Brian Gill

Estimating the Cost of National Class Size Reductions Under Different Policy Alternatives

We estimate the operational costs of nationwide class size reduction (CSR) programs under various policy alternatives, including the specified class size, flexibility in implementation, and whether the policy is targeted toward at-risk students. Depending on the specific options chosen, the estimated costs vary from about

A Nation at Rest: The American Way of Homework

2 billion per year to over

Villain or savior?: The american discourse on homework, 1850-2003

11 billion per year. These estimates could be further increased by teacher salary hikes necessitated by the rapid increase in the demand for teachers that results from CSR. Policymakers considering such a policy on a large scale should question whether it is the most cost-effective way of boosting student achievement.

A Sin against Childhood: Progressive Education and the Crusade to Abolish Homework, 1897-1941

We use several national surveys to provide a 50-year perspective on time spent on homework. The great majority of American children at all grade levels now spend less than one hour studying on a typical day—an amount that has not changed substantially in at least 20 years. Moreover, high school students in the late 1940s and early 1950s studied no more than their counterparts did in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Changes in educational opinion on homework over the last half century have had little effect on student behavior, with only two notable exceptions: a temporary increase in homework time in the decade following Sputnik, and a new willingness in the last two decades to assign small amounts to primary-grade students.

The Lost Cause of Homework Reform.

This article examines homeworks place in American K-12 schooling over the last century and draws three main conclusions. First, homework has always aroused strong passions pro and con. Second, despite prominent press reports to the contrary in the early 20th century and again today, the best evidence suggests that most parents have consistently supported homework during the last 100 years. Third, homework practice is slow to change but is not unmovable, as evidenced by increases in high school homework in the decade after Sputnik and recent increases in homework for children in grades K-2. Nevertheless, the academic excellence movement of the last 20 years has succeeded in raising homework expectations only for the youngest children.

Changes in the Standards for Admitting Expert Evidence in Federal Civil Cases Since the Daubert Decision

No item on the nations educational reform agenda seems more solidly grounded than support for homework--indeed, the more the better. But todays consensus on the virtues of homework represents a sharp break with the past. Many progressive educational experts of the early twentieth century regarded homework as inconsistent with the best pedagogical thinking. They lobbied--often successfully--for school policies designed to curtail or eliminate homework. Unlike many other central components of American schooling, which remained largely unchanged over long periods of time, homework has been distinguished by major shifts in policy and practice over the course of the century.

Parents and the Politics of Homework: Some Historical Perspectives.

Over the course of the twentieth century, sparks flew regularly whenever professionals, politicians, and parents addressed the topic of homework in the schools. Passions were many, and extreme positions were customary. At different points in time, radically different viewpoints prevailed. In the discourse about homework, the tendency was to portray it as either all good or all bad-savior or destroyer of schools, children, and families.