Homework is often a hot-button issue for schools. Even with a school homework policy, the homework practices of teachers vary in quality, with some teachers applying best practice standards, while others assign homework too difficult for some students, or collect homework without providing feedback to students. In addition, families in which…

From a developmental construct validity perspective, this study examines motivation and engagement across elementary school, high school, and university/college, with particular focus on the Motivation and Engagement Scale (comprising adaptive, impeding/maladaptive, and maladaptive factors). Findings demonstrated developmental construct validity…

We present a writing task designed to increase students' awareness of chemistry-specific writing practices. This easy-to-use-and-grade task requires students to evaluate 10 short passages, a table, and a figure, representative of excerpts from Introduction, Experimental, Results, and Discussion sections of a journal article. Most of the items…

A problem exists in grading practices accurately measuring student achievement. Both students' academic achievements and nonacademic factors, such as effort, homework completion, and behaviors continue to factor into grades. This combination can lead to inaccurate representation of true academic ability, rendering a grade useless. While…

This research has been conducted in response to struggling math students and parents who become frustrated while trying to help their student at home. A need remains for a treatment that can increase math success and lower the anxiety level associated with math. The rationale for this research is an attempt to increase students' math success by…

According to neutralization theory, to justify unethical behavior delinquents often embrace strategies that deflect personal responsibility for their actions from them and toward other persons or contextual factors outside their control. Drawing on neutralization theory, this case study explores how middle school students endorsed comparable…

Teaching is a complex profession, and although every context is unique, teachers face common challenges. The authors have identified two challenges that nearly every teacher encounters: (1) managing a classroom of students; and (2) addressing the needs of individual students. Although these are not teachers' only challenges, the authors highlight…

It is well established that girls outperform boys in schools, but the available empirical evidence suggests that the determinants of the gender achievement gap are poorly understood. The present paper looks inside families for explanations. Rich data for families with children in the lower secondary school in Norway are used to investigate whether…

This research compared the effectiveness, in terms of mathematical achievement, of online homework to textbook homework over an entire semester for 145 students enrolled in multiple sections of college algebra at a large community college. A quasi-experimental, posttest design was used to analyze the effect on mathematical achievement, as measured…

When the bell rings at the end of the school day, many elementary students in Rosa Parks School in Portland, Oregon, go to the local Boys and Girls Club to receive homework help and take part in fun activities. It's these kinds of partnerships between schools and government and nonprofit agencies that the Obama administration is hoping to foster.…

The purpose of this study was to identify obstacles which prevent active participation at home and at school for economically disadvantaged families. Parental involvement has been recognized as one of the most important variables influencing student academic achievement (Henrich & Gadaire, 2008; Jeynes, 2007; Stewart, 2008). Recent history…

The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) has implemented a program, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC), to help establish local community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities for children to: (1) meet state and local student standards in core academic subjects; (2) offer students a broad array of…

Students are often obliged to fulfill home assignments for school. While being engaged into such compulsory schooling, learners may be tempted to switch to a leisure alternative. Whenever students pursue the learning task although attractive leisure alternatives are present, thoughts about the missed activity can lead to motivational interference.…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of a personal digital assistant (PDA) would facilitate the recording of homework by an adolescent boy with Asperger syndrome (AS). A multiple-baseline-across-settings design was used in the student's history, English, and science classes to determine the accuracy with which he recorded (a)…

Purpose. The purpose of this study in Phases 1 and 2 was to conduct an exploratory analysis of what chronically truant students state are the reasons they do not attend school. Methodology. The subjects in this study were 202 randomly selected students from four high schools in Los Angeles County. Subjects responded to the research instrument: (1)…