THE EFFECT OF PARENT PARTICIPATION IN STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE THE HOMEWORK PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS WHO ARE AT RISK

The effect of teaching parents of at-risk students to facilitate a hom e-based self-management program to improve homework performance and ac ademic achievement was investigated. The parents of 26 sixth- and seve nth-grade students from two middle school programs for at-risk youth r eceived training and implemented home-based self-management and reinfo rcement strategies. Results indicated that overall levels of homework completion and homework quality increased significantly for those stud ents whose parents consistently implemented the 10-week homework progr am. Significant increases in mathematics achievement also occurred. Th ese results suggest that the practice of homework may be an important element of academic programming for students at risk and students with disabilities and that parents may play a primary role in the homework process.