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This paper presents findings of a study that used goal orientation theory as a guiding framework for a collaborative effort with middle school principals, teachers, and parents over a 3-year period. The intervention sought to change policies and practices so that they would reflect more of a task-goal orientation and less of an ability-goal orientation. The study assessed students' perceptions of the goal emphases in their classrooms; their personal orientation to task, ability, and extrinsic goals; their reported use of deep processing strategies; and their academic efficacy beliefs in mathematics and English 1 year before the transition to middle school and again at the end of the sixth and seventh grades in both the "demonstration" school and a comparison school. Fifth-grade students scheduled to attend the demonstration school and students scheduled to attend the comparison school demonstrated no differences on any of the measures. After the transition, students in the demonstration school exhibited a more positive profile of personal goals, efficacy beliefs, and perceptions of the classroom goal structure than did students in the comparison school. Results are discussed in terms of implications for middle school reform and with regard to the use of goal-orientation theory to guide school reform efforts. Five figures and four tables are included. (Contains 71 references.) (LMI)

A study examined changes in students' valuing of reading during middle childhood and early adolescence. The study evaluated reading teachers' instructional practices as well as students' achievement motivation. Subjects were 254 male students and 276 female students: 140 in third grade; 142 in fifth grade; and 248 in sixth grade. The sample of 54 teachers included 43 female and 11 male, with a range of full time teaching experience from 1 to 41 years, in 1990. In examining reading teachers' instructional practices, results indicated that female teachers use supplemental materials in reading and writing instruction more than do male teachers; teachers of younger students use parents as tutors more than do teachers of older students; and elementary school teachers use rewards and parents as tutors more than do middle school teachers. In examining student-level data, results indicated that females and younger children value reading more than do males and older children. Finally, student and teacher level data were combined, using hierarchial linear modeling (HLM). Findings reveal: (1) performance oriented instructional strategies and cooperative learning techniques are negatively related to gains in valuing of reading over time; (2) the relationship between self-concept of ability and valuing of reading is somewhat lower in classrooms that are ability-grouped for reading instruction; and (3) reading is valued less in middle school than in elementary school. (Contains 9 tables of data and 29 references.) (Author/CR)

Studies suggest that the transition to middle school is associated with a decline in motivation and performance for a number of children. This longitudinal study examined changes in motivation in English and mathematics across and after the transition from elementary to middle school. Of particular interest were changes in personal goal orientations (task and ability), perceptions of classroom goal structures (task and ability), academic efficacy, and grades in school. Main effects and interactions of gender, ability, subject, and time were highlighted in the surveys. Data were collected from students as they progressed from fifth to seventh grade. Results suggested that students become somewhat less focused on task goals and more focused on ability goals when they enter middle school. Personal task goals, ability goals, and academic efficacy changed both during and after the middle school transition. Students' task goals declined across the three grades, while ability goals increased across the grade five-grade six transition for English, and then decreased between grades six and seven. Ability goals in math did not change much across the three years. Academic efficacy dramatically decreased across the transition, and then increased some after the transition between grades six and seven. Four tables present statistical analysis. Contains 66 references. (Author/RJM)

This study focuses on students' acquisition of current events knowledge, attitudes about the news, and motivation to seek the news as it relates to news seeking behavior and studying current events in school. A current events knowledge test of 53 true/false items and a questionnaire assessing motivation strategy use toward current events were administered to 451 students from 5 midwestern high schools, 1 southeastern high school, and 1 middle school. A sub-sample of the students from two classrooms in one of the schools was further examined with teacher interviews on how they incorporate the study of current events into their classrooms and their goals for use of current events knowledge. In general, those students who watched the least amount of television news and read the news the least had the poorest responses on the current events knowledge test, news attitudes measures, and motivational measures, while those who watched television and read the news the most had the most adaptive responses on these measures. Contains 12 references. (EH)

This study examines the effects of school contexts, individual differences, and motivational goals and benefits on current events knowledge. A review of the literature focuses on motivation study of goal theory and self-efficacy. The sample includes 798 students from nine high schools (grades 9-12) in diverse geographical locations and of various socioeconomic levels and who had access to Channel One news programs in the school. Data came from a pre-test and post-test, conducted in February and May 1993. Findings suggest that students who study current events in school or watch TV news in school know more, are more interested, and are more likely to engage in news-seeking behaviors outside of school. The study presents a model which suggests that the relationship between school/contextual factors and current knowledge is mediated by goals, efficacy beliefs and news-seeking behaviors beyond the classroom setting. The question also is raised about the difference between "watching the news" and "studying the news" in the classroom. Contains 43 references. (EH)

This paper describes a study that examined relationships among students' goals, efficacy beliefs, news-seeking behavior, and current events knowledge. The study expands on previous work on students' achievement related goals by examining the effects of goals and self-efficacy on knowledge of current events, a sub-domain of social studies. A sample of students from four middle schools and nine high schools (n=1148) completed a current events test, and a motivational inventory in May 1993. The sample was 50 percent male and 50 percent female, and 55 percent of the students studied current events in school as part of a course. Using path analysis, the researchers found that males in middle schools are more self-efficacious toward the news, while males in high schools are more performance oriented and seek news outside of school more than females. The study found that grade point average (GPA) is related positively to holding mastery goals toward the news for high school, but not middle school students. In both samples, mastery and performance goals only have indirect effects on knowledge, through either efficacy beliefs or news seeking behavior. In both samples, students who study current events in school are less mastery oriented than those who do not study the news in school (Author/DK)

One framework for conceptualizing the study of classroom effects on student motivation asserts that students' perceptions of the classroom environment mediate the relationship between teacher practices and student performance outcomes. This study examined within- and between-classroom effects on 356 fifth-grade students' perceptions of the quality of instruction in their mathematics classes. Results suggest that a positive classroom instructional climate is related to several individual difference variables, including low perceptions of differential treatment by gender and ability. Several classroom level variables were related to positive class instructional climate, including the use of extrinsic motivational incentives, and the infrequent use of individualized forms of instruction. Teachers who used "mastery" oriented instructional strategies tend to have students in their classes who perceive a diminished relationship between teacher expectancies and classroom instructional climate. Contains 10 references. (MKR)

This study utilized a sociocultural approach to writing instruction and examined its effects on the motivation of students with learning disabilities. The concept of the Zone of Proximal Development was used to measure changes in five third and fourth grade students' motivation toward literacy activities. Students wrote in journals daily and participated in weekly "feedback" sessions, where they read their stories to the teacher and other students. Data indicated that journal writing became more communicative over time, as children spent more time writing stories and letters rather than lists. Data also showed increases in creativity, a broader understanding of the uses of writing, greater persistence at writing tasks, and more conventional uses of writing over the course of the academic year. As journal writing was always a "free" writing activity (students were never told what topics to write about), the paper contends that the students' continuing desire to write, as well as the development of their writing abilities, is a result of the sociocultural/emergent literacy curriculum. Students did not receive any formal instruction in writing; thus, changes are attributed to the new meaning children constructed for writing, through their interactions with other members of the classroom writing community. A sample of one student's writing is included. (JDD)

A series of studies conducted in the late 1980s suggested that American adolescents lack adequate knowledge in geography, history, science, and current events. This paper examines motivational predictors of students' knowledge of current events and AIDS. Researchers surveyed 579 middle school students from 4 middle schools, and 1,548 high school students from 9 high schools. Three research questions were investigated: (1) What variables predict adolescents' knowledge about current events and AIDS? (2) Are there developmental differences between early versus late adolescents in current events and AIDS knowledge? and (3) Are motivational goal orientations related to knowledge about current events and AIDS? Results revealed different patterns for the two student groups. The strongest predictors of current events knowledge for early adolescents appeared to be grade point average (GPA) and goal orientations; however, for older adolescents, thinking about social issues, gender, socioeconomic status, and plans after high school also predicted such knowledge. For AIDS knowledge, age offered the strongest predictor for the younger samples, with GPA and subject mastery goals being moderate predictors. Gender and goals emerged as additional predictors for high school students, with age dropping out as a significant predictor. Four tables and three figures highlight the statistical findings. (RJM)

A study examined the relationships among early adolescents' motivational goal orientations (task and ability focus), cognitive processing strategies, self-efficacy, and expectancy-value for literacy activities. These factors appear to vary by gender, academic status (special education, at-risk, and not-at-risk), and grade level. Subjects, 678 middle-school students from a largely "blue collar" district near a major city in the midwest, completed a self-report questionnaire. For students who are learning-focused, findings support use of deep-level cognitive processing strategies such as monitoring of comprehension, paraphrasing, and summarizing; students who are ability-focused tend to use surface-level cognitive processing strategies such as memorization, copying, and rehearsal of information. The relationships between these variables and performance on several standardized measures of language and reading achievement were also measured. Results indicated that (1) self-efficacy was the most powerful predictor of success; and (2) those students who valued literacy activities and were learning-focused tended to do worse on some standardized tests than their peers. Findings suggest that educators should place greater emphasis on the relationships between motivational and affective factors with strategy usage, rather than referring to gender and academic classifications such as "at risk" or "special education" when considering the ways in which adolescents approach reading and writing activities. (Contains 12 references and five tables of data. An appendix presents a list of the constructs and items of the students' scales and four figures of data displaying the motivational, affective, cognitive, and achievement-related belief scales.) (RS)

Recently, psychologists have investigated self-efficacy as it relates to teaching and learning. This study used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM)--a powerful new technique for assessing multilevel data--to examine the effects on self-efficacy of a school-wide effort to value task-mastery and learning over relative ability and competition. The sample included 341 students from 15 classrooms in 2 elementary schools in a predominantly white district. The students responded to a self-report questionnaire, which assessed student motivation, cognitive strategy use, and perceptions of classrooms and schools. Researchers developed measures of self-efficacy, goal orientation (task and performance), and cognitive strategy use (deep and surface strategies) using both original items and items from existing instruments. Results suggest that self-efficacy relates significantly to the following: (1) the belief that intelligence is a changeable entity; (2) the personal adoption of learning-focused goals; and (3) the use of deep cognitive strategies. Students who were encouraged to take academic risks were more self-efficacious than those who were risk averse; however, in the experimental classes, self-efficacy increased regardless of whether or not the teacher encouraged risks, while in the control classes, self-efficacy did not change with the learning focus slope. (RJM)

The concept of goals has emerged as a useful and important social-cognitive approach to understanding motivation, achievement, and learning. Recent work reveals that the environment of the classroom affect the types of goals which students adopt: students are likely to adopt ability-focused goals when they see their teachers emphasizing relative ability and competition while students who feel that their teachers value task-mastery, tend to adopt task-focused goals. This study uses hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to examine the effects of classroom-level practices on students' perceptions of how much their schools value relative ability and competition over task-mastery. The sample included 341 third through fifth grade students from 15 classrooms in 2 elementary schools. Results indicate that classroom-level practices heavily influence students' perceptions of what their schools value. When teachers foster a competitive classroom environment, then students are likely to feel that the entire school holds such values. On the other hand, when children feel that the school is task-focused, students are less likely to believe that the school values ability goals; however, this negative relationship disappears in classrooms where teachers encourage challenging tasks. This finding suggests that some children merely interpret "challenges" as another form of competition. (RJM)