The fact is, some students do have a ton of homework. If you're hungry for more data on this - and some perspective - check out this exhaustive report put together last year by researcher Tom Loveless at the Brookings Institution.Īn hour or less a day? But we hear so many horror stories! Why? (LA Johnson/NPR)Īnother study from the National Center for Education Statistics found that high school students who reported doing homework outside of school did, on average, about seven hours a week. Source: Met Life Survey of the American Teacher, The Homework Experience, 2007. In 2012, students in three different age groups - 9, 13 and 17 - were asked, 'How much time did you spend on homework yesterday?' The vast majority of 9-year-olds (79 percent) and 13-year-olds (65 percent) and still a majority of 17-year-olds (53 percent) all reported doing an hour or less of homework the day before. The best answer comes from something called the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP. I've mapped out six, research-based polestars that should help guide you to some reasonable conclusions about homework.

students are justifiably exhausted and nervous from too much homework - even though some international comparisons suggest they're sitting comfortably at the average. Whoever you are, you're surely hoping for some clarity in the loud, perennial debate over whether U.S. If you made it past the headline, you're likely a student, concerned parent, teacher or, like me, a nerd nostalgist who enjoys basking in the distant glow of Homework Triumphs Past (second-grade report on Custer's Last Stand, nailed it!).

I have a ton of homework