Relationships among attitudes about homework, amount of homework assigned and completed, and student achievement

Students (n = 709), parents, and teachers (n = 82) completed a questionnaire concerning amount of homework assigned by teachers, portion of assignments completed by students, and attitudes about homework. Student achievement measures were also collected. Weak relations were found between the amount of homework assigned and student achievement. Positive relations were found between the amount of homework students completed and achievement, especially at upper grades (6-12). At lower grades (2 and 4), teacher-assigned homework was related to negative student attitudes. At upper grades, teachers with more positive attitudes toward homework and those whose students performed more poorly on standardized tests reported assigning more homework. A path analysis for lower grades indicated that class grades were predicted only by standardized test scores and the proportion of homework completed by students. At upper grades, class grade predictors also included parent, teacher, and student attitudes.