Growth in working memory capacity, the number of items kept active in mind, is thought to be an important aspect of childhood cognitive development. Here, we focused on participants' awareness of the contents of their working memory, or "meta-working memory," which seems important because people can put cognitive abilities to best use…

Two studies were conducted with distinct samples to investigate how motivational beliefs cohere and function together (i.e., motivational profiles) and predict academic adjustment. Integrating across motivational theories, participants (N[subscript Study 1] = 160 upper elementary students; N[subscript Study 2] = 325 college students) reported on…

There is a very large population of students who struggle with the transition from the middle grades to high school, raising concerns that high school failures are partially a function of poor middle grade preparation. As a result, middle grade practitioners are grappling with questions about what skills students need to succeed in high school,…