Homework Practices that Support Students with Disabilities (continued)

Both Bryan and Sullivan-Burstein believe that for any of these strategies to work, the homework assignment must be appropriate and meaningful. They concur that if the homework assignment is too hard, is perceived as busy work, or takes too long to complete, there is a risk of students tuning out and resisting it. And, they add, "Always reward homework completion!"

Increasing Homework Completion-A Success Story
What do you do when students do not return their homework? Verl Curtiss, who teaches fourth grade in the Paradise Valley Unified School District, AZ, found that a variation of Bryan and Sullivan-Burstein's homework planner was the solution.

"My classroom was one of the implementation sites for the research project, so I already knew the power of the homework planner," Curtiss asserts. "When I transferred to my new school where there was little parent involvement, I decided to see if the homework planner might increase family communication around homework and result in improved completion rates."

Curtiss had students develop their own homework calendars. Each page in the calendar reflected one week. There was a space for students to write their homework assignments and a column for parent-teacher notes.

"The cover was a heavy card stock that children decorated," Curtiss describes. "Some students came up with homework tips that they added throughout the planner." Students were expected to take their homework planners home each day and return them the next day to class.

"I had to build a reward system for returning homework and the planners," Curtiss explains. On a self-monitoring chart in their planner students recorded their homework completion status each day. They would

• Color the square for the day green if homework was completed and returned.
• Color the square for the day red if homework was not done.
• Color one-half of the square yellow and one-half of the square red if homework was late.

If students met the success criterion, they received a reward at the end of the week, such as 15 extra minutes of recess.

Curtiss stresses that it is important to monitor students, especially younger ones, to let them know that homework is valued and counts. "In the majority of cases, the weekly reward worked well; however, I had to increase the frequency of rewards for students with behavioral disabilities," Curtiss said. Students kept track of the points they earned in their planners. "The planners became important to parents and the student-they became portfolios of the students' accomplishments."

Curtiss cautions that the success of the homework planner depends on reasonable homework assignments. "Never send any homework home that students cannot do. All homework must be an extension of what they have learned in class. And, make sure that if you need to modify a homework assignment, you do so before sending it home."

Cooperative Homework

Researcher Michael Rosenberg looked at the efficacy of blending cooperative learning teams with individualized homework assignments. With his colleague, Mary O'Melia, who is a principal at a residential treatment center, Rosenberg investigated the effects of homework in conjunction with cooperative learning on early adolescents with mild disabilities.

The researchers chose to follow Robert Slavin's Team Assisted Individualization cooperative learning model because of its built-in provisions for addressing individual needs. Building on this cooperative learning model, Rosenberg and O'Melia designed Cooperative Homework Teams (CHT). "CHT was crafted to maximize instructional time and the benefits of well-designed homework assignments," O'Melia described. CHT uses peer teams to grade and cooperatively make corrections to individualized homework assignments. Here's how CHT works:

• Students are given a placement test to determine their specific basic skills deficiencies.
• Results of the assessment are used to plan instructional lessons and relevant homework assignments.
• Results of the assessment are used as a guide in assigning students to heterogeneous groups.
• At the end of each lesson, students are given individualized assignments (estimated time of completion was approximately 15 minutes) based on their performance. Students are monitored during instruction to ensure that they demonstrate at least moderate acquisition of material.
• The next day, CHT groups meet for 10 minutes. Students submit their individually completed homework assignments to the designated group checker (the role of checker changed daily). The papers are scored and the scores are given to the teacher, who records the scores.
• Teammates assist each other with correcting the errors. At the end of the session, homework assignments are collected and given to the teacher.
• Points are awarded to individuals based on the rate of completion and the percentage correct, regardless of the level of difficulty. Team scores are determined by averaging each member's daily score and using these individual scores to calculate a team mean.
• Each week, awards in the form of certificates are presented to teams who meet or exceed the pre-selected criteria for success.

In earlier studies, Rosenberg had found that two elements-the amount of homework completed and the accuracy of that homework-had a positive effect on achievement. The current results indicated that CHT was effective in increasing both of these. Data also suggested that CHT is likely to be more effective with older students than younger ones who are just transitioning into the middle grades.