Impact of Assignment Length on Homework Completion Rates

of Middle School Algebra Students

Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership

and Postsecondary Education
University of Northern Iowa

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the
Master of Arts in Education

by
Kelsey L. Kempf
Excelsior Middle School
Marion, IA
April 24, 2014

Ariel Aloe, Ph.D.

Charles McNulty, Ph.D.

Introduction
Homework has long been an issue of great debate among educators and families.
Teachers have different opinions about what role homework plays in their classroom, and
families develop mixed feelings about its true worth. In June 2013, the mathematics department
at Excelsior Middle School decided that we needed to create some unity within our department
regarding our grading practices. It quickly became clear that there is a wide range of opinions as
to how homework should be assigned and graded.
We came to a compromise that homework would be worth 25% of a students overall
mathematics grade, and that we would follow the recommended homework assignments listed by
the textbook publisher. This decision was not based on any research, strictly as a compromise
of educators opinions. We were not able to come to a consensus as to exactly what the
homework points would be based on (accuracy, completion, etc.). Early in the year, I noticed
that the homework assignments we agreed upon were quite long, taking students hours to
complete. I questioned whether these lengthy assignments were contributing to the notable lack
of completion by students. I became interested in what experts had found during studies
regarding best homework practices for middle school mathematics students.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether the length of an Algebra homework
assignment will impact completion rates by middle school students. The findings of this study
will be shared with the Excelsior and Oak Ridge Middle School Mathematics Departments and
our administrators. The results will be one of several factors used to determine future homework
policies.

Review of Related Literature

When looking at the research surrounding homework, it is important for the term
homework to be clearly defined. In the majority of the literature I reviewed, homework is
defined as tasks assigned to students by school teachers that are intended to be carried out
during nonschool hours. The word intended is used because students may complete homework
assignments during study hall, during library time (sanctioned by teachers), or even during
subsequent classes (not sanctioned) (Cooper, 2007, p.4).
I turned my attention to the effectiveness of homework on student achievement. I
wondered if homework had actually been proven to improve student achievement, making it a
worthwhile task, or if it was done simply due to tradition. Most of the studies I reviewed agreed
that with only rare exceptions, the relationship between the amount of homework students do
and their achievement outcomes was found to be positive and statistically significant (Marzano,
2007, p. 75). Of course, not all studies supported this view. According to Harris Cooper (1989),
14 of the 20 studies conducted on homework between 1962 and 1989 (publication date) favored
homework, while 6 did not. Although the research is not completely conclusive, the majority of
studies suggest homework positively impacts student achievement, therefore it is arguably
worthwhile for teachers to assign homework if they feel it is appropriate for their subject matter.
As summarized by Harris Coopers 1989 meta-analysis of homework research (see Table
1), there are a number of positive, as well as negative effects of homework. When weighing both
sides, most teachers support the majority of research that well planned homework assignments
do serve a benefit for students in the classroom. The most intended outcomes of Algebra

homework would be better retention of factual knowledge and immediate achievement and
learning.
Table 1: Summary of positive and negative effects of homework (Cooper, 1989, p.86)
Positive Effects of Homework
Negative Effects of Homework
Immediate Achievement and Learning
Physical and emotional fatigue
Better retention of factual knowledge
Denial of Access to Leisure Time and
Community Activities
Better critical thinking, concept formation, Increased Differences Between High and Low
and information processing
Achievers
Curriculum enrichment
Parental Interference
Encourages learning during leisure time
Cheating
Better study habits and skills
Loss of interest in academic material
More independent problem solving
Pressure to complete and perform well

Nicole Schrat Carr references Cathy Vatterhotts five fundamental characteristics of good
homework: purpose, efficiency, ownership, competence, and aesthetic appeal (2013, p. 174).
The main purpose of Algebra homework is to reinforce concepts. Carr describes how efficiency
refers to the fact that homework should not take an inordinate amount of time and should
require thinking. Students who spend too much time on homework (more than 90 minutes at the
middle school level) actually perform worse than students who spend less time (p. 174). Most
of my Algebra students reported spending more than 90 minutes working on the traditional
publisher-recommended assignments, which is very inefficient.
Teachers are well aware that many factors play a role in student homework completion.
In exploring the literature, I found many studies had been done examining several factors related
to homework completion. Variables frequently studied included: grade level, gender, free and
reduced lunch status, parent education, family homework help, teacher feedback, peer-oriented
reasons, adult-oriented reasons, homework interest, and homework management (Xu, 2011). I

realized that none of these variables seemed to relate to the homework itself. This is when I
began wondering if variables about the actual homework, rather than variables regarding the
student, played much of a role in student completion and/or achievement.
As Cathy Vatterott explains in her book Rethinking Homework, students make decisions
about whether to attempt homework based on their assessment of the task. Is the homework
perceived to be interesting or boring, simple or tedious? Students are less likely to complete
tasks they perceive as busy work. Quality homework tasks allow students to practice or process
information (2009, p. 79). Most people would agree that repeating the same type of problem
upwards of 30 times would be considered tedious. Similarly, Victoria Kidwell argues against
the misconception that more homework is better than less, the amount of homework assigned
has not been proven to be a reliable indicator of increased academic performance (2004, p. 13).
Harris Cooper did a comprehensive meta-analysis on homework in 1989 and describes
that we could locate only one recent study that looked at the influence of length of individual
homework assignments on achievement outcomes. This study reported a statistically
nonsignificant finding favoring shorter mathematics assignments. Two studies conducted before
1980 held constant the number of assignments but varied their length. These studies suggested
that longer assignments in one case twice as long, and in the other cases, three times as long
were no more effective than shorter assignments, at least in mathematics (p. 42). I would like to
further investigate this in my own research, due to the fact that such a limited amount of data
exists.
Cooper (1989) also looked into the grade level of students, and the optimum amount of
time spent on homework. He found that elementary students benefit little, if any, from

homework and should be given minimal amounts, if any at all. For junior high students,
achievement continued to improve with more homework until assignments lasted between one
and two hours a night (p. 89). The achievement of high school students continued to increase as
the amount of homework increased. This implies that high school students are able to benefit
from greater amounts of homework, while junior high students are not yet ready for a greater
workload.
Question: Does the length of an Algebra homework assignment impact the completion rate for
middle school students?
Hypothesis: The completion rate for shortened assignments will be higher than that of the
standard publisher-recommended assignments.

Methods
My research sample will involve all four periods of current Algebra students at Excelsior
Middle School. The population of these periods, 1, 4, 5 and 6, vary a bit. Periods 1 and 6 are
smaller, with 20 and 21 students, respectively, while periods 4 and five are larger, with 29 and 30
students, respectively. The 100 students are all eighth graders, with the exception of nine
seventh graders in period four. I do not feel that the difference of a grade level will adversely
impact the accuracy of the data, as most of the research I have found has grouped 6th-8th grades
together as a grade level band in the research.
It is important to note that I will be conducting the research with only Algebra students,
due to the fact that this is the only course of which I teach multiple sections. Algebra is a

rigorous course, and it is a necessary foundation for future success in higher-level mathematics
courses. Students in this course may not be representative of average middle school students,
due to their advanced placement in this course. Most students take Algebra in 9th or 10th grade
which means the results of this study may be more applicable to 9th and 10th graders, rather than
average 8th graders.
The independent variable will be the length of the homework assignment. The control
group will be assigned the standard textbook publishers recommendation for a traditional
homework assignment (around 24-32 problems per assignment). The experimental group will be
assigned half of the recommended amount (12-16 problems per assignment), covering the same
skills. The dependent variable will be the number of assignments fully completed. I will define
completed as: students have shown their work and made a visible effort to apply skills taught
in class to solve all assigned problems on time. Accuracy of answers will not impact completion
status, unless it is obvious that a student has put down answers not pertaining to the questions.
Late assignments (unless students had an excused absence from school) will not count as a
completed assignment.
Due to the nature of educational research, I will not use random assignment. I will group
first and fifth periods together (Group A), for a combined group of 50 students, and group
fourth and sixth periods together (Group B), to form a second group of 50 students. I will start
the first cycle by assigning Group A the traditional publisher-recommended homework
assignment (control condition). Group B will be given the treatment of the shortened
assignment, consisting of every-other problem recommended by the publisher (herein referred to
as shortened assignment). These assignments will last the length of the unit of study. Data
will be collected by having students turn in daily homework assignments in class. I will keep a

spreadsheet with each students school-assigned ID number, where I will check off each
assignment that is turned in completed (see above definition) by the due date. This spreadsheet
will be stored in the locked file cabinet in my classroom and will not be accessible to students or
other staff members. No additional funding outside of normal classroom materials will be
required for this study.
During the next unit of study, I will repeat the process, but the assignments will be
switched. Group A will then be assigned the shortened assignment and Group B will be assigned
the traditional assignment. To achieve greater internal validity, this will be repeated for a total of
four units of study, switching the treatment group with each new unit. I will also calculate the
standardized mean difference to examine the size of the effect. The experiment will utilize
repeated measures with an analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Table 2: Group rotation for treatment condition
Group
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
A
(Periods 1 & 5)
B
(Periods 4 & 6)

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Traditional

Shortened

Traditional

Shortened

Shortened

Traditional

Shortened

Traditional

The number count of students in each group who completed the assignment on time
would be totaled. Then all of the totals will be grouped by treatment condition (traditional
versus shortened). The total percentage of traditional assignments completed will be calculated,
and the total percentage of shortened assignments completed will be calculated.

Considerations
There are some ethical dilemmas to be considered here. If, during the course of the
study, it becomes clear that the students being assigned shortened homework assignments are at
an obviously dramatic advantage over the control group, the experiment would be ended after the
second chapter. If results are undeniably clear and causing the control group to be at a
disadvantage, it would be unethical and unnecessary to continue for the full course of four
chapters. The data could still be analyzed in the same manner to reach a conclusion.
It is also important to consider that homework is a difficult topic to study. The event of
completing homework is not performed under the observation of the researcher, and therefore no
guarantees can be made about how a student completes his/her homework. It is not even
guaranteed that the student turning in the homework was truly the one who completed it. This is
simply the nature of homework, and it is beyond the realm of a single teacher researcher to
attempt to control all variables surrounding homework completion.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study is to determine if the length of an Algebra homework
assignment has an impact on the completion rate for middle school students. The results of the
study will be used to help impact the homework policies of the Excelsior and Oak Ridge Middle
School Mathematics Departments. Follow-up from the study could include investigation of the
degree to which homework completion impacted student achievement in their Algebra course.

References
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