A recent report printed in USA Today indicated that 17-year olds with one to two hours of homework each night dropped from 27 percent in 1984 to 23 percent in 2012. The percentage of students who studied more than two hours a night remained at 13 percent.
One of the more controversial discussions in education today is whether to give homework and if so, how much? Parents complain that teachers give to much homework and when (or if collected) is either not returned or not graded? How much homework is too much? How much is not enough? In my school, teachers agreed that homework would be assigned by specific days by department. For example, English teachers would give homework on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Social Studies teachers would assign homework on Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Testing would be given on assigned days. For example, Science tests would take place only on Mondays. Math tests only on Tuesdays, And so on. This would relieve the student of studying for 5 tests on one day or having too much homework on any day.
Research has indicated that elementary teachers should assign less homework than middle or high school teachers.