails describing your days to each other. Include details, conversations, thoughts, and emotions you had. This can be done in addition to generally encouraging (and supervising) your child’s use of technology — helping them use it for research, writing, and communicating with others. As always, be cautious of your child’s technology use by monitoring and supervising how much it is used and with whom they communicate.

Practice Note Taking : When you and your child go somewhere like a museum or a new city, pretend to be reporters and take notes (give them a journal they'll love to take notes in, like the Klutz: Decorate This Journal ). Later on, use those notes to describe what you learned. You can even relay your “reports” like a newscaster would.

Shop the best resources for fourth grade below! You can find all books and activities at  The Scholastic Store . 

Explore other grade guides: 

• Kindergarten
• First Grade
• Second Grade
• Third Grade
• Fifth Grade
• Sixth Grade
• Seventh Grade
• Eighth Grade

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Workload in the Fourth Grade

It appears that your son has just barely been keeping his head above water this year. A big part of his problem sounds like weak organizational skills. The first step to improving these skills is to get him to write down his assignments in a notebook. The next step is to sit down with him at the start of his regular study time and help him organize his work. Then, get him started on the more difficult assignments by making sure he understands the directions and has a plan for doing the work.

Besides improving your son's organizational skills, you want to be sure he doesn't have a reading problem. In the fourth grade, the emphasis in reading has shifted from acquiring basic reading skills to reading for information. Children who have mastered the mechanics of reading stories may not know how to dig the meaning out of their textbooks. For this, they need skills in determining cause and effect, finding the main idea, interpreting content, establishing a sequence of events, and sensing relationships.

Reading in fourth grade has also become more challenging because of the need to acquire a special vocabulary. Earlier, the children knew the meaning of the words in their readers. Now, they must learn the meaning of new words such as symmetry, culture, and gravity.

Now is the time to make sure your son has the organization and reading skills needed to handle his work. Without these skills, he will continue to struggle in school. Also, keep him interested in reading for fun by reading with and to him. The more your child reads, the better he will read.

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Fourth Grade: What You & Your Child Can Expect

How your fourth grader will grow this year

Fourth grade is the approximate year in which teachers say children experience a shift from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." Fourth graders will use reference books and the Internet to find the information they need for schoolwork. Fourth grade math , reading and other subjects will be more challenging, as will homework, which may take as much as an hour or more to do each night.

Fourth graders will also need to begin getting themselves ready for the transition to middle school .

This will be a good time for parents to make sure their fourth grader works on their ability to focus, stay organized and prioritize - all skills they will need as they transition into upper grades where students are expected to work more independently and take more responsibility for themselves.

This guideline offers an explanation of what you and your fourth grader can expect as they tackle math, reading and other subjects this school year.

Fourth Grade Social Skills

Social development is a huge part of growing up, especially during the school-aged years. By now your fourth grader has developed a sense of self, which will play out through their social skills. Your fourth grader will:

• Gravitate toward certain friends. Friendship preferences may become more pronounced in 4th grade.   The downside to this can be the formation of cliques, especially for girls; peer pressure ; and labeling others.
• Take more responsibility for organizing and prioritizing their work. If your child needs help with these skills, now is a great time to step in, before the demands of middle school require even more self-discipline.
• Be more emphatic about expressing preferences about things.
• Demonstrate more competitiveness with peers.

Fourth Grade Reading & Writing

By now your fourth grader has become a skilled reader and writer. Now they are able to apply those skills to class projects and homework assignments. Your fourth grader will:

• Demonstrate understanding of the themes of a book by writing a book report.
• Become familiar with a wide variety of stories such as fiction, non-fiction, myths, fables, poems, biographies and more.
• Increasingly use research materials to tackle a variety of subjects including fourth grade science and history.
• Continue to build vocabulary.
• Learn synonyms, antonyms and homonyms.

Fourth Grade Math

Like all subjects your child will be introduced to this year, math will also present more of a challenge. Your fourth grader will:

• Tackle increasingly difficult fractions, multiplication and division using multiple digits.
• Begin geometry and algebra.
• Learn how to collect data and convert the information into graphs, charts and tables.
• Solve word problems that require logical-thinking skills and calculations.

Fourth Grade Science, Social Studies & Technology

Your child's worldview expands a little more every year. Fourth grade science, social studies and technology will introduce your young scholar to a wealth of new information. Your fourth grader will:

• Learn about electricity and other forms of energy and matter.
• Study American history and historical figures.
• Learn about other cultures around the world.
• Learn how to read maps.
• Know the geography of the U.S.
• Classify organisms.

Mathur R, Berndt TJ. Relations of Friends' Activities to Friendship Quality . J Early Adolesc . 2006;26(3):365-388. doi:10.1177/0272431606288553

By Katherine Lee Katherine Lee is a parenting writer and a former editor at Parenting and Working Mother magazines.

Does homework really work?

by: Leslie Crawford | Updated: December 12, 2023

Print article

You know the drill. It’s 10:15 p.m., and the cardboard-and-toothpick Golden Gate Bridge is collapsing. The pages of polynomials have been abandoned. The paper on the Battle of Waterloo seems to have frozen in time with Napoleon lingering eternally over his breakfast at Le Caillou. Then come the tears and tantrums — while we parents wonder, Does the gain merit all this pain? Is this just too much homework?

However the drama unfolds night after night, year after year, most parents hold on to the hope that homework (after soccer games, dinner, flute practice, and, oh yes, that childhood pastime of yore known as playing) advances their children academically.

But what does homework really do for kids? Is the forest’s worth of book reports and math and spelling sheets the average American student completes in their 12 years of primary schooling making a difference? Or is it just busywork?

Homework haterz

Whether or not homework helps, or even hurts, depends on who you ask. If you ask my 12-year-old son, Sam, he’ll say, “Homework doesn’t help anything. It makes kids stressed-out and tired and makes them hate school more.”

Nothing more than common kid bellyaching?

Maybe, but in the fractious field of homework studies, it’s worth noting that Sam’s sentiments nicely synopsize one side of the ivory tower debate. Books like The End of Homework , The Homework Myth , and The Case Against Homework the film Race to Nowhere , and the anguished parent essay “ My Daughter’s Homework is Killing Me ” make the case that homework, by taking away precious family time and putting kids under unneeded pressure, is an ineffective way to help children become better learners and thinkers.

One Canadian couple took their homework apostasy all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. After arguing that there was no evidence that it improved academic performance, they won a ruling that exempted their two children from all homework.

So what’s the real relationship between homework and academic achievement?

How much is too much?

To answer this question, researchers have been doing their homework on homework, conducting and examining hundreds of studies. Chris Drew Ph.D., founder and editor at The Helpful Professor recently compiled multiple statistics revealing the folly of today’s after-school busy work. Does any of the data he listed below ring true for you?

• 45 percent of parents think homework is too easy for their child, primarily because it is geared to the lowest standard under the Common Core State Standards .

• 74 percent of students say homework is a source of stress , defined as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss, and stomach problems.

• Students in high-performing high schools spend an average of 3.1 hours a night on homework , even though 1 to 2 hours is the optimal duration, according to a peer-reviewed study .

Not included in the list above is the fact many kids have to abandon activities they love — like sports and clubs — because homework deprives them of the needed time to enjoy themselves with other pursuits.

Conversely, The Helpful Professor does list a few pros of homework, noting it teaches discipline and time management, and helps parents know what’s being taught in the class.

The oft-bandied rule on homework quantity — 10 minutes a night per grade (starting from between 10 to 20 minutes in first grade) — is listed on the National Education Association’s website and the National Parent Teacher Association’s website , but few schools follow this rule.

Do you think your child is doing excessive homework? Harris Cooper Ph.D., author of a meta-study on homework , recommends talking with the teacher. “Often there is a miscommunication about the goals of homework assignments,” he says. “What appears to be problematic for kids, why they are doing an assignment, can be cleared up with a conversation.” Also, Cooper suggests taking a careful look at how your child is doing the assignments. It may seem like they’re taking two hours, but maybe your child is wandering off frequently to get a snack or getting distracted.

Less is often more

If your child is dutifully doing their work but still burning the midnight oil, it’s worth intervening to make sure your child gets enough sleep. A 2012 study of 535 high school students found that proper sleep may be far more essential to brain and body development.

For elementary school-age children, Cooper’s research at Duke University shows there is no measurable academic advantage to homework. For middle-schoolers, Cooper found there is a direct correlation between homework and achievement if assignments last between one to two hours per night. After two hours, however, achievement doesn’t improve. For high schoolers, Cooper’s research suggests that two hours per night is optimal. If teens have more than two hours of homework a night, their academic success flatlines. But less is not better. The average high school student doing homework outperformed 69 percent of the students in a class with no homework.

Many schools are starting to act on this research. A Florida superintendent abolished homework in her 42,000 student district, replacing it with 20 minutes of nightly reading. She attributed her decision to “ solid research about what works best in improving academic achievement in students .”

More family time

A 2020 survey by Crayola Experience reports 82 percent of children complain they don’t have enough quality time with their parents. Homework deserves much of the blame. “Kids should have a chance to just be kids and do things they enjoy, particularly after spending six hours a day in school,” says Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth . “It’s absurd to insist that children must be engaged in constructive activities right up until their heads hit the pillow.”

By far, the best replacement for homework — for both parents and children — is bonding, relaxing time together.

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Is Homework Good for Kids? Here’s What the Research Says

A s kids return to school, debate is heating up once again over how they should spend their time after they leave the classroom for the day.

The no-homework policy of a second-grade teacher in Texas went viral last week , earning praise from parents across the country who lament the heavy workload often assigned to young students. Brandy Young told parents she would not formally assign any homework this year, asking students instead to eat dinner with their families, play outside and go to bed early.

But the question of how much work children should be doing outside of school remains controversial, and plenty of parents take issue with no-homework policies, worried their kids are losing a potential academic advantage. Here’s what you need to know:

For decades, the homework standard has been a “10-minute rule,” which recommends a daily maximum of 10 minutes of homework per grade level. Second graders, for example, should do about 20 minutes of homework each night. High school seniors should complete about two hours of homework each night. The National PTA and the National Education Association both support that guideline.

But some schools have begun to give their youngest students a break. A Massachusetts elementary school has announced a no-homework pilot program for the coming school year, lengthening the school day by two hours to provide more in-class instruction. “We really want kids to go home at 4 o’clock, tired. We want their brain to be tired,” Kelly Elementary School Principal Jackie Glasheen said in an interview with a local TV station . “We want them to enjoy their families. We want them to go to soccer practice or football practice, and we want them to go to bed. And that’s it.”

A New York City public elementary school implemented a similar policy last year, eliminating traditional homework assignments in favor of family time. The change was quickly met with outrage from some parents, though it earned support from other education leaders.

New solutions and approaches to homework differ by community, and these local debates are complicated by the fact that even education experts disagree about what’s best for kids.

The research

The most comprehensive research on homework to date comes from a 2006 meta-analysis by Duke University psychology professor Harris Cooper, who found evidence of a positive correlation between homework and student achievement, meaning students who did homework performed better in school. The correlation was stronger for older students—in seventh through 12th grade—than for those in younger grades, for whom there was a weak relationship between homework and performance.

Cooper’s analysis focused on how homework impacts academic achievement—test scores, for example. His report noted that homework is also thought to improve study habits, attitudes toward school, self-discipline, inquisitiveness and independent problem solving skills. On the other hand, some studies he examined showed that homework can cause physical and emotional fatigue, fuel negative attitudes about learning and limit leisure time for children. At the end of his analysis, Cooper recommended further study of such potential effects of homework.

Despite the weak correlation between homework and performance for young children, Cooper argues that a small amount of homework is useful for all students. Second-graders should not be doing two hours of homework each night, he said, but they also shouldn’t be doing no homework.

Not all education experts agree entirely with Cooper’s assessment.

Cathy Vatterott, an education professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, supports the “10-minute rule” as a maximum, but she thinks there is not sufficient proof that homework is helpful for students in elementary school.

“Correlation is not causation,” she said. “Does homework cause achievement, or do high achievers do more homework?”

Vatterott, the author of Rethinking Homework: Best Practices That Support Diverse Needs , thinks there should be more emphasis on improving the quality of homework tasks, and she supports efforts to eliminate homework for younger kids.

“I have no concerns about students not starting homework until fourth grade or fifth grade,” she said, noting that while the debate over homework will undoubtedly continue, she has noticed a trend toward limiting, if not eliminating, homework in elementary school.

The issue has been debated for decades. A TIME cover in 1999 read: “Too much homework! How it’s hurting our kids, and what parents should do about it.” The accompanying story noted that the launch of Sputnik in 1957 led to a push for better math and science education in the U.S. The ensuing pressure to be competitive on a global scale, plus the increasingly demanding college admissions process, fueled the practice of assigning homework.

“The complaints are cyclical, and we’re in the part of the cycle now where the concern is for too much,” Cooper said. “You can go back to the 1970s, when you’ll find there were concerns that there was too little, when we were concerned about our global competitiveness.”

Cooper acknowledged that some students really are bringing home too much homework, and their parents are right to be concerned.

“A good way to think about homework is the way you think about medications or dietary supplements,” he said. “If you take too little, they’ll have no effect. If you take too much, they can kill you. If you take the right amount, you’ll get better.”

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25 Things Every 4th Grader Needs to Know

How would your 4th graders do when it comes to knowing these common lessons in science, reading, writing, geography, history, art, music and math?

Core Knowledge—the company where knowledge builds on knowledge—has a library full of free downloadable curriculum items just for fourth grade teachers. Check it out here . 

Fourth grade is a key year in elementary, as fourth grade teachers are well aware. It is the year when students become “big kids,” with all that entails—greater physical and intellectual capabilities, but also more academics and more homework. Fourth grade is packed with great content—fun and fascinating subjects like fractions, meteorology and the American Revolution—and it’s a foundational year for key concepts that will carry your students into middle school. Take a look at our list of Core Knowledge concepts and compare it to your own curriculum. If you are covering most of these, your students are on the right track to be future scholars!

FOURTH GRADE READING AND WRITING

1. understand subject-verb agreement..

At this point, your students can probably identify the difference between a subject and a verb, but now it’s time to take it to the next level with subject-verb agreement. If you have a singular subject, you use a singular verb.If you have a plural subject, you use a plural verb. You can download a free worksheet to use in your classroom from the blog Life in Fifth Grade . Try to challenge your students with collective noun examples too.

Write stories, personal letters and more.

Writing is a big initiative in fourth grade, and for many students it’s the first time they’re expanding their skills beyond a simple story with a beginning, middle and end. For example, they should be learning how to write descriptions, summaries, reports and letters. To practice their letter-writing skills, have your students write to troops through the Operation Gratitude program .

Experiment with poetry.

Poetry is a big, bright world, and fourth grade is the perfect year to have your students write some. First, make sure they read some great poems— here are a few suggestions to get you started. Then get them writing and revising. You might even consider entering a contest like the one from Creative Communication —your students could even get published!

Know basic punctuation and use it correctly.

As you work to build your students’ writing skills, make sure they are using all of their punctuation correctly. For instance, end punctuation, commas, apostrophes and quotation marks—these take a little trial-and-error for some students to master, but they’re essential skills to develop at this age.

Define idioms.

This is a fun lesson plan because many of these sayings go back decades or even centuries. Assign students to research the meaning of an idiom (a familiar saying). Then have them present their findings to the class, using it in a dialogue to fully explain the meaning. Here are a few phrases to get you started. If you’re looking for more, try this website .

• Seeing is believing.
• Through thick and thin.
• Bull in a china shop.
• Birds of a feather flock together.
• As the crow flies.
• Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
• Two wrongs don’t make a right.
• When it rains, it pours.

FOURTH GRADE GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Measure distance using map scales..

There’s a lot more to a map than many students realize. This year, have them take a closer look at maps and how to read them—like looking at scale and learning to measure distances. Check out this free curriculum that helps students learn some important map skills .

Know the highest points in the world.

Students will love learning about the highest points on each continent as well as the biggest mountain ranges. If you want to take it one step further, have them compare/contrast and even graph the size of the mountains as part of a math unit. Here are some of the tallest peaks you can teach about this year, as well as a link for a free curriculum on world mountains .

• Asia: Everest
• North America: McKinley
• South America: Aconcagua
• Europe: Mont Blanc
• Africa: Kilimanjaro

Learn about medieval Europe.

Castles, kings and queens, knights in armor—your kids will be excited as they visit the Middle Ages! You can download a beaucoup of great (and free) content from Core Knowledge. In particular, be sure to look for the timeline image cards they offer, which really break down some of those large topics into simple “big questions.” For instance, King Charles was a key figure in medieval Europe, so to check your students’ overall comprehension, you might ask, “Why did King Charles earn the title Charles the Great, or Charlemagne?” You can find more questions and lesson breakdowns like this in the lessons on the website .

Discover the American Revolution

What caused the colonists to break away and become an independent nation? What significant ideas and values are at the heart of the American Revolution? These are the types of questions you can ask your students to really increase their comprehension. Other subjects to cover in the American Revolution unit are Paul Revere’s famous ride, the Declaration of Independence, and important female figures like Elizabeth Freeman, Phillis Wheatley and Molly Pitcher. You can get free lesson plans for the American Revolution here.

Get to know the U.S. Constitution.

Fourth grade isn’t too early to start grappling with this key document. Start with the Preamble. Have students discuss the meaning of important phrases like “We the people” and “a more perfect union.” Explore the major freedoms granted in the Bill of Rights. The National Constitution Center has some excellent resources available for teachers on their website .

ART AND MUSIC

Make art inspired by africa..

African art is colorful, intricate and beautiful. As your students learn about different cultures, definitely include art as part of the teaching. African masks are some of the most beautiful and well-known types of art. Check out these papier-mâché designs that Susan Joe, a teacher in Austin, Texas, did with her students. You can see more of Susan’s class art projects on her Pinterest boards .

Look at the art of the new nation.

What was happening in the art world as the United States was emerging as a new nation? Look at famous paintings like John Singleton Copley’s portrait of Paul Revere (pictured below) or Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington . Talk about these pieces with your students. What characteristics do students see in the figures portrayed? How are they different? Background information and discussion prompts can be found in the Teacher Guide for the free Core Knowledge unit on The American Revolution.

Understand high, low, fast and slow.

As students start to learn more about music, encourage them to really listen to the parts of a song. They can definitely start comparing and contrasting, like listening for high and low musical notes within a song. They can also recognize when a song speeds up and then slows down. Establishing these fundamentals will help set the stage for a good understanding and appreciation of music.

Explore vocal ranges.

As they get older and go through puberty, your students’ vocal ranges will definitely change. But it’s time to plant the seed now on the different sections of a choir. For females, it’s soprano, mezzo-soprano and alto. For males, it’s tenor, baritone and bass. You could even listen to some top-40 hits and help them identify the vocal range of the lead singer.

Listen to classical composers like Mozart.

This is a perfect opportunity to combine music education with other subjects. For instance, as you teach your students about classic composers like Mozart and listen to his music ( you can find it on YouTube ), you can combine this with a history lesson and writing challenge. Encourage your students to learn about Mozart’s life, do some research and then write about him. Here are some additional Mozart printables from Making Music Fun .

FOURTH GRADE MATH

Conquer fractions.

This is a big year for fractions! Just like practicing multiplication facts, get your students to recognize fractions up to one-twelfth. Then have them start to work with them—adding, subtracting and making equivalent fractions. Here’s a game idea we love from Games 4 Gains. It uses the game of Spoons to teach equivalent fractions!

Solve two-step word problems.

Word problems can be extremely intimidating, but they don’t need to be! Help get your students off on the right foot with this method, Solving Multi-Step Problems Like a Boss , from the Applicious Teacher. She encourages her students to use three key strategies—circle the key words, identify the first step and then find the solution. You can even teach your students how to write their own word problems.

Learn equivalent measurements.

How many inches are in a foot? How many feet are in a mile? Make sure students understand the relationship between smaller and larger units of measurement. Here are some of the basics they should learn:

• 1 ft. = 12 in.
• 1 yd. = 3 ft.
• 1 mi. = 5,280 ft.
• 1 lb. = 16 oz.
• 1 ton = 2,000 lb.
• 1 cup = 8 fl. oz.
• 1 pt. = 2 c.
• 1 qt. = 2 pt.
• 1 gal. = 4 qt.

Identify polygons.

Your students should be able to identify polygons like triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons and octagons. To give them extra practice, let them make shapes with simple items like pencils, pipe cleaners or Popsicle sticks.

FOURTH GRADE SCIENCE

Learn about the circulatory system..

What does “blood pressure” mean? Fourth graders will be fascinated with learning how the heart pumps blood through the body, and about important components of blood such as red and white blood cells. Help your students understand the importance of donating blood and how it helps others. PBS offers lessons and multimedia teaching resources .

Understand how matter works.

Introduce students to the ways that scientists talk about properties of matter. Use hands-on activities to help students grasp what might seem like abstract concepts:

• Mass: the amount of matter in an object, similar to weight.
• Volume: the amount of space a thing fills.
• Density: how much matter is packed into the space an object fills.
• Vacuum: the absence of matter.

Study earthquakes.

What is the San Andreas Fault? Where do earthquakes occur most frequently? These are the types of questions you can research with your students when learning about earthquakes. You can also build your own seismograph with instructions from the California Academy of Sciences . Get free lesson plans, The Changing Earth , from Core Knowledge.

Describe the famous volcanoes.

Some of the most well-known volcanoes include Vesuvius, Krakatoa and Mount St. Helens. Help your students understand the difference between active, dormant and extinct volcanoes. You can also talk about hot springs and geysers, and help your students understand how they are related.

Research how mountains are formed.

To really understand how mountains were formed, it helps to look at the different types. These include volcanic, folded, fault-block and dome-shaped. Help your students define these types and understand how they are different from one another. Don’t forget to look at and talk about the mountains that are under the sea too! You’ll find these concepts in the free World Mountains lesson plan from Core Knowledge with both a teacher guide and student edition.

Dawn at Maroon Bells With Autumn Aspen Trees and Maroon Lake in the Rocky Mountains near Aspen Colorado.

Forecast the weather.

Your students probably know different cloud types—cirrus, stratus and cumulus—and now is a good time for review. After that, help them understand cold and warm fronts and how weather can change. Then hold a meteorologist challenge and let them try their hand at forecasting the weather.

Looking for more info on what fourth graders need to know?  Learn more about the book here or the starter kits her

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How Much Homework Should a 4th Grader Have?

• Post author: Marie
• Post published: September 27, 2020
• Post category: Classroom Management / Support for Students / Uncategorized
• Post comments: 55 Comments

Some kids love to do homework.  But most do not.  They spend the whole day in school.  They get home hungry, tired of sitting, studying, and being quiet, and ready to go play with the neighbors or chill and hang out around the house.  Unfortunately, though, homework has become an essential part of life for most students in America, even in elementary school.

So then, if homework is so universal, the next question becomes, how much homework should a 4th grader have?  According to research from multiple sources, the  National Education Association  and the  National PTA  both say that the appropriate amount of work for students is 10 minutes for each grade level.  That would mean 40 minutes for a 4th grader.  But what does that look like in reality?  Some parents complain that their students are coming home with hours of homework.  And what studies have been done to corroborate these recommendations?  We are going to take a look at all of this and more.

First, I do want to note that the information regarding these recommendations from both the NEA and National PTA is no longer available and I was not able to find updated guidelines from either site.  Very curious!

Table of Contents

What Do the Experts Say About How Much Homework for 4th Graders?

As I mentioned above, both the NEA and NPTA recommend 10 minutes per grade, which makes a 4th grade homework load around 40 minutes per night.

A survey was conducted in March and April of 2017 by University of Phoenix that sought to find out exactly how much homework teachers were assigning their students.  1,001 full-time teachers were asked how much homework they assign on a weekly basis.  For K-12 teachers, 62 percent said they assigned less than three hours a week.

The survey also reported that 27 percent of the teachers surveyed said they assign one hour or less per week.  All of these figures are in line with parents’ expectations that their children should not have more than one hour a day for elementary school.

From Kindergarten to 5th grade specifically, teachers averaged assigning less than 3 hours weekly.

But What Does This Really Mean Regarding Homework Amounts for 4th Graders?

The problem with these figures is that students and parents don’t necessarily agree that those figures represent the actual time it takes to do the assigned homework.

First of all, this is an average.  That means that some teachers assign much less homework while others assign much more.  The actual amounts of assigned homework can swing wildly from none to 18 hours a week.

Second, while the teachers may think that the assignment they are giving for homework will only take a certain amount of time, that could be very different for the students.

Some reasons for this would be that a student is having difficulty understanding it–either the concept or the directions for the assignment.  Or the student could just take longer than other students.  One more reason could be that the teacher’s estimate of completion was different than it actually took most of the students to complete it.

Third, each student works at their own pace.  Some students will finish a half hour assignment in 10 or 15 minutes, while others may take upwards of an hour.  It is virtually impossible for a teacher to assign a 30-minute assignment that takes exactly 30 minutes for everyone.

Working Through the Differences in Homework Ability for 4th Graders?

So how do we work through those discrepancies?

The first answer is to keep communication open between the teacher and the parents.

Teachers could be assigning homework that a previous class was easily able to finish in the allotted time.  But maybe the current class is not able to do that.  There really is no way for the teacher to know that unless the parents let them know.

These are great things to bring up in teacher parent conferences.  But sometimes, that is too far into the school year.

A better solution would be to send home a quick survey to the parents a couple of weeks after school starts.  Not only does this help the teacher to know which students are doing well with their homework; it also lets them know WHICH students are struggling and HOW they are struggling.  And the sooner the teacher knows that, the sooner these problems can be worked out to make the student more successful sooner.

Having surveys sent home allows the teacher to individualize what each student needs.  This is critical to class-wide success.

Also, keep in mind that homework assignments are likely going to take longer at the beginning of the school year, when students are learning what the expectations of the teacher are.  As the school year progresses and students and teachers get to know each other better, shorter homework times will naturally follow suit.

How Much Homework is Too Much for a 4th Grader?

It is very hard to put a specific number on it, but I would say that the 40 minute rule for 4th graders is actually a great standard.  It allows them to get their feet wet in preparing for independent work and deadlines.  But it isn’t so long that it is daunting or overly difficult for them to get through.

Much research has been done regarding the amount of homework to give students of all ages.  And while it has proven to be very beneficial in the high school years, the opposite has proven true in the elementary/middle school years.

The reason for this is because of the need in high school to put complex concepts to practice longer in order for the student to actually master the concepts they are learning.  In the younger grades, two other things come to play that make this step in learning not as necessary.

First, younger children’s brains have an immense ability to memorize and absorb the information they receive whereas high school students’ brains tend more towards analyzing and testing the information they receive.

Second, the concepts they are learning aren’t as complicated as the older grades.  So, as a whole they are able to master them much more quickly and easily.

The Effects of Too Much Homework for Younger Students

Interestingly enough, studies showed that younger students who had 90 minutes or more of homework nightly on a regular basis actually started scoring lower on tests–likely because they were simply burned out.

Reasonably speaking, there will be times that a 40-minute homework load will turn into a couple of hours.  Maybe your student is having a hard time focusing (check out my  article  on whether listening to music while studying can help students focus or distract them!) for whatever reason.  Maybe they aren’t feeling well or are feeling too tired to be productive.  It could be any number of reasons.  Parents can help their children to focus better in times that they are having difficulty.  Here is a chart  you can send home that can help out with that:

As long as homework isn’t taking longer than normal on a regular basis, then your child will be fine with it.

Probably the best test as to whether students are getting too much homework is if they are frustrated by it on a nightly basis.  And if that is the case, more harm is definitely being done than benefit.

What are the Benefits of Giving a 4th Grader Homework?

In figuring out how much homework a 4th grader should have, we should consider what the benefits of doing homework at that age are.

So then, why should we assign homework at all?  Shouldn’t teachers try to complete the day’s learning during the school day?  Is the reason for homework just to finish what didn’t get done during the school day?

While sometimes homework is a matter of finishing what the teacher didn’t get done during the day, there are many reasons that it is beneficial to do homework as opposed to work exclusively in the classroom.

Some of the benefits of bringing home some assignments are:

• It teaches students independence.
• The space in time between the lesson and homework allow the child to absorb what they have learned and then try to put it into practice later.
• It can help students learn problem-solving to get through unfamiliar work independently.
• Students will gain self confidence as they are able to do their work outside of a classroom setting.
• Students can gain a sense of accomplishment for doing something on their own.

There are many more benefits, but these are the most notable ones that benefit students that are in the 4th grade range.

What are the Drawbacks of Giving a 4th Grader Homework?

For as good as the advantages of giving a 4th grader homework are, there are also some disadvantages.  Every yin has its yang, doesn’t it?

Here is a brief list of a few of the disadvantages of giving a 4th grader homework:

• Parents may not be able to help students with their homework (could be their knowledge level or a time constraint).
• Students may  not have enough time in the evening to do it because of family or other obligations.
• Sporting or other extra-curricular activities could also take away time for students to be able to finish their homework.
• Difficulties in the home that prevent productive homework time.
• Unexpected events that come up could make it difficult to find time for homework.

 Honestly, I don’t feel they are as numerous or outweigh the advantages, but it is necessary to at least think about them for a moment.  And it is equally necessary to help students that are having difficulty getting their homework done find ways to be able to get to it and be more efficient with it.   That could take some creative ways to accomplish.

Regardless of how this works out, it is important for teachers to help students that are sincerely trying to find better ways to make sure it is accomplished.

What if There was no Homework for 4th Graders?

There are a number of teachers who have decided that their elementary students would have no homework.  Of course, the vast majority of students were happy about this.  And I expect a large number of parents were as well, since it meant one less thing for them to see to on weeknights that are already over-scheduled with life.  But what did the teachers think of it once they implemented it?

Many teachers said that it actually increased the work that their students did at night.  Because they weren’t being forced to do specific homework assignments, they were then able to find the time to study and do things that interested them.  And because they were interested in those subjects, they tended to be more eager about spending time on those things.

The biggest key here to things working out that way is for parents to limit screen time to a moderate amount of time.  We as adults realize how easy it is to get sucked down the rabbit hole of the internet and/or games.  It is no different for kids, especially when they have been at school all day and really just want to chill.  Until they are capable of forming their own good habits, as parents we need to be able to help them develop those habits.  And that will take some steadfast work!

So, after looking into how much homework a 4th grader should have, it is pretty clear that there is great value in 4th graders having some homework, but not too much.  Some amount of homework will allow students to learn lifelong study skills that will help them succeed well beyond their school years.  But on the other hand, too much homework can cause students to get burned out, and eventually even cause their grades to fall.

What has your experience been in the classroom and with kids at home?  Did you have difficulties and, if so, what were they?  Spill the tea in the comments below!

If you loved this article, I think you will also love the following articles:

10 Great Tips to Make Homework Fun for 4 th  Graders

Did My Student Copy and Paste? Here’s How to Find Out

How to Teach Students to Summarize the Right Way

Does Listening to Music Help Students Focus?

Does Chewing Gum Help Students Focus?

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This post has 55 comments.

This is such a comprehensive examination of how much, pros and cons of homework. I always think of it as a definitive benefit, but it may not always be like that. My son who is in 5th grade has never brought homework home. He always does it in breaks or study periods because he likes to be homework free at home. He rarely needs any help with it. I think it is his sheer wish to not have to do anything school-related at home that keeps him motivated to be so disciplined about it. I think in this day and age of constant information bombardment if homework was just reading quietly for an hour, it would be more than enough. Thank you for highlighting this.

I agree with all of that, Stella. And the way your son is able to finish his homework at school makes for a perfect balance. It allows him to leave his work for the day at school and spend quality time at home. I love that! Unfortunately, there are a lot of schools where that is the case, and also many students that don’t have the self discipline to get it done in study periods. But it is great that the possibility is there for those who do use it!

I’m not a parent yet but homework’s can help kids for their responsibility as students to working their school task. This post help a lot.

Yes, Maysz, you are right. Homework is a great way for students to learn responsibility

Great post. Thanks for sharing your insights about the pros and cons of homework.

A lot of homeworks has both its pros and cons, so thank you for talking about it in your article. Informative and helpful as well 🙂

I think every student should have some homework to keep them busy and applying what they’re learning to practical tasks, but it should really be managed. Many of our societies operate on a too much work basis, and the more work we give young kids, the more we’re grooming them to continue future stressed societies.

You are absolutely right, Nkem–balance is key!

I feel like homework can be a good thing, but too much leads to stress. This is super helpful Marie!

Exactly, Krysten–that balance can be so hard to achieve, especially when students vary so widely. One assignment can be quick and easy for one student but torture for another. Assigning the right types and amount of homework can be very tricky! I hope all is well with you and work has lightened up some! Stay well!

When I was young, this was a question that was never asked. We just did our homework, Its different nowadays.

My experience is exactly the same as yours, Kathy! It is indeed very different now.

This actually has good ideas which I believe can help parents, educators to understand that how much a 4th grader can do!

Thank you, Monidipa!

As a homeschooler for over 25 years, it’s hard to relate but you made some good points. It is very important for our young people to become independent learners so some homework is a good thing.

Independent learning is critical to success in life, so I agree with you, Portia! And as for the homeschooling part, when I homeschooled (I still am right now), I assigned minimal homework. It was only done when something had a critical deadline or the kids were dragging their feet and not working efficiently during school time. They learned to work more efficiently very quickly in order to get the benefit of no homework. 🙂

This is great info for moms that homeschool elementary kids!

Wow, you have raised great questions and I think it’s constantly on mine or many parents’ minds. I do think quality over quantity – communication is key to make sure they gain knowledge and learn something new, and those skills are reinforced through exercises. After all, it should be fun, not pain.

You are exactly right! When homework is painful on a regular basis, it does much harm to the students. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

Personally, I think it is like everything it is all about balance and not overdoing it especiallly at that age xx

I agree 100%–balance is the number one issue!

Being an educator, I could find it totally relevant to discuss. I am sure many good points are to take away from here.

Thank you, Shilpa!

Interesting information, I had no idea there was a set time for how much homework kids should have. I can’t remember how much I had during that time, but it seems like 40 mins to an hour was about right.

My experience was pretty much the same as yours. Since I was a book nerd, though, I often did more homework than was required and ended up significantly ahead. I had no life, lol!

We need to find balance on homework. I believe it is important to not overload your students and let them enjoy their spare time. This post is great to understand how much a 4th grader can do.

Thank you, Kevin. And you are right. Once the balance factor is achieved, the rest falls into place pretty well. The kids learn more effectively when homework is not too heavy or too light.

Some days I would like homework better than other – I think 40 minutes is a lot though 😮

It can be a lot for students that have a more difficult time. Splitting into two 20- minute periods would be very helpful though! Thank you for sharing, Renata!

This was a great read. I never thought of this before, but I guarantee that a bazillion parents across America are right this very second.

You are right, Ben–especially with all of the distance learning going on. Parents have never been more invested in their kids homework! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

This is very informative. I also agree anything past 40 mins and you have lost that child.

Yes, Jackline–overtaxing the kids will actually make life so much harder. It will make them hate that aspect of learning. And that will affect the way they learn for the rest of their lives.

Wow, I didn’t know a lot of things! Thanks for explaining it so well ☺ Parents will find it super helpful!

This was extremely helpful and very informative! I never knew about the 10 minute per grade rule but I think that is a great rule to live by!

Kileen cute & little

I think the 10 minute rule is pretty perfect for age appropriate school work! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Kileen!

Always love your insights! And I couldn’t agree more on this one. I especially like the idea of conducting a survey at the start of the school year. This would truly help identify the possible challenges a student may face as well.

Thank you, Lucy! You are right. The more communication between teacher and student, the better things will be accomplished. 🙂

As you clearly highlighted here homework has both pros and cons. As a parent, I feel that homework is important to reinforce the concepts that kid learned in the class. But it shouldn’t be too much that it becomes stressful. I prefer homework that’s given for the weekend.

I agree, Mayuri, and I love the idea of placing more homework on the weekend when there is a bit more time. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

I remember having way too much homework when I was in 4th grade. I agree that anything over 40 minutes is too much. Very insightful to read!

I’m sorry for your experience, Hannah. I was fortunate to have an amazing 4th grade teacher. She actually helped most of us to complete our homework before the school day was over. And she was great with rewarding students with a job well done. I wish all students could have had such a good experience.

I agree that homework does teach independence. Kids at the 4th grade level should start learning personal responsibility for their studies.

I agree, Alexis. 4th grade is a perfect time for students to start learning and practicing independence!

This are truly great insights. I feel that my daughter is overworked and has too much homework now that we have shifted to online classes due to the pandemic.

Thank you for sharing this and I will share this with her class adviser.

It is a very difficult time for homework and learning, Clarice. I hope that you are able to find a balance with your daughter. I think that parents homeschooling in conjunction with the schools they attended is very difficult for everybody involved. And because of that I hope that we get to some sort of normal sooner than later. Fortunately, our kids can be pretty resilient!

This is a really interesting topic. I think having a balance about homeworks is really important.

Thank you, Toni!

great post! my daughter is in sk and I still have some time but this is very insightful, thanks for sharing.

Thank you, Melissa!

Wow learning is totally different than I had when i was growing up. With the virtual learning this all makes sense.

I agree, Lily. Learning has changed so much! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

I think some activities should be via fun activities rather than assignments. Also, it should just be few assignments. Do you agree?

Superb post.Thanks for sharing your insights about the pros and cons of homework. you have wrote it very deeply.

The kids are studying too hard. Parent expectations and peer pressure are making it very difficult. The Corona pandemic has given them a much-needed break. Just my personal opinion, of course.

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• May 11 Art Car Club showcases its rolling artwork on wheels at the Orange Show parade
• May 3 Cultures collide at the Bellaire International Student Association Fest
• May 2 Uncalculated uncertainties
• May 1 National Honor Society welcomes new inductees
• April 27 The road from Rhode Island

Three Penny Press

Students spend three times longer on homework than average, survey reveals

Sonya Kulkarni and Pallavi Gorantla | Jan 9, 2022

Graphic by Sonya Kulkarni

The National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association have suggested that a healthy number of hours that students should be spending can be determined by the “10-minute rule.” This means that each grade level should have a maximum homework time incrementing by 10 minutes depending on their grade level (for instance, ninth-graders would have 90 minutes of homework, 10th-graders should have 100 minutes, and so on).

As ‘finals week’ rapidly approaches, students not only devote effort to attaining their desired exam scores but make a last attempt to keep or change the grade they have for semester one by making up homework assignments.

High schoolers reported doing an average of 2.7 hours of homework per weeknight, according to a study by the Washington Post from 2018 to 2020 of over 50,000 individuals. A survey of approximately 200 Bellaire High School students revealed that some students spend over three times this number.

The demographics of this survey included 34 freshmen, 43 sophomores, 54 juniors and 54 seniors on average.

When asked how many hours students spent on homework in a day on average, answers ranged from zero to more than nine with an average of about four hours. In contrast, polled students said that about one hour of homework would constitute a healthy number of hours.

Junior Claire Zhang said she feels academically pressured in her AP schedule, but not necessarily by the classes.

“The class environment in AP classes can feel pressuring because everyone is always working hard and it makes it difficult to keep up sometimes.” Zhang said.

A total of 93 students reported that the minimum grade they would be satisfied with receiving in a class would be an A. This was followed by 81 students, who responded that a B would be the minimum acceptable grade. 19 students responded with a C and four responded with a D.

“I am happy with the classes I take, but sometimes it can be very stressful to try to keep up,” freshman Allyson Nguyen said. “I feel academically pressured to keep an A in my classes.”

Up to 152 students said that grades are extremely important to them, while 32 said they generally are more apathetic about their academic performance.

Last year, nine valedictorians graduated from Bellaire. They each achieved a grade point average of 5.0. HISD has never seen this amount of valedictorians in one school, and as of now there are 14 valedictorians.

“I feel that it does degrade the title of valedictorian because as long as a student knows how to plan their schedule accordingly and make good grades in the classes, then anyone can be valedictorian,” Zhang said.

Bellaire offers classes like physical education and health in the summer. These summer classes allow students to skip the 4.0 class and not put it on their transcript. Some electives also have a 5.0 grade point average like debate.

Close to 200 students were polled about Bellaire having multiple valedictorians. They primarily answered that they were in favor of Bellaire having multiple valedictorians, which has recently attracted significant acclaim .

Senior Katherine Chen is one of the 14 valedictorians graduating this year and said that she views the class of 2022 as having an extraordinary amount of extremely hardworking individuals.

“I think it was expected since freshman year since most of us knew about the others and were just focused on doing our personal best,” Chen said.

Chen said that each valedictorian achieved the honor on their own and deserves it.

“I’m honestly very happy for the other valedictorians and happy that Bellaire is such a good school,” Chen said. “I don’t feel any less special with 13 other valedictorians.”

Nguyen said that having multiple valedictorians shows just how competitive the school is.

“It’s impressive, yet scary to think about competing against my classmates,” Nguyen said.

Offering 30 AP classes and boasting a significant number of merit-based scholars Bellaire can be considered a competitive school.

“I feel academically challenged but not pressured,” Chen said. “Every class I take helps push me beyond my comfort zone but is not too much to handle.”

Students have the opportunity to have off-periods if they’ve met all their credits and are able to maintain a high level of academic performance. But for freshmen like Nguyen, off periods are considered a privilege. Nguyen said she usually has an hour to five hours worth of work everyday.

“Depending on the day, there can be a lot of work, especially with extra curriculars,” Nguyen said. “Although, I am a freshman, so I feel like it’s not as bad in comparison to higher grades.”

According to the survey of Bellaire students, when asked to evaluate their agreement with the statement “students who get better grades tend to be smarter overall than students who get worse grades,” responders largely disagreed.

Zhang said that for students on the cusp of applying to college, it can sometimes be hard to ignore the mental pressure to attain good grades.

“As a junior, it’s really easy to get extremely anxious about your GPA,” Zhang said. “It’s also a very common but toxic practice to determine your self-worth through your grades but I think that we just need to remember that our mental health should also come first. Sometimes, it’s just not the right day for everyone and one test doesn’t determine our smartness.”

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Art Car Club showcases its rolling artwork on wheels at the Orange Show parade

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Humans of Bellaire

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Sarah Rimawi

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Anonymous • Nov 21, 2023 at 10:32 am

It’s not really helping me understand how much.

josh • May 9, 2023 at 9:58 am

Kassie • May 6, 2022 at 12:29 pm

Im using this for an English report. This is great because on of my sources needed to be from another student. Homework drives me insane. Im glad this is very updated too!!

Kaylee Swaim • Jan 25, 2023 at 9:21 pm

I am also using this for an English report. I have to do an argumentative essay about banning homework in schools and this helps sooo much!

Izzy McAvaney • Mar 15, 2023 at 6:43 pm

I am ALSO using this for an English report on cutting down school days, homework drives me insane!!

E. Elliott • Apr 25, 2022 at 6:42 pm

I’m from Louisiana and am actually using this for an English Essay thanks for the information it was very informative.

Nabila Wilson • Jan 10, 2022 at 6:56 pm

Interesting with the polls! I didn’t realize about 14 valedictorians, that’s crazy.

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How To: Choose the Right Amount of Daily Homework

Despite the differences in the recommendations from these sources, the table shows broad agreement about how much homework to assign at each grade. At grades 1-3, homework should be limited to an hour or less per day, while in grades 4-6, homework should not exceed 90 minutes. The upper limit in grades 7-8 is 2 hours and the limit in high school should be 2.5 hours.

Teachers can use the homework time recommendations included here as a point of comparison: in particular, schools should note that assigning homework that exceeds the upper limit of these time estimates is not likely to result in additional learning gains--and may even be counter-productive (Cooper, Robinson, & Patall, 2006).

It should also be remembered that the amount of homework assigned each day is not in itself a sign of high academic standards. Homework becomes a powerful tool to promote learning only when students grasp the purpose of each homework assignment, clearly understand homework directions, perceive that homework tasks are instructionally relevant, and receive timely performance feedback (e.g., teacher comments; grades) on submitted homework (Jenson, Sheridan, Olympia, & Andrews, 1994).

Attachments

• Download This Blog Entry in PDF Format: How To: Choose the Right Amount of Daily Homework
• Barkley, R. A. (2008). 80+ classroom accommodations for children or teens with ADHD. The ADHD Report, 16 (4), 7-10.
• Cooper, H., Robinson, J. C., & Patall, E A. (2006). Does homework improve academic achievement? A synthesis of research, 1987-2003. Review of Educational Research, 76 (1), 1-62. 
• Jenson, W. R., Sheridan, S. M., Olympia, D., & Andrews, D. (1994). Homework and students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders: A practical, parent-based approach. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27 , 538-548.

Grade Calculator

Use this calculator to find out the grade of a course based on weighted averages. This calculator accepts both numerical as well as letter grades. It also can calculate the grade needed for the remaining assignments in order to get a desired grade for an ongoing course.

Final Grade Calculator

Use this calculator to find out the grade needed on the final exam in order to get a desired grade in a course. It accepts letter grades, percentage grades, and other numerical inputs.

Related GPA Calculator

The calculators above use the following letter grades and their typical corresponding numerical equivalents based on grade points.

Brief history of different grading systems

In 1785, students at Yale were ranked based on "optimi" being the highest rank, followed by second optimi, inferiore (lower), and pejores (worse). At William and Mary, students were ranked as either No. 1, or No. 2, where No. 1 represented students that were first in their class, while No. 2 represented those who were "orderly, correct and attentive." Meanwhile at Harvard, students were graded based on a numerical system from 1-200 (except for math and philosophy where 1-100 was used). Later, shortly after 1883, Harvard used a system of "Classes" where students were either Class I, II, III, IV, or V, with V representing a failing grade. All of these examples show the subjective, arbitrary, and inconsistent nature with which different institutions graded their students, demonstrating the need for a more standardized, albeit equally arbitrary grading system.

In 1887, Mount Holyoke College became the first college to use letter grades similar to those commonly used today. The college used a grading scale with the letters A, B, C, D, and E, where E represented a failing grade. This grading system however, was far stricter than those commonly used today, with a failing grade being defined as anything below 75%. The college later re-defined their grading system, adding the letter F for a failing grade (still below 75%). This system of using a letter grading scale became increasingly popular within colleges and high schools, eventually leading to the letter grading systems typically used today. However, there is still significant variation regarding what may constitute an A, or whether a system uses plusses or minuses (i.e. A+ or B-), among other differences.

An alternative to the letter grading system

Letter grades provide an easy means to generalize a student's performance. They can be more effective than qualitative evaluations in situations where "right" or "wrong" answers can be easily quantified, such as an algebra exam, but alone may not provide a student with enough feedback in regards to an assessment like a written paper (which is much more subjective).

Although a written analysis of each individual student's work may be a more effective form of feedback, there exists the argument that students and parents are unlikely to read the feedback, and that teachers do not have the time to write such an analysis. There is precedence for this type of evaluation system however, in Saint Ann's School in New York City, an arts-oriented private school that does not have a letter grading system. Instead, teachers write anecdotal reports for each student. This method of evaluation focuses on promoting learning and improvement, rather than the pursuit of a certain letter grade in a course. For better or for worse however, these types of programs constitute a minority in the United States, and though the experience may be better for the student, most institutions still use a fairly standard letter grading system that students will have to adjust to. The time investment that this type of evaluation method requires of teachers/professors is likely not viable on university campuses with hundreds of students per course. As such, although there are other high schools such as Sanborn High School that approach grading in a more qualitative way, it remains to be seen whether such grading methods can be scalable. Until then, more generalized forms of grading like the letter grading system are unlikely to be entirely replaced. However, many educators already try to create an environment that limits the role that grades play in motivating students. One could argue that a combination of these two systems would likely be the most realistic, and effective way to provide a more standardized evaluation of students, while promoting learning.

Is Homework Good for Kids?

W hen my son started school in the fall of 2015, I knew there would be a few challenges to overcome. Because he was attending a francophone program, the catchment zone was quite large, and he would have to start each day with a forty-five-minute bus ride across downtown Toronto. My husband and I both worked full time, so my son would have to be in after-school care until one of us could get him, which would usually be around 6 p.m. Taking transit home took around forty-five minutes, which meant that we didn’t arrive at our apartment until close to 7 p.m. Add dinner and a bath into the mix, and that made for a long day. Still, I wasn’t too worried. I thought it would all be fine—and, honestly, it was fine right up until the homework started.

The worksheets began trickling home during grade one, and by the next year, my son was getting thick weekly packets of them. The board policy was that children in his grade were supposed to receive around twenty minutes’ worth of work per night, but in our house, the agony was never that brief. One week in grade two, my son came home with seventeen pages of homework, printed front and back—thirty-four worksheets filled with math problems and language exercises. He worked on them every night, but by Sunday, he was only about three quarters of the way through. He cried as he struggled to finish the homework. I cried as I emailed his teacher to tell her he hadn’t been able to finish it. We both felt like we’d failed.

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We were told that the work wasn’t mandatory, but that put me in a difficult position. I felt like, as a parent, I should be supporting what his teachers wanted from him, not acting against it. Besides, I believed that homework was necessary to set my son up for success. But it turns out that homework might not be as useful as we think.

“Homework is seen to benefit time management, self-discipline, [and] organizational skills, but there have been no studies that really have shown that homework actually either develops those skills or reinforces them,” says Etta Kralovec, professor emerita at the University of Arizona and author of The End of Homework and Schools That Do Too Much . She’s not the only homework researcher who is questioning how and why homework is done. Linda Cameron and Lee Bartel from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education have critiqued homework practices in Canada, noting, in 2010, that homework “may well be the ‘tipping point’ for the next educational reform movement” because the issue is “now uppermost in many parents’ and teachers’ minds.” Denise Pope, a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, has found that, for many students, homework is the greatest source of stress in their lives. Homework stress can lead to burnout and negative impacts on academic achievement.

Kralovec tells me that there is no benefit to homework for elementary school students at all. A meta-analysis published in 2006 by Harris M. Cooper, distinguished professor emeritus at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, looked at all of the homework research that had been done in the United States between 1987 and 2003 and found that homework had “no association with achievement gain” in students from kindergarten through grade five. And while there is a link between homework and academic success in middle and high school students, Kralovec says that might be more correlation than causation. One example she gives is that students taking advanced placement classes in high school typically do more homework than their peers in other classes: Are they having more academic success because they do more homework, or are they doing more homework because those advanced classes tend to assign more of it?

Kralovec says that not only are the benefits of homework questionable but the practice also has clear detriments. It takes time away from more meaningful things that families can do together, like reading or playing. It can create tension between parent and child by placing them in the role of teacher and student—especially if the child already finds that a nerve-wracking role to play at school. It might also limit the extracurricular activities the child can participate in, especially if they’re expected to do homework every night.

Part of the issue is that children, like adults, perform better when they have adequate outlets for stress—like exercise or leisure. In a groundbreaking educational program in Vanves, France, that started in 1950, students showed improved academic achievement when classroom time was shortened and physical education was extended. Follow-up studies, including some done in Canadian cities like Victoria, BC, and Trois-Rivières, Quebec, have produced similar results. Another facet to consider is that academic competency is not the only capability children need to develop: a study by Mollie Galloway, Jerusha Conner, and Denise Pope found that students overloaded with homework were “not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills.”

And not all students have a quiet, well-lit space in their homes where they can work. Many parents aren’t home in the afternoons and evenings—due to shift work or because they attend evening classes—and students in those households are often expected to care for younger siblings and cook dinner after school. Students may not have access to computers at home, meaning that they can’t complete work assigned online. Since work assigned to be done at home may make up a portion of a student’s overall grade, those whose home lives aren’t conducive to homework may struggle to maintain a high grade point average. Kralovec says this creates “a system of homework which further advances kids who are privileged.”

But Kralovec thinks change is on the horizon. COVID-19 disrupted how school work was done, an experience that caused many of us to re-evaluate our attitudes toward education. In 2021, the National Education Association published an article, “ Will the Pandemic Change Homework Forever? ,” that explored how COVID-19 lockdowns, which collapsed the boundaries between school and home, caused educators to re-examine what works and what doesn’t. Last year, Jessica McCrory Calarco, Ilana S. Horn, and Grace A. Chen published a paper, “‘ You Need to Be More Responsible’: The Myth of Meritocracy and Teachers’ Accounts of Homework Inequalities ,” that showed that teachers often interpret struggles with homework as lack of responsibility or motivation on students’ part and then react punitively instead of supporting students’ needs—which only serves to exacerbate social inequalities in the classroom. More recently, the president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, suggested that homework should be banned, saying that schoolwork should stay at school and students “should be able to use their time for other creative things” (though the president’s role is largely ceremonial and does not involve making policy).

Homework used to send my son into a nightly spiral. To him, the work seemed endless, and he felt like he was constantly coming up short—something that made him dread going to school. But when we relocated to Kingston, Ontario, he was delighted to learn that the teachers at his new school prefer not to assign homework. He’s expected to finish any incomplete classwork at home and sometimes has projects he has to do outside of school, but most of his nights are free. We’ve been enjoying the time together: reading, watching TV, and, in his words, “just vibing.”

I used to think that he couldn’t succeed without filling out some set amount of worksheets. Now I feel like I’ve completely changed my opinion on homework. Without the extra work, I’ve been able to see how much more enthusiastic my son actually is when it comes to learning.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, how to achieve a 4.5 gpa.

Hi all! So, I was wondering what's the secret to getting a 4.5 GPA? Are there specific strategies or study tips you'd recommend? I could really use some guidance, thanks!

Hi there! Achieving a 4.5 GPA is quite impressive and requires consistent hard work and dedication. Here are some strategies and study tips that could help you on your journey:

1. Understand your school's grading system: To achieve a 4.5 GPA or higher, you'll need to take advanced courses such as AP or IB classes, as they usually offer a GPA boost, putting them on a scale of 5.0 rather than 4.0.

2. Create a plan & set goals: Make a plan for what courses you need to take, set short-term and long-term goals, and monitor your progress.

3. Time management: Develop a consistent study schedule and stick to it. Allocate enough time for each subject and use tools like planners and calendars to stay organized.

4. Active learning: Engage with the material through methods like note-taking, solving extra problems, teaching others, or participating in class discussions.

5. Seek help when needed: Don't hesitate to ask questions in class, visit your teacher during office hours, or join tutoring sessions or study groups.

6. Develop good study habits: Break your study sessions into manageable chunks, avoid multitasking, and schedule regular study breaks.

7. Stay organized: Keep your classroom notes, assignments, and study materials well-organized. Develop a system for tracking upcoming deadlines and exams.

8. Test yourself: Use practice exams, quizzes, or flashcards to review the material regularly and gauge your understanding.

9. Review & refine: Regularly review your performance on assessments and identify areas of improvement. Use feedback from teachers and peers to refine your strategies.

10. Prioritize self-care: Maintain good physical and mental health by engaging in exercise and hobbies, getting ample sleep, and eating a balanced diet.

Remember, achieving a 4.5 GPA requires focused effort, adaptability, and commitment to your goals. Best of luck!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

12 DIVISION WORKSHEETS | Animal Theme

Grade 3, 4, 5, 6

About This Product

PRACTICE DIVISION HAS NEVER BEEN SO EASY BEFORE! On this occasion we have designed these fabulous 12 division worksheets from 1 to 12, so that your children can practice this operation through the animal theme that attracts their attention so much.

PRODUCT OVERVIEW:

1. Product name:

The name of this product is "12 division tiles from 1 to 12"

2. Number of pages:

This document contains 12 fabulous color pages, with animal themes.

3. Is it editable or not?

It is not editable because it will be much easier for you to print it.

The division from 1 to 12

5. Document version:

It is available in PDF version, A4 size.

6. Color or white/black:

Available in colors

7. Aimed at children of ages:

For children from 3rd to 5th grade.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF THE RESOURCE:

9. Keywords:

division, division exercises, division worksheets, division worksheets, resources to practice division.

10. How do I print it?

Print this in A4 format, as it is, in colors so that it catches the children's attention, and also print it in a large format so that the children have the opportunity to have space to put the answers.

11. How to apply it in class?

It is preferable to apply individually, and this way the children will be able to practice all the division tables from 1 to 12.

12. Will you need extra elements to use this sheet?

Yes, you will need a printer, binder or stapler to put together all the printed cards, and your children will also need a pencil and eraser to solve the cards.

13. Standards:

It was not prepared based on any specific standard.

14: Answer key:

There is no answer key attached.

15. Variations in its application:

You can apply this document as an introduction to your class, or during the development of your class or perhaps you can apply it as an evaluation at the end of your class, you can even send it to your students as homework.

Resource Tags

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