Using Value-Added Models to Measure Teacher Effects on Students’ Motivation and Achievement

Value-added (VA) models measure teacher contributions to student learning and are increasingly employed in educational reform efforts. Using data from 35 seventh-grade teachers and 2,026 students across seven schools, we employ VA methods to measure teacher contributions to students’ motivational orientations (mastery and performance achievement goals) and their mathematics performance. The analysis suggests less variation in teachers’ contributions to students’ achievement goals than mathematics achievement. However, during a time when most students’ mastery motivation is declining sharply, a one standard deviation increase in teacher contributions to student mastery orientation is associated with a 40% smaller decline in student mastery goals. Teacher mastery contributions are also associated with gains in a student’s seventh-grade mathematics achievement (d =.11). In addition to using VA measures to focus on improving student achievement, these measures can be used to orient teachers, schools, and districts on the enhancement of students’ motivation to learn

Using Value-Added Models to Measure Teacher Effects on Students’ Motivation and Achievement

Value-added (VA) models measure teacher contributions to student learning and are increasingly employed in educational reform efforts. Using data from 35 seventh-grade teachers and 2,026 students across seven schools, we employ VA methods to measure teacher contributions to students’ motivational orientations (mastery and performance achievement goals) and their mathematics performance. The analysis suggests less variation in teachers’ contributions to students’ achievement goals than mathematics achievement. However, during a time when most students’ mastery motivation is declining sharply, a one standard deviation increase in teacher contributions to student mastery orientation is associated with a 40% smaller decline in student mastery goals. Teacher mastery contributions are also associated with gains in a student’s seventh-grade mathematics achievement (d =.11). In addition to using VA measures to focus on improving student achievement, these measures can be used to orient teachers, schools, and districts on the enhancement of students’ motivation to learn

Early life infection alters adult BALB/c hippocampal gene expression in a sex specific manner

During the perinatal period, the developing brain is sensitive to environmental events. Deleterious programing resulting from infection, dietary restriction, or psychological stress has been observed and affects adult immune and endocrine systems as well as behavior. In this study, we determined whether neonatal infection permanently alters immune and glucocorticoid receptor signaling pathways in the adult hippocampus. A Chlamydia muridarum respiratory infection was induced in male and female mice at birth. Mice were allowed to recover and microarray analysis was conducted on RNA from adult hippocampal tissue. In males, neonatal infection induced an up-regulation of genes associated with cellular development, nervous system development and function, such as cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A. After neonatal infection, adult females exhibited a T-helper 2 immune bias with genes such as major histocompatibility complex, class II, DQ beta 1 up-regulated. Expression of prolactin, vasopressin, hypocretin, corticotrophin-releasing hormone-binding protein, and oxytocin were confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. This study shows that neonatal infection differentially alters the gene expression profiles of both female and male mice along immune and neuroendocrine pathways.O. Wynne, J. C. Horvat, A. Osei-Kumah, R. Smith, P. M. Hansbro, V. L. Clifton & D. M. Hodgso

Understanding and supporting student motivation for learning

This chapter highlights the importance of motivation for children’s learning and describes the ways in which motivation may be strengthened. We begin by discussing the construct of motivation and the various theories that have attempted to explain why some students are more highly motivated than others. Drawing on the framework of mastery motivation, we describe developmental aspects of the drive for mastery, highlighting the ways in which this drive increasingly becomes differentiated and affected by interplay of individual child characteristics, such as self-efficacy and self-regulation, and contextual factors, such as cognitively stimulating environments, optimal challenge, and support for autonomy. The contexts in which children live and learn have important implications for motivation. We discuss motivation in children with learning and developmental disabilities, considering the experiences that potentially undermine their engagement with learning. The final part of the chapter focuses on strategies for promoting and sustaining motivation. In particular, we emphasize the importance of providing optimal challenge, experiences of success, and support for autonomy, as well as the benefits of positive strategies for developing self-regulatory skills