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Title:  Expectations and Reports of Homework for Public School Students in the First, Third, and Fifth Grades
Description: This brief uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) to examine (1) the amount of time that students’ public school teachers expected them to spend on reading/language arts and mathematics homework in first, third, and fifth grades; and (2) reports from parents of public school children of how often their children did homework at home in the first, third, and fifth grades. Teachers' expectations are reported by the percentage of minority students in the student's school and parents' reports are reported by the child's race/ethnicity. The findings indicate that the amount of reading and mathematics homework that students' teachers expected them to complete on a typical evening generally increased from first grade to fifth grade. In both subjects and in all grades, differences were found by the minority enrollment of the school. Children in schools with higher percentages of minority students had teachers who expected more homework on a typical evening, whereas generally children in lower minority schools had teachers who expected less homework. In addition, in all three grades, larger percentages of Black, Asian, and Hispanic children than White children had parents who reported that their child did homework five or more times a week.
Online Availability:
Cover Date: December 2008
Web Release: December 2, 2008
Publication #: NCES 2009033
Center/Program: NCES
Authors:
Type of Product: Issue Brief
Survey/Program Areas: Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS)
Keywords:
Questions: For questions about the content of this Issue Brief, please contact:
Rebecca Bielamowicz.