Well, I've gone from skulking around the playground fomenting a homework revolution to taking the fight public. Here's the article I wrote for the school newsletter.

The Homework Myth: Questioning Achievement Pressures in (and after) School

No research has ever found any benefit to homework before high school. I went to the Alfie Kohn lecture last Tuesday, and he is unequivocal on this point. Kohn is the author of over ten books and a noted (perhaps infamous) champion for education reform. (He's the one who wants to ban gold stars and standardized tests, but that's a different article.) He said even homework proponents acknowledge all the research shows homework does not help students learn. Many people believe homework promotes self-discipline, but the research doesn't back this up either. Basically, he argues, we give homework under the "better get used to it" theory, something he considers akin to getting hit on the head lessons.

He argues that we keep assigning homework because people don't understand learning. They believe homework reinforces learning. The "reinforce" philosophy of education comes straight out of B.F. Skinner and operant conditioning. (When I was learning about this in college, my buddy would pop an m&m in my mouth every time I got the answer right. The teacher was not amused.) We can reinforce behavior, not learning.

And we all know the downside of homework--the stress, the whining and nagging, the curtailed family time.

I was really nervous about bringing this issue up because I didn't want to be disrespectful to the teachers. My daughter's teachers have been fantastic. If they think homework is right, maybe Kohn's understanding of the research and my gut instinct are wrong. Kohn spoke about teachers who do understand the research and how learning works but feel pressured by parents and politicians to give more and more homework. Maybe our teachers feel the same way. His talk was part of a day-long dialogue with students, parents, teachers, and administrators on Mercer Island. I hope we can have a similar dialogue here.

AlfieKohn.com has lots of free articles on this topic.