Academic Achievement in a National Sample: The Contribution of Self-Regulation and Motivational Beliefs beyond and above Parental Involvement.

This study examined the predictive association between gender, ethnicity, and homework parental involvement, self-regulated learning processes, and motivational beliefs among 10th grade high school students. It was predicted that students’ motivational beliefs and self-regulatory processes would be significant predictors of students’ math academic achievement beyond and above homework parental involvement, gender, and ethnicity of the students. A regression analysis revealed that motivational beliefs and use of selfregulated learning strategies are significant predictors of math standardized test scores beyond and above parental active and reactive homework involvement and the students’ gender and ethnic differences. Students who engage in self-regulation are better able to perform on the math standardized test. Implications for instruction are also discussed. Homework and Self-regulation of Learning 3 Academic Achievement in a National Sample: The Contribution of Self-regulation and Motivational Beliefs Beyond and Above Parental Involvement The ability to use self-regulation of learning strategies among learners could serve as an effective learning strategy useful to diminish the detrimental effect of low motivation on academic performance. Despite the importance of this phenomenon, we still know relatively little about the association between academic achievement and selfregulation of learning and motivation. In this study, by using hierarchical regression analyses, the following research questions are examined: What is the effect of students’ engagement in self-regulation of learning and motivational beliefs on their academic performance? Will self-regulation of learning and motivational beliefs account for students’ achievement above and beyond their gender, ethnicity, and parental involvement? Cooper (1989) defines homework as a teacher-initiated method for directing students to study more effectively on their own outside of the school. It is usually first assigned during the elementary school years and increases in depth and quantity during subsequent years. Current research indicates that homework generally has positive effects on students’ academic outcomes (Cooper 1989; Cooper & Valentine, 2001). Not only does homework serve to convey academic knowledge to students, but it should also prompt them to engage in self-initiated and self-directed studying (Zimmerman, 2000). However, little research has been done to investigate the latter topic, and this study attempts to fill in this gap, focusing specifically on population of at-risk college students. Zimmerman (1998) recommended investigating the role of self-regulatory processes in successful studying. Zimmerman (1998) defined self-regulation of learning as, “self-generated thoughts, feelings, and actions for attaining academic goals” (p. 73). Winne and Hadwin (1997) proposed four self-regulatory stages in homework completion: task definition (perception of the feature of the task); goal setting and planning (reframing goals); enacting study tactics and strategies (implementing, monitoring, and evaluating strategies); and metacognitively adapting studying (inspecting outcomes and making decisions and adjustments). In spite of effort to investigate the process of homework, current theoretical accounts of homework have paid little attention to students’ development and use of self-regulatory processes, but researchers have focused primarily on social environmental factors that influence students’ engagement in homework. For example, researchers have examined the effects of parents and teachers on students’ homework completion (Cooper & Valentine, 2001). Among the self-regulatory components associated with achievement effort regulation is one of them (Pintrich et al, 1993). Effort regulation refers to students’ intention to put forth resources, energy, and time to secure completion of important academic tasks (Pintrich et al, 1993). In an academic setting, self-regulation of academic tasks is imperative because it could determine academic achievement and performance. It is well documented that deficiencies in self-regulation of learning, cognitive capacity, and poor study habits interfere with academic performance among learners (McKeachie, 1999). At the same time, it is well-documented the important role that gender and Homework and Self-regulation of Learning 4 ethnicity place on students’ academic performance. Similarly, positive effects have been shown for parental involvement on students’ academic performance. Parental involvement refers to those actions and initiatives taken by parents to secure their children’ academic success. Those actions often involve controlling their children’s physical and social environment so their children will not be distracted in order to secure academic tasks completion. Often, parents check homework assignments, help with homework, give special privileges for good grades, limit privileges due to poor grades, require to work around the house, limit TV watching or video games, and limit time with friends (Cooper, 1989). Similarly, the amount of time students spent on homework per week has been found to be an indicator of academic achievement among high school students (Cooper, 1989). Despite the importance of the factors associated with academic achievement, we still know relatively little about how other factors, such as the students' motivational beliefs and self-regulation of learning are related to academic success once parental involvement is controlled. In many instances, academic performance depends on whether the students continue to study and enact motivation. Achievement of long-term academic goals may depend on the students' ability to use self-regulatory learning strategies and activating their motivation for learning. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine the relation between learners' use of self-regulatory strategies and motivational beliefs and academic performance after controlling for the level of parental involvement, individual characteristics of the students such as gender and ethnicity and amount of homework completion. In other words, it is investigated whether students’ use of self-regulation and enacting motivation are predictors of academic success above and beyond parental involvement and learners’ characteristics. An important motivational factor associated with academic achievement is selfefficacy. Self-efficacy refers to the beliefs that individuals possess about their ability to perform an expected task (Bandura, 1997; Zimmerman, 2000). Self-efficacy is related to successful academic performance (Zimmerman, 2000). Students with high self-efficacy may decide to continue working on an important assignment when test anxiety arises and when a temptation to stop call for attention. However, students with low self-efficacy beliefs may not only succumb to a temptation, they may let disruptive thoughts interfere with performance. Students may differ in motivation depending on its source, such as whether it is intrinsic or extrinsic (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996). According to Pintrich, Smith, García, and McKeachie (1993), intrinsic interest refers to students' enjoyment of participating in a task for the sake of learning, whereas extrinsic interest refers to students' engagement in a task for reasons other than the task itself. Students may possess intrinsic but not extrinsic motivation, have extrinsic but not intrinsic motivation or have both or neither (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996). The use of self-regulated learning strategies may be especially important when emotions arise and alternatives to remain task focused become available. According to Homework and Self-regulation of Learning 5 Pintrich and his associates (Pintrich et al., 1993), resource management strategies, which include the effort put into the learning process, are self-regulated strategies that enhance the learner’s academic achievement in the classroom (Pintrich et al., 1993). These are similar as the learning strategies Zimmerman (2000) identified by using an interview structure among learners. In these instances, management of available resources would be important to overcome the detrimental effect of test anxiety. In the present study, effort regulation will be investigated. In sum, the present study was designed to provide additional evidence of the relation between academic achievement, parental involvement, and learners’ use of selfregulation of learning and motivation. Specifically, to what extent is self-regulation of learning and motivation associated to academic achievement when controlling for homework parental involvement, gender, and ethnicity. Method Participants The sample consisted of 343900 high school students (10 grade) selected from the first wave (2002) of the National Center for Education Statistics (ELS:2002). The sample contains a national representation of the students in The United States of America (see Table 1). Measures Gender and Ethnicity. In this study, male participants were 173564 and females were 1704125. Caucasian students were 2073511 and Non Caucasian students were 1365979. Self-regulation of Learning and Motivational Beliefs. Self-efficacy beliefs were assessed with Likert scale items (e.g., “Can do excellent job on math assignments”). Selfefficacy refers to one’s beliefs in his/her capability to perform at a designated level (Bandura, 1997). For example, learners who engage in homework must believe that they can do and have the competence to do the specific homework tasks. A high self-efficacy belief is associated with selection of task, persistence, and use of learning strategies (Zimmerman, 2000). Learners engage in task for which they believe they can succeed. Self-efficacy is associated with the amount of time learners are on task and the effort they place on those tasks. High degree of self-efficacy is associated with high academic performance and use of self-regulatory strateg