| A review of the literature documents a positive relationship between homework completion and accuracy rates with both criterion-based and standardized measures of academic achievement. Due to this positive correlation, increasing homework completion and accuracy rates has become the objective of numerous studies which have successfully employed both home-and school-based interventions. Within the school setting, group contingency management systems, which allow the researcher to target the behavior of a group of individuals while applying the same criteria for reinforcement across all members, have successfully targeted a variety of behaviors including completion of classwork, and disruptive and pro-social behaviors.; The current research examined the effect of an interdependent group contingency management system on increasing students' homework completion and accuracy in the classroom. A single-subject ABAB design was utilized in a sixth grade special needs classroom with one teacher and eleven students. The teacher identified nine students who historically had difficulties with homework completion and accuracy. Participants were eligible to receive free time at the end of the day if they were able to increase homework completion and accuracy rates above baseline levels. Components of the intervention including the target behavior (i.e., homework completion, homework accuracy, or both), reinforcement (i.e., amount of free time) and reinforcement criteria (i.e., set according to baseline levels of performance) were randomized.; The data suggest that the intervention was variable in improving homework completion rates. There was no evidence to support the efficacy of the group contingency management system in increasing homework accuracy. Post-hoc analyses indicated moderate support for the intervention in increasing the frequency with which the students completed their homework. Recommendations for future studies targeting homework completion and accuracy are made. |
