While teachers and parents can work together to positively contribute to
the success of students, educators must also remember that the home environments
of students are often unequal. While some students have educated
parents and technology at their disposal, others live in relatively unsupervised
homes—often due to parents working multiple jobs to make ends meet—without
technology or other resources. Teachers need to be aware of these inequities
and barriers when designing homework assignments to ensure that all students
can complete the assignments successfully. In a recent study, Bennett-Conroy
(2012) found that, for many parents, these barriers may be overcome when
teachers design “interactive assignments which do not require reference materials
or a high level of subject matter knowledge and by teacher initiated phone
calls that take place when a parent has time” (Bennett-Conroy, 2012, p. 104).
Older siblings and other relatives can also be a valuable resource for families,
and many schools in underserved communities also provide afterschool programs
with supervised homework help.