Immigrant Students’ Homework: Ecological Perspective on Facilitators and Impediments to Task Completion

A significant body of research has addressed factors associated with homework completion among mainstream English-speaking students, yet there is little such research focusing on immigrant adolescents. This study uses data from the Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study to examine individual and ecological context characteristics associated with homework completion among newcomer immigrant students from Central America, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, and China. Regression analyses showed that strong academic skills, classroom engagement, and school violence were significant predictors of homework completion. Additionally, several indirect effects were found. Students’ classroom engagement mediated the effects of parental employment and family composition on their homework completion. Classroom engagement and academic skills also mediated the effect of gender on homework completion. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.