For decades, the homework standard has been a“10-minute”rule, which suggests a daily maximum of 10 minutes of homework per grade level.
But some schools have begun to give their youngest students a break. A Massachusetts elementary school has announced a no-homework pilot (试点的) program for the coming school year, extending the school day by two hours to provide more in-class instruction. “We really want kids to go home at 4 o’clock,” Kelly Elementary School Principal Jackie Glasheen said. “We want them to enjoy their families. We want them to go to soccer practice or football practice.”
New solutions to homework differ by community. These local debates aren’t easily understood by the fact that even education experts disagree about what’s best for kids.
The most all-round research on homework so far comes from an analysis (分析) by Duke University professor Harris Cooper, who found evidence (证据) of a positive relationship between homework and student achievement, meaning students who did homework performed better in school. Cooper’s analysis focused on how homework influences test scores. The relationship was stronger for older students-in 7th through 12th grade-than for those in younger grades, for whom there was a weak relationship between homework and performance.
Although there is the weak relationship 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.
However, Cathy Vatterott, an education professor at the University Missouri-St. Louis, thinks there is not enough evidence that homework is helpful for students in elementary school, “Relationship is not a root,” she said “Does homework cause achievement, or do high achievers do more homework?” Vatterott thinks there should be more stress on improving the quality of homework tasks, and she supports efforts to ban homework for younger kids.
8. What will Kelly Elementary School have in the new term.
A.No homework. | B.Some football practice. |
C.“10-minute” homework. | D.More physical education classes. |
9. Who can perform better according to Cooper’s analysis?
A.Younger students in all grades with no homework. |
B.Younger students in lower grades with no homework. |
C.Older students in lower grades with more homework. |
D.Older students in higher grades with more homework. |
10. What does the underlined word in paragraph 6 mean?
11. What’s the writer’s attitude towards “10-minute” homework?
A.Positive. | B.Negative. | C.Unknown. | D.Doubtful. |