Abstract
Purposes. The purposes of this study were to develop mathematics learning activity packets and to determine to what extent, if any, a parental tutorial program which utilized these learning activity packets, would increase the mathematics achievement and self-concept scores of their children. Ninety-six black third grade students were administered the Math Systems Skills Test and the Self-Concept and Motivation Inventory. Both tests were administered in a pre- and posttest fashion to calculate gain scores for all three groups. Students who failed to achieve a mastery level of 80%.Procedures. Students in the sample were randomly assigned to one of the following three groups: Experimental,Control One, and Control Two. The same teacher instructed all three groups. Three levels of treatments constituted the independent variable. Students in the Experimental group were tutored by their parents with LAP's; those in Control group One did not receive any parental assistance or tutoring; and students in Control group Two were assisted by their parents with mathematics homework, but without the supplementary LAP's. The study lasted nine weeks.Results. One-way analysis of variance, Scheffe's multi-comparison method, and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. Results form the study revealed that parental tutoring with LAP's significantly increased the Experimental group's mathematics achievement scores, but not their self-concept scores. Students in the control groups did not make significant mean gain scores in mathematics achievement or self-concept. A significant correlation coefficient was not found between the two dependent variables, mathematics achievement and self-concept. The study also demonstrated that parents could be trained to tutor their children.Recommendations. (1) Because the selection of the sample was limited to a segregated, black school in an inner-city section of Northwest, Dade County, Florida, a new sample population should be selected that is more representative of a multiethnic community; (2) similar studies should be attempted at the secondary level, especially the junior high, to determine the effects of tutoring on achievement in other academic subjects, such as reading or science; (3) because the success of any tutoring program depends to a large degree on the skills acquired by its tutors, it is recommended that at least four hours be allotted for their training, extended over a two day period; (4) because the possibility that nine weeks was too short a period of time to detect improvement in self-concept scores, the same study should be replicated in a more longitudinal fashion, covering at least one year; (5) school districts should implement parent education programs which teach parents to tutor their children with LAP's or other structured instructional materials; (6) principals of inner-city elementary schools should encourage their teachers to work closely with parents so that they can assume some of the responsibility for helping their children master basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills; and (7) tutorial programs which produce significant academic achievement gains should be implemented in all schools where large numbers of students have been assigned to remedial reading and mathematics programs.