Results showed that students high on internal locus of control performed better under low discipline classroom conditions, while high external control students performed better under high discipline classroom conditions. Data indicated that students assigned to a preferred discipline condition showed greater satisfaction than those who were not.…

The locus of control construct referred to in this study describes a distribution of individuals on a continuum according to the degree to which they accept personal responsibility for what happens to them. This study showed that for first grade children the interactions between a student's locus of control and his classroom environment may…

Assesses the value of a counselor-led training program for teachers and investigates its effects on classroom environment, student behavior, student achievement and attendance, and locus of control. Results indicate a significant improvement in overall student achievement and in internalized locus of control in the first and fifth grades. (RJM)

The purpose of this study was to determine whether children with differing cognitive abilities can benefit from differing educational environments. The investigation was specifically concerned with two questions: (1) Are there differences in the mathematics achievement between children with an internal or external locus of control in both open and…

Considers the hypothesis that the open classroom is less threatening than other role postures of the teacher, with the outcome being that the child will come to direct his own learning experiences and will learn more fully and with less trauma than in other settings. (Author/RK)

Goal setting is examined as an influence on student learning and self-evaluation. Goal setting results in increased motivation, on-task behavior, effort, and persistence and conveys information concerning individual performance capabilities and personal accomplishments. (JN)

Examined age differences in the operation of beliefs-performance cycles and the effects of these cycles on the development of children's perceived control and classroom engagement from the third to the seventh grade. Found that children who experienced teachers as warm and contingent were more likely to develop optimal profiles of control. Beliefs…

Dr. Larry D. Fields, the former principal of Rowland H. Latham Elementary, led the development of a complementary learning model that became known as the Latham Way. The Latham Way produced remarkable academic success among poor minority students. The chi-square of the expected and the actual scores in reading and mathematics were significant at p…

Comments on Skinner, Zimmer-Gembeck and Connell's study (PS 528 522) which investigated the relationship between elementary school students' beliefs-performance cycles and their perceived control and classroom engagement. Notes methodological and theoretical issues and controversial issues raised by the study. Discusses the links to other…

Among the teaching variables likely to influence pupil engagement rates are classroom management strategies and instructional behaviors used during presentation of the lesson. Thirteen junior high school science classes were observed to determine how variation in classroom management techniques related to variation in pupil engagement rates, and…

Research has shown that girls and boys begin at equal levels of performance in mathematics and science, but that during the middle school years differences have been observed in both science achievement and science attitudes of males and females. It appears that once science becomes an option for females, they often do not select science…

Motivation is widely believed to be a critical component of the learning process in the elementary classroom, but educational research has failed to substantiate this belief. To investigate interrelationships among selected motivational variables, demographic, motivational and achievement characteristics of 400 elementary school students in Grades…

Several studies have shown that teachers' locus of control orientations are differentially related to attitudes about teaching and classroom behavior. To investigate the relationship between teachers' locus of control and students' perceptions of classroom climate, academic responsibility, and grades, matched pairs of teachers from grades four…

The author argues that despite the conventional wisdom that schools cannot overcome the effects of socioeconomic status and race on academic achievement, there is a growing body of literature indicating that school climate and students' sense of control of their environment are strongly correlated with achievement. Five school-specific strategies…

This final report summarizes the purpose, procedures, and results of a study, initiated in 1980, which investigated the interrelationships among motivational variables related to 423 fourth through sixth grade students' sense of efficacy in the classroom, or classroom motivation. Sense of efficacy was initially defined as a student's perception of…