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1. http://drcraigcanapari.com/homework-vs-sleep-a-cause-of-stress-in-teens/
Homework stresses kids out; there is no way around this fact. The combination of
heavy homework loads and early school start times is a major cause of sleep
deprivation and consequent stress in teens, but this can be a problem even in
younger kids.
When we moved to Connecticut, I was struck by the perception of some parents
that my son’s classmates that he and his peers were not getting enough homework.
I was shocked; these kids were in first grade at the time. Fortunately, my son’s
teacher have resisted this pressure.
When I started looking into the evidence, I was surprised to find that there is
not much evidence that homework before high school benefits children. I really
love this article by Justin Coulson, a parenting expert and psychologist, detailing
why he bans his school age children from doing homework, concluding from the
evidence that homework does more harm than good. A recent study showed that
some elementary school children had three times the recommended homework
load. In spite of this, homework has started appearing even in kindergarten and the
first great in spite of recommendations to the contrary. This has become a source of
great stress to families.
Sleep deprivation in teenagers is an epidemic here in the US, with up to 90% of
teenagers not getting enough sleep on school nights. The most important factor
causing this is school start times that are too early for teenagers, who are hardwired
to go to bed later and get up later compared with younger children (or grown-ups,
for that matter). I’ve discussed this at length on my blog.
Another factor which can cause sleep deprivation is homework. Some studies
suggest that the amount of homework which teenagers receive has stayed constant
over time. I don’t pretend to be an educational expert, but I frequently see children
and teenagers who have hours and hours of homework every night. This seems
most common in teenagers who are striving to get into competitive colleges. This
is piled on top of multiple extracurricular activities– sports, clubs, music lessons,
and public service. Of course, the patients and families I see in clinic tend to be the
people with the greatest difficulties with sleep. So I decided to look into this issue
a bit more.

2. http://drcraigcanapari.com/homework-vs-sleep-a-cause-of-stress-in-teens/
How common is excessive
homework, anyway?
The recommendation of the National Education Association is that children
received no more than ten minutes of homework per grade level. So a high school
senior would max out at two hours of homework per night. An analysis published
by the Brookings Institute concluded that there has been little change in the amount
of homework assigned between 1984 and 2012. About 15% of juniors and seniors
did have greater than two hours of homework per night. Interestingly, the author
also referenced a study which showed that about 15% of parents were concerned
about excessive homework as well. This would suggest that the problem of
excessive homework is occurring only in about one in six teenagers.
There is a perception that homework loads are excessive. This certainly may be the
case in some communities or in high pressure schools. Teenagers certainly think
that they have too much homework; here is a well-researched piece written by a
teenager who questions the utility of large amounts of homework.
Some generalities emerge from the educational research:
 Older students get more homework than younger students
 Race may play a role, with Asian students doing more homework
 Less experienced teachers assign more homework
 Math classes are the classes most likely to assign homework
How beneficial is homework?
The US is a relatively homework intense country, but does not score as well as
countries where homework is less common. In high school age kids, homework
does have benefits. However, 70 minutes total seems to be the sweet spot in terms
of benefits; homework in excess of this amount is associated with decreasing test
scores.
Homework clearly can have benefits– development of good organizational habits,
review of materials, and improving skills such as reading and critical thinking.
Homework should be assigned, however, with the goal of helping children
learning, not because the teacher or school has decided that a certain amount
should be assigned nightly, or because some parents want their children to get
more homework. Alfie Kohn, an educational leader and a big critic of homework.
published a great article on rethinking homework. Here’s another thoughtful
perspective on homework by a history teacher named Glen Whitman.