Children respond to such motivators in order to achieve the gold star, the smile, or favored position in class, and, when the motivator is removed, the desired behavior typically disappears. Despite the book's important message, it seems to have had little effect on either the public at large or decision-makers at the local, state, and national levels. Authored by Thomas Kellaghan, George Madaus, and Anastasia Raczek, it examines over 150 studies and articles on testing and motivation and suggests that educators analyze carefully the philosophy at the root of current stances on high stakes assessment and the effect such practices have been shown to have on education. Although the monograph focuses on external, high stakes examinations, the authors' analysis and description of motivation and its causes are stand-alone reading. They describe several different shadings of motivation, but for our use here the simple dichotomy of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation will serve.
Extrinsic motivation is associated with learning made to occur by forces outside the person.
The authors discuss and analyze many studies that show that, since behavior resulting from extrinsic motivation is focused on an external reward and not on attaining competence for itself, the work towards the goal tends not to persist after the reward is removed. Obviously, then, intrinsic motivation is the desired condition. Several factors tend to engender this in students. Even a modest degree of empowerment has a positive effect on the student's will to pursue the goal. The goal is challenging but attainable.