Create an environment at home that encourages learning. Help children take responsibility for their learning. Get a tutor or other help if you need it. Homework is a traditional and expected practice ...

The idea that American students spend hours on end toiling away with burdensome amounts of homework is unfounded, argues a new report from the Brookings Institution's Brown Center on Education Policy.

Each year the complaints start to trickle in from friends and co-workers right around the second week of school: “Little Johnny has so much homework. In first grade! He’s exhausted already.” “I spend ...