Countless educators are concerned about the current quality of education and the level of academic pressure on even our youngest students to excel. In Beyond the Standards Movement , Alfie Kohn, a critic of the system for more than 20 years, takes a tough look at what is happening in schools. Children today have more homework than their parents did, while controversies swirl around whether it is helpful and whether an ideal amount of homework exists. An article in the Chicago Tribune discusses the homework controversy and what educators and researchers have to say about it.

A 2004 national survey conducted by the University of Michigan found that children were spending twice s much time on homework than in 1981 – the majority of that jump is among elementary school students.

Some researchers attribute the increase to the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act since it creates more pressure on educators to improve their students’ performance. Others attribute the increase to demanding parents.

Sara Bennett, co-author of The Case Against Homework, says she thinks “parents at some point got very competitive about what their children's projects looked like, and then teachers' expectations got out of whack as a result. I think parents have to take some responsibility for that."

A key question is whether the increase in the amount of homework is helping students. Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth, thinks not. He believes that giving homework does more harm than good. "The amount of homework is increasing — at least for younger children — at precisely the same time that more research is failing to show any benefit whatsoever," he says. "Not only is there no evidence showing that homework is beneficial academically, but it may be the single greatest extinguisher of children's curiosity yet invented. It's all pain, no gain."

However, Duke University professor Harris Cooper, author of the 2006 article, "Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement?" believes homework is beneficial, for certain grade levels, if assigned in measured amounts. "Students who do homework appear to do better than students who don't, but only in developmentally appropriate amounts."

Cooper uses what has come to be called “The 10 Minute Rule" of assigning 10 minutes of homework per night per grade level, beginning in grade 1.

Guidelines set by the National Education Association and PTA are similar, and those are the official rules of many schools nationwide, including the Chicago Public Schools.

Doctoral student in Penn State’s school of psychology Laura Hankins is conducting a study that she hopes will result in a more standardized tool for measuring how much homework is assigned. "Yes, there are a lot of kids out there receiving too much homework, but the numbers are about 1 in 5," Cooper says. "About 1 in 5 parents complain their kids get too much. For that 1 in 5 it is a real issue, but that is not the majority."

Experts encourage parents who find that their children’s homework is affecting their sleep, health, or eliminating their free time to discuss the issues with the school. Superintendent of Wilmette District 39 in Illinois Dr. Raymond Lechter states that, as children get older, homework can pile up. "It gets tricky . . . because they'll have as many as five teachers, and that can pile up to more than 70 or 80 minutes of homework a night," he says. "That's where the parents need to come in and say, 'This is causing us pain at home; we're having fights at home, or it's causing stress and loss of sleep, what can we do at school?"

Then, teachers may get together to decide on a plan, trying to individualize the amount of work to the student. When that isn’t enough, Bennett, who runs an organization and blog called Stop Homework, and Kohn, suggest getting in touch with like-minded parents. "I provide resources, put people in touch with each other," Bennett says. "The idea is to help parents and educators advocate for saner homework practices."