1. Laura Brake Mathematics Achievement Specialist
Homework and Practice
Laura Brake
Mathematics Achievement Specialist

2. The Purpose
“The entire constellation of strategies is necessary for a complete view of effective teaching.” (Marzano, p. 31)
At the same time, it is important to be able “to identify those instructional strategies that have a high probability of enhancing student achievement” (Marzano et al., 2001b. p. 31)
Today we review the instructional strategy of homework.

3. High Yield Instructional Strategies
Category
Percentile Gain
Identifying similarities and differences ?
Summarizing and note taking
Reinforcing effort and providing recognition
Homework and practice
Nonlinguistic representations
Cooperative learning
Setting objectives and providing feedback
Generating and testing hypotheses
Questions, cues, and advance organizers

4. Focusing on a Strategy Homework and practice 28 Category
Percentile Gain
Identifying similarities and differences 45
Summarizing and note taking 34
Reinforcing effort and providing recognition 29
Homework and practice 28
Nonlinguistic representations 27
Cooperative learning
Setting objectives and providing feedback 23
Generating and testing hypotheses
Questions, cues, and advance organizers 22

5. Homework and Practice 28% Gain
Research indicates 4 Key Points:
1) The more homework students do, the better their achievement. (Marzano, 2001, p. 63)
Minutes of homework: ten times the grade level.
…for about every 30 minutes of “additional” homework a student does per night, his or her overall grade point average increases about half a point... (Marzano, 2001, p. 63)

6. Homework and Practice 28% Gain
Key Points:
2) Parent involvement in homework should be kept to a minimum.
Many studies show minimal and even somewhat negative effects when parents are asked to help students with homework. (Marzano, 2001, p. 63)

7. Homework and Practice 28% Gain
Key Points:
3) The purpose of homework should be identified and articulated. Homework should be commented upon.
Two common purposes for homework are (1) practice and (2) preparation or elaboration
Practicing a skill with which a student is unfamiliar is not only inefficient, but might also serve to habituate errors or misconceptions.

8. Commenting on homework
Guided Practice
Independent Practice
Instruction

9. Homework and Practice 28 % Gain
Key Points:
4) When learning a skill, students need a great deal of practice in order to achieve mastery.
Learning new content does not happen quickly. It requires practice spread out over time.

10. Establish and Communicate a Homework Policy
Students and their parents need to understand expectations for homework.
Clarify the Purpose of Homework
Homework can be used as:
1) an opportunity to practice skills,
2) to prepare for a new topic, or to elaborate on introduced material

11. Key Messages
“no instructional strategy works equally well in all situations….study the effects of instructional strategies on specific types of students in specific situations, with specific subject matters. ” (Marzano et al., 2001a. p. 9)
In terms of providing teachers with feedback, the focus must always be on student learning and the perspective must always be that instructional strategies are a means to an end. (Marzano, p. 37)