The impact of homework on student achievement

Abstract

Utilizing parametric and nonparametric techniques, we assess the role of a heretofore relatively unexplored "input" in the educational process, homework, on academic achievement. Our results indicate that homework is an important determinant of student test scores. Relative to more standard spending related measures, extra homework has a larger and more significant impact on test scores. However, the effects are not uniform across different subpopulations. Specifically, we find additional homework to be most effective for high and low achievers, which is further confirmed by stochastic dominance analysis. Moreover, the parametric estimates of the educational production function overstate the impact of schooling related inputs. In all estimates, the homework coefficient from the parametric model maps to the upper deciles of the nonparametric coefficient distribution and as a by-product the parametric model understates the percentage of students with negative responses to additional homework. Copyright � 2008 The Author(s). Journal compilation � Royal Economic Society 2008

Maintaining a Successful Statistical Help Laboratory

“…Therefore, both well‐planned classroom lectures and well‐planned homework assignments are important. We also agree with Eren and Henderson (2008) that increased homework enhances learning. We interpret “increased” to mean a steady stream of homework beginning in week 1.…”

“…(c) Assign homework every class period. We agree with Eren and Henderson (2008), a generous amount of homework makes a large impact on learning. It also makes students realize the value of a statistics help laboratory.…”

Parental income and the fruits of labor: Variability in homework efficacy in secondary school

“…Aksoy and Link (2000) use panel methods (fixed or random effects depending on the result of a Hausman specification test) using the NELS:88 dataset, and find positive influences of studying. Also using the NELS:88 dataset, Eren and Henderson (2008) find evidence of a positive, moderate, and declining marginal effect of study hours in 10th grade net of previous achievement, school fixed effects, and classroom achievement level. Stinebrickner and Stinebrickner (2008) use whether one’s randomly assigned roommate at a small college has a video game system as an instrumental variable for study efforts, and document a positive effect of studying on GPA.…”

“…Instrumental variables – even weak ones such as a roommate’s gaming system – address the causal ordering question while also eliminating sources of spurious association (at the cost of efficiency). And the Eren and Ozkan (2008) study, by controlling for school fixed effects and classroom achievement level, address the multilevel nature of the homework completion process. Because all of these studies concur in their findings while differing in their methods and samples, they collectively provide some assurance that the average effect of homework on achievement is positive and causal.…”

“…Possible moderators of homework efficacy include grade in school (Cooper et al, 2006), female gender (Mau & Lynn, 2000, but see Foyle, 1984), and class achievement levels (Eren & Henderson, 2008). Although not directly tested as such, the literature also suggests a number of other possible predictors of homework efficacy, among them test anxiety (Culler & Holahan, 1980), study skills (Credé & Kuncel, 2008), and parental involvement (Hoover-Dempsey et al, 2001).…”