Is Your Math Homework Worth Doing?

Earlier in my career, I consistently assigned what many of us think of as traditional math homework: a worksheet with 20 similar problems or a textbook page full of several repetitive problems. This was the type of assignment my students were used to, and the same type of work I had completed as a student myself. Repetitive practice was the norm because it was believed to sharpen computational and procedural skills. Assigning every student the same problem set, regardless of pace or readiness, was a common practice.

I assigned this kind of homework to hundreds of students for years. So what was the problem?

Not once or twice, but several times, I spotted students in the hallway frantically copying a classmate’s homework before class. At first, I responded with frustration and disciplinary consequences. Over time, though, I began to ask myself: Why weren’t my students seeing the value in the assignment? It became clear that their motivation was not learning, but earning a completion grade.

Some educators argue that secondary students don’t want to complete homework, even when it’s worthwhile. My experience suggests something more nuanced: Many students do want to complete assignments that genuinely help them build and strengthen their problem-solving skills—and they also recognize which assignments are worth their time and which are busywork.

That realization led me to reconsider how I assign practice.

A Better Way to Think About Homework

Now I think of math homework as something to be curated, not a one-size-fits-all. In a recent conversation with my colleague Kelly Root, math coordinator at Marymount School of New York, she said that what is worth doing depends on both the age and readiness of the students. For some of them, confidence grows through practicing skills they already know; for others, especially older or more advanced learners, Root emphasized, “a couple of questions that stretch them a bit, sometimes just one good question, is enough.”

I use the word curated intentionally. An art curator doesn’t select 20 nearly identical pieces and call it an exhibit. Likewise, when I design math assignments, I aim for an enriching experience and ask myself:

• Are there just the right amount of basic-skills problems to support fluency?
• Are there extension or multilayered word problems that require application?
• Is there an opportunity for choice or variety?
• Is this assignment worth the time, and will most students finish within a reasonable window?

To predict the time it will take students to complete the assignment, be sure to, as Jennifer Gonzalez writes, “eat your own dog food”—do the assignment to understand the student experience. Reflect on how long the problems actually take to solve. Is a calculator needed? If I were a student struggling with a concept, would the word problems be appropriate for me at this time? How long would it take a student working at a slower pace to complete the entire assignment?

I also emphasize to students that assignments are carefully curated for them and that I aim to assign practice problems that are worth their time. The purpose of this practice is to improve and grow rather than to comply with a requirement or earn a completion grade.

Curated Assignments

What do my curated assignments look like? There are many ways to differentiate and vary the homework experience for your students.

Here are a few strategies I use:

• Pick out three or four challenging problems from the textbook for students to try at home and discuss the next day in class. (Read more about this in “5 Ways to Make Homework More Meaningful.”)
• Ask students to record a video of themselves working out a problem of their choice. (From I Speak Math.)
• Assign a few basic computation problems followed by a choice of challenging problem sets labeled mild, medium, and spicy. (From “How to Get Kids Thinking Instead of Mimicking in Math Class.”)

Here’s an example of a mild, medium, and spicy algebra problem set written by my colleague Shaant Avanian, math coordinator at Marymount School of New York (he labels the problems level 1, 2, and 3, but the idea is the same). Each problem assesses a student’s skills in writing and solving multistep equations, but they differ in complexity and application level—and students get to decide which problems they will answer.

Level 1 (mild): There are 2 different gym memberships for Ms. Robinson to decide between. Equinox charges $80 a month plus $6 every time you go. Planet Fitness costs $20 a month, but you have to pay $16 every time you go. How many times would she need to go to the gym for both plans to be equal?

Level 2 (medium): Ms. Adelana has 30 coins. She has 6 more quarters than dimes. The rest are nickels. In total, she has $3.20. How many of each coin does she have?

Level 3 (spicy): The swim team needs to make $800 to buy new uniforms. They rent a room at a local church for $120 to host a bake sale. They also bake lots of cupcakes. Each cupcake costs $0.50 worth of ingredients to make. They plan to sell each cupcake for $2.50. If they give the first 40 cupcakes away for free, how many do they need to make in total to hit their goal of $800?

Immediate Feedback

I remember a few times in a college Calculus course, we students were given a problem set to work on without an answer key provided. This was frustrating to me as a learner—how could I learn if I didn’t know if I was doing it correctly? I became increasingly unmotivated to complete any assignments in that course.

When should students get feedback on their work? “The sooner, the better,” writes Marienne Stenger in “5 Research-Based Tips for Providing Students with Meaningful Feedback.” This is why I always include an answer key for all homework problems. I tell my students to try a problem and then check their answer; if they got it wrong, they should go back and try to correct their error. Students can also use answers to work backward if they are stumped on a problem.

Math educator and writer Andrew Burnett described the research supporting the value of immediate feedback this way: “Not surprisingly, the researchers found that students that received immediate feedback for a whole school year learned significantly more than those that did not receive immediate feedback.”

The first question I get from fellow educators when I say I always provide answer keys with every assignment is “But won’t they just cheat?” That’s not quite possible—for an assignment to be complete, all work must be shown in an organized structure that supports the final answer, and the final answer, to me, is far less important than the thinking that led to that answer.

For younger middle school students, take the time to instruct them on how to effectively use an answer key. I repeat the messaging around how to check an answer, then make corrections as needed. It takes time, but when they use an answer key effectively, they find homework practice to be more worth their time.

What Do Students Think of All This?

At first, my students didn’t always take abbreviated homework assignments seriously. If I assigned three challenging problems, they wondered if it was a real homework assignment: “It’s so short!”

But over time, as I continued to communicate the purpose of the homework I was assigning, the students got onboard. Overall homework effort increased because students knew they had only a few problems to try, and they were excited by the novelty and variety of assignment types and levels. A student once told me, “I did the spicy problems yesterday, but today’s lesson is a bit confusing, so I will stick with mild.” Just as it takes intentional instruction to teach students how to effectively use an answer key, it also takes time to teach them how to choose a level for themselves. Using metacognition (thinking about their thinking), students can begin to assess what level is appropriate for them that day.

Without continued guidance on how to self-assess their own level of readiness for the day, some students might always opt for a problem level below or above their ability. As a teacher, I look for patterns in which level students choose. If I notice a pattern of a highly capable student consistently opting for the mild assignment, I will have a brief conversation with them about the importance of stretching and struggling as a necessary part of learning. On the flip side, some overzealous students will continually attempt problems that they do not have the proper foundation for. While I appreciate their enthusiasm, I will discuss the importance of understanding the basic concepts to make extension work more meaningful.

Back to the original question: What’s the problem with traditional math homework? Some students love those traditional assignments: “Tell me what to do and I will do it.” But that doesn’t work for every learner. By thoughtfully curating multilevel assignments and offering choice, teachers give students more agency over their level of math practice and how they spend their time outside of class. If a student can do several problems correctly, why do they need to spend time doing 30 more?

To learn math is to do math, and students do need regular daily practice. But as educators, we can ensure that this practice is actually worth doing.

To get started with your next homework assignment, carefully select a few problems of various levels and complexity. Let your students choose which set they would like to try for homework. With consistent messaging that homework is an opportunity to grow and learn, students begin to see that their work is, in fact, worth doing.