Motivational Style, Commitment, and Cognitive Acceleration: Is It Only Good Schools Which Opt Into 'Successful' Projects?

This paper investigates the motivational profiles of students in schools that participate in a professional development program (the CASE project), which has reported remarkable success in raising students' academic achievement. On the basis of new work on the characterization and measurement of motivational orientation, beliefs, and self-view, the question was raised of whether this apparent success can be attributed, at least in part, to the fact that schools that opt for the program already display a more adaptive motivational profile in their students than nonprogram schools. This is the first phase of a longitudinal study of the effects of CASE on achievement motivation. The focus is on the definition of constructs, the development of an instrument, and the question of systematic differences between CASE and non-CASE schools at pretest, before the program could have an effect. Early results do suggest that a higher proportion of students in CASE schools exhibit what C. Dweck and E. Leggett (1998) term adaptive motivational patterns and, therefore, might be expected to make better use of any intervention they receive. (Contains 3 tables, 8 figures, and 44 references.) (Author/SLD) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Motivational Style, Commitment, and Cognitive Acceleration: Is It Only Good Schools Which Opt Into 'Successful' Projects? Ros McLellan Philip Adey PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) < document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. This paper is prepared for the: Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Montreal Canada April 1999 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Motivational Style, Commitment, and Cognitive Acceleration: Is it only good schools which opt into 'successful' projects? Poster Presentation at the 1999 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, April 19-23, 1999, Montreal, Canada Ros McLellan and Philip Adey King's College London Centre for the Advancement of Thinking School of Education Cornwall House, Waterloo Road London SE1 8WA, UK Email: ros.mclellan@lineone.net This paper investigates the motivational profiles of students in schools that participate in a professional development program (CASE), which has reported remarkable success in raising students' academic achievement. On the basis of new work on the characterisation and measurement of motivational orientation, beliefs and self-view, we raise the question of whether this apparent success can be attributed, in part at least, to the fact that schools that opt for the program already display a more adaptive motivational profile in their students than non-program schools. This is the first phase of a longitudinal study into the impact of CASE on achievement motivation. We concentrate here on the definition of constructs, the development of an instrument, and the question of systematic differences between CASE and Non CASE schools at pre-test, before the program could have an effect.