Meta-Analysis and Quality of Self-Monitoring Behavior Interventions with Children and Adolescents

Self-monitoring is an intervention that has been used for decades to improve academic fluency in reading, mathematics, spelling, and promote strategies for solving problems, and increasing attention to task and decreases off-task related behaviors. There have been a few reviews of self-monitoring on the variables listed previously, but only one examined study quality and no meta-analysis of self-monitoring behavior (versus academic tasks) has been undertaken. The purpose of this review was to conduct a meta-analysis of the 20 studies that focused on self-monitoring behavior and apply the Council for Exceptional Children’s eight quality indicators. Results from standard mean difference, improvement rate difference, and Tau-U effect size calculations were all in the effective range. Implications for practice are presented. 

Self-monitoring is an intervention that has been used for decades to improve academic fluency in reading, mathematics, spelling, and promote strategies for solving problems, and increasing attention to task and decreases off-task related behaviors. There have been a few reviews of self-monitoring on the variables listed previously, but only one examined study quality and no meta-analysis of self-monitoring behavior (versus academic tasks) has been undertaken. The purpose of this review was to conduct a meta-analysis of the 20 studies that focused on self-monitoring behavior and apply the Council for Exceptional Children’s eight quality indicators. Results from standard mean difference, improvement rate difference, and Tau-U effect size calculations were all in the effective range. Implications for practice are presented.