Bringing Homework Into Focus. Eileen Depka

by focusing on four aspects.

      1 Purpose

      2 Relevance

      3 Doability

      4 Quantity

Purpose

      Standards identify the knowledge, skills, and applications that will allow students to experience academic success, while the curriculum outlines the content and time line during which the standards will be achieved. Diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments, with the help of introductory work, assist in measuring the path toward achieving the desired outcome. Thus, standards, curriculum, and assessment collectively are crucial components of lesson development. However, the identification of purposeful student work is equally essential.

      It is not uncommon for students to ask, “Why do we need to do this?” It’s an excellent question. Students are asking us to clearly identify the purpose of the tasks we expect them to perform. They are asking for clear, purposeful targets—a reason to learn. A MetLife (2007) study on homework reveals that parents and students do not often understand the relationship between the assignment and its academic purpose. Although that connection is clear to us as educators, students do not always understand the benefit or the relationship; therefore, we must state the connection. To ensure that students clearly understand the connection, ask them what that connection is prior to having them begin the assignment.