There is a national push from many directions to improve student achievement in all
STEM areas. A study done by Harvard University’s Program on Education Policy and
Governance (HuffPost, 2012) found that the United States students are making gains at a fraction
of the rate of other countries. Assistments is a free online program that allows students to submit
homework online. With this program it is possible that students are able to be given hints to
assist them in completing problems and then receive immediate feedback on the correctness of
their answers. This study examined the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of using an online
homework submission program on student achievement in 7th grade mathematics. This study
used a quantitative approach in which once class was used as a study group and three classes
were used as a control group. While all classes still received the same instruction, the study
group used the online homework submission program which provided hints on problems and
immediate correctness feedback, and the control group submitted homework using the traditional
paper and pencil method and was provided next day feedback. The researcher looked for
possible relationships between student achievement and the use of the online homework
submission program over the course of a full chapter in the mathematical curriculum.