Jerome Joint School District No. 261

CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION 2630P

Research‐Based Homework Guidelines

Research provides strong evidence that, when used appropriately, homework benefits student achievement. To

make sure that homework is appropriate, teachers will follow these guidelines:

1. Assign purposeful homework. Legitimate purposes for homework include introducing new content,

practicing a skill or process that students can do independently but not fluently, elaborating on

information that has been addressed in class to deepen students' knowledge, and providing opportunities for students to explore topics of their own interest.

2. Design homework to maximize the chances that students will complete it. For example, ensure that

homework is at the appropriate level of difficulty. Students should be able to complete homework

assignments independently with relatively high success rates, but they should still find the assignments

challenging enough to be interesting.

3. Involve parents in appropriate ways (for example, as a sounding board to help students summarize what

they learned from the homework) without requiring parents to act as teachers or to police students'

homework completion.

4. Carefully monitor the amount of homework assigned so that it is appropriate to students' age levels and

does not take too much time away from other home activities.