Is Homework Beneficial To High School Students

Most teachers believe that regular homework is an important tool for reinforcing the things students learn in class and is an accurate measurement of their knowledge. Homework encourages critical thinking and problem solving and like many other things require a perfect balance. Too much of it can be detrimental while too little of it can be ineffective. In this article, we discuss how homework is, in fact, beneficial to students at the high school level.

Homework Can Greatly Improve Achievement

First of all, educational achievement can be measured across a number of categories, including test scores, course grades, and advancement. But no matter what category a person looks at, the presence of regular homework assignments greatly improves student achievement. Generally, speaking as much as 70% percent of students who receive homework assignments on a nightly basis outperform those that do not. This number is quite telling because the same group of students that have homework assignments each night is accepted into college at a higher rate and receive higher paying salaries when they turn professional.

Classroom Lessons Are Reinforced with Homework

We’ve all heard the saying “practice makes perfect.” This is especially true when it comes to reinforcing the lessons and skills students work on each day in the classroom. Research evidence suggests that students in high school retain just about half of the information that is presented to them in the classroom. But when you solve my homework assignments on a regular basis increases retention to just about 75 percent, a very impressive jump considering the circumstances.

Homework assignments also help high school students to develop essential skills that they will likely need throughout their professional lives, including autonomy, responsibility, time management, prioritizing, and critical thinking among others. This is true for students at all levels, but high school students tend to benefit the most because these skills are likely to be applied in their early adult lives when getting their first jobs or attend college.

Homework Encourages Parents to Get Involved

Regular nightly assignments allow parents to track their teenagers’ educational progress throughout high school. Their involvement provides them with a better understanding of specific strengths and weaknesses and can even give them a glimpse of individual interests that can be fostered into life pursuits. When these interests are nurtured and encouraged, students tend to do better overall in school.

Parents can also find early warning signs of potential learning disabilities. Of course, testing for disabilities will be required to truly ascertain if a problem exists and how serious it may be. But early detection can lead to more fruitful and beneficial learning methods for teenagers. This ensures that they are taken care of at school and reduces the possibility that they are left behind for performing poorly.

The general belief is that each school should prescribe a specific number of homework assignments that align with what research has proven to be the most effective. This means that students should be spending no more than 3 hours per night. There are, of course, individual needs that must be considered but overall having classes give out assignments on alternating days will keep students adequately challenged without putting them at risk of experiencing stress or burnout.