The Homework, Organization, and Planning Skills (HOPS) Intervention

Abstract

The HOPS intervention focuses specifically on helping students develop and implement effective systems for materials organization, planning, and time-management surrounding homework completion and test preparation. This is because homework, organization, and planning skills are important mechanisms through which students learn and engage in school (Ramdass and Zimmerman, J Adv Acad 22(2):194–218, 2011; Wang and Holcombe, Am Educ Res J 47(3):633–662, 2010). Further, effective use of these skills is strongly associated with academic achievement (Bikic et al., Clin Psychol Rev 52:108–123, 2017; Cooper et al., Rev Educ Res 76(1):1–62, 2006; DiPerna and Elliott, Sch Psychol Rev 31(3):293–297, 2002; Mega et al., J Educ Psychol 106(1):121–131, 2014; Zimmerman, Achieving academic excellence: a self-regulatory perspective. In: The pursuit of excellence through education, p. 85–110, 2002). In the research and popular literature, organization and planning skills go by many different names, which unfortunately lead to confusion about the best way for schools and practitioners to promote these abilities. Accordingly, this section begins with an attempt to define the core constructs targeted by the HOPS intervention, and how they relate to other commonly used terms. We then move on to a description of how the HOPS intervention targets these skills and provide a brief review of the evidence base for the intervention. This section concludes with future directions, focusing on the potential for the HOPS intervention to be implemented and evaluated using a tiered, response-to-intervention approach.