Extrinsic Motivation for Large-Scale Assessments: A Case Study of a Student Achievement Program at One Urban High School

Abstract

The purpose of this case study was to discover the critical attributes of a student achievement program, known as “Think Gold,” implemented at one urban comprehensive high school as part of the improvement process. Student achievement on state assessments improved during the period under study. The study draws upon perspectives on motivation as a lens for understanding the attributes of the program. The theoretical framework guiding this study emerged from a convergence of literature on high school improvement and studies on the use of extrinsic motivation to promote student achievement. These studies revealed a gap between the goals promoted for improved student outcomes and the performance results from non-consequential, large-scale assessments. Data sources included structured interviews with school personnel and students, achievement data from 2009–2011, and survey results, which were analyzed to construct a case narrative. Critical attributes of the achievement program were distilled, including the differentiated incentive system, sustainability, and personalized meaning for students between state assessments and their decision-making. This study is not an evaluation of the program, but the discussion offered of the use of extrinsic motivation to promote student achievement may prove beneficial.

Predictors of the Intention of Learning in Higher Education: Motivation, Self-Handicapping, Executive Function, Parents’ Education and School Achievement

“…For example, it was found in one mathematics study of higher education [43] that students intended to continue taking more mathematic classes in the future if they have strong motivation to learn mathematics in their grades 11 and 12 of senior high school. Moreover, students' higher extrinsic [22] and intrinsic [20] motivations are also predictors of high school achievement. There was a significant relationship between students' motivation and school achievement in one study [14].…”

“…A body of research predicts students' high school achievement by their motivation [20][21][22][23][24] self-handicapping [13][14][15]25], parents' education [18,26,27] and their executive function [4,6,16,28]. However, the prediction of students' intention of learning in higher education is still missing.…”

Examining the Relationships Among Motivational Factors and the Academic Achievement of Students Enrolled in a Comprehensive Agricultural Education Program

“…It is akin to learned helplessness since the individual experiences feelings of incompetence, uncontrollability and boredom (Sun & Chen, 2010;Tiwari, Tiwari, & Sharma, 2014). Although some believe it is possible that a student's extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are totally separate and have no effect on each other (Emmett & McGee, 2013), others look at motivation as a complex system with intrinsic and extrinsic motives working simultaneously (Cerasoli et al, 2014;Lemos & Veríssimo, 2014) and amotivation playing the antagonist that is strongly associated with maladaptive functioning (Cheon & Reeve, 2015). To this end, there has been a substantial amount of research done in the last decade on the differences among the types of motivation (Reiss, 2012) in order to get a better understanding of how motivation impacts task compliance and academic achievement.…”