Isaac C Rischall CILN/ McMaster University
Jean Hanson
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
The goal of our study is to observe how time spent completing homework,
watching television, and reading for pleasure are related to demographic,
family-background, school-level, and achievement variables. This
paper uses information from a rich, new data source, the National Longitudinal
Survey of Youth, 1997 cohort. Results indicate that both family-background
and school-level variables are strongly related to time on homework.
However, family-background and school-level variables have weak relationships
with reading for pleasure and watching television. Students who spend
more time on homework record higher grades and scores on a standardized
math test. The gains from homework are statistically significant,
but small in magnitude. An extra ten hours of homework per week is
associated with less than a half-grade increase in GPA. There appears
to be no relationship between reading for pleasure and grades. However,
students who spend more time reading record higher scores on a standardized
math test.