Abstract Previous research has successfully used basic psychological need satisfaction and achievement goal approaches for describing the motivations of university faculty teaching explaining differences in experiences, success, learning. However, interplay between these motivational constructs been largely ignored, with only from specific educational contexts being studied—neglecting those oth...

Changes in motivation anticipate changes in engagement, but the present study tested the reciprocal relation that changes in students’ classroom engagement lead to corresponding longitudinal changes in their classroom motivation. Achievement scores and multiple measures of students’ course-specific motivation (psychological need satisfaction, self-efficacy, and mastery goals) and engagement (be...

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays a key role in the physiological response to stress, preparing the organism for appropriate action. While some research has examined universally relevant threats, other research has suggested that individual differences may moderate the relationship between stress and cortisol release, such that some individuals exhibit modified reactivity to p...

Using a risk and resiliency theoretical framework, the association between interparental conflict and academic achievement was examined. The sample consisted of 2,297 6th grade youth with a mean age of 11.92. Participants were mostly European American (81.8%) and 52% were girls. Results demonstrated that interparental conflict is a risk factor for lower academic achievement, suggesting that fam...

In the present research, a 3 2 model of achievement goals is proposed and tested. The model is rooted in the definition and valence components of competence, and encompasses 6 goal constructs: taskapproach, task-avoidance, self-approach, self-avoidance, other-approach, and other-avoidance. The results from 2 studies provided strong support for the proposed model, most notably the need to separa...

Multiple-choice items are a mainstay of achievement testing. The need to adequately cover the content domain to certify achievement proficiency by producing meaningful precise scores requires many high-quality items. More 3-option items can be administered than 4or 5-option items per testing time while improving content coverage, without detrimental effects on psychometric quality of test score...

BACKGROUND Most developmental disorders are defined by an achievement discrepancy in which achievement on one or more specific abilities is substantially less than a person's measured intelligence. We evaluated the validity of this discrepancy criterion by assessing parameters that determine variability across abilities and by assessing relationships between achievement discrepancies and behavi...

This meta-analysis extends a previous review of the achievement effects of comprehensive school reform (CSR) programs (Borman, Hewes, Overman, & Brown, 2003). That meta-analysis observed significant effects of well endowed and well-researched programs, but it did not account for race/ethnicity. This article synthesizes 34 cohort or quasi-experimental outcomes of studies that incorporated the po...