Lynley H. Anderman

Middle-Grade Predictors of Students’ Motivation and Behavior in High School:

This study investigated students’ school context, motivation, and behavior across the transition to high school. During the final marking period of 7th and 9th grades, students completed questionnaires assessing their academic self-concept and perceptions of the motivational context created by teachers, peers, and their economic opportunity structure. Achievement and discipline data were also collected at both time points. Ninth graders provided data on their motivation (effort and valuing of education) and future academic plans. Students reported more positive motivational contexts in 9th grade versus 7th grade, particularly with respect to teachers. Seventh-grade contextual variables were associated with 9th-grade motivation and adjustment. Discriminant function analyses found that 7th-grade variables discriminated between least adjusted and better adjusted high school students. Students’7th-grade discipline referrals, doubts about the economic value of education, and negative expectations of peers and teachers were the best discriminators between less and more adjusted 9th graders.

Considering Contexts in Educational Psychology: Introduction to the Special Issue

The impetus for this special issue grew from our observation of an ongoing call from researchers, symposium discussants, and journal editors for increased attention to contextual effects in the study of educational psychology. For example, Goodenow (1992) argued that an ecologically valid psychology of education must include an understanding of the social and interpersonal processes that make up the social context of schooling. More recently, Pintrich (1994), in speculating about directions for research in educational psychology, included an increased focus on the role of contexts and culture in shaping students’ cognitions as a major issue that confronts research activities in the field. Similarly, Solomon (1995) noted that the traditionally espoused assumption that “most if not all that is important and interesting in educational psychology lies in the study of the decontextualized individual” (p. 105), which underlies much of the work in our field, needs to be seriously revised. Solomon went on to suggest that there is a growing demand for greater ecological validity and practical relevance of our research and that these demands require that we change our focus to include individuals “within wider psychological, disciplinary, social and cultural contexts” (p. 106). In part, educational psychologists’ interest in contexts reflects trends in the study of cognitive development that emphasize the social nature of human learning (e.g., Rogoff, 1990; Tharp & Gallimore, 1988; Wertsch, 1985). It also reflects the growth of interdisciplinary research programs and the influence of theory and research in fields such as social psychology and sociology. Whereas many researchers now agree with the importance of considering context in their work, the challenges of doing so are many. One set of challenges revolves around conceptual issues related to what context is and how persons and situations interact. A second but related set of challenges involves methodological issues in terms of how to go about measuring and analyzing contextual effects. Goodenow (1992) noted that educational psychologists need to add to the methods they typically use. More specifically, we need to incorporate other methods more traditionally used in fields such as sociology, sociolinguistics, and anthropology. In putting this special issue together, we selected authors who are grappling with these issues in their own work. As is readily apparent, each brings a different approach to the study of contexts, including utilizing widely varying definitions, theoretical perspectives, and methodologies. In each article, the authors discuss both conceptual and methodological challenges they have faced in their ongoing research programs, using examples from recent studies for illustration.

Value-Added Models of Assessment: Implications for Motivation and Accountability

In this article, we examine the relations of value-added models of measuring academic achievement to student motivation. Using an achievement goal orientation theory perspective, we argue that value-added models, which focus on the progress of individual students over time, are more closely aligned with research on student motivation than are more traditional approaches to measuring achievement in a high-stakes testing environment. Although differing approaches to value-added assessment have been proposed, the core elements of the models are similar. We propose that the assessment data provided by value-added models has the potential to positively affect academic motivation, particularly when viewed through the lens of goal orientation theory.

The Role of Educational Psychology in Teacher Education: Three Challenges for Educational Psychologists

We argue that this is a crucial time for educational psychology as a field to refocus its attention on the evidence base for its contribution to teacher education. In revisiting the recommendations of the APA Division 15 committee charged with examining the role of educational psychology in teacher education (Anderson et al., 1995), we note positive changes in educational psychology courses for preservice teachers. We then identify and discuss three immediate challenges for educational psychologists: (a) communicating the relevance of educational psychology research to the wider education community, (b) developing collaborative relationships with colleagues in teacher education programs that support a common discourse and shared vision of effective teacher preparation, and (c) documenting the ways that educational psychology courses make a difference to the practice of graduating teachers and to the educational experiences of their K–12 students. We conclude with suggestions for addressing these challenges.

Creating Adaptive Motivational Environments in the Middle Grades

borne out by a number of large-scale empirical studies (see Eccles & Midgley, 1989, for a review of this work). For many years it was assumed that such changes were due to the physiological and psychological changes associated with puberty and, thus, inevitable. More recently, however, research has demonstrated that schools can pro vide environments that maintain or even improve Positive relationships with students aid teachers students actively engaged in learning. PHOTO BY DOUG MARTIN

Contemporary Issues on Motivation Introduction: Student Motivation Across Subject-Area Domains

varies across different subject-area domains is not a new one. Indeed, research demonstrating that students report differences in terms of how interesting, difficult, and valuable they perceive various school subjects to be (e.g., Duckworth & Entwistle, 1974), as well as their perceptions of their own competence in those subjects (e.g., Harter, 1982), has been available for some time. Despite such evidence, however, research on student motivation often has been conceptualized in more general terms with little attention being paid to the particular content or instructional contexts in question. As noted by Shulman and Quinlan (1996), the whole field of educational psychology has had an “onagain, off-again relationship with subject matter during the past century” (p. 399) and has only recently demonstrated a renewed commitment to considering subject matter as a contextual factor. The articles in this Special Issue reflect a growing trend away from such generalizations and toward a greater consideration of motivational processes within the context of different subject-area domains. The need for a closer examination of motivational beliefs and processes within subject areas arises in part from a similar movement in research on students’ cognition and learning. Current research in those areas recognizes the domain specificity of many cognitive processes, and it has become common to discuss different subject-area domains as constituting distinct cultures and classrooms as “communities of learners” (e.g., Greeno, Collins, & Resnick, 1996; Grossman & Stodolsky, 1994). As theories of student learning and cognitive processing become more contextualized, the need for a parallel shift in motivational theory and research becomes salient. That focus also reflects a more general trend in the field of educational psychology toward consideration of the importance of various types and levels of social contexts, including the study of instructional contexts of classrooms, school-level structures, peer groups, and larger societal contexts (Anderman & Anderman, 2000). That is, much research and theory in educational psychology is moving from the consideration of individual differences alone to a greater focus on the person within a context (Pintrich, 2000). The articles in this Special Issue also reflect that focus.

Math and science motivation in internationally adopted adolescents.

Despite prior studies documenting learning difficulties among internationally adopted youth (IAY), none has explored academic motivation within this population. The current study addressed this gap by examining expectancies for success and task values in math and science among internationally adopted, domestically adopted, and nonadopted high-school students. Differences in students’ math achievement and parents’ beliefs about their ability were also explored. A subsample of 7,420 11th-grade students was selected from the High School Longitudinal Study data set (Ingels et al., 2011). After controlling for prior motivation, achievement, demographics, and clustering, analyses revealed that IAY held less adaptive motivational beliefs in math. Compared with their nonadopted peers, internationally adopted students reported lower expectancies for success, attainment value, and intrinsic value in math. Few differences in science motivation emerged, and no differences in math achievement were observed.

When Mastery Goals Meet Mastery Learning: Administrator, Teacher, and Student Perceptions

ABSTRACT Few studies have examined the impact of mastery learning on mastery goal structures or even on students’ motivation more generally. In this study, we examined one middle school that implemented a schoolwide mastery learning system, conducting interviews with a sample of administrators (n = 3), teachers (n = 4), and students (n = 9) to determine how the system was envisioned by the school leadership, implemented by the teaching staff, and perceived by the students. We used deductive qualitative analysis (DQA) to determine visions, practices, and perceptions aligned with achievement goal theory. Results indicated that evaluation practices have the greatest potential to undermine other positive motivational impacts of mastery learning–based instruction. Implications and transferability for research and practice are discussed.