Sorry kids, a majority of your parents don't think you're too overburdened in the homework department.

This may or may not come as a surprise to students lugging home backpacks full of math textbooks, English worksheets and science project instructions.

But the conventional wisdom - which has been the subject of several books and news articles over the past decade - is that parents are frustrated by the amount of homework and believe it stresses their kids and impinges on time for family and other activities.

But maybe not so much.

Kenneth Kiewra, an educational psychology professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, conducted a survey - published in the spring edition of a journal called Scholarlypartnershipsedu - of Lincoln parents that contradicted that conventional wisdom.

"The main result is that parents, by and large, seem content with the amount of student homework," he said.

Kiewra and his research team distributed a questionnaire to 572 parents of seventh-graders in four Lincoln public middle schools.

Of those, 372 - or 65 percent - responded.

* 61 percent think the amount of homework is about "about right."

* 14 percent believe too little homework was assigned.

* 53 percent said homework had no effect on family time and activities.

* 21 percent thought it had a positive effect on family time and activities.

Those weren't the responses Kiewra expected.

"I think the data surprised me," he said. "I think that's good news for the schools, that parents are satisfied with what's going on and apparently aren't experiencing too much turmoil at home."

But there's another opinion that came out in the study he doesn't want to be overlooked:

* 25 percent of parents think too much homework is assigned.

* 26 percent think homework has a negative effect on family time and activities.

"It isn't that that voice has gone away," he said. "But a larger number are content with homework."

His study found most middle school students spent 1 to 1 1/2 hours on homework a night.

Lincoln Public Schools Curriculum Director Barb Jacobson said there are no district policies on the amount of homework teachers should assign - and it varies widely depending on the teacher.

Teachers do try to check with each other so tests don't overlap too much, she said.

Educator discussions about homework generally focus on the quality rather than quantity, she said.

It should never be busywork, she said.

"I think there needs to be a purpose behind homework," she said.

At Pound Middle School, staffers refer to it as practice work, said Principal Chris Deibler.

"If you need to finish it, do it at home," he said.

Personally, Kiewra falls in line with the minority opinions in the study.

"I do personally feel it's taking too big a chunk out of our time," he said. "Families should have more ownership in it."

About 10 years ago, he wrote a couple of guest columns for the Lincoln Journal Star that questioned the value of homework. He got a lot of response from parents feeling the same way.

His study though, revealed another eye-opening result: 65 percent of students spent one or two hours at night in front of the television.

A majority also spent that much time with family and somewhat less with friends, which means children are finding time to do other things, Kiewra said.

Kiewra was surprised by how much time kids spent in front of the TV, but said time outside of school can be spent on useful pursuits.

With Kiewra's oldest son, it was chess. Keaton, now 22, was a champion player.

"I wanted him - and he wanted - to be able to spend a lot of time on chess after school," Kiewra said.

Kiewra thinks teachers and families need to communicate more about homework, something his study showed parents felt happened very little, despite the increasing use of e-mail updates by teachers.

Eighty-six percent of parents in the survey said they were never informed about the amount of time students should spend on homework or about the purpose of the assignments; 79 percent were never given advice on how to help.

Still, nearly all the parents (96 percent) reported helping to some extent.

Kiewra concludes in his report that teachers can use the study results as a springboard to improve the partnership between parents and teachers.

As for the students, they'd better unpack their backpacks and get to work.

Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.