The Relationship Between Grade Point Average and Understanding of Homework\u27s Purpose and Management in Economically Disadvantaged High School Students

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a key measure of academic achievement, grade point average (GPA), could accurately be predicted from a linear combination of understanding homework’s purpose as measured by the Homework Purpose Scale (HPS) and by the student’s approach to homework management and homework behaviors as measured by the Homework Management Scale (HMS). This quantitative study is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey design comprised of two previously established valid and reliable scales: the Homework Purpose Scale and the Homework Management Scale. The study’s design is correlational using a sample (N = 300) of pre-existing high school (grade 9-12) classes within seven Catholic high schools serving economically disadvantaged students located in seven different US cities. A multiple regression was conducted to evaluate whether there is a significant predictive relationship between the criterion variable (GPA) and the linear combination of predictor variables (HPS and HMS) for the economically disadvantaged Catholic high school students. The study’s results demonstrated no statistically significant relationship between students’ understanding of homework’s purpose and management of homework and students’ grade point average. Recommendations for future research are to examine whether relationships exist between homework purpose, homework management, and grade point average with students of different races and ethnicity, with students of different genders, and students at different grade levels. Though not in the purpose of the current study, when these variables were looked at separately, significant correlations were found to be present