by Anna Yarbrough

Created on: June 19, 2008

Most educators, parents and coaches would agree that in order to master a skill, practice is required. It is also commonly accepted that until a skill is truly mastered, recall is not as quick or accurate.

Where we find more varience of opinion is in the exploration of the type and quantity of homework assigned. I've heard parents claim that they are teaching their child instead of the child's classroom teacher. Some children, particularly at young ages, are easily distracted in a classroom setting and may benefit from review of concepts with a parent or tutor in a one-on -one situation. Others, including high school age students, may not have the courage to admit that they don't understand a concept when it's taught in a classroom full of their peers. Again, it may be worthwhile to provide one-on-one review by a parent or tutor. In circumstances such as these, I would assert that homework was likely very useful in improvement of academic achievement.

Ideally, a child's instructional program is designed to flow naturally in a process which takes into consideration the learning goals and expectations for the student as well as the student's individual learning style preference, pace, maturity level, ability to concentrate, aptitude in and affinity for each subject, and incorporates diagnosis of the student's progress regularly. I can honestly say that this kind of learning does take place in public and private primary school classrooms as well as in home-school settings.

However, I would hesitate to say that this is true most of the time in primary school settings where class size is over twenty students or where student abilities vary substantially. Particularly in today's academic climate, which often includes high stakes testing of a lengthy scope of skill sets annually, having the opportunity to review and practice acadmic skills as homework would help compensate for the occasions when individualization is just not possible in the classroom in every situation.

Uncommon today is the situation where "busy work" or assignments beyond the scope of what has been presented by the teacher at school is assigned as homework. Teachers, students, and Administrators are being held accountable to higher and higher standards annually. There is basically no time left for busy work or frills. At times, it is only barely possible to provide enough opportunity for practice of required skills to be attained in school. In fact, parents and teachers alike have noted that many students are not memorizing and mastering their math facts as children once did. It's possible that this is an instance where a simple card game of "Math Facts War" done with addition or multiplication at home or in the car could actually improve academic achievement. It's worth a try!

Professionals routinely practice a skill until it becomes an automatic response in a given situation. With this in mind, it is safe to say that homework utilized as a means of providing practice of an academic skill in order to achieve mastery would definitely be construed as a method utilized to improve academic achievement.

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