National Adult Literacy Database

This paper offers a review of 18 studies, published between 2003 and 2007, about the effectiveness of homework in strengthening learning outcomes. Fourteen of the studies were conducted in the United States and the remaining four in Germany.

The authors found that while the majority of studies favour homework, some of the evidence was contradictory and required more careful examination.

For instance, homework appeared to have negative effects when the analysis simply correlated time spent on homework with individual student achievement. But because homework is sometimes a remedial activity, with weaker students doing more of it, controlling for classroom or school-level effects is important when trying to understand its effectiveness.