Isabelle Häfner

Probing the Unique Contributions of Self-Concept, Task Values, and Their Interactions Using Multiple Value Facets and Multiple Academic Outcomes

Drawing on expectancy-value theory, the present study examined the unique contributions of the four major value beliefs and self-concept on achievement, self-reported effort, and teacher-rated behavioral engagement in mathematics. In particular, we examined the multiplicative effects of self-concept and task values on educational outcomes using the latent moderated structural equation approach. Participants were 1,868 German ninth-grade students. The data analyses relied on a higher-order structure of value beliefs, which is suited to parsing the differential patterns of predictive relations for different value beliefs. The findings revealed that (a) self-concept was more predictive of achievement, whereas value beliefs were more predictive of self-rated effort; (b) self-concept and value beliefs emerged as equally important predictors of teacher-reported engagement; (c) among the four value beliefs, achievement was more associated with low cost, whereas effort was more associated with attainment value; and (d) latent interactions between self-concept and value beliefs predicted the three outcomes synergistically.

Side Effects of Motivational Interventions? Effects of an Intervention in Math Classrooms on Motivation in Verbal Domains

One way to address the leaking pipeline toward STEM-related careers (i.e., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is to intervene on students’ STEM motivation in school. However, a neglected question in intervention research is how such interventions affect motivation in subjects not targeted by the intervention. This question was addressed through data from a cluster-randomized study in which a value intervention was successfully implemented in 82 ninth-grade math classrooms. Side effects on value, self-concept, and effort in German as students’ native language and English as a foreign language were assessed 6 weeks and 5 months after the intervention. Negative effects on value for German, but not for English, were found 5 months after the intervention. The theoretical and educational implications of such effects are discussed.

Short Intervention, Sustained Effects: Promoting Students' Math Competence Beliefs, Effort, and Achievement.

The present study investigated the effectiveness of two short relevance interventions (writing a text or evaluating quotations about the utility of mathematics) using a sample of 1,916 students in 82 math classrooms in a cluster randomized controlled experiment. Short-term and sustained effects (6 weeks and 5 months after the intervention) of the two intervention conditions on students’ competence beliefs (self-concept, homework self-efficacy), teacher-rated individual effort, and standardized test scores in mathematics were assessed. Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that students’ homework self-efficacy was higher in both intervention groups 6 weeks and 5 months after the intervention compared to the control condition. Students’ self-concept, teacher-rated effort, and achievement in mathematics were promoted through the quotations condition, partly in the long term.

Robin Hood effects on motivation in math: Family interest moderates the effects of relevance interventions.

Using a cluster randomized field trial, the present study tested whether 2 relevance interventions affected students’ value beliefs, self-concept, and effort in math differently depending on family background (socioeconomic status, family interest (FI), and parental utility value). Eighty-two classrooms were randomly assigned to either 1 of 2 intervention conditions or a control group. Data from 1,916 students (M age = 14.62, SD age = 0.47) and their predominantly Caucasian middle-class parents were obtained via separate questionnaires. Multilevel regression analyses with cross-level interactions were used to investigate differential intervention effects on students’ motivational beliefs 6 weeks and 5 months after the intervention. Socioeconomic status, FI, and parental utility values were investigated as moderators of the intervention effects. The intervention conditions were especially effective in promoting students’ utility, attainment, intrinsic value beliefs, and effort 5 months after the intervention for students whose parents reported lower levels of math interest. Furthermore, students whose parents reported low math utility values especially profited in terms of their utility and attainment math values 5 months after the intervention. No systematic differential intervention effects were found for socioeconomic status. These results highlight the effectiveness of relevance interventions in decreasing motivational gaps between students from families with fewer or more motivational resources. Findings point to the substantial importance of motivational family resources, which have been neglected in previous research.

Learning More From Educational Intervention Studies: Estimating Complier Average Causal Effects in a Relevance Intervention

ABSTRACT An emerging literature demonstrates that relevance interventions, which ask students to produce written reflections on how what they are learning relates to their lives, improve student learning outcomes. As part of a randomized evaluation of a relevance intervention (N = 1,978 students from 82 ninth-grade classes), we used Complier Average Causal Effects (CACE) to identify the effect of the intervention on participants who were assigned to the intervention group and were actually compliant with the intervention (i.e., treatment fidelity or compliance). Results revealed larger differences for compliers than noncompliers, although this impact depended on several factors. Implications for the application of CACE models in educational interventions, in general, and relevance interventions, in particular, are discussed.