Jennifer McCoy doesn't mind fitting in two to three hours of homework per day.

That now seems like a break for the 16-year-old senior at Attleboro High School: It's still a few hours less than she used to put in cracking the books in middle school.

`` I'd start my homework when I got home from school, and do it until I went to bed,'' said McCoy, who plans to attend college and join the Air Force Reserve upon graduation.

A study released last week found that McCoy's study time isn't even in the ballpark of the average American student. Most U.S. students in elementary grades through high school spend less than an hour studying most nights, according to the study by the Brookings' Institution's Brown Center on Education Policy.

Many local students and educators say that despite headlines last week in the nation's newspapers trumpeting the report's findings, in these parts the assignments are still piling up. `` We're always hearing there's too much homework,'' said Maurice Camire, assistant principal at Attleboro High School.

While that's what one would expect to hear from students who actually have to haul all those books home and do the after-school studying, the sentiment is also echoed by local educators.

`` I think the amount of homework assigned has gone up, and gone up drastically in the past 20 years,'' said Ken Aubert, a guidance counselor at Foxboro High School. `` I have students who are in several AP (advanced placement) courses who are spending an average of four to six hours on homework.

`` Academically, this is a highly charged region, and education is very competitive at the high school and college level,'' Aubert said. `` Expectations are very high, and they've risen even higher with the inception of the MCAS.''

While there's no doubt there are students out there hitting the books all night, studies show it's not assignments that are piling up, but evidence about the lack of homework around the country that's now reached a near critical mass.

Tom Loveless, author of the Brookings' study, told USA Today that the too-heavy homework debate has been `` heavy on anecdotes and light on statistics.''

The studies that Loveless looked at, and countless others over the years, all suggest that the amount of homework done by American students hasn't gone up in many decades, and easily falls within U.S. Department of Education's guidelines.

Those recommend 20 minutes of homework for grades 1-6, and up to two hours a day for grades 7-12. More than that, should raise red flags, experts say.

`` If your child is being assigned significantly more homework than this guideline on a regular basis, or if she is being assigned so many projects requiring extensive research that every weekend is spent at the library, it may be time to speak up,'' said Anne Rambo, associate professor of family therapy at Nova Southeastern University and author of `` I Know My Child Can Do Better!''

J.E. Stone, a professor at East Tennessee State University's College of Education, said he takes any anti-homework articles with a grain of salt, and points out that the debate is not new. `` Opposition to homework has been a mainstay of progressive education for the past 100 years,'' he said.

He cites the case of Edward Bok, editor of `` The Ladies Home Journal,'' who launched a campaign against homework in 1900. Bok argued that children younger than 15 shouldn't be assigned any homework.

In the early 20th century, California actually banned homework.

In recent years, researchers such as Carol Huntsinger, an education professor at the College of Lake County near Chicago, tried to face down the homework issue. Sixty-two percent of the students she surveyed three years ago said they had just the right amount of homework, or not enough.

A national poll around the same time by the nonpartisan research organization Public Agenda found, likewise, about two-thirds of parents thought their children received the right amount of homework, while only one in 10 thought they had too much.

Lately, others have joined the same chorus.

`` Our and other research confirms the general findings of the Brookings Institution study,'' said Joyce L. Epstein, director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships and the National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University.

`` Most students are not overwhelmed by homework. Also, most studies indicate that students who complete their homework do better in school than similar students who do not do their assignments.''

The problem with any sweeping study like the one done by the Brookings Institution, is that it's hard to see the nuances or encompass the extremes. General statements about anything young people do or feel are fraught with problems, especially something as personal as homework.

Some children are better students or more ambitious than others and set their priorities accordingly. Those students will do more studying at home, while some others absorb classroom lessons like a sponge and can minimize home study time and still ace every exam.

Meanwhile, a student who doodles in class and isn't considering college might complain that even 20 minutes of homework is burdensome.

`` It's an individualized thing. But once a child realizes they want to be competitive, the amount of homework and the quality of homework becomes important to them,'' said Paul Klenk, father of a high-achieving Norton High student and a health teacher at North Attleboro High School.

Klenk said his experience is that there is more homework being assigned than ever these days. He said his daughter spends two to three hours a night on homework, and had a summer reading list that hung over her head throughout vacation like a cloud.

`` You lose out on your childhood due to academic burdens,'' Klenk said. However, he says he realizes there is a price to be paid for achievement.

`` This is what I told my girls: The better you do, the larger the door you open. I'm in favor of it, but also cognizant of the amount of work it takes,'' he said.

But is Klenk's daughter an exception to the rule? A recent visit to Attleboro High School showed there is quite a range in the amount of homework students do.

Jon Coltrain, 18, says now that he's a senior, he spends about a half-hour per night studying, along with some time during the school day. The college-bound student says he generally only gets homework from one of his classes, though had much more in previous years.

`` Now that I'm a senior, I don't get much homework,'' he said.

Contrast that with classmate Abdu Abdullah, 19, who came to this country from Syria about 18 months ago, and spends about five hours per night on homework.

`` I'm known as the famous non-sleeper,'' he said.

While many students do their homework `` just to get it over with and get credit for it,'' Abdullah said he takes a different tack.

`` I want to understand it and do it for studying purposes,'' he said.

Due to his recent arrival into the school system, he also carries a heavier class load than other seniors so he can graduate in June.

In his native Syria, Abdullah said students get less homework and more study time allotted in class. Here, he said he sleeps a few hours a night and puts in the time it takes to lay the foundation for his future.

`` It makes life easier, and people respect me because I'm smart,'' Abdullah said.

Some experts say the great homework debate shouldn't be about time, but rather content and purpose.

`` One of the problems is that educators use homework for the wrong reasons, and that parents do not have a clear set of expectations regarding what homework should accomplish for the student,'' said Tom Lasley, dean of the University of Dayton's School of Education and Allied Professions and a member of the Ohio Governor's Commission for Teaching Success.

`` You do not assign homework to teach students self-discipline or so that students have a lot of time at the desk when they are at home,'' he said. `` Homework should be assigned for the purposes of reinforcing skills or for developing certain critical skill sets in students that would be required for completion of more complex projects.''

Paul Klenk's point of view, as both teacher and parent, is that common sense should prevail.

`` My philosophy is that a kid should be able to go to school, participate in an extracurricular activity of their choice, do homework and have time for themselves,'' he said.

JOHN WINTERS can be reached at 508-236-0434 or at jwinters@thesunchronicle.com.