Test-taking motivation (TTM) has been associated with test performance in low-stakes testing contexts. However, there have been few studies about TTM in high-stakes testing contexts, and these have contradictory results. Our aim was to explore the relationship between test-taking effort and test performance in a real-life high-stakes testing…

Multi-domain and longitudinal studies of student achievement routinely find moderate to strong correlations across achievement domains and even stronger within-domain correlations over time. The purpose of this study is to examine the sources of these patterns analysing student achievement in 5 domains across Years 3, 5 and 7. The analysis is of…

This study examines direct and indirect effects of family socioeconomic status (SES) and parental expectations on adolescents' mathematics and problem-solving achievement in mainland China. SES here is composed of family wealth, home educational resources, and parental education. Over 5,000 ninth-grade students in 5 geographical districts of China…

A structural equation model of relationships among testing-related motivation variables (test value, effort, self-efficacy, and test anxiety), test-taking strategies (test tactics and metacognitive strategies), gender, and math test performance were examined with a sample of 10th graders (N = 438; 182 males and 256 females). In general, motivation…

We study whether changes in school emphasis on academic success (SEAS) and safe schools (SAFE) may explain the increased science performance in Norway between TIMSS 2007 and 2011. Two-level structural equation modelling (SEM) of merged TIMSS data was used to investigate whether changes in levels of SEAS and SAFE mediate the changes in science…

Direct and mediating effects of homework worry anxiety on homework effort and homework achievement and the differences in the structural relations among homework motivation constructs and homework achievement across mathematics and English homework were examined in 268 tenth graders in China. Homework motivation included task value, homework…

In this study, we have investigated the associations between the students' perceptions of teachers' interpersonal behaviour and some school outcomes--namely, academic achievement, learning motivation, and a sense of class belonging--considering the mediating role of classroom justice. Moreover, the impact of the school type was analysed. The…

Research has found that grades are the most valid instruments for predicting educational success. Why grades have better predictive validity than, for example, standardized tests is not yet fully understood. One possible explanation is that grades reflect not only subject-specific knowledge and skills but also individual differences in other…

The aim of the present study is twofold: (1) to investigate gender differences in the effects of science interest and environmental responsibility on science aspiration and achievement and (2) to explore the relations between cultural supports (macroeconomic and gender equality) and both boys' and girls' tendencies to integrate the aforementioned…

Predictions about processes linking gender to students' choices of advanced courses were derived from the internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model and expectancy value (EV) theory. The predictions were tested for the domains of mathematics and biology using data from 1,148 students attending academically oriented secondary schools in…