The ‘Battle’ Over Homework

While the debate around homework continues in schools and among various education stakeholders one thing is still pretty clear: there’s no real significant body of research that supports either side of the argument. And, in fact, more questions seem to come to the surface?

What’s the value in students completing homework?
Are students any less off if they didn’t do homework?
Does a middle ground exist?
Where the heck does the flipped classroom fit into all of this?

I should be forthright here: it is not my intention to share my own philosophy of homework during this post. I will, however, go so far as to say that any type of ‘homework’ must be purposeful or intentional, in nature. And, of course, the rationale for assigning ANY ‘homework’ must also be clearly communicated with and understood by our students.

And while ‘traditional’ homework continues to offer its stereotypical meme (which does not require further comment here) there are those colleagues that place high value and educational rigor on homework. Below is a list of some of the ‘alternatives’ to traditional homework.