Homework and students’ achievement in math and science: A 30-year meta-analysis, 1986–2015

Huiyong Fan; Jianzhong Xu; Zhihui Cai; Jinbo He; Xitao Fan

doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2016.11.003

Homework and students’ achievement in math and science: A 30-year meta-analysis, 1986–2015

Huiyong Fan, Jianzhong Xu, Zhihui Cai^*, Jinbo He, Xitao Fan

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

208 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In the current investigation, research conducted since 1986 were synthesized to examine the homework – achievement relationship in math/science, and to examine a range of factors that could have moderated this relationship. Our investigation revealed that there was an overall small and positive relationship between homework and academic achievement in math/science. Our investigation further revealed that the homework – achievement relationship in math/science was stronger for elementary and high school students than for middle school students. In addition, the homework – achievement relationship in math/science was shown to be the strongest in the studies involving US students, whereas it was the weakest in the studies involving Asian students. We discussed possible explanations for these and other findings, and the implications for future research directions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	35-54
Number of pages	20
Journal	Educational Research Review
Volume	20
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2016.11.003
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2017
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Achievement
Homework
Math
Meta-analysis
Science
Synthesis

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10.1016/j.edurev.2016.11.003

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title = "Homework and students{\textquoteright} achievement in math and science: A 30-year meta-analysis, 1986–2015",

abstract = "In the current investigation, research conducted since 1986 were synthesized to examine the homework – achievement relationship in math/science, and to examine a range of factors that could have moderated this relationship. Our investigation revealed that there was an overall small and positive relationship between homework and academic achievement in math/science. Our investigation further revealed that the homework – achievement relationship in math/science was stronger for elementary and high school students than for middle school students. In addition, the homework – achievement relationship in math/science was shown to be the strongest in the studies involving US students, whereas it was the weakest in the studies involving Asian students. We discussed possible explanations for these and other findings, and the implications for future research directions.",

keywords = "Achievement, Homework, Math, Meta-analysis, Science, Synthesis",

author = "Huiyong Fan and Jianzhong Xu and Zhihui Cai and Jinbo He and Xitao Fan",

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T1 - Homework and students’ achievement in math and science

T2 - A 30-year meta-analysis, 1986–2015

AU - Fan, Huiyong

AU - Xu, Jianzhong

AU - Cai, Zhihui

AU - He, Jinbo

AU - Fan, Xitao

PY - 2017/2/1

Y1 - 2017/2/1

N2 - In the current investigation, research conducted since 1986 were synthesized to examine the homework – achievement relationship in math/science, and to examine a range of factors that could have moderated this relationship. Our investigation revealed that there was an overall small and positive relationship between homework and academic achievement in math/science. Our investigation further revealed that the homework – achievement relationship in math/science was stronger for elementary and high school students than for middle school students. In addition, the homework – achievement relationship in math/science was shown to be the strongest in the studies involving US students, whereas it was the weakest in the studies involving Asian students. We discussed possible explanations for these and other findings, and the implications for future research directions.

AB - In the current investigation, research conducted since 1986 were synthesized to examine the homework – achievement relationship in math/science, and to examine a range of factors that could have moderated this relationship. Our investigation revealed that there was an overall small and positive relationship between homework and academic achievement in math/science. Our investigation further revealed that the homework – achievement relationship in math/science was stronger for elementary and high school students than for middle school students. In addition, the homework – achievement relationship in math/science was shown to be the strongest in the studies involving US students, whereas it was the weakest in the studies involving Asian students. We discussed possible explanations for these and other findings, and the implications for future research directions.

KW - Achievement

KW - Homework

KW - Math

KW - Meta-analysis

KW - Science

KW - Synthesis

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U2 - 10.1016/j.edurev.2016.11.003

DO - 10.1016/j.edurev.2016.11.003

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:84996567214

SN - 1747-938X

VL - 20

SP - 35

EP - 54

JO - Educational Research Review

JF - Educational Research Review

ER -

Homework and students’ achievement in math and science: A 30-year meta-analysis, 1986–2015

Abstract

Keywords

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