Goals and tracking went with big gains in work done; comparison studies were mixed.

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   312 students in 34 studies. 282 had learning disabilities, 24 had ADHD, 3 had both and 3 had no disability. Ages ran from 5 to 36, and about two thirds were in elementary school.

2. 02

   What they did

   Students were taught to manage their own work by tracking it, rewarding themselves or talking through tasks, and some set goals. Most studies compared each student with their own earlier work. Six group studies compared the same teaching with and without these skills.

3. 03

   What happened

   Students who set goals and tracked their work finished much more, in studies with no comparison group. Tracking alone gave only small gains in quality, and results were mixed across the six studies with other groups. Their average was slightly worse, and many studies did not say how students were picked.

What the review found

1. No comparison

   Students who set goals and tracked their work finished much more of it than before.

   • Action: Set a specific goalused
   • Action: Track your progressused

   Pooled analysis of 0 studies · no comparison group · behaviour was recorded · ⚠ mixes trials with other kinds of study

2. No comparison

   Students who tracked their work improved their quality of work only a little, with no other group to compare.

   • Action: Track your progressused

   Pooled analysis of 0 studies · no comparison group · ⚠ mixes trials with other kinds of study

3. Mixed

   Across six studies, these skills gave mixed results, with some studies better and others slightly worse.

   • Action: Set a specific goaltested
   • Action: Track your progresstested

   Pooled analysis of 6 studies · vs students who got the same teaching without these skills · ⚠ mixes trials with other kinds of study

Source