Declining Motivation After the Transition to Middle School: Schools Can Make a Difference.

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of the transition from elementary- to middle-level schools on the motivational beliefs of students who attended two substantively different types of middle schools. One of the schools was characterized as utilizing task-focused instructional practices, while the other school utilized more traditional practices. Teachers in the latter school particularly emphasized competition, ability grouping, and students' relative ability. While few differences in the students' motivational beliefs existed when the students were in elementary school, the students' motivational beliefs changed differently, depending on which middle school they attended. Specifically, the students who attended the school that placed a greater emphasis on competition and ability differences exhibited higher mean levels of personal performance goals and personal extrinsic goals after the transition. There was an increase in perceptions of an emphasis on performance goals between the fifth and sixth grades for students who moved into this school. In contrast, students who moved to the school that used more task-focused (and less performance-focused) instructional practices tended to exhibit fewer negative shifts in motivation after the transition.

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