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Survey Finds Half of Parents Struggle With Their Children’s Homework

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A new survey finds nearly 50 percent of parents making an almost taboo admission: They struggle to help their children with their homework. And many parents—46.5 percent—simply don’t understand the subject matter.

The National Center for Family Literacy partnered with Google to survey parents with students in grades 1 through 12 last month about their ability to help with their children’s homework. The online poll which was released Tuesday includes the responses of roughly 300 parents from two surveys.

Almost a third of parents said their homework frustrations were because “my child doesn’t want my help.” Another 21.9 percent admitted that they were “too busy” to spend time reviewing homework.

“The most alienating and scary moments in any parent’s life come when we feel powerless to give our kids what they need,” Emily Kirkpatrick, vice president of the NCFL, said in a release.

The Louisville, Ky.,-based group is offering parents some guidance to help mitigate their homework frustrations.

The center’s Wonderopolis.org offers information about the Common Core State Standards as well as science, technology, engineering, and math topics. Parents can find educational apps that students can use during downtime, like commuting. And lastly, the NCFL encourages parents to talk with teachers about how learning can be reinforced at home.

Update: While the NCFL didn’t survey parents about the amount of homework their children bring home, The Atlantic’s Karl Taro Greenfeld writes an interesting piece exploring his harrowing homework experiment. Greenfeld deserves a gold star for committing to completing his 13-year-old’s homework for a week for “My Daughter’s Homework is Killing Me.” (Don’t worry, she had to do it too.) While he’s a whiz at math, instead of completing his reading, he finds himself snoozing.

In the end, Greenfeld is concerned that the emphasis on so much homework doesn’t yield enough positive results and he cites plenty of research to back his conclusion. Some Education Week readers are wondering if parents spend too much time hovering over their children while they do their homework.

Me? I just look forward to the summer when there’s no homework for anyone.

See our full coverage of parent empowerment issues.

A version of this news article first appeared in the K-12 Parents and the Public blog.

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Two-thirds of American parents wouldn't be able to help their kids with homework without Google

By Joseph Staples // SWNS

NEWS COPY w/ VIDEO & INFOGRAPHIC

More than half (56%) of parents say they feel hopeless when trying to help their kid with homework, according to new research. Two-thirds of parents will even turn to Google to figure out how to help their child with homework.

A survey of 2,000 American parents with school-aged children asked how sharp their math skills were and how they approach their kid’s homework. Results found that although 79% of parents can recall the things they learned in school, nearly as many (70%) parents say it’s harder for them to solve their kid’s math homework today.

Putting those skills to the test, an average 42% of them were able to solve our equations correctly. Barely half (51%) of parents recall the proper order of operations (PEMDAS).

When asked to solve 8/2(2+2), two-thirds of parents got the correct answer, which is 16. When asked to then solve 9-3/(⅓)+1, only 17% used the proper method to solve the equation, with the correct answer being 1.

Three-quarters of American parents say they can do basic math in their heads. On average, they will use mental math five times per day. Yet just as many (75%) will still use a calculator to double-check their mental math.

The survey, conducted by OnePoll and commissioned by Photomath , a homework assistance app designed to explain math problems and teach math concepts, found that while parents may feel comfortable in their own math skills, they are less confident helping their kids with homework.

On average, kids will ask their parents for homework help five times per week. When this happens, more than six in 10 (63%) of parental couples will negotiate who is going to help their child with homework. For 85% of them, the negotiations have led to a full-fledged argument.

Fifty-four percent of parents will try to find a way to get out of helping their kid with homework. Parents have claimed to be too tired, busy doing chores, stuck on work calls, and in one instance, “I’ve claimed I need to go emergency grocery shopping.”

“As a parent myself, I know these feelings well,” says Jennifer Lee, Vice-President at Photomath. “We want our kids to succeed, but when difficult subjects like math come up, it’s not unusual for us to feel hesitation or even anxiety come homework time. Parents don’t want to lead their kids astray. Since the pandemic started, we’ve seen over 3x the number of new parents download the app each week as they increasingly look for new ways to help their kids in school, even from home.”

More than 60 percent (65%) of parents say they don’t remember math being so hard when they were in school. When asked what best describes why math seems harder, 56% of parents said their child is learning math differently than they did.

For 41% of parents, math seems harder because they only retained math that they use on a daily basis. Meanwhile, 39% of parents didn’t keep up-to-date with math at all.

Two-thirds of parents said classes and subjects they struggled with in school give them stress/tension even now when they are helping their kid with homework.

“Seeing parents wanting to help their kids but not knowing how is exactly why homework assistance apps like Photomath exist and are so helpful,” says Jennifer Lee. “We don’t just solve problems, we break them down step-by-step; really explaining how a certain problem can be solved. By doing this, we can help parents refresh concepts learned decades ago and pave the way for parents so they don't feel hopeless or helpless when their kids ask them for help.”

WHAT MAKES MATH SEEM HARDER FOR PARENTS NOW?

• My child is learning math differently than I did 56%
• I only retained math that I use daily 41%
• I didn’t keep up-to-date with math 39%
• My memory wasn’t what it once was 36%
• The homework is difficult to us both 30%
• I was never good at math as a subject in school 18%

WHAT HAVE PARENTS USED AS EXCUSES TO GET OUT OF HELPING?

• Asking their partner to help them instead
• By coming home late
• Doing laundry and cleaning up
• Claiming to be too tired
• Emergency grocery shopping
• Employing a tutor
• Faking a business phone call
• Faking being sick or feeling ill
• Telling their kid that they have so many work things to do on their laptop

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Are you helping your child with his homework too much or too little?

By Jennifer Graham

SALT LAKE CITY — Before you sit down to another evening of ninth-grade algebra after a long day at the office, consider this: Children whose parents help a lot with their homework may not perform any better on standardized tests than those who do it all by themselves.

That's the finding of a recent global survey that examined parents' attitudes about schools and their involvement in their children's education.

In a survey of more than 27,000 parents, the London-based Varkey Foundation found one-quarter of parents worldwide spend seven or more hours a week helping their children with homework.

Parents in India helped the most, spending an average of 12 or more hours each week helping with homework and reading to their children. Parents in Japan spent the least, about 2.6 hours. American parents, clocking in 6.2 hours, were just below the global average of 6.7 hours.

Presumably, parents are assisting their children in hopes that they will perform better academically. About 4 in 10 parents said it is "very important" that their children go to college. But analysts rarely found a correlation between increased parental involvement and better test scores, which raises a question: Should parents be helping with homework at all, and if so, what is the optimal amount of involvement?

The answer may vary by family, but experts generally agree it's important that parents at least know what their children are working on and how much time it's taking them to complete it. Taking an interest in your child's homework also helps to create a home in which learning is valued, said Joshua Cramer, vice president of a Kentucky nonprofit that promotes family learning.

"There should be a daily habit of learning that happens in a home, even after a long day," Cramer said.

What researchers found

The Varkey Foundation’s research, conducted online in December 2017 and January 2018, involved more than 27,000 parents in 29 countries, who answered questions ranging from the quality of education their children receive to what parents worry about most regarding their children’s future.

Drilling down about how much parents help with homework, the foundation asked parents how much time they spend helping their children, whether they believe the time spent is sufficient and what keeps them from spending more time helping their children.

They then examined how the countries fared on the Program for International Student Assessment , a test that measures the reading, math and science literacy of 15-year-olds around the world. That test, known as PISA, is given to a representative sample of students every three years. About 5,700 American students took it in 2015.

Only in three countries — Singapore, China and Vietnam — were parental involvement and test scores relatively high. In some other countries, however, PISA scores were lower than average even when parental involvement was high.

Nearly 40 percent of parents in Colombia, for example, reported spending seven or more hours helping with homework, but the average PISA score there was 416. That's more than a hundred points lower than Japan, where 45 percent of parents said they did not assist their children at all, yet the average PISA score was 538.

Germany also had a high percentage of parents who said they don't help their children at all (36 percent compared with 19 percent in the U.S.), but the average German PISA score was 509, higher than the United States.

Globally, one-third of parents said they spent too little time helping their children, and one-half said it’s because they’re too busy. Twenty-nine percent of parents said they didn't think they knew enough about the subject matter to help, and 19 percent said they don't think it's their job to help.

About one-third of American parents, however, said there were no particular obstacles to not helping their children. Their lack of involvement, however, could be because they believe their schools are doing a good job educating their children without their help.

The U.S. came in second, behind Kenya, in the number of parents who rate their child's education as fairly good or very good.

'32 different situations'

Regardless of what's going on in India or Finland, most American parents believe they're doing just what they should with regard to helping their children. Sixty-one percent said they they're giving the right amount of assistance, compared with 21 percent who said too little and 13 percent who believe they're helping too much.

That roughly corresponds with what Marrianne Asay sees as a fifth-grade teacher at Highland Elementary School in Highland, Utah.

“There are some parents who are micromanaging, or enabling a little bit too much, but not all,” said Asay, who also has three children of her own and is one of the national nonprofit Hope Street Group’s Utah Teacher Fellows .

Asay’s children are 16, 20 and 22, but when all were in primary or secondary school, she says figures she spent about two hours a week, just being supportive and making sure the work was getting done. But she says the amount of parental involvement can never be consistent because every child requires different amounts of help.

“I have a friend who spends five to six hours a week helping one child who has a learning disability, and maybe one hour a week helping another,” she said, adding, “I have 32 students, and they have 32 different situations."

Regardless, the amount of parental help generally decreases as children age, the Varkey Foundation found. The amount of help begins to fall off when children turn 11, and between the ages of 16 and 18, 41 percent of students are getting no assistance from their parents at all, the survey said.

Why homework?

The subject of whether children should have homework at all has been contentious in recent years, with many parents complaining that homework causes stress for both them and their children and interferes with family activities.

Some schools have implemented homework-free weekends; others have done away with it altogether, such as a Florida elementary school that only asks its students to read for 20 minutes each evening.

In fact, the culture of homework and its necessity varies by nation, which may help to explain the foundation's findings about parental involvement.

In Finland, where parents spend only 3.1 hours helping each week, students only did about three hours of homework each week in 2012, according to the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation.

According to the U.S. Department of Education , the perceived importance of homework has waxed and waned with cultural changes.

"In the 1960s, educators and parents became concerned that homework was crowding out social experience, outdoor recreation and creative activities. Two decades later, in the 1980s, homework again came back into favor as it came to be viewed as one way to stem a rising tide of mediocrity in American education," a government pamphlet , "Homework Tips for Parents," says.

The Department of Education says homework is good for children because it helps them learn how to study and manage time. Also, "it can foster positive character traits such as independence and responsibility."

Parent can help their children by making sure they have a quiet place to study and all the materials they need, such as a pencil sharpener, calculator and dictionary. They should provide guidance, but not answers, the Education Department says.

The government's tips also stress that parents should not say anything negative about the child's assignments and not instruct them to do something a different way, which is also something Asay said is important. She finds it frustrating when a child comes in and says a parent told him he didn't have to do it the way he was instructed in class.

“I love when parents give support and help, but they should mostly just guide them. When someone says, ‘I was struggling on No. 12, but my mom helped me through it,’ I think that’s fantastic.”

Previous research specific to the United States has found a correlation between parental assistance and homework completion. In 2003, researchers at Duke University analyzed 22 studies on the subject and concluded that parental involvement helps students complete their assignments and reduces the number of problems they have doing it.

"Yet the effect of parental involvement on achievement was negligible to nonexistent, except among the youngest students," the researchers wrote, reaching a similar conclusion to the Varkey Foundation's.

The importance of family learning

The psychologist and parenting columnist John Rosemond argues against parental assistance except for occasional feedback or answering a rare question. "The operative word is and should always be 'occasional,'" he has written , saying the child needs to understand that she alone is responsible for her schoolwork.

Nearly 1 in 5 parents the Varkey Foundation surveyed said homework is the child's job, not theirs. For some parents, this position is likely a relief, since one poll by the National Center for Family Literacy (now the National Center for Families Learning) found that nearly half of parents have difficulty understanding their child's homework.

It's not individual assignments that matter most, but the emphasis on learning that helps children succeed, said Cramer, vice president of the National Center for Families Learning, based in Louisville, Kentucky.

If parents struggle with the subject matter, or if homework is assigned “for homework’s sake,” there isn’t much value a parent can add, which is why the center focuses on continual learning for both parents and students, particularly in a low-income family, Cramer said.

“We don’t think there’s a magic number (of hours), but we know that when parents show that they value education and learning and create that academic habit in the home, this can help improve academic achievement," he said.

Parents can show learning is important not only by being interested in a child’s homework, but also by making learning part of everyday life, whether in the car, at a supermarket or in the backyard, Cramer said.

“Homework can be a gathering point for that kind of learning, but what’s most important is having a daily habit of learning, which can also just be reading to your child, or having your child read to you.”

Homework in America

• 2014 Brown Center Report on American Education

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Tom loveless tom loveless former brookings expert @tomloveless99.

March 18, 2014

• 18 min read

Part II of the 2014 Brown Center Report on American Education

Homework!  The topic, no, just the word itself, sparks controversy.  It has for a long time. In 1900, Edward Bok, editor of the Ladies Home Journal , published an impassioned article, “A National Crime at the Feet of Parents,” accusing homework of destroying American youth.  Drawing on the theories of his fellow educational progressive, psychologist G. Stanley Hall (who has since been largely discredited), Bok argued that study at home interfered with children’s natural inclination towards play and free movement, threatened children’s physical and mental health, and usurped the right of parents to decide activities in the home.

The Journal was an influential magazine, especially with parents.  An anti-homework campaign burst forth that grew into a national crusade. [i]   School districts across the land passed restrictions on homework, culminating in a 1901 statewide prohibition of homework in California for any student under the age of 15.  The crusade would remain powerful through 1913, before a world war and other concerns bumped it from the spotlight.  Nevertheless, anti-homework sentiment would remain a touchstone of progressive education throughout the twentieth century.  As a political force, it would lie dormant for years before bubbling up to mobilize proponents of free play and “the whole child.” Advocates would, if educators did not comply, seek to impose homework restrictions through policy making.

Our own century dawned during a surge of anti-homework sentiment. From 1998 to 2003, Newsweek , TIME , and People , all major national publications at the time, ran cover stories on the evils of homework.  TIME ’s 1999 story had the most provocative title, “The Homework Ate My Family: Kids Are Dazed, Parents Are Stressed, Why Piling On Is Hurting Students.” People ’s 2003 article offered a call to arms: “Overbooked: Four Hours of Homework for a Third Grader? Exhausted Kids (and Parents) Fight Back.” Feature stories about students laboring under an onerous homework burden ran in newspapers from coast to coast. Photos of angst ridden children became a journalistic staple.

The 2003 Brown Center Report on American Education included a study investigating the homework controversy.  Examining the most reliable empirical evidence at the time, the study concluded that the dramatic claims about homework were unfounded.  An overwhelming majority of students, at least two-thirds, depending on age, had an hour or less of homework each night.  Surprisingly, even the homework burden of college-bound high school seniors was discovered to be rather light, less than an hour per night or six hours per week. Public opinion polls also contradicted the prevailing story.  Parents were not up in arms about homework.  Most said their children’s homework load was about right.  Parents wanting more homework out-numbered those who wanted less.

Now homework is in the news again.  Several popular anti-homework books fill store shelves (whether virtual or brick and mortar). [ii]   The documentary Race to Nowhere depicts homework as one aspect of an overwrought, pressure-cooker school system that constantly pushes students to perform and destroys their love of learning.  The film’s website claims over 6,000 screenings in more than 30 countries.  In 2011, the New York Times ran a front page article about the homework restrictions adopted by schools in Galloway, NJ, describing “a wave of districts across the nation trying to remake homework amid concerns that high stakes testing and competition for college have fueled a nightly grind that is stressing out children and depriving them of play and rest, yet doing little to raise achievement, especially in elementary grades.”   In the article, Vicki Abeles, the director of Race to Nowhere , invokes the indictment of homework lodged a century ago, declaring, “The presence of homework is negatively affecting the health of our young people and the quality of family time.” [iii] 

A petition for the National PTA to adopt “healthy homework guidelines” on change.org currently has 19,000 signatures.  In September 2013, Atlantic featured an article, “My Daughter’s Homework is Killing Me,” by a Manhattan writer who joined his middle school daughter in doing her homework for a week.  Most nights the homework took more than three hours to complete.

The Current Study

A decade has passed since the last Brown Center Report study of homework, and it’s time for an update.  How much homework do American students have today?  Has the homework burden increased, gone down, or remained about the same?  What do parents think about the homework load?

A word on why such a study is important.  It’s not because the popular press is creating a fiction.  The press accounts are built on the testimony of real students and real parents, people who are very unhappy with the amount of homework coming home from school.  These unhappy people are real—but they also may be atypical.  Their experiences, as dramatic as they are, may not represent the common experience of American households with school-age children.  In the analysis below, data are analyzed from surveys that are methodologically designed to produce reliable information about the experiences of all Americans.  Some of the surveys have existed long enough to illustrate meaningful trends.  The question is whether strong empirical evidence confirms the anecdotes about overworked kids and outraged parents.

Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) provide a good look at trends in homework for nearly the past three decades.  Table 2-1 displays NAEP data from 1984-2012.  The data are from the long-term trend NAEP assessment’s student questionnaire, a survey of homework practices featuring both consistently-worded questions and stable response categories.  The question asks: “How much time did you spend on homework yesterday?”  Responses are shown for NAEP’s three age groups: 9, 13, and 17. [iv]

Today’s youngest students seem to have more homework than in the past.  The first three rows of data for age 9 reveal a shift away from students having no homework, declining from 35% in 1984 to 22% in 2012.  A slight uptick occurred from the low of 18% in 2008, however, so the trend may be abating.  The decline of the “no homework” group is matched by growth in the percentage of students with less than an hour’s worth, from 41% in 1984 to 57% in 2012. The share of students with one to two hours of homework changed very little over the entire 28 years, comprising 12% of students in 2012.  The group with the heaviest load, more than two hours of homework, registered at 5% in 2012.  It was 6% in 1984.

The amount of homework for 13-year-olds appears to have lightened slightly. Students with one to two hours of homework declined from 29% to 23%.  The next category down (in terms of homework load), students with less than an hour, increased from 36% to 44%.  One can see, by combining the bottom two rows, that students with an hour or more of homework declined steadily from 1984 to 2008 (falling from 38% to 27%) and then ticked up to 30% in 2012.  The proportion of students with the heaviest load, more than two hours, slipped from 9% in 1984 to 7% in 2012 and ranged between 7-10% for the entire period.

For 17-year-olds, the homework burden has not varied much.  The percentage of students with no homework has increased from 22% to 27%.  Most of that gain occurred in the 1990s. Also note that the percentage of 17-year-olds who had homework but did not do it was 11% in 2012, the highest for the three NAEP age groups.  Adding that number in with the students who didn’t have homework in the first place means that more than one-third of seventeen year olds (38%) did no homework on the night in question in 2012.  That compares with 33% in 1984.  The segment of the 17-year-old population with more than two hours of homework, from which legitimate complaints of being overworked might arise, has been stuck in the 10%-13% range.

The NAEP data point to four main conclusions:

• With one exception, the homework load has remained remarkably stable since 1984.
• The exception is nine-year-olds.  They have experienced an increase in homework, primarily because many students who once did not have any now have some.  The percentage of nine-year-olds with no homework fell by 13 percentage points, and the percentage with less than an hour grew by 16 percentage points.
• Of the three age groups, 17-year-olds have the most bifurcated distribution of the homework burden.   They have the largest percentage of kids with no homework (especially when the homework shirkers are added in) and the largest percentage with more than two hours.
• NAEP data do not support the idea that a large and growing number of students have an onerous amount of homework.  For all three age groups, only a small percentage of students report more than two hours of homework.  For 1984-2012, the size of the two hours or more groups ranged from 5-6% for age 9, 6-10% for age 13, and 10-13% for age 17.

Note that the item asks students how much time they spent on homework “yesterday.”  That phrasing has the benefit of immediacy, asking for an estimate of precise, recent behavior rather than an estimate of general behavior for an extended, unspecified period.  But misleading responses could be generated if teachers lighten the homework of NAEP participants on the night before the NAEP test is given.  That’s possible. [v] Such skewing would not affect trends if it stayed about the same over time and in the same direction (teachers assigning less homework than usual on the day before NAEP).  Put another way, it would affect estimates of the amount of homework at any single point in time but not changes in the amount of homework between two points in time.

A check for possible skewing is to compare the responses above with those to another homework question on the NAEP questionnaire from 1986-2004 but no longer in use. [vi]   It asked students, “How much time do you usually spend on homework each day?” Most of the response categories have different boundaries from the “last night” question, making the data incomparable.  But the categories asking about no homework are comparable.  Responses indicating no homework on the “usual” question in 2004 were: 2% for age 9-year-olds, 5% for 13 year olds, and 12% for 17-year-olds.  These figures are much less than the ones reported in Table 2-1 above.  The “yesterday” data appear to overstate the proportion of students typically receiving no homework.

The story is different for the “heavy homework load” response categories.  The “usual” question reported similar percentages as the “yesterday” question.  The categories representing the most amount of homework were “more than one hour” for age 9 and “more than two hours” for ages 13 and 17.   In 2004, 12% of 9-year-olds said they had more than one hour of daily homework, while 8% of 13-year-olds and 12% of 17-year-olds said they had more than two hours.  For all three age groups, those figures declined from1986 to 2004. The decline for age 17 was quite large, falling from 17% in 1986 to 12% in 2004.  

The bottom line: regardless of how the question is posed, NAEP data do not support the view that the homework burden is growing, nor do they support the belief that the proportion of students with a lot of homework has increased in recent years.  The proportion of students with no homework is probably under-reported on the long-term trend NAEP.  But the upper bound of students with more than two hours of daily homework appears to be about 15%–and that is for students in their final years of high school.

College Freshmen Look Back  

There is another good source of information on high school students’ homework over several decades.  The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA conducts an annual survey of college freshmen that began in 1966.  In 1986, the survey started asking a series of questions regarding how students spent time in the final year of high school.  Figure 2-1 shows the 2012 percentages for the dominant activities.  More than half of college freshmen say they spent at least six hours per week socializing with friends (66.2%) and exercising/sports (53.0%).  About 40% devoted that much weekly time to paid employment.

Homework comes in fourth pace. Only 38.4% of students said they spent at least six hours per week studying or doing homework. When these students were high school seniors, it was not an activity central to their out of school lives.  That is quite surprising.  Think about it.  The survey is confined to the nation’s best students, those attending college.  Gone are high school dropouts.  Also not included are students who go into the military or attain full time employment immediately after high school.  And yet only a little more than one-third of the sampled students, devoted more than six hours per week to homework and studying when they were on the verge of attending college.

Another notable finding from the UCLA survey is how the statistic is trending (see Figure 2-2).  In 1986, 49.5% reported spending six or more hours per week studying and doing homework.  By 2002, the proportion had dropped to 33.4%.  In 2012, as noted in Figure 2-1, the statistic had bounced off the historical lows to reach 38.4%.  It is slowly rising but still sits sharply below where it was in 1987.

What Do Parents Think?

Met Life has published an annual survey of teachers since 1984.  In 1987 and 2007, the survey included questions focusing on homework and expanded to sample both parents and students on the topic. Data are broken out for secondary and elementary parents and for students in grades 3-6 and grades 7-12 (the latter not being an exact match with secondary parents because of K-8 schools).

Table 2-2 shows estimates of homework from the 2007 survey.  Respondents were asked to estimate the amount of homework on a typical school day (Monday-Friday).  The median estimate of each group of respondents is shaded.  As displayed in the first column, the median estimate for parents of an elementary student is that their child devotes about 30 minutes to homework on the typical weekday.  Slightly more than half (52%) estimate 30 minutes or less; 48% estimate 45 minutes or more.  Students in grades 3-6 (third column) give a median estimate that is a bit higher than their parents’ (45 minutes), with almost two-thirds (63%) saying 45 minutes or less is the typical weekday homework load.

One hour of homework is the median estimate for both secondary parents and students in grade 7-12, with 55% of parents reporting an hour or less and about two-thirds (67%) of students reporting the same.  As for the prevalence of the heaviest homework loads, 11% of secondary parents say their children spend more than two hours on weekday homework, and 12% is the corresponding figure for students in grades 7-12.

The Met Life surveys in 1987 and 2007 asked parents to evaluate the amount and quality of homework.  Table 2-3 displays the results.  There was little change over the two decades separating the two surveys.  More than 60% of parents rate the amount of homework as good or excellent, and about two-thirds give such high ratings to the quality of the homework their children are receiving.  The proportion giving poor ratings to either the quantity or quality of homework did not exceed 10% on either survey.

Parental dissatisfaction with homework comes in two forms: those who feel schools give too much homework and those who feel schools do not give enough.  The current wave of journalism about unhappy parents is dominated by those who feel schools give too much homework.  How big is this group?  Not very big (see Figure 2-3). On the Met Life survey, 60% of parents felt schools were giving the right amount of homework, 25% wanted more homework, and only 15% wanted less.

National surveys on homework are infrequent, but the 2006-2007 period had more than one.  A poll conducted by Public Agenda in 2006 reported similar numbers as the Met Life survey: 68% of parents describing the homework load as “about right,” 20% saying there is “too little homework,” and 11% saying there is “too much homework.”  A 2006 AP-AOL poll found the highest percentage of parents reporting too much homework, 19%.  But even in that poll, they were outnumbered by parents believing there is too little homework (23%), and a clear majority (57%) described the load as “about right.”  A 2010 local survey of Chicago parents conducted by the Chicago Tribune reported figures similar to those reported above: approximately two-thirds of parents saying their children’s homework load is “about right,” 21% saying it’s not enough, and 12% responding that the homework load is too much.

Summary and Discussion

In recent years, the press has been filled with reports of kids over-burdened with homework and parents rebelling against their children’s oppressive workload. The data assembled above call into question whether that portrait is accurate for the typical American family.  Homework typically takes an hour per night.  The homework burden of students rarely exceeds two hours a night.  The upper limit of students with two or more hours per night is about 15% nationally—and that is for juniors or seniors in high school.  For younger children, the upper boundary is about 10% who have such a heavy load.  Polls show that parents who want less homework range from 10%-20%, and that they are outnumbered—in every national poll on the homework question—by parents who want more homework, not less.  The majority of parents describe their children’s homework burden as about right.

So what’s going on?  Where are the homework horror stories coming from?

The Met Life survey of parents is able to give a few hints, mainly because of several questions that extend beyond homework to other aspects of schooling.  The belief that homework is burdensome is more likely held by parents with a larger set of complaints and concerns.  They are alienated from their child’s school.  About two in five parents (19%) don’t believe homework is important.  Compared to other parents, these parents are more likely to say too much homework is assigned (39% vs. 9%), that what is assigned is just busywork (57% vs. 36%), and that homework gets in the way of their family spending time together (51% vs. 15%).  They are less likely to rate the quality of homework as excellent (3% vs. 23%) or to rate the availability and responsiveness of teachers as excellent (18% vs. 38%). [vii]

They can also convince themselves that their numbers are larger than they really are.  Karl Taro Greenfeld, the author of the Atlantic article mentioned above, seems to fit that description.  “Every parent I know in New York City comments on how much homework their children have,” Mr. Greenfeld writes.  As for those parents who do not share this view? “There is always a clique of parents who are happy with the amount of homework. In fact, they would prefer more .  I tend not to get along with that type of parent.” [viii] 

Mr. Greenfeld’s daughter attends a selective exam school in Manhattan, known for its rigorous expectations and, yes, heavy homework load.  He had also complained about homework in his daughter’s previous school in Brentwood, CA.  That school was a charter school.  After Mr. Greenfeld emailed several parents expressing his complaints about homework in that school, the school’s vice-principal accused Mr. Greenfeld of cyberbullying.  The lesson here is that even schools of choice are not immune from complaints about homework.

The homework horror stories need to be read in a proper perspective.  They seem to originate from the very personal discontents of a small group of parents.  They do not reflect the experience of the average family with a school-age child.  That does not diminish these stories’ power to command the attention of school officials or even the public at large. But it also suggests a limited role for policy making in settling such disputes.  Policy is a blunt instrument.  Educators, parents, and kids are in the best position to resolve complaints about homework on a case by case basis.  Complaints about homework have existed for more than a century, and they show no signs of going away.

Part II Notes:

[i]Brian Gill and Steven Schlossman, “A Sin Against Childhood: Progressive Education and the Crusade to Abolish Homework, 1897-1941,” American Journal of Education , vol. 105, no. 1 (Nov., 1996), 27-66.  Also see Brian P. Gill and Steven L. Schlossman, “Villain or Savior? The American Discourse on Homework, 1850-2003,” Theory into Practice , 43, 3 (Summer 2004), pp. 174-181.

[ii] Bennett, Sara, and Nancy Kalish.  The Case Against Homework:  How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It   (New York:  Crown, 2006).  Buell, John.  Closing the Book on Homework: Enhancing Public Education and Freeing Family Time . (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004). Kohn, Alfie.    The Homework Myth:  Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing  (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2006).  Kralovec, Etta, and John Buell.  The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning  (Boston: Beacon Press, 2000).

[iii] Hu, Winnie, “ New Recruit in Homework Revolt: The Principal ,” New York Times , June 15, 2011, page a1.

[iv] Data for other years are available on the NAEP Data Explorer.  For Table 1, the starting point of 1984 was chosen because it is the first year all three ages were asked the homework question.  The two most recent dates (2012 and 2008) were chosen to show recent changes, and the two years in the 1990s to show developments during that decade.

[v] NAEP’s sampling design lessens the probability of skewing the homework figure.  Students are randomly drawn from a school population, meaning that an entire class is not tested.  Teachers would have to either single out NAEP students for special homework treatment or change their established homework routine for the whole class just to shelter NAEP participants from homework.  Sampling designs that draw entact classrooms for testing (such as TIMSS) would be more vulnerable to this effect.  Moreover, students in middle and high school usually have several different teachers during the day, meaning that prior knowledge of a particular student’s participation in NAEP would probably be limited to one or two teachers.

[vi] NAEP Question B003801 for 9 year olds and B003901 for 13- and 17-year olds.

[vii] Met Life, Met Life Survey of the American Teacher: The Homework Experience , November 13, 2007, pp. 21-22.

[viii] Greenfeld, Karl Taro, “ My Daughter’s Homework Is Killing Me ,” The Atlantic , September 18, 2013.

Education Policy K-12 Education

Governance Studies

Brown Center on Education Policy

Sofoklis Goulas

June 27, 2024

June 20, 2024

Modupe (Mo) Olateju, Grace Cannon, Kelsey Rappe

June 14, 2024

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Antecedents and Outcomes of Parental Homework Involvement: How Do Family-School Partnerships Affect Parental Homework Involvement and Student Outcomes?

Recent studies have demonstrated that parental homework involvement may not always foster students’ desired school outcomes. Such studies have also concluded that the quality of parental homework involvement matters, rather than the quantity. Most importantly, previous studies have shown that strong family-school partnerships (FSPs) may help to improve parental involvement. However, there is little research on how FSP is related to homework involvement. The aim of the present study is to examine the link between an effective family-school communication (EFSC) – as one aspect of FSP – and the quality of parental homework involvement in the German context. For this purpose, we developed a new measure of EFSC. Taking a self-determination theory perspective on parental need support, the quality of parental homework involvement was differentiated into two dimensions of parental supportive behavior: autonomy support and competence support. We analyzed the data of 309 parents (82% mothers) of school students (52% girls) who participated in an online survey. The structural equation model revealed a positive relation between EFSC and the quality of parental homework involvement, which in turn was positively associated with school performance and well-being. Moreover, we found that the quality of parental homework involvement mediated the relations of EFSC with achievement and well-being. The results of our study highlight the role of EFSC as a key performance factor that helps to improve the quality of parental homework involvement, thereby promoting student achievement and well-being.

Introduction

Across the globe, students are set homework assignments on a regular basis since homework is generally believed to improve achievement ( Paschal et al., 1984 ; Cooper, 1989 ). In their meta-analysis of school effectiveness studies, Scheerens and Bosker (1997) found a mean effect size across 13 studies of Zr = 0.06 (Fisher’s Z ) for homework, indicating that this variable might indeed enhance school effectiveness. However, recent studies have provided evidence that homework assignments are not per se performance-enhancing. For instance, the effectiveness of homework seems to depend on the quality of the tasks assigned. Homework assignments that are perceived to be well selected and cognitively challenging are positively associated with students’ achievement ( Dettmers et al., 2010 ).

A further potential predictor of the effectiveness of homework assignments is parental homework involvement. Parental involvement in homework completion is commonly expected by schools, teachers, and parents ( Patall et al., 2008 ), all of whom believe that parental homework involvement is vital for students’ school performance ( Epstein, 1986 ; Trautwein et al., 2009 ). Thus, numerous guidelines for parents exist, aiming to improve parents’ abilities to successfully support homework completion (e.g., U.S. Department of Education, 2005 ). In the US, more than 80% of parents believe that homework is important for learning. Even though 51% of parents reported that students should do their homework on their own, on average, 73% of parents reported helping their child with homework completion. However, at the same time, 29% of parents perceived a negative impact of homework on family life ( Markow et al., 2007 ). Given this high percentage of parents who become involved in their children’s homework completion and a substantial number of parents who complained about family stress due to homework, the question arises concerning whether and under which conditions parental homework involvement is beneficial. Parental homework involvement is one facet of parental involvement in schooling, which is believed to be one of the key promoters of students’ school-related outcomes such as achievement, motivation, and well-being (e.g., Fan and Chen, 2001 ; Epstein, 2005 ; Hill and Tyson, 2009 ; Ma et al., 2016 ). The importance attached to parental behavior in their children’s education becomes apparent in the development of significant educational policies [e.g., U.S. Department of Education, 2002 ] and projects fostering educational partnerships [e.g., teachers involve parents in schoolwork (TIPS, Van Voorhis, 2003 ), and teachers involving parents (TIP, Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2002 )], which stresses the role that parents play in their children’s education. Indeed, meta-analyses have provided evidence that regardless of their socioeconomic background and race, students’ school achievement can be improved if their parents become involved in their education (e.g., Fan and Chen, 2001 ; Hill and Tyson, 2009 ; Ma et al., 2016 ). However, parental involvement represents a multifaceted behavior that can take place in school (school-based involvement: e.g., community services at school) or at home (home-based involvement; Grolnick and Slowiaczek, 1994 , Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler, 1997 ). Previous studies analyzing the effectiveness of parental homework involvement have demonstrated mixed results about the link between this type of involvement and students’ school performance, with some studies having found a positive link (e.g., Van Voorhis, 2003 ; Xu, 2004 ; Silinskas and Kikas, 2011 ) while others have found a negative link (e.g., Xu et al., 2010 ; Dumont et al., 2012 ). These studies have suggested that one should consider how homework involvement is assessed. Most importantly, it is the quality (and not the amount) of homework involvement that is crucial for student outcomes (e.g., Knollmann and Wild, 2007a , b ; Dumont et al., 2014 ; Gonida and Cortina, 2014 ; Moroni et al., 2015 ).

The present study was built upon these previous studies, aiming to shed light on factors that might improve the quality of parental homework involvement and thereby student outcomes (achievement and students’ well-being). In recent years, the concept of FSP has become well known, as it is believed to foster parental abilities to help their children with learning. Studies have proven that a positive contact between schools and parents is related with higher parental school involvement ( Ames et al., 1993 ; Kohl et al., 2000 ; Patrikakou and Weissberg, 2000 ). The aim of the present study was threefold. Our first research question concerned the relationship between the quality of parental homework involvement and four student outcomes: achievement in mathematics and reading as well as well-being at home and school. Second, we analyzed the association between effective family-school communication (EFSC) on the one hand and parental homework involvement and the four student outcomes on the other hand. Third, we investigated the interplay between our variables, namely whether parental homework involvement mediates the association between EFSC and the four student outcomes.

Predictors and Outcomes of Parental Homework Involvement

Past research has suggested that parental homework involvement is a multidimensional construct including two distinct types of help: quantitative help (e.g., doing homework with the child, providing answers) and qualitative help (e.g., avoiding distractions, providing rules for homework completion, providing support for finding answers) (e.g., Gonida and Cortina, 2014 ). Although the general term of parental involvement is accepted to be one of the key promoters of learning, parental homework involvement is not always positively related with desired school outcomes such as achievement. For example, Xu et al. (2010) found the frequency of parental homework help to be negatively related with student reading achievement and raised the question of how parents should help with homework. The authors concluded that parents should provide a suitable learning environment for homework completion to foster self-regulated learning and children’s autonomy. Moroni et al. (2015) operationalized parental involvement as a multidimensional construct in terms of quantity and quality and examined how the quantity and different qualities of homework involvement were associated with student achievement. Controlling for prior achievement and parental socioeconomic background, they found the frequency of help to be negatively associated with the development of student achievement. However, in terms of homework quality, the authors found opposing effects depending on how homework quality was operationalized. While supportive homework help had positive effects on students’ achievement, intrusive homework help was negatively related with later achievement. Dumont et al. (2014) analyzed longitudinal data of 2,830 student-parent dyads (grades 5 and 7) who reported about the quality of parental homework involvement, their socioeconomic background, and desired student outcomes (e.g., reading achievement, reading effort). Adopting the perspective of self-determination theory (SDT, Deci and Ryan, 1987 , 2000 ), parental homework involvement was conceptualized by three dimensions: parental control, parental responsiveness, and parental provision of structure. The analyses revealed a reciprocal relationship between parental homework involvement and student outcomes. Low achievement in grade 5 predicted higher later parental homework control in grade 7, while high parental control in grade 5 was related with lower achievement in grade 7. A positive reciprocal relationship was found for parental involvement in terms of structure and responsiveness on the one hand and desired student outcomes – such as high achievement – on the other hand. Types of parental involvement did not depend on parental socioeconomic background.

Supportive parental homework involvement – such as the parental provision of autonomy support or structure – is not only positively associated with students’ academic performance, but it is also believed to be beneficial for students’ well-being (e.g., Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2002 ; Pekrun et al., 2002 ). It is assumed that supportive parental behavior fulfills students’ basic needs proposed by SDT, namely the need for autonomy, relatedness, and competence ( Grolnick, 2009 ). Basic needs satisfaction may result in an internalization of uninteresting and boring activities such as doing homework into personally important activities, thereby fostering performance and well-being ( Deci and Ryan, 2000 ). To date, few studies have provided evidence of this linkage. Knollmann and Wild (2007b) conducted a survey with 181 German students concerning their parents’ provision of autonomy support, emotional support, and support for competence during parental instruction at home. The authors found autonomy and emotional support to be positively associated with joy. By contrast, lower levels of autonomy and emotional support predicted higher rates of students’ anger. Moreover, according to Kenney-Benson and Pomerantz (2005) , greater autonomy-supportive homework help of mothers was found to be associated with less depressive symptoms compared to controlling mothers.

To sum up, the quality of parental homework help seems to be related with differences in students’ well-being and academic achievement. In line with the assumptions of SDT, numerous studies suggest that autonomy- and competence-supportive parental homework involvement may increase students’ experiences of autonomous and competent learning experiences, which in turn fosters desired (learning) outcomes. Hence, the question arises about factors that may influence the quality of parental homework involvement. Gonida and Cortina (2014) investigated predictors and consequences of parental homework involvement. The authors asked Greek parents to rate different types of parental homework involvement (autonomy-supportive homework involvement, controlling homework involvement, and interference). Moreover, parents and their children provided information on achievement goals, academic efficacy, and school grades. Structural equation models revealed that autonomy-supportive homework involvement was predicted by parent mastery goals while parent performance goals predicted controlling homework involvement. Moreover, the authors provided evidence that parental beliefs for children’s self-efficacy were negatively associated with parent control and interference, but positively related with parent encouragement for cognitive engagement as supplementary to homework. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that low parent beliefs in their children’s abilities to complete homework successfully may result in an inappropriate way of homework involvement in terms of control and interference.

However, to our knowledge, little is known about further factors that might promote the quality of parental homework involvement. Given the important role of parents in their children’s education, the present study addressed this research deficit and aims to shed light on potential predictors of parental homework involvement. Students and their parents spend a lot of time with homework, although parents report barriers to their homework involvement in the sense that – for instance – they sometimes feel unable to provide appropriate help and they tend to require recommendations from teachers about how to help with homework ( Kay et al., 1994 ). In the present study, we assume EFSC to be a potential predictor of the quality of parental homework involvement. A welcoming school climate and recommendations for homework involvement might act as an invitation to involve as they indicate that parental involvement is desired and important ( Becker and Epstein, 1982 ; Epstein, 1986 ; Epstein and Van Voorhis, 2001 ). In the next section, we present a theoretical model of parental involvement in schooling and corresponding empirical studies.

Defining Parental Involvement in Schooling

Parental involvement in schooling is seen as a key strategy to improve students’ success in school. Indeed, a strong body of evidence suggests that parental involvement in schooling is positively associated with various desired school-related outcomes such as school performance and positive affect (e.g., Fan and Chen, 2001 ; Hill and Tyson, 2009 ; Ma et al., 2016 ). According to Epstein (1995) , supportive and event-independent communication between parents, school principals, and teachers may result in a deepened mutual understanding about school as well as improved support of students by their parents and teachers. Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1995 , 1997 , 2005) developed a theoretical model of parental involvement process that describes the antecedents and consequences of parental involvement in schooling. The model proposes five sequential levels to explain factors that might influence parents’ choice to become involved, their resulting forms of involvement and their consequences. The first level identifies three reasons for parents to become involved in their children’s schooling: parents’ perceived role construction (e.g., whether they feel obliged to help), their perceived invitations to involvement from the school, the teacher, and their child, as well as their sense of efficacy for helping their children. The second level suggests two forms of parental involvement, namely home- and school-based involvement, both of which include encouragement, modeling, reinforcement, and instruction. At the third level , children’s perceptions of the four types of parental involvement (encouragement, modeling, reinforcement, and instruction) are described. The fourth level describes mediating variables, namely child attributes and use of developmentally appropriate parental involvement. Finally, the fifth level focuses on school achievement (for a more detailed description, see Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005 ; Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler, 2005 ). The focus of the present study was on the first level of the model, which deals with the question of why parents become involved in their children’s schooling. Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s model identifies three sources of invitations for parents to become involved in schooling: invitations from the school, the child, and the child’s teachers. Invitations from the school might include a welcoming school climate and the perception that parental involvement is crucial and desired in supporting children’s learning and achievement. Teachers can foster parental involvement through direct requests for involvement in children’s education; for instance, by encouraging parents to talk about school activities with their child. Finally, children’s attributes (e.g., prior achievement in school) might act as an invitation to become involved. Numerous previous studies have provided evidence regarding the relationship between level 1 variables (reasons for becoming involved) and the amount of involvement in school and at home (e.g., Green et al., 2007 ). For example, Green and colleagues used the data of 853 parents of elementary and middle school students to examine associations between antecedent factors (level 1) and different forms of parental involvement (level 2) proposed in the theoretical model by Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler. Regression analyses revealed that parental self-efficacy, child invitations, and parents’ time and energy were positively associated with the amount of home- and school-based involvement. Moreover, teacher invitations predicted the quantity of parents’ school-based involvement. Yotyodying and Wild (2014) examined whether parental perceptions of invitations for involvement from the school and teachers in a German and Thai sample as one among other predictors variables would predict two distinct forms of home-based parental involvement: authoritative (greater autonomy support and responsiveness) and authoritarian (greater control and structure). In the German sample, the significant results showed that parental perceptions of invitations from the school and teachers were negatively associated with both authoritative and authoritarian ways of involvement. This means that parents who prefer either authoritative or authoritarian ways of involvement tend to neglect becoming involved if they feel less invited by the school and teachers.

However, it should be critically noted that Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s model as well as most related empirical studies have focused particularly on the quantity (how often parents become involved) of parental involvement, while the quality (the ways in which parents become involved) of parental involvement has been neglected in many studies.

The present study aims to expand the existing body of knowledge by taking the quality (instead of the quantity) of parental involvement into account. In order to gain deeper insights into the mechanisms of parental involvement, we concentrated on one subdimension of parental involvement in schooling: parental homework involvement. Adopting a self-determination perspective on parental need support, the quality of parental homework involvement was differentiated into two dimensions of parental supportive behavior: autonomy support and competence support. The following research questions arise from the above explanations: is high-quality parental homework involvement positively associated with students’ achievement and well-being? Moreover, how can high-quality parental involvement be fostered?

Family-School Partnerships in Germany

Given the importance of improving parental involvement, scholars have attempted to identify variables that increase beneficial parental involvement. In recent years, the concept of family-school partnerships (FSPs) has become well known as an instrument that might foster parental choice to become involved in their children’s education and parental abilities to help their children with learning. Indeed, studies have proven that successful FSPs are positively associated with students’ performance (see Henderson and Mapp, 2002 ; Sheldon, 2003 ). A positive contact between teachers and parents increases the probability that parents become involved in their children’s education ( Ames et al., 1993 ; Kohl et al., 2000 ; Hoover-Dempsey and Walker, 2002 ). Moreover, information from teachers about classroom learning and instruction shape parental strategies to become involved ( Ames et al., 1993 ). In order to strengthen successful FSP, in 1997, the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) published the National Standards for Family-School Partnership for the US context. These standards build upon Epstein’s typology of parental involvement (see Epstein, 2001 ) and provide a practical guideline to implement FSP. The PTA proposed six standards: (1) welcoming all families into the school community, (2) communicating effectively, (3) supporting student success, (4) speaking up for every child, (5) sharing power, and (6) collaborating with community (for more information, see Parent-Teacher Association, 2009 ). Compared to the US, to our knowledge, in Germany, much less is known about the concept and the benefits of well-functioning FSP ( Wild and Yotyodying, 2012 ). To date, contacts between schools and parents are rare and not very effective and mostly take place at parent evening events ( Wild and Hofer, 2002 ; Sacher, 2008 ). Moreover, conversations between teachers and parents mainly concern learning problems and students’ grades ( Wild and Lorenz, 2010 ; Wild and Yodyodying, 2012 ). For this reason, the Vodafone Foundation in collaboration with a scientific expert committee (see Sacher et al., 2013 ) recently proposed a compass for family-school partnerships for the German context comprising four different standards. The development of the four indicators is based on the six PTA standards described above, although the standards were adapted to the German context and the sixth standard “collaborating with community” was excluded for Germany. Standard A “Welcoming and Meeting Culture” describes a welcoming and friendly school climate that can be characterized by mutual respect and the inclusion of all stakeholders. Standard B “Various and Respectful Communication” is characterized by a regular and routine information exchange between the school, teachers, and parents, the use of various ways of information, and a regular information exchange between all stakeholders. Standard C “Educational Cooperation” focuses on parental participation in school life, the encouragement of parents to support their children with learning, the information about external school-related offers, and it emphasizes the role of parents as interceders of their child. Finally, Standard D “Parent Participation” describes the provision of information about parents’ participatory rights, the possibility for parents to participate in school decisions, and the inclusion of social, political, and external networks in school life. To our knowledge, little is known about whether the proposed standards would be met in German schools and whether they would help to ensure parental involvement, especially parental help with homework. For this reason, we developed and validated a parental questionnaire to assess parental perceptions on different aspects of FSP based on the proposals of Vodafone’s scientific committee.

The aim of the present study was to identify factors that might promote the quality of parental homework involvement. In consideration of Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s model, which identifies three reasons for parents to become involved (their role construction, their perceived invitations, and their sense of competence to help) and previous studies (e.g., Becker and Epstein, 1982 ; Epstein, 1986 ; Epstein and Van Voorhis, 2001 ), we proposed that EFSC would foster the quality of parental homework involvement. In order to operationally characterize EFSC, we relied on three indicators of Standard B “Various and Respectful Communication” and developed three scales (15 items) assessing EFSC. B1 “Information Exchange” describes a regular and routine information exchange between the school, teachers, and parents. Standard B2 “Various Forms of Communication” focuses on the use of the variety of ways of communication between the school and parents (e.g., email, homepage, etc.). B3 “School Transitions” refers to a regular knowledge transfer and information exchange between schools, teachers, and parents during school transitions.

The Present Study

The present study addresses three research deficits. First , parental school involvement is a multidimensional construct comprising both parental involvement at school and parental involvement at home. Research findings on parental school-based involvement are not transferable to home-based involvement, given that the context of the two forms of involvement differs. The present study concentrates on home-based involvement, more precisely on homework involvement as one facet of it. Research on parental homework involvement has provided evidence for the need to distinguish between the quality and quantity of parental involvement, whereby it is the quality (rather than the quantity) of involvement that matters for desired student outcomes (e.g., Dumont et al., 2014 ; Moroni et al., 2015 ). Adopting a self-determination perspective on parental need support, the quality of parental homework involvement was differentiated into two dimensions of parental supportive behavior: autonomy support and competence support. Our first research question concerned the relationship between parental homework involvement and four different student outcomes: well-being at school, well-being at home, mathematics achievement, and language achievement. Second , the concept of FSP is well known and has been much studied in the US context. There is clear consensus that parental involvement in schooling is beneficial and that a successful implementation of FSP fosters parental involvement, thereby promoting student achievement ( Ames et al., 1993 ; Kohl et al., 2000 ; Fan and Chen, 2001 ; Henderson and Mapp, 2002 ; Hoover-Dempsey and Walker, 2002 ; Sheldon, 2003 ; Epstein, 2005 ; Hill and Tyson, 2009 ; Ma et al., 2016 ). However, theoretical models and much FSP research have concentrated on the effects of FSP on the quantity (the amount) of involvement, while the relationship between FSP and the quality of parental school involvement and student outcomes remains unclear. Moreover, to our knowledge, in Germany, much less is known about effects of the implementation of successful FSP. The four standards of FSP proposed by the Vodafone Foundation and a scientific expert committee ( Sacher et al., 2013 ) are the first theoretical compass for FSP in the German context. To date, the concept has not been empirically analyzed in Germany and it is unclear whether a successful implementation of FSP is related to parental school- and home-based involvement. Our second research question thus concerned the relationship between EFSC (as one facet of FSP) and parental homework involvement and the different student outcomes. Finally, our third research question focuses on the mediating role of parental homework involvement for the relationship between EFSC and the four student outcomes. In order to investigate these relationships, we assumed that socioeconomic status and student gender may act as barriers to parental homework involvement (e.g., Hornby and Lafaele, 2011 ). Thus, there is a need to control for both variables.

Materials and Methods

Data source and sample.

Between winter 2015 and spring 2018, we conducted an online survey with parents of primary and secondary school students. The sample included 309 parents (82% mothers; M age = 42 years) of school students. Of the participants’ children ( M age = 12 years, SD = 3.58), 55% were girls and 44% attended elementary schools. Parents were asked to rate the amount of EFSC and their homework support. Moreover, parents rated children’s well-being and school achievement. The percentage of missing data was low for the variables analyzed here (on average 0.91%).

Instruments

Effective family-school communication.

EFSC was assessed with three indicators of Standard B “Various and Respectful Communication” and comprises: (1) “Regular and event-independent information exchange” [five items, e.g., “If I am (or my child is) concerned about something, I can discuss this with the teachers, the school principal, or other parents.”], (2) “various forms of communication” [six items, e.g., “The school communicates with parents in different ways (e.g., email, telephone, and website).”], and (3) “school transitions” [five items, e.g., “The school management and teachers actively inform parents and children about the possibilities when making their school decisions.”]. All items were rated on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = “strongly disagree” to 4 = “strongly agree.” Cronbach’s alpha for EFSC was 0.91. The psychometric properties of the subscales are shown in Table 1 .

Means, standard deviations, and internal consistencies for all study variables.

Parental Homework Involvement

Adopting a self-determination perspective on parental need support, the quality of parental homework involvement was differentiated into two dimensions of parental supportive behavior ( Katz et al., 2011 ): (1) autonomy-supportive homework involvement was assessed with five items (e.g., “While working on homework, I am willing to hear my child provide answers that are different from mine.”); and (2) competence-supportive homework involvement comprised three items (e.g., “I am glad if my child provides an answer in homework that is different from what is expected but is interesting.”). Items were rated on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = “strongly disagree” to 4 = “strongly agree.” Cronbach’s alpha for parental homework support was 0.83.

In the present study, we differentiated between student well-being at home and in school. Using two different 10-point ladders ( Cantril, 1965 ) ranging from 1 (they are doing really poorly in school/at home ) to 10 ( they are doing really well in school/at home ), parents were asked to rate how their children feel about their lives in school (well-being at school) and at home (well-being at home).

School Achievement

School achievement was assessed with two indicators. Parents were asked to rate their children’s mathematics achievement in mathematics with three items on a 4-point Likert scale: (a) my child is (1) not good ...(4) very good in arithmetic, (b) my child makes (1) many mistakes ...(4) very few mistakes in arithmetic, (c) arithmetic is (1) difficult ...(4) easy for my child . Cronbach’s alpha of this scale was 0.95. Language achievement comprised six items about the reading and writing abilities of their children. Parents were asked to judge the items on a 4-point Likert scale, e.g., (a) my child makes (1) so many mistakes ...(4) very few mistakes when reading, (b) writing is (1) difficult ...(4) easy for my child . Cronbach’s alpha of this scale was 0.92.

Socioeconomic Status

Parental socioeconomic status (SES) was assessed using the CASMIN classification (Comparative Analysis of Social Mobility in Industrial Nations; König et al., 1988 ), a comparative educational scale. Parents provided information on their school education (e.g., A-level) and their professional education (e.g., university degree). In order to build a CASMIN index, both variables of each parent were combined and then distinguished into three different educational levels (elementary, intermediate, and higher level). According to this classification, 2% of the parents reported having a SES at the elementary level, 15% at the intermediate level, and 83% at the higher level. We created a dummy variable for the SES, coded as 1 if participants reported a CASMIN at the higher level, and 0 if participants reported a lower CASMIN.

Statistical Analyses

In order to test our hypotheses empirically, structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses were performed. SEM allows testing the relationships postulated in the present study. All analyses were performed using MPlus 7.4 ( Muthén and Muthén, 2012–2014 ). EFSC was operationalized as a latent construct, measured by three manifest indicators (regular and event-independent information exchange, various forms of communication, and school transitions). Parental homework involvement was measured by two indicators: autonomy- and competence-supportive homework involvement. In order to control for parental SES and student gender, we estimated the links between both variables and the mediator (parental homework involvement), as well as the outcomes (achievement and well-being). Standardized parameter estimates of models with good fit were reported. Model fit was evaluated by considering the χ 2 test, the comparative fit index (CFI), the Tucker Lewis Index (TLI), the standardized root mean square residual SRMR, and the root mean square error of approximation RMSEA. According to Schreiber et al. (2006) , a nonsignificant χ 2 test, and a value of 0.95 or higher for the GFI and CFI indicates an acceptable model fit. The average percentage of missing data ranged from 0 to 3.2%. Since the proportion of missing values was low and could be assumed to be missing at random (MAR), it was dealt with the full information maximum likelihood estimation (FIML) implemented in MPlus. In FIML, all information available is considered to estimate the parameters. FIML produces unbiased parameter estimates and standard errors and is superior to traditional deletion methods (e. g., listwise and pairwise deletion) ( Schafer and Graham, 2002 ).

Descriptive Statistics and Zero-Order Correlations

Table 1 presents means, standard deviations, and Cronbach’s alpha for the study variables. Parents’ average ratings of EFSC were moderately above the scale midpoint, indicating a rather frequent contact between schools and parents and a “well-functioning information flow.” Parents report a regular and routine information exchange between the school, teachers, and parents. Moreover, as perceived by parents, most schools used various forms to communicate with parents, e.g., email, homepage, etc. Finally, parents perceived a regular knowledge transfer and information exchange between schools, teachers, and parents during school transitions. Parental ratings of homework support were significantly above the scale midpoint. Hence, from a self-determination perspective on parental need support, parents reported a rather high quality of parental homework involvement. They reported being autonomy- and competence-supportive during homework completion. Achievement was rated on a 4-point Likert scale. As shown in Table 1 , on average, parents rated their children’s achievement in mathematics and reading high. While well-being was also rated high. On a 10-point ladder with high values indicating high well-being, parents perceived their children to feel rather well in school and very well at home.

In order to gain insights into the association between the research variables, Table 2 presents the Pearson’s correlation coefficients between all analyzed variables. The significant correlations ranged from r  = 0.14 ( p  < 0.05) to r  = 0.53 ( p  < 0.01). As expected, EFSC was positively associated with supportive parental homework involvement ( r  = 0.39, p  < 0.01), indicating that a well-functioning contact and information flow between schools, teachers, and parents is related with autonomy- and competence-supportive parental homework behavior. Moreover, high values in EFSC were related with well-being at school ( r  = 0.35, p  < 0.01) and home ( r  = 0.14, p  < 0.05). Finally, EFSC was positively associated with achievement in mathematics ( r  = 0.20, p  < 0.01) and language ( r  = 0.20, p  < 0.01). The same holds for autonomy- and competence-supportive parental homework behavior. The variable was positively related with well-being at school ( r  = 0.16, p  < 0.01) and home ( r  = 0.42, p  < 0.01) and with school achievement (mathematics: r  = 0.24, p  < 0.01; language: r  = 0.47, p  < 0.01). In sum, the intercorrelations revealed that our research variables are related to each other in the expected way. In order to draw further conclusions about their relationship and answer our research questions, we estimated regression analyses and a structural equation model to predict parental homework involvement, school achievement, and well-being, as well as to test the mediating role of parental homework involvement for the potential association between EFSC and our outcome variables.

Intercorrelations among study variables.

Note: EFSC = Effective family-school communication, N = 309, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01

The Relationship Between Parental Homework Involvement and Student Outcomes

In the first step, we performed a regression analyses to predict students’ well-being at school and home and their achievement in mathematics and language. The results are shown in Table 3 , model 1. Model fit was rated based on the χ 2 test, the CFI, the TLI, the SRMR, and the RMSEA. The model revealed good model fit to the data, χ 2 (522, N  = 309) = 5.03, CFI = 1.00, TLI = 1.00; SRMR = 0.01, RMSEA = 0.01. As can be seen in Table 3 , controlling for socioeconomic status and gender (female), parental homework involvement predicted well-being at school ( β  = 0.15, p  < 0.05), well-being at home ( β  = 0.42, p  < 0.01), mathematics achievement ( β  = 0.24, p  < 0.01), and language achievement ( β  = 0.46, p  < 0.01). Hence, according to their parents, students whose parents are autonomy- and competence-supportive during homework completion feel more well at school and home and achieve better results in mathematics and language compared to other students. The variance explained was between 3% (for well-being at school) and 23% (for language achievement).

Associations among effective family-school communication, parental homework involvement, well-being at school, well-being at home, mathematics achievement, and language achievement after controlling for child gender and parental SES.

Note: N = 309, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.01

The Relationship Between Effective Family-School Communication and Parental Homework Behavior and Student Outcomes

The next section presents the findings of regression analyses to empirically test the assumed relationships between EFSC and the other variables of this study. Table 3 , model 2, shows the results for the prediction of parental homework involvement, well-being at school and home, as well as achievement in mathematics and language. The model revealed good model fit to the data, χ 2 (22, N  = 309) = 32.21, CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.97; SRMR = 0.02, RMSEA = 0.04. As can be seen in Table 3 , after controlling for socioeconomic status (CASMIN) and gender (female), regression analysis indicated that EFSC predicts parental homework support ( β  = 0.40, p  < 0.01). Thus, parents whose children visit schools with a well-functioning EFSC reported being more autonomy- and competence-supportive during homework completion. The variance explained was 16% for this model.

The next two columns show the results for the prediction of students’ well-being. After controlling for socioeconomic status and gender, the results revealed a positive relationship between parental homework support and well-being at school ( β  = 0.34, p  < 0.01), as well as well-being at home ( β  = 0.16, p  < 0.01). Hence, the results indicate that children whose parents perceive themselves as being autonomy- and competence-supportive during their children’s homework completion feel more well at school and home compared to other children. The variance explained was 14% for well-being at school and 4% for well-being at home. The last two columns in Table 3 present the results for the prediction of mathematics and language achievement. Mathematics achievement was predicted by EFSC ( β  = 0.22, p  < 0.01) and female gender ( β  = −0.12, p  < 0.05). Language achievement was predicted by EFSC ( β  = 0.19, p  < 0.05) and female gender ( β  = 0.12, p  < 0.05). The results thus indicate that a well-functioning communication between schools, teachers, and parents may improve students’ achievement in mathematics and the language domain. The percentage of variance explained was 6% for mathematics achievement and 6% for language achievement. In sum, the study provided first evidence for the German context that EFSC may improve the quality of parental homework support in terms of autonomy and competence support. Moreover, EFSC proved to be beneficial for students’ well-being at home and may foster mathematics and language achievement.

Mediating Role of Parental Homework Help

In order to gain deeper insights into the mechanisms of the relationships found in the previous section, our third research question concerned the mediating role of parental homework involvement in the relationship between EFSC and well-being as well as school achievement. Figure 1 shows the results of a structural equation model. For the sake of easier readability, only significant pathways are shown. Overall, the model shows excellent model fit to the data: χ 2 (22, N  = 309) = 32.21, CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.97; SRMR = 0.02, RMSEA = 0.04.

Structural model for the associations between effective family-school communication, quality of parental homework involvement, and students’ desired outcomes after controlling for parental SES and student gender. Note: N  = 309, * p  < 0.05, ** p  < 0.01, *** p  < 0.001. For reasons of simplification, only significant path coefficients are shown.

After controlling for socioeconomic status and female gender, EFSC was found to be positively associated with parental homework involvement ( β  = 0.40, p  < 0.001). Compared with the regression coefficients found in regression analyses (see Table 3 , model 2), the relationship between EFSC and well-being at school remained at a substantial level ( β  = 0.35, p  < 0.001). However, the coefficient for the relationship between EFSC and mathematics achievement slightly decreased from β  = 0.19 to β  = 0.15 ( p  < 0.05). Moreover, the inclusion of parental homework involvement in our analyses led to reduced coefficients for the relationship between EFSC and well-being at home ( β  = −0.01) and language achievement ( β  = 0.00). These relationships were no longer statistically significant.

In addition to the direct effects, indirect effects of the predictor EFSC on well-being and achievement as mediated by parental homework support were examined. The inclusion of the mediator variables partly led to different regression coefficients for EFSC, indicating the mediating role of parental homework involvement. The indirect effect of EFSC on well-being at home was statistically significant ( β  = 0.17, p  < 0.01), indicating a full mediation of the relationship. The indirect relationship between EFSC and mathematics achievement was statistically significant ( β  = 0.07, p  < 0.01), indicating a partial mediation. Furthermore, the indirect effect of EFSC on language achievement was statistically significant ( β  = 0.19, p  < 0.001), indicating a full mediation. Because the link between parental homework involvement and well-being at school was not found, the indirect effect was not examined.

Together, the results demonstrated that the quality of parental homework support fully mediated the relations of EFSC with well-being at home and language achievement, while it partially mediated the relations of EFSC with mathematics achievement. Hence, EFSC had significant positive indirect effects on well-being at home and student’s achievement.

The primary aim of the present study was to analyze predictors and consequences of high-quality parental homework involvement. More precisely, we tested whether EFSC would predict the quality of parental homework involvement and in turn students’ well-being and school achievement. The participants of the study were 309 parents of primary and secondary school students in Germany who participated in an online survey. Three research questions were addressed. Our first research question addressed the role of parental homework involvement. With respect to the SDT, parental homework involvement was operationalized as autonomy- and competence-supportive. Based on regression analyses, we tested the relationship between parental homework involvement and four different student outcomes: well-being at school, well-being at home, mathematics achievement, and language achievement. Our second research question focused on the associations among EFSC, the quality parental homework involvement, students’ well-being, and school achievement in two domains. Our third research question concerned the mediating role of parental homework involvement for the relationship between EFSC and the four student outcomes.

In line with our assumptions made for the first research question, we found high-quality parental homework involvement to be positively associated with students’ well-being at school and at home, as well as with students’ achievement in mathematics and language. This result supports the results of earlier studies concluding that the effectiveness of parental homework involvement depends on its quality (e.g., Knollmann and Wild, 2007a , b ; Dumont et al., 2014 ; Gonida and Cortina, 2014 ; Moroni et al., 2015 ).

Past research has suggested that (the quantity of) parental involvement in schooling is beneficial for different student outcomes (e.g., Fan and Chen, 2001 ; Hill and Tyson, 2009 ; Ma et al., 2016 ). Building upon Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s model of parental involvement process ( Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler, 1995 , 1997 , 2005 ) and recent studies (e.g., Green et al., 2007 ), we assumed an EFSC to be positively associated with parental homework involvement and different student outcomes. Using a recently developed instrument to assess parental perceptions of EFSC, our second research question focused on the relationship between EFSC and parental homework involvement and the four student outcomes. Our results of regression analyses provided evidence for the predictive power of EFSC for the quality of parental homework involvement and all four different student outcomes. As previously mentioned, Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s model underlines specific invitations from school (teachers’ attempt to invite parents to become involved) as one of crucial predictors of the quantity of parental involvement. Our results added to this model in the sense that EFSC – which might function as a reason to become involved – predicts the quality of parental involvement in schooling. Our study extends previous research on the model as it considers the need to distinguish between the quantity and quality of involvement. To our knowledge, our study is the first to provide evidence of the predictive power of EFSC for high-quality parental homework involvement. Contrary to our results, Yotyodying and Wild (2014) found teacher invitations to be related with the amount of parental home-based involvement but not with differences in the quality of home-based involvement. The authors concluded that teachers presumably increase parents’ awareness of the importance to become involved in schooling, but that they possibly do not provide information about how parents might help their children in school-related topics. In their study, the authors asked parents to rate the extent to which they perceive that their school involvement is expected and requested. In the present study, parents were asked to rate an EFSC in a way that a regular and event-independent information exchange exists, that the schools and teachers use various forms of communication and that information about school transitions is provided. An EFSC might not only act as an invitation to help but it also possibly provides parents with information concerning how to help their children in school-related topics. In addition, our results indicated that EFSC positively contributed to all four student outcomes. These results were also in line with previous studies finding that successful FSPs help to improve students’ performance (e.g., Henderson and Mapp, 2002 ; Sheldon, 2003 ).

In order to address our third research question, we examined the mediating role of the quality of parental homework involvement. Controlling for socioeconomic status and students’ gender, SEM analyses showed that the associations between EFSC and three of the four student outcome variables (well-being at home, mathematics achievement, and language achievement) were (partially) mediated by the quality of parental homework involvement. The results of the present study thus highlight the role of EFSC as a key performance factor that helps to improve the quality of parental homework involvement, thereby promoting student outcomes. In addition, our findings on the crucial mediating role of parental homework involvement in the associations between EFSC and well-being at home and school achievement were in line with the assumptions of self-determination theory (SDT: Deci and Ryan, 1987 , 2000 ). Accordingly, the parental provision of autonomy and competence support tend to satisfy the basic needs of their children (autonomy and competence), and in turn it might thus result in improved well-being. Indeed, earlier studies ( Chirkov and Ryan, 2001 ; Niemiec et al., 2006 ; Yotyodying, 2012 ) have provided evidence for the relationship between parental autonomy support and well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, positive affect, school satisfaction, positive academic emotions). Our results suggest that an EFSC results in a higher quality of parental homework involvement (in terms of autonomy and competence support), which in turn leads to increased well-being at home compared to other children. Concerning achievement, our results were in line with previous studies providing evidence of a positive relationship between parental involvement in schooling and students’ achievement (e.g., Fan and Chen, 2001 ; Hill and Tyson, 2009 ; Ma et al., 2016 ), although they extend these studies by showing the mediating role of parental homework involvement for this relationship. Hence, EFSC results in high-quality parental homework involvement and is in turn related to achievement.

Practical and Scientific Implications of the Study

Recent studies have shown that strong family-school partnerships (FSPs) may help to improve parental involvement. From a scientific view, the findings of the present study supplement this research in two aspects: first, to our best knowledge, to date only little is known about the relationship between FSP and parental homework involvement. We were able to confirm that EFSC (as an indicator of FSP) may help to improve the quality of parental involvement at home, which in turn supports well-being and school achievement of students. Second, compared to the US, in Germany, much less is known about the benefits of FSP ( Wild and Yotyodying, 2012 ). We have been able to show that German parents evaluate the communication between families and schools positively. However, according to Hoover-Dempsey and Walker (2002) , various barriers might hinder well-functioning FSP such as parents having a low level of education, inflexible working hours, or low language skills. For schools, structural elements such as personnel resources influence FSP. Hence, our results of the present study hold strong importance for different groups. Administrators may use our results to implement teacher and parent training programs aiming to promote the awareness of teachers and parents about the consequences of parental involvement. Such programs should accentuate the need to become involved in an autonomy- and competence-supportive manner, as this study and recent studies ( Knollmann and Wild, 2007a , b ; Dumont et al., 2014 ; Gonida and Cortina, 2014 ; Moroni et al., 2015 ) have provided evidence of the need to particularly promote the quality rather than quantity of involvement. Hence, teachers should not only learn how to encourage parents to become highly involved; moreover, they should also learn how to assist parents to be more autonomy- and competence-supportive during homework completion. Moreover, parent training programs might help parents to be informed about different parenting styles and their effects on students’ learning and achievement.

Limitations of the Present Study

First, the generalization of our results is limited due to different attributes of the sample. All analyses were based on parental self-reports. Future studies should assess the study variables by taking other perspectives into account (e.g., school principals, teachers, and students). In these studies, teachers and school principals should be investigated as an additional source of information on EFSC. Their perspectives might differ from parents’ perspectives as teachers and school principals may consider other aspects of EFSC as particularly important than parents. Moreover, in order to improve EFSC in the school, there is a need to identify possible barriers from the school (e.g., teachers’ characteristics) or family (e.g., available time to effectively communicate, etc.) that may undermine teachers’ and parents’ abilities to communicate effectively with each other. Finally, students should rate their well-being in school and at home in future studies. In addition, the generalization of our results is limited due to the high socioeconomic status and the high proportion of mothers in our sample. In our study, the socioeconomic status was not related with parental homework involvement. However, previous studies suggest that high-SES parents tend to be more involved in schooling than other parents. Compared with low-SES parents, their higher education might be associated with feelings of being competent to help leading in higher amounts of involvement ( Lee and Bowen, 2006 ). In the present study, the participants reported on average a comparatively high socioeconomic status. Future studies should take this limitation of the analyzed sample into account and investigate a more representative sample of parents. In future studies, also children with different achievement levels should be considered, as parents of low achieving children or children with special needs might employ other parenting strategies in face of difficulties in school. For these parents and their children, strong FSP might be particularly important. In Germany, cooperation between schools and parents often takes place in the form of short meetings during parent-teacher conferences in school ( Sacher, 2008 ). Commonly, teachers and parents discuss learning problems and children’s grades ( Wild and Lorenz, 2010 ; Yotyodying, 2012 ). Strong FSP and effective communication might result in a deeper understanding of children’s needs for learning and how parents might support their children’s learning at home. Second, no conclusions on the causality could be drawn due to a cross-sectional research design. Hence, a longitudinal research design should be employed in future studies. Third, the study has exclusively focused on functional ways of parenting (autonomy- and competence-supportive homework involvement), while other parenting styles were not considered here. For instance, according to the SDT perspective on parenting, other forms of parenting such as responsiveness (providing emotional support) and structure (providing clear guidelines and expectations) are related with desired students’ outcomes (for an overview, see Grolnick, 2009 ) and should thus be analyzed in future studies. Finally, future studies should investigate both qualitative and quantitative ways of parental homework involvement to gain deeper insights into the mechanisms and differences between the two dimensions of involvement.

Ethics Statement

An ethics approval for this research was not required as per the ethical guidelines of the Faculty of Psychology at FernUniversität in Hagen and regulations of the German Psychological Society due to the noncontroversial nature of the content and the administration of the study. All subjects were parents (adults aged above 21 years). Before their participation, all subjects were informed about the research purposes. Also, they were informed that participation in this research is anonymously and voluntarily. Furthermore, they were informed about the applicable data protection guidelines and the possibility to quit participation whenever they wanted without any disadvantages. Informed consent of the participants was implied through survey completion.

Author Contributions

SD contributed to the design of the study and the data collection, carried out the analyses and data interpretation, drafted and finalized the manuscript. SY and KJ contributed to the design of the study, parts of the analyses, and data interpretation and provided input for revisions of the manuscript draft.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Should parents help their kids with homework?

Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Oklahoma

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Daniel Hamlin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Schools across the country encourage parents to help their children with homework.

Parents are listening. Helping with homework is one of the most common things that parents say they do to support their children’s learning.

Many experts have found that helping with homework cultivates positive learning behaviors , reinforces class material and signals to children that their education is important. The federal Department of Education says that parents play an important role in their children’s learning when they help with homework.

Yet parents often hear through the media that helping with homework may not be worth it. After seeing headlines such as “ Why It’s So Important You Never Help Your Kids With Their Homework ” and “ Don’t Help Your Kids With Their Homework ,” moms, dads and other caregivers can be left wondering whether they should even bother.

I’m a professor of education policy. Together with sociologist Angran Li , I set out to make sense of this conflicting guidance.

Cause or consequence?

The basis for claims that parental help with homework can be bad for students comes from research examining national surveys . These studies find that frequent homework help from parents is associated with lower test scores .

But this finding does not necessarily mean that moms and dads do harm when they help with homework. When children are struggling in school, parents may step in to help more often. That is, frequent homework help from parents might not be the cause of problems, but rather, coincide with them.

My colleague and I wanted to see if this was the case.

To find out, we studied data from an important nationally representative survey administered by the federal government – the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study . We found that low-achieving children were far more likely to receive frequent homework from parents.

And importantly, after we factored in children’s achievement levels, help with homework from parents was no longer associated with lower test scores.

Other considerations

While this finding was insightful, we figured that the effect of homework help from parents on student achievement might also be influenced by many other characteristics.

So we used a statistical technique that would account for many overlapping factors, such as how well parents and their children get along, the number of siblings, and behavior at school.

Our results also indicated that children with low test scores benefited the most when their parents frequently helped with homework.

In other words, calls for all parents to stop helping with homework could end up hurting some children.

In addition, one common concern is that only affluent and highly educated parents have the time and resources to help their children with homework regularly. We find little evidence to support this presumption. On national surveys , low-income and minority families report helping their children with homework frequently. And this was also true in our study.

Quality counts

It is important to point out that our study looked at the frequency of homework help from parents. However, evidence suggests that the quality of homework help also matters. Parents can make a difference through warm encouragement and a positive outlook and by communicating high expectations to children.

The effectiveness of homework help also seems to increase when parents foster independent learning behaviors . When helping with homework, parents should avoid trying to control the process and should also resist the temptation to complete assignments for their kids . Instead, they should let their children figure out answers on their own while offering helpful hints and positive feedback as needed.

Although parents should always consider their child’s individual learning needs, researchers say that parents should gradually reduce homework help as their children grow older, probably phasing out direct assistance with homework by the time their children reach high school. Parents can also seek advice from teachers and other school staff on how to make homework support engaging and attuned to their child’s learning needs.

Blanket statements about whether homework help is simply good or bad can be misleading. Under the right circumstances, parents can help their kids learn more when they help with homework.

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An after-school routine to help kids and parents beat homework stress

Back to school can be a difficult transition for many families , but even more challenging for some is the return to homework — for both kids and parents.

A new survey from Office Depot finds that nearly 25 percent of parents think their children are given more homework than they can handle, while four in five parents said they have struggled to understand their kids’ homework. Additionally, the survey found that nearly 50 percent of parents would opt their child out of receiving homework in at least one subject area, while one in three fessed up to having finished their child’s homework for them.

“We were surprised to find that nearly one in three parents admitted to completing their child’s homework for them at least once,” says Natalie Malaszenko, SVP, eCommerce for Office Depot. “We can only speculate, but parents might feel compelled to complete their child’s homework to help minimize their child's stress: 50 percent of parents reported their child has cried due to homework stress. Minimizing arguments could also be a factor since nearly 40 percent of parents argue with their child about homework at least once a week.”

Though some schools are banning homework , partly in response to growing research around the potential harm in overloading children , homework is still the law of the land for most school-aged children.

How can young kids and parents tackle after school assignments without any arguments or meltdowns? We spoke with a number of experts to build an optimal routine for getting homework done.

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Make it predictable.

Having a routine around homework is half the battle, suggests Joanne Ketch , a psychotherapist who has also served as an assistant principal and school counselor at a college prep private school in Texas.

“Make it predictable, preferably in the same place and at the same time each day,” says Ketch. “This routine trains the brain to prepare for homework and study, and the brain will begin to anticipate the activity and gather and prepare itself to be in the best mode for study.”

Emily Denbow Morrison , a high school English teacher adds that “when we make doing homework less of a decision and more of a natural habit for kids, they are far less likely to put it off.”

It’s been a long time since most of us revisited algebra, geometry, or the fall of ancient Rome, and even if it hasn't been that long, who says we understood it the first time?

Emily Denbow Morrison

Set up an organized, distraction-free space

An environment conducive to your child’s productivity is key. Denise L. Merchant , a former special education director and founder of Seeds of Advocacy , an education consulting firm, suggests that parents secure “quiet, clear from distraction space”.

“Make sure that there are appropriate utensils for the child: rulers, paper, erasers and pencils and whatever other instruments may be required,” says Merchant, adding that parents should also consider lighting, temperature and noise.

Whether it’s a desk in an office or in the living room, the same principles apply: “Make sure the surfaces are clean and there is a spot to place a notebook, laptop or whatever is necessary to accomplish the work,” says Rachel Rosenthal , owner of Rachel and Company, a professional organizing firm. “If the work is being done on the kitchen table, create a system that is easily transportable when dinner needs to be served.”

Take five for mindfulness

Before embarking on homework, Susan Crooks , a seventh-grade English language arts teacher at South Carolina Connections Academy recommends taking a few moments to relax and refocus.

“What if parents began a homework session with a five-minute mindfulness practice ?” she asks. “Even taking three minutes to settle the mind and breathe in and out can really help set the tone to begin.”

Map out a homework schedule on paper

“I tell parents to first sit down with their child and map out a homework schedule or an agenda on paper,” says Jennifer Hovey, owner of Huntington Learning Center in East Boise, Idaho. “Mapping out all the assignments and projects help students visually see what needs to be done and will naturally relieve anxiety. The assignments that are due soon are higher priority than the projects that are due further down the road. Tackling those high priority assignments will bring momentum and confidence in being able to tackle the assignments that are due later.”

Putting this schedule on a paper planner and not a digital device is key.

“Paper planners are crucial,” says Leighanne Scheuermann , a reading and learning specialist in Texas. “We know that physically writing down assignments and goals makes us all much more likely to keep track of them.”

Put small pieces together to add up to bigger projects

“Projects that have longer due dates and more components, like a book project for younger students or science experiments or research papers when your child gets older, can sometimes be overwhelming,” says Emily Levitt , VP of education at Sylvan Learning. “Break the projects into smaller pieces, showing your child the benefits of breaking out responsibilities over several days or weeks. The projects will be more manageable and also likely lead to higher grades — as there will be more time to review the work and make important adjustments.”

Should they tackle the easiest or toughest task first? It depends

As adults, we might find that tackling our most dreaded tasks first can help us conquer all the to-dos on our list and enhance our productivity , and this same approach can work with kids.

“Remember that we have a limited resource of time, attention, and energy. It's human nature to put off tasks we do not wish to do, and in organizing homework order, students often put off doing the task they least enjoy, but from a productivity standpoint, doing that task first conserves and manages energy best,” says Ketch. “The student will have a better chance of having sufficient energy to handle the subject matter that comes easier to them whereas if they put off the harder to them subjects (a natural reaction when under stress), they will have less energy to handle the toughest subjects and that increases stress.”

But Levitt actually recommends the reverse.

“Encourage your child to start with an assignment that seems easy,” says Levitt. “The feeling of accomplishment and confidence that results from getting one thing out of the way helps the homework session stay positive. Then, moving on to more complex work will be easier.”

It really depends on your child and their preferences, so your best bet is to try it both ways and see which works better.

Give your kid a brain-fueling snack

“Provide a healthy snack before homework or study time,” says Amanda Reineck, MSW, clinical utilization manager for Embrace Families . “Focus on brain-fueling options like a smoothie , hummus and vegetables, nuts and whole grains.”

New grade, new challenges? Talk it out and ask these 7 questions

It’s the start of a new school year, making now an ideal time to “sit down with your child to set expectations and prep [them] for what’s coming,” says Levitt.

You might also want to ask your young child a set of questions when they first sit down to embark on homework.

Dr. Gwendolyn Bass, the director of teacher leadership programs at the professional and graduate education arm of Mount Holyoke College, recommends asking the following:

• Before we even start the homework, tell me: how can I help you?
• Tell me what you did with this content/activity/book in school today?
• Do you like this problem-solving method/book/project? If not, what are you doing in school that you do enjoy?
• This looks different from what you brought home yesterday. Sometimes when someone gives me something new, I am afraid I won't be able to do it. Is that something you're feeling?
• What do you think the teacher wants you to get out of this assignment? How can you work with your teacher to make sure that you understand the homework?
• Just do as much as you can, and then let's make a list of questions you have about this assignment and you can bring them in to your teacher tomorrow. What are some of your questions?
• What can we do together when you're done with the homework?

Take breaks every 20 to 50 minutes

“Studies consistently show that studying in 20- to 50-minute segments is more beneficial than longer segments,” says Ketch. “Break briefly with something unlikely to distract in a way that will present a barrier. For example, walk a dog i nstead of check out Snapchat .”

Take note of the subjects/tasks your child struggled with and report to the teacher

“Write down the types of homework that really set your child into a tither,” says Merchant. “Share this information with your child’s teacher. There may be learning differences that warrant further discussions in order to get better, individualized support.”

If your child has an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) or a 504 Accommodation Plan, Merchant recommends making sure your child’s teacher has implemented it appropriately. “If so, maybe it needs to be updated based on more current observations you will share with the teachers,” says Merchant.

Guide them to solutions, but don’t problem solve for them

“As a parent, it is natural to want to help your student when you notice them struggling,” says Dr. Kat Cohen , founder of IvyWise. “ Instead of taking over , encourage independent work habits as early as possible. If your child comes to you with a question about their homework, help guide them towards potential solutions instead of just feeding them then answer. This could be as simple as working with them to find the information in a textbook or handout that answers their question or working through a challenging equation step-by-step. Be sure to set clear homework boundaries: the assignments are your student’s, not your, and they need to take ownership of that as early as possible.”

Levitt notes that “One of the most important things parents can do for their child is give them the space they need to grow, and to give them a break when they need it so that their minds are open to learning.”

To ensure that you’re giving your child enough space, ease up on constantly checking that they finished their homework as they get older.

“Gradually take off the training wheels and give your child more independence,” says Levitt. “Stop checking on homework completion, especially as they approach the end of middle school.”

Be your child’s strongest advocate and line up resources that can help

Though this story is directed at parents who are usually helping their kids with their homework, please know that if you’re a parent who isn’t available during homework time, there’s no shame in that. The most important thing — and this goes for the parents who can be around every evening, too — is as Reineck says, “to be your child’s strongest advocate.”

This means compiling resources you can tap should your kid show signs of academic struggle.

“Who else among the family connections could be helpful for certain subject matters?” says Reineck. Build that support system and reach out to your kids teacher and/or the school counselor if needed.

Additionally, if you’re struggling with your child’s homework, cut yourself some slack. This stuff is hard!

“It’s been a long time since most of us revisited algebra, geometry, or the fall of ancient Rome, and even if it hasn't been that long, who says we understood it the first time?” Morrison reasons. “When children need more than parental motivation to get their homework done, parents can feel like it's their responsibility to reteach themselves the subjects their child is struggling with, [but] this isn't realistic. How can we tutor them in something we don't understand? We can't. But we can get in touch with their teachers, let them know our child is having a hard time, and ask who may be available to help.”

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Where Parents Help Their Kids With Homework

How much time every week do you spend helping your children with their homework? If you live in India, you probably spend more time helping out than in other countries. According to an Ipsos survey conducted for The Varkey Foundation and published by The World Economic Forum , parents in India spend an average of 12 hours every week sitting with their children and helping them after school. By comparison, Brazilian and Russian parents both average 7.5 hours of homework helping every week while in China , it averages 8.2 hours. U.S. parents spend about 6.2 hours a week helping out while in Japan, it's only 2.6 hours.

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