ASSISTments
Last Revised: October 14, 2025
- Issue Areas
- K-12 education
Program overview
Leveraging technology: ASSISTments is a free online learning tool for students to complete homework assignments. The program provides students with immediate feedback and generates reports for teachers to track student progress. The program aims to increase math performance.
Designed for all ages: ASSISTment uses open source educational content to provide problems suitable for all levels from elementary school through advanced high school math. Teachers also have the option to create their own custom problems, allowing them to utilize the questions within their textbook, if they are not already available online, or to build problems based on student need.
Providing instant feedback: On ASSISTments, students can complete online problem sets and exercises assigned by teachers. They have the option to receive hints and are provided with instant feedback and explanations of problems and concepts. The program also contains “skill builder” exercises which focus on increasing student proficiency in a specific math skill (i.e. adding fractions with uncommon denominators).
Compiling progress data: The program tracks students' answers on individual problems, so teachers can generate reports and identify common mistakes for review. Additionally, ASSISTments allows teachers to create individualized assignments, enabling them to assign problems based on individual students' needs. A student who has mastered one topic could be assigned less practice relative to a student struggling with that specific skill.
- Strategies
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Math curricula and interventions
Multiple studies with rigorous designs demonstrate that ASSISTments is a well-supported strategy for increasing student math achievement.
A 2024 randomized controlled trial in 63 North Carolina schools found that ASSISTment has a statistically significant positive impact on student math learning measured by standardized testing scores. This impact was sustained one year after ASSISTments usage. Students of color experienced a greater benefit from using ASSISTments relative to white students.
A 2016 randomized control trial across 46 schools in Maine found that students at schools which implemented ASSISTments had higher math achievement relative to students at schools which did not use the program. Additionally, the study revealed that students who began the study with poorer math performance experienced greater gains from using the program when compared to students who started with above median math scores.
A 2013 randomized controlled trial of 63 7th graders determined that students who used the ASSISTments immediate feedback function for homework performed significantly better on post-tests than students who completed online homework without any feedback.
A 2009 randomized control trial of 28 fifth graders determined that students who utilized ASSISTments to complete their math homework learned more from the assignment relative to students who completed the homework via pencil and paper.
Training teachers: ASSISTments provides teachers with detailed real time data on student performance. Teachers can use the reports to instruct what they spend class time on and identify specific student needs. In the studies of ASSISTments impact, teachers were provided with several days of professional development training on the technology, how to understand its reports and best use the information they provide. Without this training, teachers may be less likely to utilize ASSISTments data and the full benefits of the tool may not be realized.
Ensure equitable technology access: Because ASSISTments is an online program, primarily used for homework, to complete assignments students must have technology at home. As such, schools should provide students with a laptop or tablet and home internet or hotspots when needed so disadvantaged students, who may not normally have access to these technologies, do not fall behind their peers.