The data from a survey of high school math and science teachers show that in the district of Sanlee many of these teachers reported assigning daily homework, whereas in the district of Marlee, most science and math teachers reported assigning homework no more than two or three days per week. Despite receiving less frequent homework assignments, Marlee students earn better grades overall and are less likely to be required to repeat a year of school than are students in Sanlee. These results call into question the usefulness of frequent homework assignments. Most likely the Marlee students have more time to concentrate on individual assignments than do the Sanlee students who have homework every day. Therefore teachers in our high schools should assign homework no more than twice a week.
Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.
The above statement is true, but it only paints part of the picture. While it is true that Sanlee teachers assign homework less frequently than Marlee teachers, this does not necessarily imply that Sanlee teachers are more effective at their jobs. In fact, the opposite may be true, since Sanlee teachers may be spending their time doing other things, such as preparing lesson plans, or grading papers. To better evaluate this argument, it would be necessary to compare the amount of time that Sanlee teachers spend working on assignments with the amount of time that Marlee teachers spend doing other school-related tasks. To better understand what students in Sanlee and Marlee schools are doing during class periods, it would be necessary to conduct surveys of students and teachers in each district; the data from these surveys would shed light on the true situation of the homework assignments. First, Sanlee teachers should complete a survey in which they specify how many hours they spend on homework assignments each week. This survey should be completed by all Sanlee teachers, not just math and science teachers. Once the surveys are complete, the students in each district could be surveyed to determine how long they spend on homework.
The second step would be to compare the survey results. If the same level of homework is assigned by both districts, the teachers in Sanlee would be spending less time on preparation and grading of assignments, and therefore more time interacting with students. If, however, it appears that Sanlee teachers spend a significant amount of time preparing assignments, then it would be reasonable to conclude that there is a difference in the amount of time that is devoted to homework assignments. If Sanlee teachers spend only half an hour on homework assignments, but Marlee teachers spend three hours on homework, then it would be reasonable to conclude that Sanlee teachers are spending their time ineffectively. If, on the other hand, Sanlee teachers spend an hour on homework assignments, but Marlee teachers spend two hours on assignments, then it would be reasonable to conclude that Marlee teachers are spending their time effectively. In either case, a comparison of the results of the surveys would give a clear answer as to whether or not homework assignments are effective, and which teachers are doing the most effective jobs.
In conclusion, we need to look at more than just the amount of time that teachers spend on homework assignments. Sanlee teachers may be more effective at their jobs because their students spend more time working on assignments than they do. In addition, we need to look at other factors, such as the time that students spend outside of school doing homework. Another consideration is that Sanlee teachers may be spending less time on homework because they have more students. In fact, it may be that Sanlee teachers have a large number of students because they have been assigned fewer students than Marlee teachers. Therefore, when conducting surveys of teachers and students, we should look at as many variables as possible in order to determine the true impact of the assignment policy on students.