capstone b, app. k - cutshall

8/9/2019 Capstone B, App. K - Cutshall

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The effects of homework gradingstrategies on completion rates and

overall student achievement

Katie Cutshall

Coopersville Middle School

Capstone B:


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This study was conducted during the2009-2010 school year at CoopersvilleMiddle School.


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The study set out to answer 3 questions:

1. How do factors of homework grading policiesand extrinsic rewards affect students homeworkcompletion and motivation?

2. What do students feel is necessary to makehomework more meaningful?

3. What is the relationship between homeworkcompletion and a student's overall achievement?


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Q1. How do factors of homework grading policies andextrinsic rewards affect students homework completion

and motivation?

Source 1: Teacher Survey

6.7

44.4

13.3

35.6

Figure 1, Teacher Opinions on Grading Policies: percentage of teachers

surveyed who grade homework according to factors indicated

Not graded

Accuracy

Completion

Variety


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and motivation?

Source 2: Homework completion rates from grade book during twodifferent grading strategies

Accuracy

Pre-Intervention

Completion

86 87 88 89 90 91

Figure 2, Percentage of students submitting homework on time during grading strategies


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and motivation?

Source 3: Homework completion rates during extrinsic rewards

Pre-Intervention

Extrinsic Rew ards

89 90 91

Figure 3, Percentage of students submitting homework on time


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Q2. What do students feel is necessary to makehomework more meaningful?

Source 1: Student survey

25%

58%

5%

12%

Figure 5, Percentage of students' preferences in homework grading methods

Accuracy

Completion

Not graded

Variety


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Source 2: Teacher observations

Students commented about the length of the homeworkassignments.

Students asked to work with partners on their homework inclass.

Students commented about application problems being on thehomework assignments.

Student comments ranked by frequency

f= 113

f= 74

f= 57


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Source 3: Another student survey

another reason

it will teach me to have a good work ethid

it helps me practice what I have learned

it helps me do better on tests

my parents will be mad if I do not do it

it is graded

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Figure 6, Percentages of students' responses to "I do my homework because..."

Pre-Survey

Post-Survey


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Q3. What is the relationship between homeworkcompletion and a student's overall achievement?

Source 1: Individual student homework completion rates


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Source 2: Student assessment scores as overall achievement

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Figure 8, Homework completion vs. student achievement

Homework Completion (percentage)

OverallAchievement

(Testscoreavg.percentage)


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Source 3: Another teacher survey

3%

40%

52%

5%

Figure 9, Percentage of teacher responses to survey question: How often they

see a student with poor homework completion but good achievement.

Frequently

Occasionally

Rarely

Never


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Conclusion:

Students prefer homework to be graded oncompletion

Teachers prefer homework to be graded more

on accuracy

Extrinsic Rewards helped homework completionrates

The higher the homework completion, the higherthe overall achievement


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Action Plan:

Teachers should use a variety of gradingstrategies to meet the needs of students andteachers

Extrinsic rewards should be used to helpstudents complete homework

Monitor all strategies and the results to

continue to make improvements Help students understand the importance ofhomework


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Mills (2007) says that knowledge gained

through action research can liberate students,teachers, and administrators and enhancelearning, teaching, and policy making (p. 8).

By doing research and making informeddecisions on what is best for students,

teachers will find themselves empowered to

make positive changes in their classrooms andto share their findings with others.


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The full study is available for review.


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References

Amerine, M., Pender, L., & Schuler, K. (2009). Motivating intervention strategies to increase homeworkcompletion.Unpublished master's thesis, Saint Xavier University, Chicago, IL.

Baines, L. (2008). Learning from the World: Achieving More by Doing Less. Education Digest. 73(5), 23-26.

Bartel, L. & Cameron, L. (2009). The Researchers Ate the Homework! Education Canada. 49(1), 48-51.

Bempechat, J. (2004). The motivational benefits of homework: A social-cognitive perspective. Theory into

practice. 43(3), 189-96.

Bryan, T., & Burstein, K. (2004). Improving homework completion and academic performance: Lessons fromspecial education. Theory into practice. 43(3), 213-19.

Cooper, H. (2008). Effective Homework Assignments. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.Retrieved February 13, 2009, from http://www.nctm.org/news/content.aspx?id=13812

Fairbanks, E. K., Clark, M., & Barry, J. (2005). Developing a comprehensive homework policy. Principal.84(3), 36-39.

Heitzmann, R. (2007). Target homework to maximize learning. Education digest: Essential readingscondensed for quick review. 72(7), 40-43.

Kohn, A. (2006). The Homework myth: Why our kids get too much of a bad thing. Philadelphia: Da Capo

Press.

Mills, G. E., (2007). Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher. Upper Sadle River, NJ: Pearson

Education, Inc.

Protheroe, N. (2009). Good homework policy. Principal. 89(1), 42-45.

capstone b, app. k - cutshall

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