What is homework? What value and benefit does it have for students? Some common perceptions from the students' perspective is that it is busy work, it takes away from other activities (i.e. sports, clubs, hanging out with friends, jobs, etc.), and/or it prevents them from getting as much sleep as they would like. From the teachers' perspective: it develops responsibility and good study habits, it helps the students prepare for what they will experience in college, and/or it takes precious time to design, assign and grade. The amount of homework given to students has varied over the past century, however, the amount of time spent on homework is up 51% since 1981 ("The myth about homework"). With the advent of No Child Left Behind, daily homework time has increased substantially. Countries that outscore America on standardized tests such as Japan, Denmark and the Czech Republic assign less homework than do the U.S. schools. Conversely, countries that score low on standardized tests, such as Greece, Thailand and Iran, give a much higher amount of homework. Some research has found those who do homework tend to "...outperform students who do not do it by 69%" ("Review of literature on homework"). (Contains 27 resources.)