Student Motivational Dynamics

• Published in: Teachers College record (1970) 2008-01, Vol.110 (11), p.2452-2463
• Main Authors: McCaslin, Mary, Burross, Heidi Legg
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cultural Influences; Education reform; Educational Change; Educational Environment; Elementary School Students; Grade 3; Grade 4; Grade 5; Individual Differences; Interpersonal Relationship; Mathematics Achievement; Motivation; Polls & surveys; Poverty; Reading Achievement; Research Design; School Restructuring; Social Influences; Student Attitudes; Student Motivation; Student Participation
• ISSN: 1467-9620; 0161-4681; 1467-9620
• DOI: 10.1177/016146810811001107

Background/Context: Student motivation typically has been studied as it relates to extrinsic (e.g., reinforcement) or intrinsic (e.g., personal choice) sources of influence, with scant attention to sociocultural context. This article builds on a previous article in this special issue that (1) addresses the role of opportunity in the motivation of students in Grades 3-5 who live in poverty and attend schools engaged in Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) and (2) presents the results of survey measures designed to capture student understandings of school. Findings suggested that students differentiate the social (school, teacher, classmates) from the academic (math, reading) domains of school. This article explores individual differences in students' global understandings of, and dispositions toward, school. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if and how students in Grades 3-5 who live in poverty and attend schools engaged in CSR differ in their understandings of, and dispositions toward, school. Research Design: Students in Grades 3-5 who live in poverty and attend schools engaged in CSR completed the "The thing about my school is..." measure. Study 1 involved 464 students in spring 2004, Study 2 involved 328 students in fall 2004, and in Study 3, a subgroup of 101 participants was tracked from one school year to the next. Conclusions/Recommendations: Exploratory factor analyses revealed individual differences in student dispositions toward school that refined global reports in ways that may prove amenable to motivational interventions. Findings suggest that the central motivational process for these students resides in a need for interpersonal validation in which achievement and affiliation concerns are mediated by participation-isolation tensions. These patterns also suggest the role of adaptation in motivation; participation and validation are central motivational processes for students in Grades 3-5 who cope with the challenges mobility and who attend schools engaged in comprehensive reform.