Research on factors that may promote engagement is hampered by the absence of a measure of classr... more Research on factors that may promote engagement is hampered by the absence of a measure of classroom-level engagement. Literature has suggested that engagement may have 3 dimensions-affective, behavioral, and cognitive. No existing engagement scales measure all 3 dimensions at the classroom level. The Classroom Engagement Inventory (CEI) was developed to fill this gap. In Study 1, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on data from 3,481 students from the 4th to 12th grade. The results suggested a 4-factor model of the CEI. Using these results, in Study 2 several items were revised and data were collected 1 year later from 4th to 12th grade students in the same school district as Study 1. Analyses were conducted on data from 3,560 students after data cleaning. A series of potential models was tested. The final results suggest a 5-factor 24-item CEI: (1) Affective Engagement, (2) Behavioral Engagement-Compliance, (3) Behavioral Engagement-Effortful Class Participation, (4) Cognitive Engagement, and (5) Disengagement. Results advance understanding of the construct of classroom engagement. The CEI fills a significant gap in measurement of engagement. The CEI is classroom level, measures multiple dimensions of engagement, uses self-report, is relatively short, and can be readily administered in classrooms from the 4th to 12th grade.
The purpose of this article is to show that motivation research is generally compatible with and ... more The purpose of this article is to show that motivation research is generally compatible with and supportive of the whole language philosophy of instruction and to provide explicit motivational reasons why whole language practices might be effective. Both motivation research and whole language instruction emphasize the following: providing choice in order to foster perceptions of autonomy, emphasizing the mastery goal of learning in order to improve personal competence rather than the ego goal of doing better than other people, using assessment that encourages a deep personal construction of meaning and learning for understanding, providing students with experiences that will increase their belief that they can succeed, modeling appropriate literacy activities, responding to students' social goals, providing an emotionally supportive atmosphere, and making learning interesting. Whole language classrooms provide settings where motivation researchers can investigate the success of motivation principles, and whole language classrooms might benefit from the motivation technique of goal setting. It would be useful for practitioners if whole language and motivation researchers investigated appropriate levels of teacher control more precisely.
Using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2003 data, this study built mathe... more Using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2003 data, this study built mathematics achievement models of 8th graders in four countries: the USA, Russia, Singapore and South Africa. These 4 countries represent the full spectrum of mathematics achievement. In addition, they represent 4 continents, and they include 2 countries hugely influential in world events (the USA and Russia). In each country, students' self-concept of ability in mathematics, mathematics values, perception of school, teachers' and principals' perceptions of school and other characteristics related to the classroom and school were incorporated to build an achievement model through hierarchical linear modelling. The final achievement models suggested that among student variables, self-concept of ability in mathematics had the highest relation to 8th graders' mathematics achievement in all 4 countries. The relation between mathematics achievement and other student characteristics, along with the family, teacher and school variables, differed across the 4 countries. This suggests that self-concept of ability is a key variable for understanding achievement in high and low achieving countries and that other contextual variables vary in the magnitude of relations to mathematics achievement across countries.
Attachment influences students' school success. This is true of students' attachment to their par... more Attachment influences students' school success. This is true of students' attachment to their parents, as well as to their teachers. Secure attachment is associated with higher grades and standardized test scores compared to insecure attachment. Secure attachment is also associated with greater emotional regulation, social competence, and willingness to take on challenges, and with lower levels of ADHD and delinquency, each of which in turn is associated with higher achievement. These effects tend to be stronger for high-risk students. In this era of accountability, enhancing teacher-student relationships is not merely an add-on, but rather is fundamental to raising achievement. Understanding the role of attachment in the classroom will help educators be more effective, particularly with challenging students. Twelve suggestions to improve teacher-student relationships and school bonding are provided.
We investigated motivation for taking low stakes tests. Based on expectancy-value theory, we expe... more We investigated motivation for taking low stakes tests. Based on expectancy-value theory, we expected that the effect of student perceptions of three task values (interest, usefulness, and importance) on low stakes test performance would be mediated by the student's reported effort. We hypothesized that all three task value components would play a significant role in predicting test-taking effort, and that effort would significantly predict test performance. Participants were 1005 undergraduate students enrolled at four midsize public universities. After students took all four subtests of CBASE, a standardized general education exam, they immediately filled out a motivation survey. Path analyses showed that the task value variables usefulness and importance significantly predicted test-taking effort and performance for all four tests. These results provide evidence that students who report trying hard on low stakes tests score higher than those who do not. The results indicate that if students do not perceive importance or usefulness of an exam, their effort suffers and so does their test score. While the data are correlational, they suggest that it might be useful for test administrators and school staff to communicate to students the importance and usefulness of the test that they are being asked to complete.
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Jan 1, 1999
In this article the authors distill principles of effective classroom discipline from the extensi... more In this article the authors distill principles of effective classroom discipline from the extensive literature on parent-child interaction and on motivation of behavior. Although there are many books and articles on classroom management, there is little empirical research on the topic, and even less that stresses management that aims to preserve children's perceptions of autonomy and to foster self-control. Research and theory make many recommendations regarding autonomy, control, internalization, and so forth, but they tend to be abstract. Based on that literature, the authors suggest a concrete approach to discipline that they call persistent persuasion. Persistent persuasion involves the adult continually restating a command until the child complies, but without increasing the level of power or using coercive threats so that the development of self-control is not undermined.
Fordham and Ogbu (1986) have described fear of "acting white" as a significant factor that influe... more Fordham and Ogbu (1986) have described fear of "acting white" as a significant factor that influenced the attitudes and often undermined the achievement of African-American students at "Capital High" in Washington, D.C. The present qualitative study investigated 38 relatively high-achieving African-American and Mexican-American students in various high schools, public and private, in a midwestern city. The respondents did not report avoiding academic achievement in order to avoid accusations of acting white. Most of the students we interviewed reported no loss of ethnic identity. The students felt strong resentment toward their peers' accusations of acting white and did not seem to be intimidated by the accusations, though they were bothered by the accusations. It would be useful if future research addressed the conditions under which avoidance of acting white is most likely to occur.
Research on factors that may promote engagement is hampered by the absence of a measure of classr... more Research on factors that may promote engagement is hampered by the absence of a measure of classroom-level engagement. Literature has suggested that engagement may have 3 dimensions-affective, behavioral, and cognitive. No existing engagement scales measure all 3 dimensions at the classroom level. The Classroom Engagement Inventory (CEI) was developed to fill this gap. In Study 1, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on data from 3,481 students from the 4th to 12th grade. The results suggested a 4-factor model of the CEI. Using these results, in Study 2 several items were revised and data were collected 1 year later from 4th to 12th grade students in the same school district as Study 1. Analyses were conducted on data from 3,560 students after data cleaning. A series of potential models was tested. The final results suggest a 5-factor 24-item CEI: (1) Affective Engagement, (2) Behavioral Engagement-Compliance, (3) Behavioral Engagement-Effortful Class Participation, (4) Cognitive Engagement, and (5) Disengagement. Results advance understanding of the construct of classroom engagement. The CEI fills a significant gap in measurement of engagement. The CEI is classroom level, measures multiple dimensions of engagement, uses self-report, is relatively short, and can be readily administered in classrooms from the 4th to 12th grade.
The purpose of this article is to show that motivation research is generally compatible with and ... more The purpose of this article is to show that motivation research is generally compatible with and supportive of the whole language philosophy of instruction and to provide explicit motivational reasons why whole language practices might be effective. Both motivation research and whole language instruction emphasize the following: providing choice in order to foster perceptions of autonomy, emphasizing the mastery goal of learning in order to improve personal competence rather than the ego goal of doing better than other people, using assessment that encourages a deep personal construction of meaning and learning for understanding, providing students with experiences that will increase their belief that they can succeed, modeling appropriate literacy activities, responding to students' social goals, providing an emotionally supportive atmosphere, and making learning interesting. Whole language classrooms provide settings where motivation researchers can investigate the success of motivation principles, and whole language classrooms might benefit from the motivation technique of goal setting. It would be useful for practitioners if whole language and motivation researchers investigated appropriate levels of teacher control more precisely.
Using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2003 data, this study built mathe... more Using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2003 data, this study built mathematics achievement models of 8th graders in four countries: the USA, Russia, Singapore and South Africa. These 4 countries represent the full spectrum of mathematics achievement. In addition, they represent 4 continents, and they include 2 countries hugely influential in world events (the USA and Russia). In each country, students' self-concept of ability in mathematics, mathematics values, perception of school, teachers' and principals' perceptions of school and other characteristics related to the classroom and school were incorporated to build an achievement model through hierarchical linear modelling. The final achievement models suggested that among student variables, self-concept of ability in mathematics had the highest relation to 8th graders' mathematics achievement in all 4 countries. The relation between mathematics achievement and other student characteristics, along with the family, teacher and school variables, differed across the 4 countries. This suggests that self-concept of ability is a key variable for understanding achievement in high and low achieving countries and that other contextual variables vary in the magnitude of relations to mathematics achievement across countries.
Attachment influences students' school success. This is true of students' attachment to their par... more Attachment influences students' school success. This is true of students' attachment to their parents, as well as to their teachers. Secure attachment is associated with higher grades and standardized test scores compared to insecure attachment. Secure attachment is also associated with greater emotional regulation, social competence, and willingness to take on challenges, and with lower levels of ADHD and delinquency, each of which in turn is associated with higher achievement. These effects tend to be stronger for high-risk students. In this era of accountability, enhancing teacher-student relationships is not merely an add-on, but rather is fundamental to raising achievement. Understanding the role of attachment in the classroom will help educators be more effective, particularly with challenging students. Twelve suggestions to improve teacher-student relationships and school bonding are provided.
We investigated motivation for taking low stakes tests. Based on expectancy-value theory, we expe... more We investigated motivation for taking low stakes tests. Based on expectancy-value theory, we expected that the effect of student perceptions of three task values (interest, usefulness, and importance) on low stakes test performance would be mediated by the student's reported effort. We hypothesized that all three task value components would play a significant role in predicting test-taking effort, and that effort would significantly predict test performance. Participants were 1005 undergraduate students enrolled at four midsize public universities. After students took all four subtests of CBASE, a standardized general education exam, they immediately filled out a motivation survey. Path analyses showed that the task value variables usefulness and importance significantly predicted test-taking effort and performance for all four tests. These results provide evidence that students who report trying hard on low stakes tests score higher than those who do not. The results indicate that if students do not perceive importance or usefulness of an exam, their effort suffers and so does their test score. While the data are correlational, they suggest that it might be useful for test administrators and school staff to communicate to students the importance and usefulness of the test that they are being asked to complete.
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Jan 1, 1999
In this article the authors distill principles of effective classroom discipline from the extensi... more In this article the authors distill principles of effective classroom discipline from the extensive literature on parent-child interaction and on motivation of behavior. Although there are many books and articles on classroom management, there is little empirical research on the topic, and even less that stresses management that aims to preserve children's perceptions of autonomy and to foster self-control. Research and theory make many recommendations regarding autonomy, control, internalization, and so forth, but they tend to be abstract. Based on that literature, the authors suggest a concrete approach to discipline that they call persistent persuasion. Persistent persuasion involves the adult continually restating a command until the child complies, but without increasing the level of power or using coercive threats so that the development of self-control is not undermined.
Fordham and Ogbu (1986) have described fear of "acting white" as a significant factor that influe... more Fordham and Ogbu (1986) have described fear of "acting white" as a significant factor that influenced the attitudes and often undermined the achievement of African-American students at "Capital High" in Washington, D.C. The present qualitative study investigated 38 relatively high-achieving African-American and Mexican-American students in various high schools, public and private, in a midwestern city. The respondents did not report avoiding academic achievement in order to avoid accusations of acting white. Most of the students we interviewed reported no loss of ethnic identity. The students felt strong resentment toward their peers' accusations of acting white and did not seem to be intimidated by the accusations, though they were bothered by the accusations. It would be useful if future research addressed the conditions under which avoidance of acting white is most likely to occur.
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