how does homework teach discipline

Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

A conversation with a Wheelock researcher, a BU student, and a fourth-grade teacher

“Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives,” says Wheelock’s Janine Bempechat. “It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.” Photo by iStock/Glenn Cook Photography

Do your homework.

If only it were that simple.

Educators have debated the merits of homework since the late 19th century. In recent years, amid concerns of some parents and teachers that children are being stressed out by too much homework, things have only gotten more fraught.

“Homework is complicated,” says developmental psychologist Janine Bempechat, a Wheelock College of Education & Human Development clinical professor. The author of the essay “ The Case for (Quality) Homework—Why It Improves Learning and How Parents Can Help ” in the winter 2019 issue of Education Next , Bempechat has studied how the debate about homework is influencing teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs about learning, and school policies.

She worries especially about socioeconomically disadvantaged students from low-performing schools who, according to research by Bempechat and others, get little or no homework.

BU Today  sat down with Bempechat and Erin Bruce (Wheelock’17,’18), a new fourth-grade teacher at a suburban Boston school, and future teacher freshman Emma Ardizzone (Wheelock) to talk about what quality homework looks like, how it can help children learn, and how schools can equip teachers to design it, evaluate it, and facilitate parents’ role in it.

BU Today: Parents and educators who are against homework in elementary school say there is no research definitively linking it to academic performance for kids in the early grades. You’ve said that they’re missing the point.

Bempechat : I think teachers assign homework in elementary school as a way to help kids develop skills they’ll need when they’re older—to begin to instill a sense of responsibility and to learn planning and organizational skills. That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success. If we greatly reduce or eliminate homework in elementary school, we deprive kids and parents of opportunities to instill these important learning habits and skills.

We do know that beginning in late middle school, and continuing through high school, there is a strong and positive correlation between homework completion and academic success.

That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success.

You talk about the importance of quality homework. What is that?

Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives. It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.

What are your concerns about homework and low-income children?

The argument that some people make—that homework “punishes the poor” because lower-income parents may not be as well-equipped as affluent parents to help their children with homework—is very troubling to me. There are no parents who don’t care about their children’s learning. Parents don’t actually have to help with homework completion in order for kids to do well. They can help in other ways—by helping children organize a study space, providing snacks, being there as a support, helping children work in groups with siblings or friends.

Isn’t the discussion about getting rid of homework happening mostly in affluent communities?

Yes, and the stories we hear of kids being stressed out from too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. That’s problematic for physical and mental health and overall well-being. But the research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.

Teachers may not have as high expectations for lower-income children. Schools should bear responsibility for providing supports for kids to be able to get their homework done—after-school clubs, community support, peer group support. It does kids a disservice when our expectations are lower for them.

The conversation around homework is to some extent a social class and social justice issue. If we eliminate homework for all children because affluent children have too much, we’re really doing a disservice to low-income children. They need the challenge, and every student can rise to the challenge with enough supports in place.

What did you learn by studying how education schools are preparing future teachers to handle homework?

My colleague, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, at the University of California, Davis, School of Education, and I interviewed faculty members at education schools, as well as supervising teachers, to find out how students are being prepared. And it seemed that they weren’t. There didn’t seem to be any readings on the research, or conversations on what high-quality homework is and how to design it.

Erin, what kind of training did you get in handling homework?

Bruce : I had phenomenal professors at Wheelock, but homework just didn’t come up. I did lots of student teaching. I’ve been in classrooms where the teachers didn’t assign any homework, and I’ve been in rooms where they assigned hours of homework a night. But I never even considered homework as something that was my decision. I just thought it was something I’d pull out of a book and it’d be done.

I started giving homework on the first night of school this year. My first assignment was to go home and draw a picture of the room where you do your homework. I want to know if it’s at a table and if there are chairs around it and if mom’s cooking dinner while you’re doing homework.

The second night I asked them to talk to a grown-up about how are you going to be able to get your homework done during the week. The kids really enjoyed it. There’s a running joke that I’m teaching life skills.

Friday nights, I read all my kids’ responses to me on their homework from the week and it’s wonderful. They pour their hearts out. It’s like we’re having a conversation on my couch Friday night.

It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Bempechat : I can’t imagine that most new teachers would have the intuition Erin had in designing homework the way she did.

Ardizzone : Conversations with kids about homework, feeling you’re being listened to—that’s such a big part of wanting to do homework….I grew up in Westchester County. It was a pretty demanding school district. My junior year English teacher—I loved her—she would give us feedback, have meetings with all of us. She’d say, “If you have any questions, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, here are my office hours.” It felt like she actually cared.

Bempechat : It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Ardizzone : But can’t it lead to parents being overbearing and too involved in their children’s lives as students?

Bempechat : There’s good help and there’s bad help. The bad help is what you’re describing—when parents hover inappropriately, when they micromanage, when they see their children confused and struggling and tell them what to do.

Good help is when parents recognize there’s a struggle going on and instead ask informative questions: “Where do you think you went wrong?” They give hints, or pointers, rather than saying, “You missed this,” or “You didn’t read that.”

Bruce : I hope something comes of this. I hope BU or Wheelock can think of some way to make this a more pressing issue. As a first-year teacher, it was not something I even thought about on the first day of school—until a kid raised his hand and said, “Do we have homework?” It would have been wonderful if I’d had a plan from day one.

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Senior Contributing Editor

Sara Rimer A journalist for more than three decades, Sara Rimer worked at the Miami Herald , Washington Post and, for 26 years, the New York Times , where she was the New England bureau chief, and a national reporter covering education, aging, immigration, and other social justice issues. Her stories on the death penalty’s inequities were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Her journalism honors include Columbia University’s Meyer Berger award for in-depth human interest reporting. She holds a BA degree in American Studies from the University of Michigan. Profile

She can be reached at [email protected] .

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There are 81 comments on Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

Insightful! The values about homework in elementary schools are well aligned with my intuition as a parent.

when i finish my work i do my homework and i sometimes forget what to do because i did not get enough sleep

same omg it does not help me it is stressful and if I have it in more than one class I hate it.

Same I think my parent wants to help me but, she doesn’t care if I get bad grades so I just try my best and my grades are great.

I think that last question about Good help from parents is not know to all parents, we do as our parents did or how we best think it can be done, so maybe coaching parents or giving them resources on how to help with homework would be very beneficial for the parent on how to help and for the teacher to have consistency and improve homework results, and of course for the child. I do see how homework helps reaffirm the knowledge obtained in the classroom, I also have the ability to see progress and it is a time I share with my kids

The answer to the headline question is a no-brainer – a more pressing problem is why there is a difference in how students from different cultures succeed. Perfect example is the student population at BU – why is there a majority population of Asian students and only about 3% black students at BU? In fact at some universities there are law suits by Asians to stop discrimination and quotas against admitting Asian students because the real truth is that as a group they are demonstrating better qualifications for admittance, while at the same time there are quotas and reduced requirements for black students to boost their portion of the student population because as a group they do more poorly in meeting admissions standards – and it is not about the Benjamins. The real problem is that in our PC society no one has the gazuntas to explore this issue as it may reveal that all people are not created equal after all. Or is it just environmental cultural differences??????

I get you have a concern about the issue but that is not even what the point of this article is about. If you have an issue please take this to the site we have and only post your opinion about the actual topic

This is not at all what the article is talking about.

This literally has nothing to do with the article brought up. You should really take your opinions somewhere else before you speak about something that doesn’t make sense.

we have the same name

so they have the same name what of it?

lol you tell her

totally agree

What does that have to do with homework, that is not what the article talks about AT ALL.

Yes, I think homework plays an important role in the development of student life. Through homework, students have to face challenges on a daily basis and they try to solve them quickly.I am an intense online tutor at 24x7homeworkhelp and I give homework to my students at that level in which they handle it easily.

More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.

You know what’s funny? I got this assignment to write an argument for homework about homework and this article was really helpful and understandable, and I also agree with this article’s point of view.

I also got the same task as you! I was looking for some good resources and I found this! I really found this article useful and easy to understand, just like you! ^^

i think that homework is the best thing that a child can have on the school because it help them with their thinking and memory.

I am a child myself and i think homework is a terrific pass time because i can’t play video games during the week. It also helps me set goals.

Homework is not harmful ,but it will if there is too much

I feel like, from a minors point of view that we shouldn’t get homework. Not only is the homework stressful, but it takes us away from relaxing and being social. For example, me and my friends was supposed to hang at the mall last week but we had to postpone it since we all had some sort of work to do. Our minds shouldn’t be focused on finishing an assignment that in realty, doesn’t matter. I completely understand that we should have homework. I have to write a paper on the unimportance of homework so thanks.

homework isn’t that bad

Are you a student? if not then i don’t really think you know how much and how severe todays homework really is

i am a student and i do not enjoy homework because i practice my sport 4 out of the five days we have school for 4 hours and that’s not even counting the commute time or the fact i still have to shower and eat dinner when i get home. its draining!

i totally agree with you. these people are such boomers

why just why

they do make a really good point, i think that there should be a limit though. hours and hours of homework can be really stressful, and the extra work isn’t making a difference to our learning, but i do believe homework should be optional and extra credit. that would make it for students to not have the leaning stress of a assignment and if you have a low grade you you can catch up.

Studies show that homework improves student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicates that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” On both standardized tests and grades, students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school.

So how are your measuring student achievement? That’s the real question. The argument that doing homework is simply a tool for teaching responsibility isn’t enough for me. We can teach responsibility in a number of ways. Also the poor argument that parents don’t need to help with homework, and that students can do it on their own, is wishful thinking at best. It completely ignores neurodiverse students. Students in poverty aren’t magically going to find a space to do homework, a friend’s or siblings to help them do it, and snacks to eat. I feel like the author of this piece has never set foot in a classroom of students.

THIS. This article is pathetic coming from a university. So intellectually dishonest, refusing to address the havoc of capitalism and poverty plays on academic success in life. How can they in one sentence use poor kids in an argument and never once address that poor children have access to damn near 0 of the resources affluent kids have? Draw me a picture and let’s talk about feelings lmao what a joke is that gonna put food in their belly so they can have the calories to burn in order to use their brain to study? What about quiet their 7 other siblings that they share a single bedroom with for hours? Is it gonna force the single mom to magically be at home and at work at the same time to cook food while you study and be there to throw an encouraging word?

Also the “parents don’t need to be a parent and be able to guide their kid at all academically they just need to exist in the next room” is wild. Its one thing if a parent straight up is not equipped but to say kids can just figured it out is…. wow coming from an educator What’s next the teacher doesn’t need to teach cause the kid can just follow the packet and figure it out?

Well then get a tutor right? Oh wait you are poor only affluent kids can afford a tutor for their hours of homework a day were they on average have none of the worries a poor child does. Does this address that poor children are more likely to also suffer abuse and mental illness? Like mentioned what about kids that can’t learn or comprehend the forced standardized way? Just let em fail? These children regularly are not in “special education”(some of those are a joke in their own and full of neglect and abuse) programs cause most aren’t even acknowledged as having disabilities or disorders.

But yes all and all those pesky poor kids just aren’t being worked hard enough lol pretty sure poor children’s existence just in childhood is more work, stress, and responsibility alone than an affluent child’s entire life cycle. Love they never once talked about the quality of education in the classroom being so bad between the poor and affluent it can qualify as segregation, just basically blamed poor people for being lazy, good job capitalism for failing us once again!

why the hell?

you should feel bad for saying this, this article can be helpful for people who has to write a essay about it

This is more of a political rant than it is about homework

I know a teacher who has told his students their homework is to find something they are interested in, pursue it and then come share what they learn. The student responses are quite compelling. One girl taught herself German so she could talk to her grandfather. One boy did a research project on Nelson Mandela because the teacher had mentioned him in class. Another boy, a both on the autism spectrum, fixed his family’s computer. The list goes on. This is fourth grade. I think students are highly motivated to learn, when we step aside and encourage them.

The whole point of homework is to give the students a chance to use the material that they have been presented with in class. If they never have the opportunity to use that information, and discover that it is actually useful, it will be in one ear and out the other. As a science teacher, it is critical that the students are challenged to use the material they have been presented with, which gives them the opportunity to actually think about it rather than regurgitate “facts”. Well designed homework forces the student to think conceptually, as opposed to regurgitation, which is never a pretty sight

Wonderful discussion. and yes, homework helps in learning and building skills in students.

not true it just causes kids to stress

Homework can be both beneficial and unuseful, if you will. There are students who are gifted in all subjects in school and ones with disabilities. Why should the students who are gifted get the lucky break, whereas the people who have disabilities suffer? The people who were born with this “gift” go through school with ease whereas people with disabilities struggle with the work given to them. I speak from experience because I am one of those students: the ones with disabilities. Homework doesn’t benefit “us”, it only tears us down and put us in an abyss of confusion and stress and hopelessness because we can’t learn as fast as others. Or we can’t handle the amount of work given whereas the gifted students go through it with ease. It just brings us down and makes us feel lost; because no mater what, it feels like we are destined to fail. It feels like we weren’t “cut out” for success.

homework does help

here is the thing though, if a child is shoved in the face with a whole ton of homework that isn’t really even considered homework it is assignments, it’s not helpful. the teacher should make homework more of a fun learning experience rather than something that is dreaded

This article was wonderful, I am going to ask my teachers about extra, or at all giving homework.

I agree. Especially when you have homework before an exam. Which is distasteful as you’ll need that time to study. It doesn’t make any sense, nor does us doing homework really matters as It’s just facts thrown at us.

Homework is too severe and is just too much for students, schools need to decrease the amount of homework. When teachers assign homework they forget that the students have other classes that give them the same amount of homework each day. Students need to work on social skills and life skills.

I disagree.

Beyond achievement, proponents of homework argue that it can have many other beneficial effects. They claim it can help students develop good study habits so they are ready to grow as their cognitive capacities mature. It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework can foster independent learning and responsible character traits. And it can give parents an opportunity to see what’s going on at school and let them express positive attitudes toward achievement.

Homework is helpful because homework helps us by teaching us how to learn a specific topic.

As a student myself, I can say that I have almost never gotten the full 9 hours of recommended sleep time, because of homework. (Now I’m writing an essay on it in the middle of the night D=)

I am a 10 year old kid doing a report about “Is homework good or bad” for homework before i was going to do homework is bad but the sources from this site changed my mind!

Homeowkr is god for stusenrs

I agree with hunter because homework can be so stressful especially with this whole covid thing no one has time for homework and every one just wants to get back to there normal lives it is especially stressful when you go on a 2 week vaca 3 weeks into the new school year and and then less then a week after you come back from the vaca you are out for over a month because of covid and you have no way to get the assignment done and turned in

As great as homework is said to be in the is article, I feel like the viewpoint of the students was left out. Every where I go on the internet researching about this topic it almost always has interviews from teachers, professors, and the like. However isn’t that a little biased? Of course teachers are going to be for homework, they’re not the ones that have to stay up past midnight completing the homework from not just one class, but all of them. I just feel like this site is one-sided and you should include what the students of today think of spending four hours every night completing 6-8 classes worth of work.

Are we talking about homework or practice? Those are two very different things and can result in different outcomes.

Homework is a graded assignment. I do not know of research showing the benefits of graded assignments going home.

Practice; however, can be extremely beneficial, especially if there is some sort of feedback (not a grade but feedback). That feedback can come from the teacher, another student or even an automated grading program.

As a former band director, I assigned daily practice. I never once thought it would be appropriate for me to require the students to turn in a recording of their practice for me to grade. Instead, I had in-class assignments/assessments that were graded and directly related to the practice assigned.

I would really like to read articles on “homework” that truly distinguish between the two.

oof i feel bad good luck!

thank you guys for the artical because I have to finish an assingment. yes i did cite it but just thanks

thx for the article guys.

Homework is good

I think homework is helpful AND harmful. Sometimes u can’t get sleep bc of homework but it helps u practice for school too so idk.

I agree with this Article. And does anyone know when this was published. I would like to know.

It was published FEb 19, 2019.

Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college.

i think homework can help kids but at the same time not help kids

This article is so out of touch with majority of homes it would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly sad.

There is no value to homework all it does is add stress to already stressed homes. Parents or adults magically having the time or energy to shepherd kids through homework is dome sort of 1950’s fantasy.

What lala land do these teachers live in?

Homework gives noting to the kid

Homework is Bad

homework is bad.

why do kids even have homework?

Comments are closed.

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Is Homework Good for Kids? Here’s What the Research Says

A s kids return to school, debate is heating up once again over how they should spend their time after they leave the classroom for the day.

The no-homework policy of a second-grade teacher in Texas went viral last week , earning praise from parents across the country who lament the heavy workload often assigned to young students. Brandy Young told parents she would not formally assign any homework this year, asking students instead to eat dinner with their families, play outside and go to bed early.

But the question of how much work children should be doing outside of school remains controversial, and plenty of parents take issue with no-homework policies, worried their kids are losing a potential academic advantage. Here’s what you need to know:

For decades, the homework standard has been a “10-minute rule,” which recommends a daily maximum of 10 minutes of homework per grade level. Second graders, for example, should do about 20 minutes of homework each night. High school seniors should complete about two hours of homework each night. The National PTA and the National Education Association both support that guideline.

But some schools have begun to give their youngest students a break. A Massachusetts elementary school has announced a no-homework pilot program for the coming school year, lengthening the school day by two hours to provide more in-class instruction. “We really want kids to go home at 4 o’clock, tired. We want their brain to be tired,” Kelly Elementary School Principal Jackie Glasheen said in an interview with a local TV station . “We want them to enjoy their families. We want them to go to soccer practice or football practice, and we want them to go to bed. And that’s it.”

A New York City public elementary school implemented a similar policy last year, eliminating traditional homework assignments in favor of family time. The change was quickly met with outrage from some parents, though it earned support from other education leaders.

New solutions and approaches to homework differ by community, and these local debates are complicated by the fact that even education experts disagree about what’s best for kids.

The research

The most comprehensive research on homework to date comes from a 2006 meta-analysis by Duke University psychology professor Harris Cooper, who found evidence of a positive correlation between homework and student achievement, meaning students who did homework performed better in school. The correlation was stronger for older students—in seventh through 12th grade—than for those in younger grades, for whom there was a weak relationship between homework and performance.

Cooper’s analysis focused on how homework impacts academic achievement—test scores, for example. His report noted that homework is also thought to improve study habits, attitudes toward school, self-discipline, inquisitiveness and independent problem solving skills. On the other hand, some studies he examined showed that homework can cause physical and emotional fatigue, fuel negative attitudes about learning and limit leisure time for children. At the end of his analysis, Cooper recommended further study of such potential effects of homework.

Despite the weak correlation between homework and performance for young children, Cooper argues that a small amount of homework is useful for all students. Second-graders should not be doing two hours of homework each night, he said, but they also shouldn’t be doing no homework.

Not all education experts agree entirely with Cooper’s assessment.

Cathy Vatterott, an education professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, supports the “10-minute rule” as a maximum, but she thinks there is not sufficient proof that homework is helpful for students in elementary school.

“Correlation is not causation,” she said. “Does homework cause achievement, or do high achievers do more homework?”

Vatterott, the author of Rethinking Homework: Best Practices That Support Diverse Needs , thinks there should be more emphasis on improving the quality of homework tasks, and she supports efforts to eliminate homework for younger kids.

“I have no concerns about students not starting homework until fourth grade or fifth grade,” she said, noting that while the debate over homework will undoubtedly continue, she has noticed a trend toward limiting, if not eliminating, homework in elementary school.

The issue has been debated for decades. A TIME cover in 1999 read: “Too much homework! How it’s hurting our kids, and what parents should do about it.” The accompanying story noted that the launch of Sputnik in 1957 led to a push for better math and science education in the U.S. The ensuing pressure to be competitive on a global scale, plus the increasingly demanding college admissions process, fueled the practice of assigning homework.

“The complaints are cyclical, and we’re in the part of the cycle now where the concern is for too much,” Cooper said. “You can go back to the 1970s, when you’ll find there were concerns that there was too little, when we were concerned about our global competitiveness.”

Cooper acknowledged that some students really are bringing home too much homework, and their parents are right to be concerned.

“A good way to think about homework is the way you think about medications or dietary supplements,” he said. “If you take too little, they’ll have no effect. If you take too much, they can kill you. If you take the right amount, you’ll get better.”

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The Importance of Teaching Kids Self-Discipline

Akiko Aoki / Moment / Getty Images

Your discipline tactics shouldn't be about controlling your child. Instead, discipline should be about teaching your child how to control himself. Kids who learn self-discipline will be better equipped to face life's challenges, manage stress, and make healthy choices even when you're not around.

What Self-Discipline Means

Just because a child is well-behaved, it doesn’t necessarily mean he has self-discipline. Self-disciplined kids can choose to forgo immediate gratification. They can make good choices regardless of how they feel.

Kids who have self-discipline can cope with uncomfortable emotions in a healthy way. They’ve learned anger management skills and are able to control impulsive behavior. They can respond respectfully when adults correct them and they can take responsibility for their behavior.

They’ve also learned to make healthy choices for themselves based on weighing the pros and cons of their choices. Instead of saying, “I have to do this because my parents said so,” they recognize the importance of making healthy choices. They can make good decisions in terms of chores , homework , money , peer pressure and self-care.

When kids lack self-discipline, parents often end up taking more responsibility for the child’s behavior. Nagging a child to do his homework or making repeated threats to try and motivate a child to do chores often means a parent puts in more effort than the child does to get the work done.

Teaching kids self-discipline skills while they’re young can help them throughout their lives. People who never learn self-discipline skills tend to struggle to keep healthy habits, even into adulthood. Managing schoolwork, employment, money and household responsibilities all require self-discipline. Adults who lack self-discipline may struggle with problems such as time management and money management.  

Examples of a Lack of Self-Discipline

• A 4-year-old interrupts conversations between adults repeatedly because he can’t wait for his turn to speak.
• A 6-year-old constantly gets out of bed because she has trouble tolerating boredom while she's trying to fall asleep.
• An 8-year-old sneaks junk food the minute his parents are out of his sight.
• A 10-year-old spends his spare time at school playing with his pencils, rather than doing his work.
• A 12-year-old says he wants to learn how to play the violin but he never practices.
• A 14-year-old accepts a dare from a friend and attempts to steal a candy bar from a store.
• A 16-year-old can’t resist answering a text message while she’s driving.
• An 18-year-old chooses to spend time socializing instead of doing the work necessary for her college classes.

Examples of Self-Discipline

• A 4-year-old asks an adult for help, instead of retaliating aggressively when a peer takes her toy.
• A 6-year-old dresses himself right after breakfast without needing a reminder.
• An 8-year-old child declines to join her friends who are teasing another child.
• A 10-year-old sits down to do his homework after he eats his afterschool snack.
• A 12-year-old saves her allowance money each week until she can purchase a new game that she has been wanting.
• A 14-year-old tells his friends he can’t come over because he needs to study for a test.
• A 16-year-old chooses not to go to a party with friends because she thinks there may be some underage drinking at the party.
• An 18-year-old refuses to cheat on a test when his friend offers him the answers.

Teaching Self-Discipline Skills

Learning self-discipline is a life-long process and all kids will struggle with self-discipline at various times. Give your child age-appropriate tools to help him practice resisting temptations and delaying gratification.

The good news is, the more self-disciplined your child becomes, the less discipline he'll need from you. When your child accepts responsibility for his own behavior, you won't need to use as many negative consequences. Instead, you'll be able to focus on teaching your child new skills and building a healthy relationship.

Kim J, Hong H, Lee J, Hyun MH. Effects of time perspective and self-control on procrastination and Internet addiction .  J Behav Addict . 2017;6(2):229–236. doi:10.1556/2006.6.2017.017

By Amy Morin, LCSW Amy Morin, LCSW, is the Editor-in-Chief of Verywell Mind. She's also a psychotherapist, an international bestselling author of books on mental strength and host of The Verywell Mind Podcast. She delivered one of the most popular TEDx talks of all time.

Does homework really work?

by: Leslie Crawford | Updated: December 12, 2023

Print article

You know the drill. It’s 10:15 p.m., and the cardboard-and-toothpick Golden Gate Bridge is collapsing. The pages of polynomials have been abandoned. The paper on the Battle of Waterloo seems to have frozen in time with Napoleon lingering eternally over his breakfast at Le Caillou. Then come the tears and tantrums — while we parents wonder, Does the gain merit all this pain? Is this just too much homework?

However the drama unfolds night after night, year after year, most parents hold on to the hope that homework (after soccer games, dinner, flute practice, and, oh yes, that childhood pastime of yore known as playing) advances their children academically.

But what does homework really do for kids? Is the forest’s worth of book reports and math and spelling sheets the average American student completes in their 12 years of primary schooling making a difference? Or is it just busywork?

Homework haterz

Whether or not homework helps, or even hurts, depends on who you ask. If you ask my 12-year-old son, Sam, he’ll say, “Homework doesn’t help anything. It makes kids stressed-out and tired and makes them hate school more.”

Nothing more than common kid bellyaching?

Maybe, but in the fractious field of homework studies, it’s worth noting that Sam’s sentiments nicely synopsize one side of the ivory tower debate. Books like The End of Homework , The Homework Myth , and The Case Against Homework the film Race to Nowhere , and the anguished parent essay “ My Daughter’s Homework is Killing Me ” make the case that homework, by taking away precious family time and putting kids under unneeded pressure, is an ineffective way to help children become better learners and thinkers.

One Canadian couple took their homework apostasy all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. After arguing that there was no evidence that it improved academic performance, they won a ruling that exempted their two children from all homework.

So what’s the real relationship between homework and academic achievement?

How much is too much?

To answer this question, researchers have been doing their homework on homework, conducting and examining hundreds of studies. Chris Drew Ph.D., founder and editor at The Helpful Professor recently compiled multiple statistics revealing the folly of today’s after-school busy work. Does any of the data he listed below ring true for you?

• 45 percent of parents think homework is too easy for their child, primarily because it is geared to the lowest standard under the Common Core State Standards .

• 74 percent of students say homework is a source of stress , defined as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss, and stomach problems.

• Students in high-performing high schools spend an average of 3.1 hours a night on homework , even though 1 to 2 hours is the optimal duration, according to a peer-reviewed study .

Not included in the list above is the fact many kids have to abandon activities they love — like sports and clubs — because homework deprives them of the needed time to enjoy themselves with other pursuits.

Conversely, The Helpful Professor does list a few pros of homework, noting it teaches discipline and time management, and helps parents know what’s being taught in the class.

The oft-bandied rule on homework quantity — 10 minutes a night per grade (starting from between 10 to 20 minutes in first grade) — is listed on the National Education Association’s website and the National Parent Teacher Association’s website , but few schools follow this rule.

Do you think your child is doing excessive homework? Harris Cooper Ph.D., author of a meta-study on homework , recommends talking with the teacher. “Often there is a miscommunication about the goals of homework assignments,” he says. “What appears to be problematic for kids, why they are doing an assignment, can be cleared up with a conversation.” Also, Cooper suggests taking a careful look at how your child is doing the assignments. It may seem like they’re taking two hours, but maybe your child is wandering off frequently to get a snack or getting distracted.

Less is often more

If your child is dutifully doing their work but still burning the midnight oil, it’s worth intervening to make sure your child gets enough sleep. A 2012 study of 535 high school students found that proper sleep may be far more essential to brain and body development.

For elementary school-age children, Cooper’s research at Duke University shows there is no measurable academic advantage to homework. For middle-schoolers, Cooper found there is a direct correlation between homework and achievement if assignments last between one to two hours per night. After two hours, however, achievement doesn’t improve. For high schoolers, Cooper’s research suggests that two hours per night is optimal. If teens have more than two hours of homework a night, their academic success flatlines. But less is not better. The average high school student doing homework outperformed 69 percent of the students in a class with no homework.

Many schools are starting to act on this research. A Florida superintendent abolished homework in her 42,000 student district, replacing it with 20 minutes of nightly reading. She attributed her decision to “ solid research about what works best in improving academic achievement in students .”

More family time

A 2020 survey by Crayola Experience reports 82 percent of children complain they don’t have enough quality time with their parents. Homework deserves much of the blame. “Kids should have a chance to just be kids and do things they enjoy, particularly after spending six hours a day in school,” says Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth . “It’s absurd to insist that children must be engaged in constructive activities right up until their heads hit the pillow.”

By far, the best replacement for homework — for both parents and children — is bonding, relaxing time together.

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Homework and Developing Responsibility

As children enter the fourth grade, the purpose of homework changes to some extent. In grades one to three, students are learning to read; thereafter, they are reading to learn. In fourth grade both schoolwork and homework become more challenging. Learning tasks require more organization and more sus­tained attention and effort.

Because of this change, homework becomes a more integral part of children’s learning and is reflected more in their academic record. This shift comes at a good time, since at about the fourth grade; chil­dren are ready for and want more autonomy and responsibility and less parental hovering and interference.

Homework for older children has a number of purposes. It provides an op­portunity for review and reinforcement of skills that have been mastered and encourages practicing skills that are not. Homework also is an opportunity for children to learn self-discipline and organizational skills and to take responsi­bility for their own learning.

Many of the same suggestions for approaching homework that were recom­mended for younger children apply to older children as well. Homework is best done when the child has had a chance to unwind from school or after-school activities, is rested, and is not hungry. You and your child should agree upon a regular schedule for when homework will be done, and the length of time that should be devoted to it. This schedule should provide predictability and structure but should be sufficiently flexible to respond to special situa­tions. Some children do best if their homework time is divided into several short sessions instead of a single long one.

Usually parents can be helpful by assisting their child in getting settled and started. You can look together at each day’s homework assignment and decide what parts might require help from you, a sibling, or a classmate. The most dif­ficult parts should be done first. Reviewing for tests and rote memorization tasks also should be done early and then repeated at the end of the homework session or first thing the next morning. As is the case for younger children, homework should be done in a location with few distractions (no television, radio, telephone, video games, comics, toys, or conversation), and where all the necessary supplies and reference materials are available.

Here are some specific suggestions on how to approach homework of dif­ferent types:

Reading Assignments

• Divide chapters into small units or use the author’s headings as a guide.
• Find the topic sentence or the main idea for each paragraph and under­line it or write it down.
• Write a section-by-section outline of the reading assignment, copying or paraphrasing the main points; leave some room to write in notes from class discussions.

Writing (Composition)

• Begin by recognizing that the first draft will not be the last, and that rewriting will produce better work.
• Make a list of as many ideas as possible without worrying about whether they are good or correct.
• Organize these “brainstorm” ideas into clusters that seem reasonable, and then arrange the clusters into a logical sequence.
• Write down thoughts as to why these clusters were made and why the order makes sense.
• Use this work as an outline and write a first draft; at this stage, do not worry about spelling or punctuation.
• Meaning:  Does it make sense and meet the purpose of the assignment?
• Paragraph formation:  Does each paragraph have a topic sentence and are the other sentences logically related?
• Sentence formation:  Does each sentence express a complete thought? Are capitalization and punctuation correct?
• Word:  Was the best word chosen? Is it spelled correctly?
• Neatness:  Is the paper easy to read? Does it follow the format and style the teacher expects?
• Work toward mastering the basic facts and operations (addition, sub­traction, multiplication, and division) until they become automatic. Do this work in small doses, and limit the number of facts to three to five each session. Use writing, flash cards, and oral quizzes.
• Be sure the basic concepts of computation are well understood. Do com­putation homework slowly and check the results, since if the facts are un­derstood, most errors come from being careless.
• Use money examples when learning decimals.
• For fractions, use visual or concrete aids rather than oral explanations.

Studying for Tests

• Gather together homework assignments, class notes, outlines, quizzes, and handouts, and arrange them chronologically (by date).
• Four days before the test, read the information through in a general way.
• Three days before the test, look at major titles of sections in notes and books.
• Two days before the test, review the titles of sections and read the infor­mation and organize it into related clusters.
• The night before the test, repeat the process of the night before and re­cite as much as you can from memory.

Ages & Stages

Developing good homework habits.

Some children get right down to work without much encouragement. Others need help making the transition from playing to a homework frame of mind. Sometimes providing a ten-minute warning is all it takes to help a child get ready mentally as well as to move to the place she intends to work.

There is no universally right time to do homework. In some families, children do best if they tackle their homework shortly after returning home from school in the mid afternoon; other youngsters may do best if they devote the after-school hours to unwinding and playing, leaving their homework until the evening, when they may feel a renewed sense of vigor. Let your child have some say in the decision making. Homework can often become a source of conflict between parent and child—"Johnny, why can't you just do your homework with­out arguing about it?"—but if you agree on a regular time and place, you can eliminate two of the most frequent causes of homework-related dissension.

Some parents have found that their children respond poorly to a dictated study time (such as four o'clock every afternoon). Instead, youngsters are given guidelines ("No video games until your homework is done"). Find out what works best for both your child and the family as a whole. Once this is de­termined, stick with it.

Some youngsters prefer that a parent sit with them as they do their home­work. You may find this an acceptable request, particularly if you have your own reading or paperwork to complete. However, do not actually do the homework for your child. She may need some assistance getting focused and started and organizing her approach to the assignment. Occasionally, you may need to ex­plain a math problem; in those cases, let your child try a couple of problems first before offering to help. But if she routinely requires your active participation to get her everyday homework done, then talk to her teacher. Your child may need stronger direction in the classroom so that she is able to complete the assign­ments on her own or with less parental involvement. One area where children may need parental help is in organizing how much work will have to be done daily to finish a long assignment, such as a term paper or a science project.

If your child or her teacher asks you to review her homework, you may want to look it over before she takes it to school the next morning. Usually it is best if homework remains the exclusive domain of the child and the teacher. However, your input may vary depending on the teacher's philosophy and the purpose of homework. If the teacher is using homework to check your child's understand­ing of the material—thus giving the teacher an idea of what needs to be empha­sized in subsequent classroom teaching sessions—your suggestions for changes and improvements on your child's paper could prove misleading. On the other hand, if the teacher assigns homework to give your child practice in a particular subject area and to reinforce what has already been taught in class, then your participation can be valuable. Some teachers use homework to help children develop self-discipline and organizational and study skills. Be sure to praise your youngster for her efforts and success in doing her homework well.

In general, support your child in her homework, but do not act as a taskmas­ter. Provide her with a quiet place, supplies, encouragement, and occasional help—but it is her job to do the work. Homework is your youngster's respon­sibility, not yours.

As the weeks pass, keep in touch with your child's teacher regarding home­work assignments. If your youngster is having ongoing problems—difficulty understanding what the assignments are and how to complete them—or if she breezes through them as though they were no challenge at all, let the teacher know. The teacher may adjust the assignments so they are more in sync with your youngster's capabilities.

Whether or not your child has homework on a particular night, consider reading aloud with her after school or at night. This type of shared experience can help interest your child in reading, as well as give you some personal time with her. Also, on days when your child does not have any assigned home­work, this shared reading time will reinforce the habit of a work time each evening.

To further nurture your child's love of reading, set a good example by spend­ing time reading on your own, and by taking your youngster to the library and/or bookstore to select books she would like to read. Some families turn off the TV each night for at least thirty minutes, and everyone spends the time reading. As children get older, one to two hours may be a more desirable length of time each day to set aside for reading and other constructive activities.

As important as it is for your child to develop good study habits, play is also important for healthy social, emotional, and physical growth and develop­ment. While encouraging your child to complete her assignments or do some additional reading, keep in mind that she has already had a lengthy and per haps tiring day of learning at school and needs some free time. Help her find the play activities that best fit her temperament and personality—whether it is organized school sports or music lessons, free-play situations (riding her bike, playing with friends), or a combination of these.

What’s the Purpose of Homework?

• Homework teaches students responsibility.
• Homework gives students an opportunity to practice and refine their skills.
• We give homework because our parents demand it.
• Our community equates homework with rigor.
• Homework is a rite of passage.
• design quality homework tasks;
• differentiate homework tasks;
• move from grading to checking;
• decriminalize the grading of homework;
• use completion strategies; and
• establish homework support programs.
• Always ask, “What learning will result from this homework assignment?” The goal of your instruction should be to design homework that results in meaningful learning.
• Assign homework to help students deepen their understanding of content, practice skills in order to become faster or more proficient, or learn new content on a surface level.
• Check that students are able to perform required skills and tasks independently before asking them to complete homework assignments.
• When students return home, is there a safe and quite place for them to do their homework? I have talked to teachers who tell me they know for certain the home environments of their students are chaotic at best. Is it likely a student will be able to complete homework in such an environment? Is it possible for students to go to an after school program, possibly at the YMCA or a Boys and Girls Club. Assigning homework to students when you know the likelihood of them being able to complete the assignment through little fault of their own doesn’t seem fair to the learner.
• Consider parents and guardians to be your allies when it comes to homework. Understand their constraints, and, when home circumstances present challenges, consider alternative approaches to support students as they complete homework assignments (e.g., before-or after-school programs, additional parent outreach).

Howard Pitler is a dynamic facilitator, speaker, and instructional coach with a proven record of success spanning four decades. With an extensive background in professional development, he works with schools and districts internationally and is a regular speaker at national, state, and district conferences and workshops.

Pitler is currently Associate Professor at Emporia State University in Kansas. Prior to that, he served for 19 years as an elementary and middle school principal in an urban setting. During his tenure, his elementary school was selected as an Apple Distinguished Program and named "One of the Top 100 Schools in America" by Redbook Magazine. His middle school was selected as "One of the Top 100 Wired Schools in America" by PC Magazine. He also served for 12 years as a senior director and chief program officer for McREL International, and he is currently serving on the Board of Colorado ASCD. He is an Apple Distinguished Educator, Apple Teacher, National Distinguished Principal, and Smithsonian Laureate.

He is a published book author and has written numerous magazine articles for  Educational Leadership ® magazine,  EdCircuit , and  Connected Educator , among others.

ASCD is dedicated to professional growth and well-being.

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Credit: August de Richelieu

Does homework still have value? A Johns Hopkins education expert weighs in

Joyce epstein, co-director of the center on school, family, and community partnerships, discusses why homework is essential, how to maximize its benefit to learners, and what the 'no-homework' approach gets wrong.

By Vicky Hallett

The necessity of homework has been a subject of debate since at least as far back as the 1890s, according to Joyce L. Epstein , co-director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University. "It's always been the case that parents, kids—and sometimes teachers, too—wonder if this is just busy work," Epstein says.

But after decades of researching how to improve schools, the professor in the Johns Hopkins School of Education remains certain that homework is essential—as long as the teachers have done their homework, too. The National Network of Partnership Schools , which she founded in 1995 to advise schools and districts on ways to improve comprehensive programs of family engagement, has developed hundreds of improved homework ideas through its Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program. For an English class, a student might interview a parent on popular hairstyles from their youth and write about the differences between then and now. Or for science class, a family could identify forms of matter over the dinner table, labeling foods as liquids or solids. These innovative and interactive assignments not only reinforce concepts from the classroom but also foster creativity, spark discussions, and boost student motivation.

"We're not trying to eliminate homework procedures, but expand and enrich them," says Epstein, who is packing this research into a forthcoming book on the purposes and designs of homework. In the meantime, the Hub couldn't wait to ask her some questions:

What kind of homework training do teachers typically get?

Future teachers and administrators really have little formal training on how to design homework before they assign it. This means that most just repeat what their teachers did, or they follow textbook suggestions at the end of units. For example, future teachers are well prepared to teach reading and literacy skills at each grade level, and they continue to learn to improve their teaching of reading in ongoing in-service education. By contrast, most receive little or no training on the purposes and designs of homework in reading or other subjects. It is really important for future teachers to receive systematic training to understand that they have the power, opportunity, and obligation to design homework with a purpose.

Why do students need more interactive homework?

If homework assignments are always the same—10 math problems, six sentences with spelling words—homework can get boring and some kids just stop doing their assignments, especially in the middle and high school years. When we've asked teachers what's the best homework you've ever had or designed, invariably we hear examples of talking with a parent or grandparent or peer to share ideas. To be clear, parents should never be asked to "teach" seventh grade science or any other subject. Rather, teachers set up the homework assignments so that the student is in charge. It's always the student's homework. But a good activity can engage parents in a fun, collaborative way. Our data show that with "good" assignments, more kids finish their work, more kids interact with a family partner, and more parents say, "I learned what's happening in the curriculum." It all works around what the youngsters are learning.

Is family engagement really that important?

At Hopkins, I am part of the Center for Social Organization of Schools , a research center that studies how to improve many aspects of education to help all students do their best in school. One thing my colleagues and I realized was that we needed to look deeply into family and community engagement. There were so few references to this topic when we started that we had to build the field of study. When children go to school, their families "attend" with them whether a teacher can "see" the parents or not. So, family engagement is ever-present in the life of a school.

My daughter's elementary school doesn't assign homework until third grade. What's your take on "no homework" policies?

There are some parents, writers, and commentators who have argued against homework, especially for very young children. They suggest that children should have time to play after school. This, of course is true, but many kindergarten kids are excited to have homework like their older siblings. If they give homework, most teachers of young children make assignments very short—often following an informal rule of 10 minutes per grade level. "No homework" does not guarantee that all students will spend their free time in productive and imaginative play.

Some researchers and critics have consistently misinterpreted research findings. They have argued that homework should be assigned only at the high school level where data point to a strong connection of doing assignments with higher student achievement . However, as we discussed, some students stop doing homework. This leads, statistically, to results showing that doing homework or spending more minutes on homework is linked to higher student achievement. If slow or struggling students are not doing their assignments, they contribute to—or cause—this "result."

Teachers need to design homework that even struggling students want to do because it is interesting. Just about all students at any age level react positively to good assignments and will tell you so.

Did COVID change how schools and parents view homework?

Within 24 hours of the day school doors closed in March 2020, just about every school and district in the country figured out that teachers had to talk to and work with students' parents. This was not the same as homeschooling—teachers were still working hard to provide daily lessons. But if a child was learning at home in the living room, parents were more aware of what they were doing in school. One of the silver linings of COVID was that teachers reported that they gained a better understanding of their students' families. We collected wonderfully creative examples of activities from members of the National Network of Partnership Schools. I'm thinking of one art activity where every child talked with a parent about something that made their family unique. Then they drew their finding on a snowflake and returned it to share in class. In math, students talked with a parent about something the family liked so much that they could represent it 100 times. Conversations about schoolwork at home was the point.

How did you create so many homework activities via the Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program?

We had several projects with educators to help them design interactive assignments, not just "do the next three examples on page 38." Teachers worked in teams to create TIPS activities, and then we turned their work into a standard TIPS format in math, reading/language arts, and science for grades K-8. Any teacher can use or adapt our prototypes to match their curricula.

Overall, we know that if future teachers and practicing educators were prepared to design homework assignments to meet specific purposes—including but not limited to interactive activities—more students would benefit from the important experience of doing their homework. And more parents would, indeed, be partners in education.

Posted in Voices+Opinion

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A Proactive Approach to Discipline

Restorative discipline seeks to create an environment in which problem behavior is less likely to occur.

Educators who’ve had success with restorative practices find them to be much more than an alternative to suspension. Restorative practices encourage us to engage with our students not only when there’s an incident but throughout the school day. They’re part of a system of discipline that takes us back to the root of that word, the Latin disciplina , meaning instruction and knowledge. They draw on what we as teachers do naturally—teach.

Restorative discipline, then, is proactive and supportive as much as it is responsive. It aims to create conditions in which issues are less likely to arise, and in which, when they do arise, we have the connections and skills needed to handle them and restore the community as needed.

What does it take to adopt an approach to discipline that is proactive and supportive as well as responsive to problems in school? There are several key steps.

Steps to Proactive Discipline

Get to know your students: For both teachers and students to be our best selves, we must get to know each other. Teaching and learning occur through relationships. The stronger the relationship and the better we understand our students, the more knowledge and goodwill we have to draw on when the going gets tough.

Share and teach into classroom expectations: We want to make sure our students know and understand our classroom expectations. Discussing them early on promotes buy-in and allows us to better assess what skills and support students need to live up to our expectations.

Develop classroom norms collaboratively: There is a power in deciding together which norms you and your students need to do your best work. Once you’ve come up with a manageable list, spend some time exploring it. For example, what does respect look, feel, and sound like? Which norms will be easy to follow, and which more challenging? Why? Spend some time problem-solving the more challenging norms, and consider together how you might support one another when challenges arise.

Steps to Supportive and Responsive Discipline

Model kind, supportive, and respectful behavior: Having come up with a list of classroom norms, it’s important that you, as the adult, lead the way and show students how to uphold them consistently.

Review classroom norms and expectations: Be sure to provide reminders about your norms, especially early on. Learning happens over time, and most students need reminders. While standing at the door to welcome your students to class, for example, you might urge them to change putdowns you observed in the hall into kind, supportive language. Remind them of the discussion you had around respect early in the year.

Redirect student behavior using positive language: Such direction can help students get back on track. To a student who’s off task: “I need you to go to page 35, read the first paragraph, and then turn to the questions at the bottom of the page.” To a student who’s disrespectful: “You seem frustrated. I’d be happy to sit with you and problem-solve. Let me know when you’re ready.”

Recognize student effort and growth: Noticing that a student is trying or is making some headway is important—this growth deserves to be celebrated. If a student has trouble focusing for the duration of class, going from five minutes of focused work in September to 10 minutes in October is progress that should be recognized even as we encourage the student to make it to 15 minutes in November.

Signal nonverbal support, recognition, or redirection: If you’ve built a problem-solving relationship with students, you may be able to use proximity or prearranged signals to help a student get back on track or to encourage them, all without saying a word.

Check in and offer gestures of support: Young people in our care often complain about not being seen or heard by adults, especially in middle and high school, which can be lonely, impersonal places. Notice if a student seems troubled. Check in with them: “Are you OK?” or “You look upset—do you need a few minutes to collect yourself in the hallway?” This sends a message that you care, that you see the student and are interested in their well-being.

Have a restorative chat: A one-on-one chat in which you actively listen can help you better understand a student who’s struggling with behavior. Active listening has the additional benefit of helping people calm down, which can encourage them to be more introspective and open to problem-solving.

Imagine a student who spills into class several minutes after the bell, disrupting your lesson. Consider asking if they’re OK. Welcome them to class and direct them to quietly take their seat. When you have a few minutes, pull up a chair. Ask them what happened—why were they late? Express concern about what happened or about this becoming a habit. Have the student reflect on the effects of being late and problem-solve getting to class on time.

The goal of these disciplinary interventions is to teach into behavior while building and maintaining our relationships with students and strengthening the community as a whole. When more serious problems arise or harm is done, we can then draw on the relationships and skills we’ve built to come to a resolution and repair the harm. Meanwhile, our work has had the positive effects of supporting students’ social and emotional growth and creating a more congenial and productive classroom climate.

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Designing Effective Homework

Best practices for creating homework that raises student achievement

Homework. It can be challenging…and not just for students. For teachers, designing homework can be a daunting task with lots of unanswered questions: How much should I assign? What type of content should I cover? Why aren’t students doing the work I assign? Homework can be a powerful opportunity to reinforce the Shifts in your instruction and promote standards-aligned learning, but how do we avoid the pitfalls that make key learning opportunities sources of stress and antipathy?

The nonprofit Instruction Partners recently set out to answer some of these questions, looking at what research says about what works when it comes to homework. You can view their original presentation here , but I’ve summarized some of the key findings you can put to use with your students immediately.

Does homework help?

Consistent homework completion has been shown to increase student achievement rates—but frequency matters. Students who are given homework regularly show greater gains than those who only receive homework sporadically. Researchers hypothesize that this is due to improved study skills and routines practiced through homework that allow students to perform better academically.

Average gains on unit tests for students who completed homework were six percentile points in grades 4–6, 12 percentile points in grades 7–9, and an impressive 24 percentile points in grades 10–12; so yes, homework (done well) does work. [i]

What should homework cover?

While there is little research about exactly what types of homework content lead to the biggest achievement gains, there are some general rules of thumb about how homework should change gradually over time.

In grades 1–5, homework should:

• Reinforce and allow students to practice skills learned in the classroom
• Help students develop good study habits and routines
• Foster positive feelings about school

In grades 6–12, homework should:

• Prepare students for engagement and discussion during the next lesson
• Allow students to apply their skills in new and more challenging ways

The most often-heard criticism of homework assignments is that they simply take too long. So how much homework should you assign in order to see results for students? Not surprisingly, it varies by grade. Assign 10-20 minutes of homework per night total, starting in first grade, and then add 10 minutes for each additional grade. [ii] Doing more can result in student stress, frustration, and disengagement, particularly in the early grades.

Why are some students not doing the homework?

There are any number of reasons why students may not complete homework, from lack of motivation to lack of content knowledge, but one issue to watch out for as a teacher is the impact of economic disparities on the ability to complete homework.

Multiple studies [iii] have shown that low-income students complete homework less often than students who come from wealthier families. This can lead to increased achievement gaps between students. Students from low-income families may face additional challenges when it comes to completing homework such as lack of access to the internet, lack of access to outside tutors or assistance, and additional jobs or family responsibilities.

While you can’t erase these challenges for your students, you can design homework that takes those issues into account by creating homework that can be done offline, independently, and in a reasonable timeframe. With those design principles in mind, you increase the opportunity for all your students to complete and benefit from the homework you assign.

The Big Picture

Perhaps most importantly, students benefit from receiving feedback from you, their teacher, on their assignments. Praise or rewards simply for homework completion have little effect on student achievement, but feedback that helps them improve or reinforces strong performance does. Consider keeping this mini-table handy as you design homework:

The act of assigning homework doesn’t automatically raise student achievement, so be a critical consumer of the homework products that come as part of your curriculum. If they assign too much (or too little!) work or reflect some of these common pitfalls, take action to make assignments that better serve your students.

[i] Cooper, H. (2007). The battle over homework (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

[ii] Cooper, H. (1989a). Homework .White Plains, NY: Longman.

[iii] Horrigan, T. (2015). The numbers behind the broadband ‘homework gap’ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/20/the-numbers-behind-the-broadband-homework-gap/ and Miami Dade Public Schools. (2009). Literature Review: Homework. http://drs.dadeschools.net/LiteratureReviews/Homework.pdf

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About the Author: Claire Rivero is the Digital Strategy Manager for Student Achievement Partners. Claire leads the organization’s communications and digital promotion work across various channels including email, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, always seeking new ways to reach educators. She also manages Achieve the Core’s blog, Aligned. Prior to joining Student Achievement Partners, Claire worked in the Communications department for the American Red Cross and as a literacy instructor in a London pilot program. Claire holds bachelor’s degrees in English and Public Policy from Duke University and a master’s degree in Social Policy (with a concentration on Education Policy) from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Self-Control

7 tips to develop children's self-discipline, disciplining young children calls for consistency and kindness..

Posted August 5, 2020 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

Disciplining our sons to be tidy was futile. As they were growing up, I tried the Family- Teamwork , the Because-I-Said-So, and the If-It-Isn’t-In-The-Hamper-I-Won’t-Wash-It techniques, without success.

Finally, when both boys were away at college, our home became pleasantly clutter-free. Then our eldest graduated and came home to live and work in Washington. We welcomed his return. The house, however, resumed its former disorderliness.

One day, relaxing together in the littered family room, I said, “I hope you know how happy we are to have you home, even if it’s probably not much fun for you.”

He said, “I do know. Actually, I’m glad to be home. It’s fine.”

I added, “Do you know how much I appreciate your efforts to pick up after yourself?”

Immediately, he scooped up his sneakers, smartphone, and mail and laughed, “Was that a trick question?”

No, that was not a trick question. That question was, to my surprise, the Sincerely-Sympathetic discipline technique that finally worked!

Discipline is teaching someone—specifically, a child—to behave in a civilized manner. The goal of discipline is self-discipline, so that the child internalizes moral and behavioral codes taught at your knee and matures as a responsible, considerate, self-regulated adult.

As you seek a technique that works for your family, and especially your young children, here are some gentle reminders:

Discipline now, or punish later. Ideally, discipline precedes and prevents socially unacceptable behavior, whereas punishment follows it. Each has its place, but remember that punishment is negative and may encourage a child to be devious so he won’t get caught again, while discipline is a positive measure that sponsors a child’s self-control .

Be grown-up . Children need authentic, flexible, caring grown-ups who love them unconditionally—especially when they are annoying you greatly. Suppose your child frantically scratches an itchy rash until she bleeds. It doesn’t help to say, “Stop scratching. Do you want to be scarred for life?” Instead, say, “I know you itch all over, but scratching makes it worse. Let’s put lotion on your skin to soothe it.” Find solutions and model rational behavior so that your child learns coping and problem-solving skills.

Be consistent. Suppose your child clamors for attention the moment you arrive home, before you even set down your bag or jacket. If you respond calmly today but irritably tomorrow, your child will get a fuzzy message about your expectations. Try a consistent approach, such as, “Please give me a chance to put my things down and change my shoes. Then I’ll be ready to hear all about your day.” Then, do it: Put your things down, change your shoes, and give your child your undivided attention. Consistency pays.

Give the child some control. Say your young child would like to watch television or play video games constantly, and you are concerned that she is not getting sufficient sensory-motor activity, is not playing outdoors, and is not interacting with the family. What you think she needs may not impress her, so strike a deal: She may watch TV or play a video game for one hour after supper, and then choose a bedtime story, a board game, or another activity that she likes. Remember the Law of Equivalency, one definition of which says that when you take something away, you must replace it with something of equal value. Remember, too, that parental approval and involvement are the young child’s most meaningful reinforcements.

Build on what the child does right . Suppose he does half his homework and then heads outside with his basketball. Rather than saying, “Smart students like your brother complete their work before they play,” try, “It’s great that you’ve made a dent in your homework. Shooting a few baskets will refresh you so you can finish the job.” Praise and understanding always outshine blame, shame , and disrespect.

Be future-oriented . Maybe you are fastidious, and your son loves mud. Maybe you want to read the newspaper, and he wants to talk about Power Rangers. Maybe you like soft classical music, and he likes loud kids’ rap. Before you discipline him, consider your long-range goals . Do you want him to learn about his environment through hands-on exploration, improve his communication skills, and develop a personal aesthetic sense—or do you want him just to obey?

Discipline to provide a sense of belonging . “In our family, we don’t do that,” is effective for offenses from open-mouthed chewing to hurling snowballs at cars. Avoid commenting, “Don’t ever let me catch you doing that again,” because a child may take that as a challenge to keep doing it when she’s sure you won’t watch. Discipline should be inclusive, not exclusive, so that the child feels connected to his family and to his community at large.

If one technique doesn’t succeed, try, try another—and remember to keep your sense of humor !

Carol Stock Kranowitz is an internationally-recognized expert on sensory processing disorder, or SPD. She is the author of the “Sync” series, which began with the acclaimed The Out-of-Sync-Child .

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Helping Your Child Gain Independence with Homework

Fostering independence is accomplished by moving your child from dependence on you to dependence on homework buddies and material resources (e.g., references, lists, reminders). Remember that focusing on what is right about your child is the best way to help him or her strengthen and develop homework completion skills.

Although young children require your close observation, support, and your ability to identify their work style and preferences, eventually you must provide your child with opportunities for decision making, planning, and goal setting. This is particularly important to achieve prior to the adolescent years when there is a more delicate balance between assistance and interference. As we have written in previous columns, during the elementary years, perhaps even more important than the goal of practice and rehearsal, homework helps your child develop the skills necessary to become an independent learner. Independent learning is a critically important skill for middle, high school and college success.

By laying this important foundation you and your teen will be prepared when he or she expresses a preference to work alone and your assistance may be perceived as an intrusion. Many teenagers find parent help with homework an unwelcome offer. By the late elementary school years your involvement may be most effective when it is defined as awareness and monitoring, rather than direct assistance or physical supervision. By the middle school years homework should be completed independently. You should act as a consultant and information source rather than a task master or supervisor. Forcing your assistance on your child at any age will only result in conflict and reduced motivation.

Authors: Dr. Sam Goldstein and Dr. Sydney Zentall

Education resources › Blog › 6 self-regulation skills homework helps students develop

6 self-regulation skills homework helps students develop

• Metacognition

Homework has become a staple part of school systems. It gives students the chance to consolidate what they have learned in class by practising it independently. But as well as improving learning, research also suggests that homework can help students develop one of life’s most important skills: self-regulation.

Self-regulation is students’ ability to monitor and manage their behaviours, thoughts, and emotions as they try to progress toward their goals. It is key for developing  independent learners  who take charge of their own learning.

So, what makes homework so good for developing self-regulation skills?

1. Time management and planning

If students want to complete their homework in time to meet the deadline their teacher set, they need to plan ahead, make sure their plan is feasible, and then stick to it. This allows them to consistently practise and hone their time management skills.

Research has shown  that students often struggle with this and can  underestimate how long it will take  to complete a task (this is known as the “Planning Fallacy”). Therefore, having the opportunity to allocate their time accordingly gives them a more accurate base for guessing how to do so again in the future.

2. Persisting with difficult tasks

Homework tasks can be challenging. Students need the persistence to complete them independently.

A key to students developing persistence is to believe that they can accomplish the task to fuel their motivation. Fortunately,  research has shown  that homework activities can help develop self-belief in students of all ages. Some students may need  assistance  with getting started on their homework independently, but when they are on a roll, they could see some improvements in their self-belief and ability to persist through difficult tasks – making future homework easier to get through.

3. Reducing distractions

Avoiding getting distracted is key to get any task done – especially homework. The  growing use of phones  among students makes this skill even more essential.

Research suggests  that reducing distractions during homework is related to overall achievement and shows that high-achieving students are more prone to have this skill than their low-achieving peers.

So, what can students do to stay on task while completing homework? Some easy strategies include:

• Putting their phone away  in another room
• Choosing a quiet space to work, away from the TV
• Turning off their music

4. Organising their environment

A  focused environment  is essential for students to concentrate on their homework, but it’s not just about getting rid of distractions. It’s also about surrounding themselves with only the tools that they will need or that will help them and making sure that their environment allows them to complete their homework efficiently.

Again, this gives students the opportunity to practise organising their working environment, which is an important self-regulatory skill that can help them complete tasks more productively.

5. Overcoming unwanted emotions

Self-control of emotions is another self-regulatory skill that helps students to manage their behaviour. It can be a little bit more difficult for students to manage their emotions as  research has concluded  that the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain largely responsible for this, does not fully develop until age 25.

Doing homework allows students to practise overcoming their frustrations in the face of challenges. A key to this is to  develop their mindset , to believe that with effort, curiosity and a good outlook on setbacks, they can achieve the task at hand.

6. Reflecting on what they have learned

Finally, homework can help students develop self-reflection, which is a  metacognitive skill  as well as a self-regulation skill.

Essentially, this means that students are aware of which learning strategies are working for them and what they can do to elevate their learning. For example, they can  ask themselves reflective questions  throughout the homework task to monitor their progress and see how they can improve their thinking processes.

For example,  research has shown  that reflecting on learning during homework helped increase the academic achievement of 9–10-year-olds after only 5 weeks of training.

Final thoughts

Self-regulation skills are necessary for students in both their educational and personal lives. Homework is a low-cost and effective way to develop these skills for students across all age groups.

This is not to say that other extra-curricular activities such as sport, dance, music or drama can’t also help nurture these skills. However, evidence suggests that homework is certainly one vehicle for students to practice and enhance their self-regulatory behaviours.

Jump to section:

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Discipline in Schools: Why is Hitting Still an Option?

• Posted April 3, 2024
• By Jill Anderson
• Counseling and Mental Health
• Education Policy
• Education Reform

While most schools in the United States do not report using corporal punishment — the use of pain as punishment — it still impacts tens of thousands of students annually, particularly in states where it remains legal.

Jaime Peterson , a pediatrician and assistant professor at Oregon Health and Science University, along with the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a call this fall again to end of such practices in school. “As pediatricians, we don't recommend corporal punishment. We know it's not an effective form of discipline. Spanking and hitting a child might help a behavior in the short term. They might be fearful and obedient,” she says. “But in the long term it has a lot of negative consequences. But if it's how you discipline your child at home, parents are often teachers, and school personnel, and school board members that that's a practice in their community at home that seems acceptable. It may be hard to change it.”

It also disproportionately impacts certain demographics such as Black students and students with disabilities.

With 17 states where corporal punishment is still legal today, Peterson urges parents, educators, and policymakers to mobilize and push for abolition of this practice. Calling this form of punishment ineffective, she urges parents and schools to adopt more supportive and positive disciplinary practices that work.

“Saying that it's not allowed isn't going to change a school culture entirely. We don't know what other forms of discipline will come in,” she says. “I think really in the simplest forms when I talk with families, I remind them that our goal is no pain — so that's corporal punishment — no shame, and no blame when we discipline children. No pain, no shame, no blame.”

In this episode of the EdCast, we discuss the prevalence and effects of corporal punishment in schools, and what it’s going to take to end it for good.

JILL ANDERSON: I'm Jill Anderson. This is the Harvard EdCast. 

Jaime Peterson knows corporal punishment is ineffective at disciplining students and doesn't create safe spaces to learn. Yet it's still legal in 17 states around the country and affects tens of thousands of students each year. She's a pediatrician, who along with the American Academy of Pediatrics, renewed a call this school year to outlaw corporal punishment.

Despite advances in education and child welfare, the practice of using physical pain still persists in some schools. Teenagers being paddled, students being left black and blue, and district leaders defending the practice have been reported in the past year. I wanted to know more about the prevalence of corporal punishment and what is standing in the way of abandoning this practice.

When I first heard about this many, many, many years ago, I was interviewing somebody. And they mentioned this is still happening in schools. It was shocking. And to think it's 2024 and a policy recommendation even has to be released telling not to do this is really shocking. 

What is corporal punishment? And what does that look like in schools today?

JAIME PETERSON: Corporal punishment is usually defined as the use of pain on a person's body as a form of punishment. So often defined as paddling, spanking, or the use of other objects as a form of punishment. The good news is that it's really not happening in a lot of schools. I think the most recent data is that 96% of schools in the US do not report any use of corporal punishment. So that feels good. Yet, the answer is not zero. There are still children who are experiencing it today.

JILL ANDERSON: I think the policy statement — and again, this may have changed since it was released several months ago — 70,000 students experience corporal punishment each year.

JAIME PETERSON: You're right. That number is from 2017 from the Civil Rights data collection, which is done by the US Department of Education. And I think in that school year there were close to 51 million children enrolled in public schools. So you're right. 4% of 51 million is close to 70,000 children experienced corporal punishment at least once, which they define as being struck at least once by school personnel during the school year.

JILL ANDERSON: And so where are we at? Because I think it was maybe 18 or 17 states still allowed this. Has that number changed at all?

JAIME PETERSON: They only report this data every four years. So the 2020 to 2021 data is now out, which wasn't available when we released the most recent statement. And the numbers dropped. But you have to remember, what else was happening in 2020? Schools were locked down for COVID. You have to always remember the context within which you look at this data.

So the numbers I think dropped to closer to 20,000 in 2020 to 2021. But children were not in school for a large portion of that time. The in-person time was much lower. So those numbers look better, to your point. There are now 17 states — and I do feel like this is constantly evolving — 17 states where it is still legal.

It is legal in all private schools, except for Iowa, New York, Maryland, and New Jersey. But corporal punishment remains legal in 17 states in the US.

JILL ANDERSON: What would you say is keeping some of these states or most of these states from banning this form of discipline in schools?

JAIME PETERSON: Yeah, I think this was a really interesting thing to learn when we went back to the policy statement, is that a lot of this comes from a Supreme Court case. And I'm not a lawyer. I'm a pediatrician. So I'll use my understanding.

Around 1977, there was a student, James Ingraham, who had corporal punishment inflicted on his body more than 20 times and resulted in the need for medical treatment. And so this was brought to the Supreme Court essentially under the Eighth Amendment for cruel and unusual punishment. But the court decided that because children are not criminals or prisoners that it doesn't apply. 

And so they left the matter to the states, for the states to decide on this issue, and really feel like it's a somewhat private and family-based issue too and that it should be decided at the state level. So the reason it can't just be banned outright is that it is at the level of the states. And then I think some of the other reasons is it's not happening in every state.

So if the rates are reported as zero, does the ban really need to get put in place? And you can sort of look at this map from the Civil Rights Data Collection. You can see the rates are higher along in the South. And so there are certain states where there's more of the cases are happening than in others. There are some great examples.

Colorado, for instance, in 2023 has now banned it. I don't think they had any reported cases in 2017 or 2020. But it is now illegal. So it took two representatives bringing it to the state to pass it.

JILL ANDERSON: But in some states, it is still happening in the past six months or so. And we see cases that have made the news, where you have high school students being given the opportunity to choose whether they get hit or get suspended. And you have a bunch of other cases. So it's definitely still happening in some places. What are the barriers that are keeping it banned?

JAIME PETERSON: I think that's such a good question. I think it really is probably nuanced. But what you can see in the data and the literature is that in places where parents may use corporal punishment, it may be more accepted. So as pediatricians, we don't recommend corporal punishment. We know it's not an effective form of discipline. Spanking and hitting a child might help a behavior in the short term. 

They might be fearful and obedient. But in the long term it has a lot of negative consequences. But if it's how you discipline your child at home, parents are often teachers, and school personnel, and school board members that that's a practice in their community at home that seems acceptable. It may be hard to change it. I mean, other barriers is awareness. This is an opportunity for people to realize it's happening.

That's why we wrote the policy statement again, so that you could have some movement. Just because it's allowed in your state, doesn't mean everyone agrees with it. And I think Mississippi is a great example. They tend to have the highest rates in the past. And they also in July I think of 2019 passed a ban on the use of corporal punishment against any child with a known IEP, so individualized education plan, or 504 plan.

And I think it's really interesting to look at the data from 2017 to 2020, with the COVID caveat, so I think we need to keep an eye on things, that their numbers of all children, not just the children with disabilities, went down who experienced corporal punishment, like a marked decrease.

JILL ANDERSON: So does that mean that something is breaking through or the culture is changing in some way? Is that what we can suspect from that data? Or is it still too soon to say?

JAIME PETERSON: It would be great to hear from their local leaders because I don't know. I think culture is really hard to change. I think if you put a ban in place and people get nervous and follow it, but if you don't come in with alternative parent practices for discipline and support teachers with an alternative, then is that going to be sustained?

JILL ANDERSON: You mentioned there can be long-term negative effects from this type of punishment and discipline. Can you just expand on that? What is the dangers of using this type of discipline in school?

JAIME PETERSON: We know from decades of research that it's not effective in the short term or the long term with educational implications, more likely to have behavioral and mental health issues as they get older, more likely to be violent themselves if they were disciplined with violence. And so you can extend that into the school setting.

So now instead of that data is based on parents, but someone else, another trusted adult using the same form of punishment is tied to the same consequences. And so a lot of the studies we have are across different countries, where they've looked at when you stop it, what happens? Less fighting, better grade point averages, better self-esteem, better relationships with teachers, the same implications as within a family within the school setting.

JILL ANDERSON: People seem very protective in a way of this as a reasonable form of discipline.

JAIME PETERSON: Yeah, I mean, I feel like as a pediatrician I hear that with families. My job as a pediatrician is to help their child grow, and develop, and navigate all of the different stages, toddler tantrums to teenagers, and really help them find the tools to do their very best. It's really hard for parents. They tell me. This is how I was raised. Isn't this the way I'm supposed to do it? And you often look to who raised you.

And so it really takes support from other people to change those patterns and behaviors and to be encouraged to do something different than what's being done in your home, or in your community, or in your family structure.

JILL ANDERSON: Can you talk about how this type of punishment affects specific populations of students?

JAIME PETERSON: What we know is that children who identify as Black are more likely to experience corporal punishment. So they disproportionately represent the number of children who are struck in a school. So they represent, I think, close to 15% of the US student population. But depending on the year, they're in the 30s, somewhere in those 30 percentiles of the number of children receiving corporal punishment. So if you are a Black male identifying child, you're twice as likely to be struck in a school setting. And if you are a Black female, you're twice as likely compared to a white female. And if you're a child with a disability, those rates are higher as well. And then you can imagine intersectionality. What if you're a Black male with a learning disability or a developmental disability? Then you are even more likely to experience it.

JILL ANDERSON: Sounds like we know a lot about how this type of discipline affects kids who've grown up in these environments, where they're beaten or hit. Do we know anything about how this behavior impacts students later in life?

JAIME PETERSON: Yes. And a lot of those same concerns continue with mental health issues, educational outcomes, challenging relationships ongoing with parents and other children. I think often we think about the school to prison pipeline. You can't directly connect it. But a lot of the same impacts. 

So if you're less likely to feel engaged in school, and you're not doing as well, and you don't feel safe, and you're already struggling, even children without disabilities, it's going to have an impact on high school graduation and future educational attainment. And a lot of the studies we reference in the policy statement are sort of these ecological studies of what children report who have had corporal punishment, how they have felt it impacted them because you can't randomly control it.

Our gold standard is a randomized controlled trial. We're not going to randomly control children who receive corporal punishment and those who do not because that would be unethical.

JILL ANDERSON: What would you say is a better form of discipline to use in schools?

JAIME PETERSON: So there are a lot of other evidence-based programs that are better. And I think educators are going to be the people who know the best. As a pediatrician we can sort of cite what we know. But positive discipline models where you have trauma-informed practices, positive behavior interventions and supports, where a behavior that is problematic is approached with an intervention rather than with corporal punishment.

So when that behavior is not present, they receive — you can imagine as your educators a sticker chart, or they meet with a counselor and they get a prize, or they're earning bucks, school dollars to turn it in at the end of the week. Where the behavior is identified, there's an intervention in place and supports. Access to counseling and therapy services within schools.

So if there are other things contributing, so that the behaviors that are causing concerns in the school, we're addressing those as well. And at the same time as you're adopting a new practice, making sure that teachers are getting the support, and school staff and personnel are getting the support to be positive role models. What does it look like to do an alternative discipline practice, so that kids can see that shift happening, that school culture can change, and trust can be rebuilt over time?

Saying that it's not allowed isn't going to change a school culture entirely. We don't know what other forms of discipline will come in. I think really in the simplest forms when I talk with families, I remind them that our goal is no pain — so that's corporal punishment-- no shame, and no blame when we discipline children. No pain, no shame, no blame.

And so you can take away the pain portion, the corporal punishment portion. But you have to make sure it's not being replaced with shame and blame in those settings and that staff have the tools to do things differently, and the support of parents and community.

JILL ANDERSON: When I was looking and doing some research for this conversation about when this is happening, a lot of times it's happening for what are considered minor infractions. I mean, talking back, or not listening, or things that are not what you would maybe consider major infractions.

JAIME PETERSON: Yeah, I think we often think of behavior as communication. What is the reason behind the behavior? So why are they talking back? What's going on in this situation? And who has a relationship to connect with that child, after class, in between class? If it's really not bothersome, it's not going to cause anyone any harm, does it need to be dealt with in that exact moment and with that form of punishment? What are the alternatives?

JILL ANDERSON: You mentioned that a ban isn't necessarily what is going to change the culture of a school. But I'm wondering, what can be done to actually get this to the point, where it is outlawed in these remaining states?

JAIME PETERSON: I think the first step is a ban. The first step is to mobilize parents, and school board members, and legislators. Talk to your representatives and your senators and say, this is a thing that you may not be aware of. We need to petition for this to end. It's the recommendation of many, many groups, educational groups, health groups, psychology groups. 

You could probably cite all of the different collective bodies that support families and children that do not think this should continue. And you start there. And then I think there's sort of grassroots and coalition building to think about, how do you make sure that is implemented well? And that's going to need to take cultural and local contexts into account.

If you're in a state where the rates are zero, get the ban passed so that you're a model for other states. And you apply some pressure. It's not going to come down unless there's a new Supreme Court case brought. But right now, I think states have a lot of power. And I think parents, and teachers, and school districts, and leaders in the states have an opportunity right now.

I think the simplest thing to say is children can't learn when they don't feel safe. We want every child to have an enriching, supportive learning environment and home environment. And when there are other needs, health, or educational, or family, or structural barriers, we need to address those. But this one, this one to me is a no brainer. And I think if you're a parent listening, where do you want your child to be? And when they make a mistake, how do you want them to be responded to?

JILL ANDERSON: Jaime Peterson is a pediatrician and assistant professor at Oregon Health and Science University. I'm Jill Anderson. This is the Harvard EdCast produced by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Thanks for listening. 

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The Influence of Teacher Discipline on Teaching Effect and Students’ Psychology in Universities and the Normative Suggestions for Discipline Behavior

Associated data.

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material; further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

In today’s educational environment, with the popularization of laws, more and more students pay attention to the maintenance of their own rights. However, due to the misinterpretation of punishment, it is very easy to mistake teacher punishment for “corporal punishment.” Therefore, it is particularly important to investigate the impact of teacher discipline on students. This paper first collects some knowledge related to the research based on the research results of scholars, and then makes a detailed analysis of this research from two aspects. It, respectively, introduces the influence of teacher discipline on teaching effect and students’ psychology in universities, and the normative suggestions for discipline behavior in this paper. It then uses formulas to explain how the teaching and learning optimization algorithm works. Finally, it analyzes the changes among teachers’ discipline, students’ psychology, and coping style through experiments. The results showed that urban students had the highest probability of being disciplined for being late, at 53%, and the lowest probability of being disciplined for not completing homework, at 34%.

Introduction

Punishment, literally understood, is to achieve the purpose of “discipline” by means of “punishment.” It is the right and duty of teachers to discipline students as professional educators. However, due to the lack of laws and regulations, the current chaos in teacher punishment is a serious problem. This not only makes school education in a dilemma, but also makes it difficult for teachers to exercise their rights. This embarrassing situation makes the legislation of teachers’ disciplinary rights show an “urgent” trend. On the one hand, with the rise of humanism, the improvement of democracy, and the rule of law, the people-oriented educational thought has been expanded arbitrarily. Especially in recent years, school education has become more supportive of appreciation education. Punishment is generally regarded as having too many negative effects on the physical and mental health of students, and it is a violation of the educational philosophy of democracy and equality. The impact of these two educational concepts eventually led to a “chaotic state” when teachers exercised discipline. So that teachers who lack the correct awareness of punishment categorically deny the value and significance of educational punishment. Not only the school keeps a distance from education and punishment, but teachers are more “safe” and indifferent to education and punishment, and they are indifferent to or even sit idly by when it comes to students’ violations. On the other hand, the excessive exercise of teachers’ disciplinary power has resulted in the problem of excessive teachers’ disciplinary power and abuse of disciplinary power. Excessive discipline is a means of discipline that causes physical and mental harm to students, with strong personal emotions and factors, such as suspension and dismissal for students with poor grades. Abuse of discipline is also a phenomenon of excessive discipline. It is the teacher’s “stubborn” education method of abandoning the positive function, and the negative education method is used to the students. In a word, the problem of teacher punishment in China is chaotic at present, and it is imperative to regulate teacher punishment.

Because of this, the research on punishment will have a clearer understanding of the social situation and play a very important guiding significance. Therefore, this paper makes an in-depth study on the influence of teacher discipline on teaching effect and students’ psychology in colleges. At the same time, according to the conclusions of the research, some reasonable and standardized suggestions for disciplinary behavior are put forward, so as to improve the teaching efficiency and improve the teaching effect, and avoid irreversible effects on the students’ psychology.

The innovation of this paper are that:

• It gives detailed suggestions on disciplinary behavior from four levels: legislation, society, schools, and teachers. In addition, for the role of the teacher, three valuable suggestions were put forward: clarifying the purpose of punishment, strictly abiding by the principles of punishment, and mastering the skills of punishment. It provides a clear direction for teachers’ future disciplinary behavior.
• The teaching and learning optimization algorithm is adopted to test the influence of disciplinary behavior on the teaching effect, and a large number of disciplinary behaviors have an explanation on the psychological impact of students.
• The reason why punishment as an educational method has caused many debates, and the reason why China’s teachers’ right to discipline has not been clearly recognized by the law is that the research on the function of punishment in China has not been in-depth. This paper has made an in-depth study on the application of teachers’ disciplinary rights in the teaching effect of college students.

Related Work

Many scholars at home and abroad have provided a lot of references for the research on teacher discipline, teaching effect, student psychology, and normative suggestions.

Silva et al. (2017) validates public school teachers’ concepts of disciplinary violations and investigates behaviors and/or incidents that occur in the classroom that are considered disciplinary violations, possible causes, and ways to deal with problems.

Vlasenko et al. (2019) elaborates on the problem of teaching mathematics as an organizational process for subject training. Vlasenko et al. (2019) analyzes historical principles and trends in the creation of specialized schools of the subject, as well as school practices in Russia and the Soviet Union. Vlasenko et al. (2019) investigates the experiences of France, Japan, the United States, and other countries in the differentiation process of high school education. Vlasenko et al. (2019) expounded the characteristics of mathematics education content in different mathematics training directions in subject professional schools. He accordingly thought deeply about the continuation of comprehensive secondary education and higher education process.

Muh and Munawar (2020) aims to analyze the impact of organizational culture and work motivation on the disciplined work of SMK Mitra Karya Karawang. His results show that organizational culture and work motivation together have a significant impact on disciplinary work. Some organizational culture and work motivation have a significant positive impact on work discipline.

Mulani (2019) analyzes the relationship between transformational leadership and teacher work discipline and educational service quality in East Jakarta high school principals. The results show that there is a positive relationship between the transformational leadership of principals and teachers’ work discipline and the quality of educational services in East Jakarta high schools. This finding suggests that, in order to improve the quality of teacher services, it is recommended to increase the value of transformational leadership and improve teacher work discipline to become a culture of teacher virtues that provide good educational services.

Sadovenko and Szpak (2021) raises the question of the preparation of teaching by specialists who are not educated at the Ukrainian Technical Institute. The development of primary science and diagnostics in applying differentiated psychology and instructional influence mechanisms in technical colleges will help align scientific and methodological work in groups and individuals. This works with junior teachers and staff as a whole, planning further stages.

Dzhumagulova (2021) examines the question of the potential ability of certain disciplines to shape the professional ability of teachers in the future society. The goal set by Dzhumagulova (2021) is to consider an important part of the formation system of teachers’ professional competence in the future society. That is: the organizational form of classroom work, teaching methods, and other means of forming a system for teachers’ professional ability in the future society.

Farmanova (2021) determines the impact of quarantine on teacher jobs in higher education institutions. He sheds light on the level of development, challenges, and characteristics of improving the digital capabilities of teachers in humanitarian disciplines, as well as teachers’ needs in education and makes recommendations on how to arrange education and make administrative decisions.

The data from these studies are not comprehensive, and the results of the studies are open to question. Therefore, it cannot be recognized by the public, and thus cannot be popularized and applied.

Influence of Teacher Discipline on Teaching Effect and Students’ Psychology in Universities

Punishment has two meanings. The first is “punishment,” that is, punishment; then there is “punishment,” that is, abstinence. This paper argues that in educational practice, disciplinary action is a negative sanction used to make students realize their mistakes and sincerely repent. It has the following characteristics:

• It must have an educational purpose. Although punishment is also sanctioning, it is only a means, not an end. The ultimate purpose of discipline is to educate students to correct their mistakes sincerely, convincingly, and actively.
• It must cause the student to feel some degree of pain or shame.
• It must be the consequence of the student’s mistake.

Punishment is an educational method that cannot be ignored in the educational process. The purpose of discipline is to make students recognize their faults and correct them. This is a kind of sanction with great “educational” value, and this educational nature runs through the whole disciplinary activity ( Lindsay and Hart, 2017 ; Goos and Bennison, 2018 ). In short, the essence of punishment is not to punish people, but to correct bad behaviors ( Silva-Fletcher and May, 2017 ).

Traditional Chinese education often uses the method of “beating” to educate students who have anomie behavior. One of the more classic punishment tools is the “rule ruler” (as shown in Figure 1 ). In the medieval era of the West, “stick education” has become the main form of school education. The club was an indispensable tool in the medieval school (as shown in Figure 2 ; Duarte and Brewer, 2019 ; Afandi et al., 2021 ).

Example of a ruler.

Example of a stick.

The teacher’s right to discipline is the behavior within the scope of the teacher’s responsibility, which is legal and has no right to be interfered with. Education, as a special activity, has inherent stipulations in the disciplinary behavior of teachers due to the characteristics of its own educational activities. It should defend teachers’ right to discipline through legislation to ensure the smooth progress of educational activities ( Pereira and Ravasio, 2021 ).

The model used in this paper is shown in Figure 3 .

Pathways mediated by negative coping styles between teacher punishment and student mental health.

Corporal punishment is a physical and psychological abuse of students, and at the same time, it does not exclude the insult to their mind and personality. There is an essential difference between corporal punishment and punishment ( Syafriadi et al., 2021 ; Jain et al., 2022 ). First of all, discipline emphasizes the word “precept,” which is aimed at guiding and educating, and does not have the purpose of harming the physical and mental health of students. Corporal punishment implies illegal behavior. In order to achieve the purpose of punishing students, it damages the physical and mental health of students and has the potential of breaking the law. Secondly, the purpose of discipline is to encourage students to recognize mistakes through introspection, focusing on moral modeling. Corporal punishment focuses on making students stop making mistakes because of fear of pain, showing a short-term oppressive control effect ( Williams et al., 2020 ). Finally, the principle of discipline is not to damage the physical and mental health of students. The principle of corporal punishment is to make students feel fear or pain ( Dng et al., 2020 ; Solomakha, 2020 ). Punishment emphasizes students’ self-examination and repentance, avoids causing students’ psychological problems, and mostly has a positive impact on students. Corporal punishment is an educational form of outward behavior. The effect of internal education is not obvious, and it is easy to cause students’ sense of resistance and disgust, which is a potential obstacle to education and teaching ( Morales et al., 2020 ). In short, although punishment and corporal punishment have a certain degree of identity in form, they are not homogeneous.

Punishment can enable students to experience setbacks and failures, enhance their psychological endurance, and hone their will ( Aksoy, 2020 ; Jain et al., 2020 ). The road of growth in life is not smooth, there are always setbacks and failures. Schools should teach students not only the ability to succeed, but also the courage to face failure. However, modern education emphasizes appreciation education and incentive education. There was a round of applause in the class and a smile in the class. Students live with praise and never know how to deal with blows and failures ( Saragih and Mardianto, 2019 ).

Such education is not a healthy and comprehensive education. A complete education should not only have “appreciation” without “discipline.” The experience of setbacks and failures is also a part of life and enhances psychological endurance. Hone the will is the necessary content of education ( Novitasari et al., 2021 ; Santiago-Rosario et al., 2021 ). Therefore, when students are punished, let them understand the truth of “how to see a rainbow without experiencing wind and rain.” Only by establishing a healthy mentality can they truly have the last laugh in the future.

There are six main principles: the principle of fairness and reasonableness, the principle of integrity, the principle of respect, the principle of education, the principle of flexibility, and the principle of legitimacy. The principle of teachers’ exercise of disciplinary power is shown in Figure 4 .

Principles for the exercise of teachers’ disciplinary powers.

Normative Suggestions for Disciplinary Behavior

In the process of teachers exercising disciplinary power, there are many problems, and they are multi-faceted. If it wants to change the status quo and make the disciplinary power more effective and reasonable, the state, teachers, and schools need to form a joint force. Effective measures need to be taken together, and the actual implementation is to strengthen legislation, correctly guide public opinion, improve the overall quality of teachers, and strengthen school management.

From the Perspective of Legislation: Strengthening Legislation

For teachers’ disciplinary rights, the first and foremost is to seek institutional guarantees. However, China’s current laws and regulations do not make clear and specific provisions on teachers’ disciplinary rights. The principles, scope, standards, methods, and procedures of its exercise are not very clear. As for the legal supervision system and the relief system, it is rarely involved. In order to reduce the negative impact of disciplinary action and provide assurance and guidance for teachers to exercise their disciplinary power boldly and correctly, China must strengthen legislation and formulate corresponding laws, regulations, and policies.

Legislation on Teachers’ Disciplinary Rights

We can legislate the teacher’s disciplinary power and clarify its concept. It also specifically stipulates the circumstances under which teachers can implement discipline, as well as the basic principles and methods of implementing discipline and other related issues. At the same time, through legislation to limit the abuse of teachers’ disciplinary power. In this way, teachers can understand what the teacher’s disciplinary power is, under what circumstances, within what scope, and in what way.

Formulating Implementation Rules

Legislation can only make a principled regulation on teachers’ disciplinary rights. But in practice, there will be many specific problems and I do not know how to apply the law to solve them. Therefore, it is very necessary to formulate a detailed implementation rule for teachers’ disciplinary rights. The role of the implementing rules is to concretize the law and explain it in detail or make supplements. It should be practical and easy to operate to better guide practice. This article believes that the implementation rules mainly include the following two parts:

• 1. Criteria for exercising disciplinary power.

That is, what kind of punishment is used under what circumstances. The student’s non-standard behavior is roughly graded according to the degree of violation or the degree of adverse impact. Then, the punishment methods are roughly graded according to different degrees of severity, and finally, the two are corresponding. It determines which level of punishment should be imposed for a certain level of non-standard behavior.

• 2. Procedure for exercising disciplinary power.

When determining the procedure, it can be determined which level of punishment can be made by the teacher alone and on the spot according to the standards for the exercise of the disciplinary power. Which level of discipline needs to be notified to parents, reported to the dean of education or the principal, and made after collective discussion and investigation. And whether punishment needs to be announced, filed, etc.

Strengthening of the Supervision and Legislation of Teachers’ Disciplinary Rights

Without the power to supervise and check, it will inevitably lead to abuse. Therefore, the teacher’s disciplinary power must be restricted and necessary supervision should be given to ensure its proper and fair exercise. At present, since China’s teacher disciplinary power itself has not been expressly stipulated by law, there is no need to supervise its exercise. We must strengthen supervision and legislation and realize the legalization of supervision. Supervision and legislation are the premise of supervision in accordance with the law, and it is to “prevent trouble before it happens.” Only the establishment of sound supervision laws and regulations can provide a criterion for effectively supervising the exercise of teachers’ disciplinary power.

It Is Necessary to Improve the Legal Remedy System

• The student appeal system needs to be improved. Legislation stipulates the conditions, scope, and time limit for students to exercise the right to appeal, as well as the acceptance agency and handling procedures of the appeal. It makes the student’s right to appeal truly implemented and guaranteed. In addition, a reconsideration can be filed for dissatisfaction with the outcome of the appeal. It is necessary to clarify the scope of reconsideration, the time limit, the acceptance authority, and the handling procedures from the legislation, and improve the relief channels after the appeal.
• It is necessary to clarify the issue of case acceptance in lawsuits for infringement of teachers’ improper punishment. It prevents students from being dismissed by the court for being “out of scope” when they sue. Because the teacher’s disciplinary power has the dual attributes of right and power. This paper argues that in such cases students can file an administrative lawsuit (with civil damages attached).

From a Social Perspective: Correct Public Opinion Guidance

Rational guidance for news media.

A good social atmosphere and public opinion atmosphere can ensure that teachers can effectively exercise their disciplinary rights, so the government should actively strive to create a good atmosphere. On the one hand, we must vigorously publicize laws and regulations, especially education laws and regulations. It can use the media to carry out various forms of activities, so that the correct education concept and punishment concept can gradually penetrate into the hearts of the public. On the other hand, the media are required to follow fair and objective standards when reporting cases of teacher discipline. It must evaluate the event itself, and it is strictly forbidden to distort the report in order to increase the news highlights; otherwise, it will bear adverse consequences.

Parents Should Change Their One-Sided Understanding of Punishment

Parents should strengthen their self-cultivation, conduct self-learning through various channels, and improve their personal cognitive ability and level. They should correctly evaluate and view teachers’ right to discipline from the perspective of children’s development, and realize that the purpose of discipline is education. This is the most crucial point. They must change two existing misconceptions. One is that it is natural for teachers to punish students, so they acquiesce or tolerate teachers’ improper disciplinary behavior. The second is to think that as long as a teacher uses punishment, it is corporal punishment, and thus accuse him. Parents should really care about their children’s education. They need to communicate with teachers frequently. On the one hand, they need to understand the child’s growth in school, and on the other hand, they should inform the teacher about the child’s ideological status, learning, and living conditions at home, so that the teacher can better educate them. It is especially important to note that when a child is disciplined in school, the reason should be promptly asked, and the child should be guided to view the matter in a correct way to achieve educational purposes. If teachers improperly exercise their disciplinary powers and violate the legitimate rights and interests of children, parents should know how to seek remedies. This requires regular strengthening of the study of legal knowledge.

From the Perspective of Teachers: Changing Concepts and Improving Their Own Quality

Teachers should change their concepts and establish a new concept of teachers and students.

The traditional teacher–student view holds that teachers and students are in a relationship of teaching and learning. Students must obey the teacher absolutely, and the status of the two sides is unequal. Correspondingly, in the teaching process, the teacher’s teaching is the center and does not pay attention to how the students learn. Teachers only pay attention to the teaching of knowledge and do not pay attention to the cultivation of other non-intellectual aspects of students. The teaching method is rigid and rigid, stressing “indoctrination” teaching. Therefore, in order to regulate teachers’ disciplinary rights, teachers must change their concepts and establish a new concept of teachers and students.

Teachers should recognize the essence of education and start from the characteristics of students’ physical and mental development. Teachers need to change the previous “teacher-centered” indoctrination teaching model, learn to respect students, treat students equally, truly realize “student-oriented,” and emphasize the combination of teaching and learning. Only when this idea is established in the mind can teachers consciously proceed from the aspects of the students’ personality and the nature of their mistakes when implementing punishment. They will consider the acceptability of discipline and explore the most suitable discipline to achieve the best educational effect.

Strengthening Learning and Improve Self-Literacy

First of all, teachers should strengthen their own moral cultivation. Teachers should not only have extensive knowledge and strong teaching ability, but also have a certain level of morality. The so-called words are not as good as deeds, and teachers must become moral role models for students. Only when they are “right” can they “do not order.” What teachers demand of students should be what they should demand of themselves. They do it well themselves first, and they can be confident when educating students. Second, they need to improve their professionalism. Knowledge of pedagogy and educational psychology can help teachers better grasp the laws of education and the characteristics of students’ physical and mental development. Knowledge, such as educational management, can help teachers improve their management skills. Through the study of this knowledge, teachers can be more powerful in educational practice, target different situations, and exercise disciplinary power more effectively. Teachers must truly recognize this, take the initiative to conduct professional learning, and apply it in practice. Third, teachers should improve their legal literacy. Teachers must know the law and understand the law, and be clear about their own rights and responsibilities and the legal rights of students. Only by establishing legal awareness can they ensure that their behavior does not violate the requirements of the law and the rights of students in practice. Finally, teachers should strengthen their own psychological quality. In the process of education, teachers are bound to encounter many difficulties. If the psychological quality of teachers is not good, it is easy to have bad emotions. This adversely affects the educational work, and even causes the educational work to be unsuccessful. Strong willpower, stable emotions, and good character all help teachers exercise the right of punishment correctly and obtain educational results.

From the School Level: Strengthening School Management

Improvement of relevant rules and regulations.

• The formulation of reasonable school rules. School regulations must take into account the interests of both the educator and the educated party, and achieve a balance between the two. It cannot limit or infringe on the legal rights of students for the realization of the school’s interests and values. The content of the school rules should be specific and the terms should be clear. It can act as a guide, telling students what behaviors are allowed and what are prohibited. The implementation of school rules must follow the necessary procedures and must not violate the legal rights of anyone. In the event of infringement, there must be a corresponding remedy mechanism.
• It is necessary to improve the teacher evaluation system and change the previous practice of judging teachers only by their teaching performance. It is necessary to establish a diversified evaluation standard system. In the process of improving the assessment system, the standard should not be single. For example, teaching performance alone is not enough to make a comprehensive and correct evaluation of teachers, but also conduct evaluation. Teachers who hold the idea of non-punishment should be educated to improve their ideological awareness.

Strengthening the Management of Teachers

First of all, it is necessary to ensure the basic quality of teachers. Secondly, it is necessary to pay attention to the construction of teachers’ morality. Schools should carry out practical and effective teacher morality building activities based on the actual situation of the school. It is necessary to improve the evaluation standards of teachers’ morality and cultivate teachers’ civilized behavior and awareness of caring and respecting students.

It Is Necessary to Establish an Internal Supervision Institution and a Complaint Mechanism for Disciplinary Rights

Schools can work with parents to elect representatives through self-recommendation and democratic elections, establish a disciplinary supervision committee, and designate supervisors. Supervisors are responsible to the committee, and the committee is responsible to all students and their parents, supervising and inspecting teachers’ exercise of disciplinary power. Schools can also invite parents and social figures to discuss how to establish a grievance mechanism for disciplinary rights on the basis of democratic discussions. The conditions, scope, procedures, etc. of the appeal have been determined to make it operational.

Teachers are the first responsible person for education, the executors of relevant systems, and the authors who are in direct contact with students on the front line. The teacher’s words and deeds are closely related to the students and may affect the students’ life. Therefore, teachers should be especially careful to use disciplinary methods to educate students. In particular, they need a scientific understanding of the disciplinary law and the power of punishment, so as to correctly guide their behavior.

• The purpose of punishment must be clearly defined.

Disciplining students is different from legal sanctions. It is not simply to punish students for some misconduct, but to touch students’ minds and bodies. Therefore, discipline students should meet the following objectives:

• It can improve students’ self-reflection ability.
• It can cultivate students’ sound personality.
• It can cultivate students’ good study and living habits and form behaviors that conform to social norms.
• It can ensure the normal conduct of educational and teaching activities.

It should be noted that the purpose of discipline is to educate students, not discipline itself. The method of punishment should not be the first choice for correcting students’ anomie behavior, but should be the choice made after persuading education, canceling positive reinforcement and other methods are ineffective. Frequently giving aversive stimuli will not achieve educational effect. Some teachers try to establish their own prestige through discipline will not work. Teachers should pay attention to the improvement of their own quality, which includes not only a professional quality of teaching, but also moral quality. Only teachers who have extensive knowledge and noble character, and at the same time truly care for their students, can establish prestige among the students and truly achieve the “dignity of teachers.”

• B. The principle of punishment must be strictly observed.

The counterpart of the teacher’s disciplinary power is the student. Teachers should fully consider the developmental characteristics of students when exercising their disciplinary powers, and keep in mind their responsibilities for educating people. Discipline is necessary, but it must reflect the educational nature of discipline, so that students can be touched and improved. Teachers must abide by the following principles when exercising disciplinary powers:

• Principles of disciplinary education.

Education is the first principle in the implementation of disciplinary law. Teachers must not punish for the sake of punishment, they must be educational, show love and patience. Students are more curious, but tend to have weaker self-control, in which case mistakes can occur. Teachers should protect students’ curiosity and curiosity, and choose disciplinary methods carefully. Students’ enthusiasm for knowledge must not be undermined by teachers’ appropriate discipline. They must carefully analyze the motivation of students and make the best use of the situation, so as to achieve good educational results. Especially after some students make mistakes, they already understand their own faults. When they already feel self-blame, or when good substitute behaviors have appeared, as long as the purpose of education is achieved, teachers should not discipline students any more.

• 2. The principle of punishment.

Before punishing a student, the student must be made aware of what was wrong and why they were punished. Teachers should let students know that punishment is the inevitable result of their own behavior. All students cannot be punished for the fault of an individual or a few. It would be unjustifiable not to punish all students for speaking in class. Teachers must not use any form of punishment that violates laws and regulations and must protect students’ basic rights, such as the right to privacy, the right to education, and personal rights.

• 3. The principle of appropriate punishment.

Punishment must be commensurate with the mistakes made by the students and must conform to the laws of students’ physical and mental development. In fact, punishment should be a helpless choice based on the ineffectiveness of all flexible educational means. Students are in a stage of instability, both psychologically and behaviorally. It is normal for them to make small mistakes, and teachers cannot discipline students for small mistakes. Sometimes a look or an expression can achieve the purpose of education, and can effectively stop wrong behavior. Likewise, if a student makes a serious mistake, the teacher cannot just sit back and let it go. Punishment can only be effective if certain mistakes are given certain punishments.

• 4. Principles of Effective Punishment.

Disciplinary is a painful experience for students in every sense of the word. Therefore, punishment must be effective. In this way, this punishment is worthwhile for students and teachers. It is an inhumane act to implement it knowingly that it has no effect. When implementing discipline, the individual differences of students, such as family environment and personality, should be fully considered first. To limit it to what they themselves can afford now and can benefit from in the future. Second, it needs to seize the moment. Whether adults or children, when they know that they have made a mistake, they will have a mental preparation in their hearts to accept punishment. At this time, it is in line with psychological needs to take certain punishments and balance the guilt of making mistakes. Finally, punishment must be fair, just, open, and treated equally. Only in this way can education be effective.

• C. Mastering disciplinary skills.

What Chinese education lacks is not punishment but wisdom.

Of course, it is difficult to punish students wisely. It should fully take into account factors, such as students’ character, and choose an appropriate method to achieve the desired effect. Punishing students wisely can also reflect the good intentions of teachers. For example, some students like extracurricular activities, and teachers can cancel extracurricular activities for a period of time after students do not do homework as punishment. Of course, if the student is introverted and does not like sports, such punishment is like a reward and has no effect. This requires teachers’ punishment measures to be expressed wisely and in good faith on the basis of fully understanding students.

Teaching and Learning Optimization Algorithms

This paper adopts the teaching and learning optimization algorithm (also known as the TLBO algorithm). In algorithms, a class is a population in a search space. The number of students in a class is the number of populations, and all courses of students are the dimension of a population.

Among them, ν is the mean, λ 2 is the variance, and μ is the variable that obeys the normal distribution.

To a certain extent, it improves the overall level of the class teaching process:

Among them, γ 2 is the optimal individual in the population, that is, the teacher, θ is the teaching factor, β is the average grade of the entire class, and τ is the learning step length. It takes random numbers equally distributed between 0 and 1.

Learning process:

Where γ s 1 and γ s 2 are two different students drawn at random.

It initializes the population, obtains an initial population, and calculates the individual fitness value of the population.

In the I-TLBO algorithm, the teaching factor is designed in an adaptive way. Teaching factor θ is modified to:

Among them, γ c is the student c, and γ d is the best individual in the population.

In the I-TLBO algorithm, the tutoring training is classified into the teacher teaching stage:

Among them, κ ≠ p .

Students can also learn through self-motivation to improve their grades:

Where ω is the exploration factor and r is the r th subpopulation.

Crossover operation:

Where η is the crossover rate and A is the dimension of the problem being solved.

Global reverse number:

Among them, μ ∈ ( e , f ) .

Global reverse point:

Where μ n ∈ ( μ 1 , μ 2 , … , μ A ) is a point in A-dimensional space.

When τ < 0.5 , the improved multi-learning method is:

When τ ≥ 0.5 , the improved multi-learning method is:

Among them, γ s 1 and γ s 2 are two random individuals different from γ 0 in the population.

Population initialization:

Test function:

Four hundred ninety-three questionnaires were randomly distributed from University X and University Y from China, and 389 valid questionnaires were obtained after screening. The actual sample distribution is shown in Table 1 .

Sample distribution.

The Cronbach’s coefficients of each dimension of the College Students’ Mental Health Rating Scale are shown in Figure 5 .

Cronbach’s coefficients for each dimension of the Student Mental Health Rating Scale.

As shown in Figures 5A,B the overall Cronbach’s coefficient of the scale is 0.951 after the reliability test of the College Students’ Mental Health Rating Scale. And the Cronbach’s coefficient of “anxiety” is 0.777, and the Cronbach’s coefficient of “depression” is 0.733. And the Cronbach’s coefficients of each dimension are mostly above 0.7. This indicates that the College Student Mental Health Rating Scale has high internal consistency reliability in this measurement.

In order to find out the differences between urban and rural areas, genders, and grades of teacher punishment, the chi-square test was used to compare the differences between urban and rural areas and gender and grades. The specific results are shown in Figure 6 .

Cardinality test results for teacher discipline on the urban–rural and gender dimensions. [ (A) Test results of geographical dimension, (B) Test Results for Gender Dimension, and (C) Test results of grade dimension].

It can be seen from Figure 6A that there is no significant difference between urban and rural areas in teacher discipline. That is to say, there is no significant difference between urban and rural college students in the situation of being disciplined by teachers. Figure 6B shows that the chi-square test results show that teacher discipline differs significantly in the dimension of gender. That is, boys are more likely to be punished than girls. It can be seen from Figure 6C that there is no significant difference in teacher discipline in the dimension of grade.

The differences in the coping styles of college students in the dimensions of urban and rural areas, gender and grade are shown in Tables 2 ​ 2 – 4 .

Analysis of the differences in coping styles between university students on the urban and rural dimensions.

Analysis of the differences in coping styles of university students on the gender dimension.

Analysis of differences in college students’ coping styles along the grade dimension.

It can be seen from Table 2 that the subscale of positive coping style for urban college students scored 1.2349. There is no significant difference in the choice of coping styles among college students in different regions.

It can be seen from Table 3 that the positive coping style subscale score of male college students is 1.4189, and the positive coping style subscale female college students score is 1.7189. The negative coping style subscale male college students scored 1.1743, and the negative coping style subscale female college students scored 1.0175.

The positive coping style subscale score of freshman students was 1.3149, and the negative coping style subscale freshman student score was 1.3018. It can be seen from Table 4 that there are significant grade differences in the scores of the two coping style subscales.

The overall situation of college students’ mental health is shown in Figure 7 .

Overall mental health of university students.

Figure 7 shows a score of 2.00 for “mental imbalance” and a score of 2.47 for “emotionally unstable.” “Anxiety” scored 2.43 and “Depression” scored 2.23. In addition, college students scored more than two points in all dimensions of mental health. Among the subscale scores, the “study pressure” score is relatively high. This means that these high school students generally have a high sense of learning pressure.

Students’ understanding of the role of punishment is shown in Table 5 .

Questionnaire on perceptions of the role of discipline (students).

Table 5 shows that 72.75% of students think that punishment is effective. The proportion of students who think that punishment has no effect is 9%, and the other 18.25% of students cannot explain the effect of punishment. Generally speaking, most students still think that punishment is effective, so punishment still has its actual meaning.

The attitudes of students toward punishment are shown in Table 6 .

Students’ attitudes toward discipline.

Table 6 shows that 81.49% of the students agree with the method of discipline, and only 11.05% of the students do not agree with the method of discipline. Nowadays, most college students still have a rational understanding of punishment, and they will not blindly regard “punishment” as “corporal punishment.”

Figure 8 shows the investigation of the reasons why students in different regions receive punishment.

Survey of students’ reasons for receiving discipline in different districts.

Figure 8 shows that the reasons for students receiving discipline can be summarized as: intellectual problems and violation of basic code of conduct. Among them, urban students have the highest probability of being punished for being late, reaching 53%. The probability of being disciplined for not completing homework was the lowest at 34%. Rural students had the lowest probability of being disciplined for being late, at 25%, and had the highest probability of being disciplined for answering questions incorrectly, at 48%.

Improving the system and procedure of teacher disciplinary action through legislation is the necessary prerequisite for the rational exercise of the teacher’s disciplinary power. The value of education is the meaning of the actual educational phenomenon to the individual. It generally exists in human education and social practice and is closely related to human life. In terms of the relationship between truth and value, the understanding of educational value is formed in education, and it is the test standard for practical activities in human society. Whether it is from the perspective of the history of education development, the purpose of education, and the education system, the rational value of its existence no longer needs to be verified. However, improving the system and procedure of teacher punishment through legislation still needs to be continuously promoted. The use of discipline aims to make students realize their own mistakes and grow in the teacher’s discipline method, which is undoubtedly beneficial to students. However, in terms of the impact on students’ health, although the original intention is good, it depends on how students view disciplinary behaviors individually. Maybe some students think that they should be disciplined, so not only is there no harm in psychology, but it may be helpful. However, if the students mistakenly think that the teacher’s disciplinary behavior is “corporal punishment,” it will still have a negative impact on the students.

The original purpose of discipline is to help students grow from mistakes. But in today’s environment, it seems that teachers really “seeking truth from facts” punishment has become a luxury. Teachers either do not dare to punish students for fear that students or the intensity of discipline exceeds the “six principles” of discipline. But for teachers, violating the laws of students’ physical and mental development, punishing or disguised corporal punishment of students or disregarding their educational responsibilities. It is morally inadmissible to ignore students and ignore what should be done. We hope that teachers can fulfill their duties, complete their educational tasks, set a good example for students in moral learning, and live up to the high expectations of students, parents, and the society. This research mainly uses the survey method to discuss the use of teachers’ disciplinary power in students’ teaching. What the paper presents is only the author’s current understanding of the issue. Due to the limitations of research methods and research conditions, no empirical research on this issue has been carried out. Many problems in real teaching activities fail to enter the field of research. In this sense, it can be said that the completion of this thesis is only a summary of the research, far from the final result of the research. In the future research process, the author will add the results of the empirical research and expect to draw more mature conclusions.

Data Availability Statement

Author contributions.

The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and has approved it for publication.

Conflict of Interest

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

Author’s Note

ZA was born in Tianshui, Gansu, China, in 1989. He received the doctor of law at Zhejiang University, China. Now, he works in School of Law and Intellectual Property, Foshan University. His research interests include Jurisprudence, Judicature, Law culture, Law of education.

E-mail: nc.ude.usof@ofmhza .

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Home » The Importance of Homework in Learning

The Importance of Homework in Learning

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Cognitive - Articles

The last thing that children would want to do after a long day at school is homework. It is difficult to make them do their homework because they are often too tired from school and other co-curricular activities. They are also distracted by the games and other forms of entertainment at home. This is a real challenge for parents because it often starts dispute between them and their children especially when their children refuse to do their homework. However, it is important to know that while doing homework merely feels like completing a task just because it was assigned by the school, homework does play an important role in the learning process of children.

• Homework teaches children to be independent, to take initiative and responsibility for completing a task, and it helps children to develop a sense of self-discipline. Doing school work at home helps the children to practice working alone without asking for help from their classmates and teachers.
• Homework teaches children to be resourceful. As they must do things on their own, they have to learn how to use available sources of information at home such as the internet and books. This boost their confidence in independent problem-solving and in handling situations alone in the future. This also improves their research skills and exposes them to wider range of learning through the usage of additional materials.
• Homework gives an opportunity for parents to monitor their children’s academic progress. Throughout the years, research studies have consistently shown that parental involvement in a child’s learning is an important factor in determining a child’s achievement in school. Homework allows parents to have an active role in their child’s education and helps them to evaluate and monitor their child’s progress. Moreover, the process of doing homework also provides an extra venue for parents to interact and bond with their child.
• Homework allows children recap on the skills, concepts and information that they have learned in class. They get to practice on what they have learned and apply it in their homework. This continuous process of recap and application would provide a stronger reinforcement regarding the information and would allow for a stronger retention of information in their minds and make learning more efficient.

However, as much as doing homework contributes to the learning process of children, it must also be noted that too much homework can cause them stress and exhaustion. Too much pressure can lead to debilitating effects on the child’s health and mental psyche. A child’s health should not be compromised just for the sake of doing homework. As the saying goes “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.” Allowing them a 15-minute break in between each task makes a vast difference in the child’s concentration and attention levels towards the tasks.

It must also be noted that homework that are out of their depth will cause the child to lose interest and confidence in the subject. They will feel that no one provide help for them and no matter how hard they try, they are just going to get the questions wrong. So, it is advisable that whenever your child is learning something new in school, take time to sit with them and go through the homework first before allowing them to complete the rest of the homework independently. Don’t forget to also check in on their homework progress every once in a while and help them out. There might be a few things that they have forgotten, or they don’t feel confident enough to attempt independently so it will be good to let the child know that you are always ready to help them and that they are not alone.

Homework Support Program (Please click here to contact us about this service from Cognitive)

Homework Support Program is a service provided to assist children in their homework. The service includes giving additional activities and learning materials for children to help them fully understand the various skills and concepts that they have learnt in school. It also provides a platform for constant revision to take place and allows the child to constantly revise and reinforce on the information that they have learnt before. This program is ideal for families whereby both parents are working. It also provides parents with more opportunities to build and maintain a harmonious relationship with their child because parents will be free from the worries and frustrations regarding their child’s homework issues, thus lessening the probability for arguments to take place.

Bibliography

Atkinson, J. (n.d.). Why Homework is Important . Retrieved from scholastic.com: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/homework-why-it-important/

e-skool. (2010, October 27). E-skool . Retrieved from Top 14 Reason Why Homework is Important: http://blog.eskool.ca/parenting/why-homework-is-important/

5 Ways How Does Homework Teach Students How To Problem Solve

Problem solving is an art that can be developed through reading, learning, and with experience. Homework provides a mindset and technic which indirectly trains the student’s mind in problem-solving. Let’s dive deep to understand this better.

Table of Contents

1. Homework helps improve your memory and be creative with ideas.

Homework has been shown to improve memory and be creative with ideas. It helps students learn how to problem solve by providing them with practice in recalling information and applying it to new situations.

Additionally, homework allows students to explore different ways of approaching a problem and to think outside the box. This can lead to more creative solutions when students face real-world problems.

2. Homework helps manage your time and improves time management

Homework helps you manage your time by setting aside a specific time for it and allows you to work on problem-solving skills in a more focused way. By doing homework, you can learn how to use your time outside school better and improve your time management skills.

3. Homework helps analyze a problem and think of possible solutions.

Homework teaches students how to problem solve by helping them analyze a problem and think of possible solutions. It is a valuable tool that can help students learn how to identify and understand a problem and develop and test potential solutions.

By working through issues independently, students can develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills that will be invaluable in their academic and professional lives.

4. Homework helps you stay disciplined and organized.

Homework is often thought of as a necessary evil by students. However, homework can be a valuable tool that helps students learn how to problem-solve.

When students are given assignments to complete at home, they are forced to work independently and figure out solutions on their own. This process can help students develop essential skills such as discipline and organization.

Discipline is essential for success in any area of life, and homework can teach students how to be disciplined. When students have to complete assignments on their own time, they learn how to budget their time and ensure they get the work done.

This skill can be transferred to other areas of life , such as jobs and families. Students who can stay disciplined with their homework are more likely to be successful in other areas of their lives.

Organization is another vital skill that homework can help students develop. To complete assignments, students must be able to keep track of due dates, materials, and instructions.

This process can help them learn how to organize their thoughts and materials in a way that makes sense. As with discipline, this skill can be transferred to other areas of life outside of schoolwork.”

5. Homework allows you to plan and execution any task

Homework allows students to practice and reinforce the skills they are learning in class. It also provides a way for teachers to assess how well students understand the material.

By requiring students to complete assignments outside of class, teachers can better understand which students need more help and which ones are ready to move on to more challenging material.

Homework also allows parents to be involved in their child’s education. By talking with their child about the day’s lessons and helping them with their homework, parents can gain insights into their child is learning and how they are progressing in school.

Homework can teach students how to problem-solve in several ways. For example, it can help them learn how to find information, identify and use relevant resources, and develop and use critical thinking skills.

In addition, homework can provide opportunities for students to practice their problem-solving skills by working on real-world problems. By doing so, students can learn how to apply their knowledge and skills to solve problems effectively.

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