Assessing children's homework performance: Development of multi-dimensional, multi-informant rating scales

Abstract

Efforts to develop interventions to improve homework performance have been impeded by limitations in the measurement of homework performance. This study was conducted to develop rating scales for assessing homework performance among students in elementary and middle school. Items on the scales were intended to assess student strengths as well as deficits in homework performance. The sample included 163 students attending two school districts in the Northeast. Parents completed the 36-item Homework Performance Questionnaire - Parent Scale (HPQ-PS). Teachers completed the 22-item teacher scale (HPQ-TS) for each student for whom the HPQ-PS had been completed. A common factor analysis with principal axis extraction and promax rotation was used to analyze the findings. The results of the factor analysis of the HPQ-PS revealed three salient and meaningful factors: student task orientation/efficiency, student competence, and teacher support. The factor analysis of the HPQ-TS uncovered two salient and substantive factors: student responsibility and student competence. The findings of this study suggest that the HPQ is a promising set of measures for assessing student homework functioning and contextual factors that may influence performance. Directions for future research are presented.

Parent Attendance and Homework Adherence Predict Response to a Family–School Intervention for Children With ADHD

“…Alpha coefficients for these factors in this study were .88 and .78, respectively. The Homework Performance Questionnaire – Teacher Version (HPQ-T; Power, Dombrowski, Watkins, Mautone, & Eagle, 2007) assesses teacher perceptions of students’ homework behavior and has established validity (Mautone, Marshall, Costigan, Clarke, & Power, 2012) for children with ADHD. The HPQ-T includes the 7-item Student Responsibility factor, which had an alpha coefficient of .91 in this study.…”

Predicting homework motivation and homework effort in six school subjects: The role of person and family characteristics, classroom factors, and school track

“…High-quality parental involvement might, for example, be associated with positive emotions or intrinsic value when doing homework (Knollmann & Wild, 2007), but not affect the more extrinsic elements of homework motivation. We also suggest that additional measures of homework performance (see Power, Dombrowski, Watkins, Mautone, & Eagle, 2007) and of learning from homework be included.…”

Evaluating the Factor Validity of the Children’s Organizational Skills Scale in Youth with ADHD

“…For example, the Homework Problems Checklist (HPC; Anesko, Schoiock, Ramirez & Levine, 1987) is a parent-completed measure that contains items that ask how frequently a child forgets an assignment or does not have all materials necessary to complete an assignment. The Homework Performance Questionnaire (HPQ; Power et al, 2007; Power et al, 2015) also provides an assessment of homework performance in terms of competence and skills and has both parent and teacher versions. However, items from both measures are specific to homework problems, and do not measure many aspects of OTMP abilities.…”