EFFECTS OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN ISOLATION OR IN COMBINATION WITH PEER TUTORING ON STUDENT SELF-CONCEPT AND MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT

The present study examined the effects of a home-based, parent involvement (PI) intervention and the reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) intervention on the self-concept and mathematics achievement of academically at-risk urban elementary school students. Seventy-two 4th- and 5th-grade students evidencing difficulties in mathematics were selected. Students were assigned randomly to 3 conditions: PI + RPT, PI, and practice control (PC). Student self-concept reports showed that students in the PI + RPT and PI conditions reported higher ratings of scholastic and behavior conduct than controls. Students in the PI + RPT conditions perceived themselves as more socially confident than did PI or PC students. Mathematics findings indicated that students who received PI + RPT displayed higher levels of accurate mathematics computations on a curriculum-based measure than PI or PC students. PI + RPT students also had significantly higher scores on a standardized measure of mathematics computation than PC students. The relationships between the PI intervention components and school adjustment were discussed.