Achievement goal profiles and developments in effort and achievement in upper elementary school

Background The multiple goal perspective posits that certain combinations of achievement goals are more favourable than others in terms of educational outcomes. Aims This study aimed to examine longitudinally whether students’ achievement goal profiles and transitions between profiles are associated with developments in self-reported and teacher-rated effort and academic achievement in upper elementary school. Sample Participants were 722 fifth-grade students and their teachers in fifth and sixth grade (N = 68). Methods Students reported on their achievement goals and effort in language and mathematics three times in grade 5 to grade 6. Teachers rated students’ general school effort. Achievement scores were obtained from school records. Goal profiles were derived with latent profile and transition analyses. Longitudinal multilevel analyses were conducted. Results Theoretically favourable goal profiles (high mastery and performance-approach goals, low on performance-avoidance goals), as well as transitions from less to more theoretically favourable goal profiles, were associated with higher levels and more growth in effort for language and mathematics and with stronger language achievement gains. Conclusions Overall, these results provide support for the multiple goal perspective and show the sustained benefits of favourable goal profiles beyond effects of cognitive ability and background characteristics

Domain-specificity of motivation : A longitudinal study in upper primary school

The purpose of this study was to examine the domain-specificity of motivation in upper primary school. A sample of 722 students reported on their achievement goals, self-efficacy, and effort in language and mathematics twice a year during grade five and six. Results of confirmatory factor analyses and latent growth curve modeling showed that motivational constructs in language and mathematics were domain-specific in nature and developments in domain-specific motivational constructs mostly predicted achievement growth in corresponding subject domains. Yet, compared to previous studies in secondary or higher education, the degree of domain-specificity in upper primary school was found to be limited. High cross-domain correlations indicated a high degree of generality and similar longitudinal developments co-occurred across both domains. Especially achievement goals were highly domain-general. The results suggest that the degree of domain-specificity depends on the nature of motivational constructs and students´ age. Implications of these findings for practice and research are discussed

Effects of full-time and part-time high-ability programs on developments in students’ achievement emotions

This study focused on effects of high-ability programs on students’ achievement emotions, i.e. emotions that students experience that are associated with achievement activities. Participants were students in grade 4–6 of primary education: 218 students attended full-time high-ability programs, 245 attended part-time high-ability programs (i.e. external pull-out class). Using propensity score matching, they were matched to a control group of 189 students from regular education with similar cognitive abilities. The respondents filled out questionnaires on their achievement emotions three times during a school year. Results of multilevel analyses showed that students who attended full-time high-ability programs did not report more beneficial achievement emotions compared to similar students in regular education. In contrast, students in part-time programs experienced more positive and less negative emotions during the part-time program compared to the control group in regular education. No differences in longitudinal developments throughout the school year were found between the groups

Domain-specificity of motivation : A longitudinal study in upper primary school

The purpose of this study was to examine the domain-specificity of motivation in upper primary school. A sample of 722 students reported on their achievement goals, self-efficacy, and effort in language and mathematics twice a year during grade five and six. Results of confirmatory factor analyses and latent growth curve modeling showed that motivational constructs in language and mathematics were domain-specific in nature and developments in domain-specific motivational constructs mostly predicted achievement growth in corresponding subject domains. Yet, compared to previous studies in secondary or higher education, the degree of domain-specificity in upper primary school was found to be limited. High cross-domain correlations indicated a high degree of generality and similar longitudinal developments co-occurred across both domains. Especially achievement goals were highly domain-general. The results suggest that the degree of domain-specificity depends on the nature of motivational constructs and students´ age. Implications of these findings for practice and research are discussed

The effect of high versus low guidance structured tasks on mathematical creativity

International audienceTo engage in challenging tasks, students need to feel some autonomy and competence. Providing structure within the task can help to meet these needs. This study investigates the influence of structure within a modelling task on mathematical creativity among 79 eleventh grade groups of students. Two versions of the task were developed and the groups were randomly assigned within their classroom to one of these. The analysis explored: (i) the level of mathematical creativity in groups solutions and (ii) if they were dependent on the amount of structure. The results were not statistically significant and, therefore, the question remains open. Additional results and implication of this study to mathematics education are further discussed

Relations between adolescents' self-evaluations, time perspectives, motivation for school and their achievement in different countries and at different ages

The present study focused on the relations between the self-efficacy, social self-concept, time perspectives, school investment and academic achievement of students in four different European countries and in different adolescence periods. A total of 1623 students completed questionnaires. The relations between the concepts proved not to be specific to the Western or to the former Communist bloc countries studied. The expected general decline in investment and academic achievement over the adolescence period showed up in all four countries studied. Contrary to our hypothesis, however, this decline could not be explained by growing influences of either social self-concept or time perspectives regarding personal development on their investment. In fact, the effects of social self-concept were strongest for the youngest adolescence group. Students’ social self-concept was the best predictor for their investment, while self-efficacy proved to predict academic achievement best in all adolescence periods.La présente étude est centrée sur les relations entre efficacité de soi, concept social de soi, perspectives futures, investissement scolaire et performance scolaire, pris à différentes périodes de l’adolescence et provenant de quatre pays européens différents. En tout, 1623 élèves ont rempli les questionnaires. Les relations entre les concepts se sont révélées n’être pas spécifiques à un type de pays, en l’occurrence un pays occidental ou un ex-pays de l’Est. La diminution escomptée en termes d’investissement et de performance au cours de l’adolescence se manifeste dans tous les pays. Du point de vue du développement personnel en lien avec l’investissement consenti, ce déclin n’a cependant pu être expliqué, comme nous nous y attendions, par les influences croissantes ni du concept social de soi ni des perspectives futures. Le concept social de soi joue même le rôle le plus important auprès des plus jeunes adolescents. Pour prédire leur investissement, cet aspect s’est révélé le meilleur indicateur tandis que l’efficacité de soi est le meilleur indicateur pour prédire la performance de toutes les périodes de l’adolescence

Changing classroom practices: the role of school-wide capacity for sustainable improvement

Purpose – Elementary schools have been confronted with large-scale educational reforms as strategies to improve the educational quality. While building school-wide capacity for improvement is considered critical for changing teachers’ classroom practices, there is still little empirical evidence for link between enhanced school capacity for improvement and instructional change. In this study, the authors examined the impact of school improvement capacity on changes in teachers’ classroom practices over a period of time. Leadership practices, school organizational conditions, teacher motivation and teacher learning were used to measure school-wide capacity for improvement. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Mixed-model analysis of longitudinal data over a four years (2005-2008) period of time from 862 teachers of 32 Dutch elementary schools were used to test the impact of school improvement capacity on changing teachers’ instructional practices. Findings – The results showed that organizational-level conditions and teacher-level conditions play an important, but different role in changing teachers’ classroom practices. Whereas teacher factors mainly affect changes in teachers’ classroom practices, organizational factors are of significant importance to enhance teacher motivation and teacher learning. Research limitations/implications – More longitudinal research is needed to gain better insight into the opportunities and limits of building school-wide capacity to stimulate instructional change. Practical implications – By encouraging teachers to question their own beliefs, facilitating opportunities for teachers to work together to solve problems, and through the promotion of shared decision making, school leaders can reinforce the personal and social identification of teachers with the organization. As a consequence, teachers will feel increasingly committed and are more willing to change their classroom practices. Additionally, school leaders can use the findings from this study and the related instrument as a tool for school self-evaluatio

Differentiated Need Support by Teachers: Student-specific Provision of Autonomy and Structure and Relations with Student Motivation

Background According to self‐determination theory, teachers can support their students’ engagement in learning by providing autonomy support and structure. Within classes, however, there appears to be great diversity in the extent to which students experience autonomy and structure. Aims This study aimed to investigate the degree to which teachers’ perceptions of student‐specific autonomy support and structure differ between students in their class and whether differentiated need support predicts students’ motivation. Sample Twenty‐four elementary school teachers and their students (n = 506) participated in this study. Method Teachers completed a short questionnaire assessing their perceptions of autonomy support and structure for each student. Students completed two questionnaires assessing perceptions of need support and their motivation. Multilevel analyses were conducted. Results The results showed that the within‐classroom variation in both teacher perceptions and student perceptions of need support was considerably larger than the between‐classroom variation. Teacher perceptions of student‐specific autonomy support were positively associated with students’ autonomous motivation and negatively with students’ controlled motivation. However, teacher perceptions of student‐specific structure were positively associated with students’ controlled motivation. Conclusions These findings suggest that teachers differentiate in need support. The positive association between teacher perceptions of structure and students’ controlled motivation might suggest that teachers may offer structure in controlling rather than autonomy‐supportive ways. Furthermore, the relations between need support and students’ motivation differed between the class‐level and the within‐class (student) level highlighting the need for disentangling the effects of need‐supportive teaching at different levels and adopting a multilevel approach