The effects of homework Derby on the completion and accuracy of mathematics homework of 1st grade students

Abstract

The purpose of this study will be to examine the effects of a relatively new and underresearched, team-based intervention called Homework Derby - an intra-class team competition program - on the homework completion and accuracy rates in mathematics of 1st grade students. Homework Derby (HD) infuses powerful components derived from the Class Wide Peer Tutoring Model (e.g., weekly team competition, daily posting of student scores, and contingent rewards) and applies them to daily homework completion and accuracy rates. This investigation will answer the following questions: (a) what effect will homework derby have on 1st graders' daily math completion rates, and (b) what effects will it have on their daily math homework accuracy? When the intervention was implemented, the percentage of students completing math homework increased from 73% to 95% in the final intervention stage. Homework accuracy also improved using homework derby as an intervention. The class' overall homework average before the intervention was put into place was failing, with a mean of only 52% and rose to 72% during the final intervention phase. Findings of the present study will be reviewed in detail and practical implications of the study will be discussed. [from author's abstract]