ABSTRACT
The author examined how characteristics related to individual, family, and school environments contribute to immigrant students’ homework completion. Participants were 192 newcomers in an urban high school designed to serve English language learners. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted with data compiled from a larger project on role of homework in immigrant adolescents’ academic lives. The author found that students’ homework completion is shaped by (a) gender, engagement in school, homework environment and learning styles; (b) parental homework support and family conflict; and (c) perceived school violence and school homework supports. The effect of perceived school violence on homework completion differed for boys and girls. Boys’ homework completion was more adversely affected by higher perceptions of violence at school than that of girls.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks go to Carola Suárez-Orozco, who guided the author through every stage of the research, and to the students and staff at the International High School at Prospect Heights for their time and participation in the project.
Notes
Permission to use the school name was granted by the principal of the school.
Indicators of academic English language proficiency, student age, and time in the United States were not included in the analyses. Given the admission criteria of the school where the study was conducted, little variation existed in these variables.